RonM

I was talking to some other hunters this week and they were talking about pumpkins for deer plots, that deer will break them open with their feet and eat them, anyone ever try them?

psandhu

i always used a knife to cut open a circle around the stem on the top, then used my hands to scoop out the inside. but if you want to use your feet instead, more power to you.

Tree climber

I have heard othere talking about that.I plant them each year in out hunt club. I plant them on the pine rowes in the new ground.it is open and clean the first year.
I have sold them to the flea market for the last few years.couple hunderd each year.I have never had the deer eat the first one.
Not any.
I heard they love them after they freeze???????.I have had a few stay after the vines are gone and go back to find a rat hole in the punkin and the seeds gone and the punkin will stay there till it rots.??????

so as far as I am conserned,I would not bet the farm on it.they may in some places,just not in Fla.

vtbuckrulrss

if you haven't tried pumpkins, then you are missing out. we wait until after halloween vs. growing them, and then go to the growers/sellers. usually, they give them to us, and we put out a minimum of four truckloads. we don't break them up, just let nature take her course with the frost. after enough freezing and thawing cycles they get a bit soft, and the deer tear into them. they also like them frozen. coombine that with a load of apple pumice from the local cider mill, and you have an almost unbeatable attractant. since most places will give them to you after halloween, i wouldn't wast the space growing them when you could use it for something different.
Pat

farm hunter

I plant then most years - in that back end of a clover plot - or with cultivated corn. I plant them for my kids to go pick out their own pumpkins in October.

Never once have I had deer look at them with any interest until after Mid October. Even then, they might occasionally break one open - or take a nibble.

My little pumpkin patches don't mean much - but I think its safe to say that at best -they would only offer a "treat" over a very short period of time for the deer. Unless your soil is really good, they need quite a bit of Nitrogen added to get any size to them.

FH

andy_o

We have a great big manure pile at the horse barn and we throw seeds in there and they get huge. Load the bucket up on the tractor and take a ride out back to have a little fun shooting them. Never thought of them as bait but have noticed deer around them after a cold snap.

Booney160

I agree with Pat, pumpkins are a great deer food and attractant. We usually take a few out at a time and bust them against rocks, once they're frozen deer love them. I wouldn't plant a field of them, I think it would be a good idea to just go to growers and get the left over pumpkins after halloween like Pat stated. Plant food plots with clover or something of that nature and just get a truck load of pumpkins. You won't be dissapointed.

adams

Not intentionaly. I tried to grow some atlantic giants ( 1000lb variety) last year and every time I got a pumpkin to around 40 lbs the deer would locate it on the side of my clover plot and eat a good portion of it. They never ate the whole pumpkin, just enough to kill the fruit off and then they were back at the clover and powerplant again. I guess it serves me right for planing pumpkins along my food plots. (deer like variety too)