What is the ideal food plot per acre of timber?

We have 470 acres and approx. 15 acres in food plots scattered about.

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Hi Double Creek

The number I think you'll here the most - is 5% Min of your area should be in food plots - which for you is about 24 acres. Less if you are bordered by good farmland crops - and more if you are bordered by more-or less "woods".

With your acreage - you should have at least one big plot - like a 5 acre plot of clover - two big plots, separtated would be better - the rest could be 1-2 acre type plots scattered about. The "big plots" are where the Bulk of your night feeding will probably take place - It would be great if they were centrally located somewhat.

FH

This has been discussed at our university quite a bit and I think the general concensus was an acreage number (which escapes me at the moment) not a portion of the property. Deer do not recognize property boundaries or owners. What you should be dealing with is an acreage number (not percentage) that can impact the deer herd positively. Percentage numbers are misleading and do not matter. 2% of a 100 acre parcel is 2 acres. 10% of a ten acre parcel is 1 acre. So obviously 10% is not better than 2% in this case. Do your own research and come up with an acreage number that makes sense and is (hopefully) proven by research to positively impact herd condition.

Think of it as if you were trying to pasture cattle on the area. Deer are much smaller but a 1-2 acre pasture isn't going to carry many animals.

Dan O.

Deer aren't grazers they are browsers. Cattle do not browse a wood lot. Please don't fall for the cattle = deer thing. Cows stay in a pasture all day, deer do not.

I think Dan O. is trying to say that giving them more than they can consume is better than giving them less than they can consume. That is why you should use utilization cages to measure the browsing on a food plot. If the deer eat all of your plot in a couple weeks, then you need a bigger plot, or less deer.

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Wild Work; If the field is composed of plants that are useable by deer (rye, wheat, oats, clover, alfalfa, corn, even young grass to a lesser extent) they consume it as food. You can calculate the food (energy) requirements that a deer will need and extrapolate this to potential production. If the food isn't there the deer will be less nourished, have lower body weights and fertility.

A 1/2 acre plot is a supplement/attractant, it doesn't produce the all of the food required for a deer to exist. The cow-deer comparison is useful if you plant crops that deer can utilize.

Dan O.