Tplay103

I'm not new to wildlife management, food plots, or this board (regardless of my "rating") however, I have planted different things over the years and other things I have not.

Anyway, without going into all the details, I'm putting in a couple of small plots this year and was just curious as to the major differences in rye grass and rye grain? I've seen both in different "wildlife" mixes. My main interest is whitetail and I know ryegrass is easy to grow. Will they actually eat it and is there any benefit to this for the deer?

Any knowledge would be apprectiated and experiences are even better. Thank you in advance.

Tree climber

regular field rye (rye grain) is the best.I always plant "ryens" rye.
the rye grass is for the yard,deer do not like it as well . they made a mistake at tractor supply a year or so ago and gave me rye grass and the deer didn't touche it...after a mo. I plowed it in and replanted it with field rye and the deer loved it.

timbercruiser

We plant the premixed food plot mixtures of rye, wheat and oats. A little variety and the deer seen to like the mixture. We plant about 150 bags per year and have for many years so we have a little experience with it.

tazimna

I agree with tree climber that the "grain" rye is preferred by the deer, atleast in my experience. Rye "grass" is often planted as a cover crop and then tilled in. Great source of nitrogen for your fields/plots. The rye grass will reseed itself for the most part, but the rye grain is generally a 1 time deal. You'll get some regrowth from dropped seed heads, but generally you'll need to replant each year. Taz

OFFSET

In the area I hunt, south AL, we have better luck planting feed wheat. It has more nutri. than rye and the deer seem to go to it alot more than the rye.