What happens if you plant Oats in the spring, do they die out prior to Fall hunting season?

They would more than likely go to head way before season and i doubt the deer would eat them because they like to eat stuff when its young, or they would eat it all before season

I would stick to something like Iron Clay Peas or Lablab for a spring planting. Cereal grains tend to like cooler weather.

Just get premium oats..."buck forage oats" is not much different and maybe not different at all. I finally got one of the reps to admit that it is just oats.

Just like wheat or rye, you want to plant it so the young shoots are available the time that you want to hunt over it (as mentioned above). Typically this will be 4 to 6 weeks prior to your hunting dates. Cereal grains will come up fast (soil,weather, site prep and planting technique dependant of course)...I have seen it as fast as 5 days. The deer will be going after the new tender shoots.

You can also use soybeans in the same way.

These are all very economical options that work extremely well. Remember that you want to design and implement food sources that emerge and are available for the entire year (good management program) and the options list above are great for fallfood sourcesas well as fall attractants. They are also easy to plant with typically high success!

Land Dr

I guess the reason I'm confused is that on Buck Forage oat's web site they recomend planting the oats with thier new chicory, but chicory should be planted in the spring along with clover, and brassicas and oats should be planted in late summer. I have an ideal 1/4 acre spot that I want to plant oats and brassicas in this year, but I need to plant something in it this spring in order to draw the deer into the area, any recomendations ?

Oats is often planted as a nurse crop or carrier with perennial crops such as clover or alfalfa. In that way a farmer will get a crop of oats the first year and the perennial will come in the following years.

They are just applying the technique here. Keep in mind that the oats is annual and the chicory or cloverare perennial.

Chicory, clover and alfalfa are best planted in the spring to take advantage of spring soil moistures. They can also be fall planted as a dormant or frost seeding.

Brassicas can also be planted in the spring but can be an issue as the plant may be to a flower stage prior to the first killing frost...which could result in a stemmy, unpalatable plant with low protein. Deer have been know to still go after Brassicas even at that stage however.

The technique to plant Brassicas later is to allow the first killing frost to stop the growth just at the right time...no mowing to cut it back would be needed and the plant doesn't get to stemmy.

I hope this helps clarify. This link will give you some additional information as well...

http://www.habitatnow.com/store/shop/shop.php?pn_selected_category=10

Good luck!

Land DR

Thanks Land DR, I appreciate the info