i live in south georgia and we generally plant oats as plots in the fall.....i have obserevd this problem though....year before last on opening weekend ( about oct 26 or so) i had deer all over the oats coming throuhg in the morning and feeding in the evening..then they stopped feeding in it..i hear that as the oats age they tend to become more fiberous and the deer prefer them less....any idea what i can plant to keep the deer " feeding" in the plots all season?

rye works better for me than oats. the rye will come back tender after they eat it off.
some rye and different types of clover together is also good.

Farmhunter may know more than I do about it.

I wonder if a little pressure made the deer become more nocturnal or if they found a more appealing food source that may have less pressure. We plant a mixture of rye, wheat and oats each fall in about 55 food plots and have good results throughout the winter. This fall make a wire cage about 4 x 4 foot by 3 foot high with a top on it and place it in your food plot. You can get a good idea about the amount of grazing your plot is getting because the protected area won' t be grazed down. You need to take a couple of stakes and drive down around the cage to keep the deer from tipping over your cage. I planted a plot a couple of years ago with Buck Blend Oats only and the oats couldn' t get ahead of the deer. They literally kept it mowed at ground level.

If you have a large number of hunters in your area it' s going to be difficult to keep the deer in their normal patterns and feeding during the day. Keep the area " safe" for the deer and you shouldn' t have any problem.

Dan O.