texasaggiebowhunter

Sounds like you are in my backyard. I have a ranch around Centerville where I hunt. I am an agronomist and I think I can help you. So far I think you are doing right. Your pH is almost ideal, Normally in East Texas the soil is acidic due to the abundance of trees mostly pines. I have tried the tecomate and lablab mixes with little results. I rely heavily on wheat. Wheat needs to vernalize, this mean it need to have been subject to freezing temperatures to flower. The way wheat works is you normally plant it in the fall it grows, cold weather turns it dormant when it vernalizes when it warms back up in the spring it starts growing again. this is why you see wheat grown in Kansas and Nebraska and not much farther south than central Texas. It needs a cool climate. This is a great situation, because once it freezes there isnt much green stuff to eat except for your winter grasses. ei Wheat and Rye. Then it picks back up in the spring when protein for antler growth is needed. So to me wheat is a key for deer. Second I rely on oats. Oats are high in protein and have a great attraction for deer. The only problem is oats freeze. So you would plant them in the fall, get some use out of them with the deer, and if you wanted to you would plant them again in the spring. Personally I dont like to use rye grass. Rye is everywhere around here. So I try to plant succulent grasses that arent very common that deer really love. Wheat and Oats. Lately for the past several years I have been planting soybeans in a pear orchard that we have. It has been great for antler growth in our deer. It has definitely put mass on our deer, you know the kind of deer in this part of the country. So any improvments are definitely beneficial. I also use crimson clover. I started it about five years ago. I put it out in the fall it came in the spring, and the cattle and deer love it. Once it dries out and goes to seed in the late spring I shred it and spread the seed around. Since it is an annual you will have to make sure it goes to seed and gets reseeded. I have turned what seed I had in a small grocery bag about 2# to about 15 acres worth now. About every other year I have innoculated with bradyrhizobium to help with the N fixation. Like I said Im an agronomist and I can go on for days about this stuff. If you have any questions or I need to explain anything better for you just drop me an email.
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