Ok, here's my situation. We (4 family members and myself) lease a piece of property that is approx 400 acres. It is located here in Northeast Oklahoma. The primary food source is percimons early in the season, and after they are gone, I suppose it would be mostly rough browse. There are a few (I mean very few) oak trees on the property so the mast production is very minimal, almost nonexistant.There aren't any crops planted within a few miles of our property.

Last year, the property owner planted soybeans on an adjoining piece of property. He said he was doing this to help prep the soil as he was going to plant bermuda and use the field to graze some of his cattle. I guess the pH was out of balance and the beans helped with some aspect of that (Please forgive my ignorance in this area). Anyway,they allowed us to turkey hunt that particular piece of ground and the amount of deer sign (droppings and tracks) was truly unbelievable. Now he uses it for grazing his cattle and the beans are gone.

On the property we hunt, there is an open field that is approx 50 acres (no cattle in this field). The property owner uses it for hay and has told us that he didn't want us to plant anything in it. The rest of the property has cattle on it. Does anyone have any ideas on what we could do as far as planting crops or food plots in this situation. We don't want the cows to devastate what we work hard to plant. There is some room to disc and plant down the field edges (approx 8ft wide) where they bale the hay (no cows either). The landowner told me we could do this, but I don't know what to plant. It would probably only cover 4-5 acres max. I just want something that will draw deer to the property and maybe give them some added nourishment. Aren't soybeans fairly easy to grow? Do they have much protien? What do you all think would be the easiest route to take?

This guy is not being very cooperative. Without trees for cover and just grass to eat the deer are not going to flock to that place. I would find myself another place to lease.

I may not be giving a true representation of the property. There are alot of trees and thick brushy areas on the property. I'm not 100% sure what the deer eat, but there is a healthy # of deer on the property. There are some excellent bedding areas, but really not alot in terms of distinguishable food sources (at least not distinguishable to me). I know they eat the percimons, and they eat what little amount of acorns there are, but after that they browse the grasses and other plants and forage. We've leased this property for 4 seasons now and we've killed 4 nice bucks and seen several more. I started using a feeder to centralize the deer so I could get some pics of them and it's really worked out well. They eat that corn and sweetfeed like crazy. I just wanted toplant something that would supliment their natural food sources so I wouldn't have to be constantly filling up a feeder.


here are3 of the deer we've taken off the property. It's got great potential to produce some great bucks.




Here's a pic of a buck I just got a week or so ago that's been hanging out at my feeder.



another

Roundup Soybeans would be great - and you could prepare & maintain the plots yourself with with a sprayer, roundup and a small set of disks,

You can broadcast soybeans on bare soil, but its better if you can disk them in a bit. You need to KILL the sod off with roundup before planting. You would probably need at least 2 acres - and 4acres would be better - or the deer will keep it browsed to nubs. Soybeans are a great summer plot - and the pods become attractive again when they dry and split in the fall.

FH

If you want to please the landowner and help yourselves too think about planting alfalfa. The deer absolutely love it and he can have some super hay. It is costly and is high maintenance, but it is also very high in protein and can last for over five years. I bet if you bought the seed and fertilizer he would probably be willing to do the rest. It would be a win/win situation. I did this for my meadow (hay) field this past year. My neighbor cuts it on the halves, and helped me do all of the work for free!

Soybeans are high in protein as well as alfalfa and most commercial food plot seeds. Any legume, soybeans alfalfa clover will be high in protein and deer usually love them. The advantage to some leafier products such as brassica or turnips which are often mixed with soybeans is that after the first freeze they release lots of sugar stored throughout the year and deer love it. They will have a decent amount of green forage after most things are gone.

Alfalfa seems to be the best for your situation here. I personally like to plant the soybeans and leave them standing (never harvest). Around the middle of October walk through them and broadcast wheat into the soybeans and leave it on top of the ground. After a rain it will germinate and you will have 2 food sources in one plot - a mature one and a tender grass.

Thanks for the responses guys. I think we're going to plant the soybeans. I don't really want anything that's too high maintenance as I don't have enough time to devote to it. I really just want something to supplement their natural forage and something that will draw deer from neighboring properties and hold them on our property longer. I also like the idea of broadcasting the wheat during the fall.