I live in Northeast Texas and have real sandy soil but want to plant some food plots but need help to figure out what would be the best thing or things to plant can anyone help me out here? Plus what is the best time to plant for a winter plot here as well?

What works for me is wheat. I
m live a little south of you I think with an east texas sandy acidic soil due to the pine. I also ranch in west texas where things are definitely different. I would go with wheat. I would sew it in early September to mid October. You might even try in late August if you plan on bowhunting off of it come Sept. Pretty much it depends on moisture and heat. If you get a good late August rain and it looks like weather is cooling off I would plant it then.. If no rain then I would wait until cool weather comes in Sept to Oct.
The reason I choose wheat during a cool weather season is because of the physiology of wheat. It must vernalize to reproduce the next year. Vernalization is freezing, this is why you normally see wheat grown in cooler climates like Kansas and Nebraska. Northern parts of Texas are fine and I would say from about College Station north are good planting areas where as in the southern part of the state no wheat is grown because of this warmer winter temperature. Some folks mix wheat with oats and as soon as it turns cold the oats die due to freezing. Im an agronomist and can answer just about any question you have. Feel free to email me if you need help or my answer is unclear.

T.A.B.,

What would you recommend for the panhandle? My folks have a place up in the northeast panhandle (near Canadian) and I know rye will grow. Any other recommendations on fall plantings? What and when in sandy soils?

I would go wheat all the way up there. It will last all winter long and it is an ideal climate. Yes rye will grow, doesnt quite have the protein content that wheat does, its a little coarser and tougher to chew for deer. Wheat is tender and a little sweeter tasting. Pretty much any sort of a salad bowl effect for the deer will work.
I have some friends up your direction. We go up there to hunt phesants in the winter. They are around Spearman. Good folks up there.

Thanks for the reply! Any thoughts on mixing in some oats? Something else to bring 'em in? The reason I ask is that a neighboring landowner has a much larger wheat pasture than I could plant.

Also, I am looking at the Youth Weekend at the end of October. If you have any other recommendations, what would you plant and when to have it up for that weekend?

Again, thanks for the earlier post!

Oats will work they will just freeze and die when it gets cold. They will be ideal for early season hunting but you will lose them on the first heavy frost. You may also consider throwing some rye in the mix. Im sure you use it but put up some automatic feeders and get the deer coming in early. I feed year round. Its gonna be tough if you are next to a huge wheat field. Your best bet will be catching the deer cross your place going to thiers. If theirs is hunted hard maybe deer will find sanctuary at yours. It doesnt take long for wheat, oats and rye to germinate, if conditions are right. I would plant no later than a month before you need it. Normally I begin to plant in late summer when the season just starts to change and show sign of getting cooler.

Again, gracias!

One nice thing about the neighbor's place is that it is wide open with little cover. I was told that they put a feeder right on our fenceline so it sounds like they are trying to pull deer in from adjacent properties. I can't imagine a respectable buck hanging out in their wide open pasture/feeder during daylight hours though if a doe is there during the rut it's certainly possible. If they are going to shoot does, then the more the better at this point.

Regarding Spearman and pheasant hunting, we used to have some great hunts up there on an uncle's place. There were good numbers of birds but it seems that those numbers have really dropped off for some reason. It has been several years since the last hunt.

Maybe some day it will come back around. My brother now uses an outfitter up there and they have decent hunts but nothing like we experienced in the good old days.

When I was at A&M there was abunch of us guys that were friends from different parts of Texas. We would trade hunts with each other. I have friends in Spearman, and Littlefield where we pheasant hunt. Actually my bachelor party was a week long phesant hunt in Littlefield. Im from just west of Abilene so we go dove and goose hunting at my folks. Friends in south Texas that take us deer hunting. Friends on the coast that take us off shore. I am now back in College Station and have a hog hunting outfit about an hour from here. Its a good trade we are still all just best of friends at still take turns hunting with each other all over the state.. We are all lucky, and its pretty cool.

You are very fortunate. Good luck and best wishes!