Popular food plots
 

What are some of your favorite seeds to plant for food plots in your area?

In my area of the midwest, we are having success with buck forage oats, turnups, corn(duh), and cover mixes.

Turnups being the food of choice if you can keep the deer off or fertilize them so they don't get stunted.

I have video of my buddy missing 2 170 class bucks out of a turnup patch after Thanksgiving. And yes...its rather disgusting!!!:)

Just trying to see if there is something that is working in a different area to keep things "mixed up". It seems if you have something "odd" you will own them.

RE: Popular food plots
 

I guess it depends on what your objectives and goals are. If you're planting a plot to hunt over you want something that will be attracting in the fall where as if you're planting for qdm and to provide a source of nutrition you want something that will provide nutrition through the longest period of the year and especially during the crucial winter and early spring months.

Last year was my first year with plots and I plants two small plots. One is 1/2 acre of Imperial clover and the other 1000 sq' plot of Imperial Powerplant. I found that through the summer the deer preferred my Imperial Powerplant to the clover hands down. Good thing too because the Powerplant grew and grew and grew! It topped out at just about 5' tall and once the deer started hitting it hard they mowed it down to about 3' tall where it held its ground for the summer. The deer were in it at virtually all hours of the day and even bed in it. Mind you it's out of the way but the plot was little more then 30' x 30'. This spring I want to expand the plot to about 10,000sq'. I was impressed but it had a down fall. After the first hard frost it was done.

The Imperial clover on the other hand grew to about knee high and was virtually overlooked by the deer through out the summer. As soon as the frost hit and killed the powerplant the deer shifted their attention to the clover plot and continued to hit is consistently until the snow buried it shortly after Christmas. I'm excited to see how the deer hit it once the snow melts off enough and before spring green up around the second week of May.

What I'm really looking to do is to create a wintering habitat for the deer. Something to sustain them from late fall when the snow starts to fly through spring green up. This is the most crucial time for the deer and often the most difficult for wildlife managers. There is just little that last until the late winter. I'm planning to plant the family garden (aprox 3/4 acre) with oats and winter wheat as a fall crop next year to try and help. It's tough though with little choices for planting natural forages and I don't want to just feed the deer.

RE: Popular food plots
 

We have to plant our plots by the mult. acre....a 1/2 acre plot can't stand the abuse in our area.

Give the buck forage oats a look. We have been very impressed with them.

RE: Popular food plots
 

I pitty you:eek::D. The average deer per sq mile around my parts is only aroud 7 deer. The land just can't provider for a bigger herd so that's why I'm trying to do my part. Are the buck forage oats a fall plot that will stand through the winter. I don't have a lot of land to work with where my pllots are. I have 54 acres that I have been thinking about working on but it's forsale and I don't want to invest money in developing the land only to have it sold when I'm done. One thing I've learned is food plots and wildlife management isn't cheap when you consider actually money spent and time invested.

RE: Popular food plots
 

lab lab , is vary popular for warm season , summer anual planting . Oats, rape , rye are favorites for cool season , winter anuals . I have never had much luck with clover , must be the soil we have been planting in . Chickory , milo , and sorgum , are others I have had luch with or want to try .

RE: Popular food plots
 

We plant the BFO in Aug/Sept. The deer started pounding them a month later. They would be in the plots off and on all day long. Many times from the stand I would see does come out and lay in it and just eat what they could reach. It seemed like they wouldn't dig for it once it got snow covered. That could have been that there was 4 acres of standing corn 100 yrds away.:D