A good early season food plot?

[BackWoodsHunter]

Wondering what everyone's experiences are with good food plots for early season draw? Looking for something to bring in the deer from august til frost?

I have plans for a brassica plot for a late season draw-the colder it gets the harder the deer hit them (daikon radishes, rape and turnips)

I also will plant a mix of rye and clover for another late season draw. I am looking for something to bring in the deer early in the season though.

Anyone have any good experiences with anything? I don't have the room or budget to plant soybeans. I have heard oats were good but need to be tilled 2-4" below the top of the soil which isn't really an option as we don't have a good tiller or access to one.

[cornfedkiller]

..I don't have the room or budget to plant soybeans...

No room for soybeans? I dont understand..they dont take any more room than anything else..

And as far as cost goes, soybeans can typically be bought from local farmers (either leftover seed from spring planting) or last year's crop if he has any left for way less than buying food plot seed.. A bushel of beans is 55-60lbs (which will cover an acre), and you can buy that for $10-15 bucks depending on the farmer..

Sorry Im not helping you much on what to plant for early season, but I just figured Id let you know that in case you were unaware...Id plant soybeans myself, but thats just me..

[Wrinkleneck]

I would go with beans also!!!! Like cornfedkiller said shop around your local farmers for leftover beans to plant its a cheap option.

[BackWoodsHunter]

By not enough room I meant relative to my surroundings and the deer herd! There's no agriculture for miles (like 10) and the deer in our area feed on tree buds, random browse and corn piles. Anything we've ever planted has not had a fair chance to get a start before being absolutely mowed down and nipped off to the ground. The work involved with planting beans and the cost if I can't find a farmer with left over seed is too much to have them mowed down in August.

Also don't have access to a good tiller to break the soil and cover the seeds like they require for planting. My brassica plot will be done after 3 applications of herbicide are made throughout the summer. I will broadcast the seeds on the soil and cultipack them to the top of the soil.

Was hoping for something similar for an early season draw.

[Hodag Hunter]

Maybe clover?

If your just putting small plots in, give me a call Backwoods I have some small equipment.

[BackWoodsHunter]

Alright sounds good thanks Hodag. We have random assortment of old farm equipment but its one of those deals where something is always broken or doesn't work quite right. We are hoping to go bigger this year than we have in years past. An Acre or more of brassicas. An acre of a Rye/oats/clover type mix and one smaller plot maybe chicory clover and rye.

Because we don't have the proper equipment for tilling and discing the field I am planning to hit the field with roundup 3 times. We have a homemade boom sprayer and spray tank for the ATV to make the process easier. After 3 applications the grass and weeds should all be killed. Then we will broadcast and cultipack directly to the top of the bare/exposed ground.

[huntinfool14]

soybeans work the best..if not clover and chicory

[U.P. MAN]

I have had goodluck with buck forage oats or similar products. spray three times,scratch up ground and spread seed, then i try and cultipack over seed to get good seed to soil contact. I usually plant early to mid august up here. Im no food plot expert for sure but by opener you have nice lush plants coming up a inch to two inches. they seem to love it here! I know on the package they will tell you to cover seed,but as long as good seed to soil contact you will be alright,i also plant a bit thicker than reccomended

[Indianahunter]

The suggestions for Oats and clover are good ones as they will attract deer. However I think it would be easier to answer your question knowing what your specific management goals are? If it is herd health and you can't do beans then the next best crop in my opinion from a stand point of attractant as well as nutrition is Alfalfa. High in protein, calcium and ash and is easily digestible. Is great for health and racks. It is also not as common as clover is in most areas giving a more preferred locational food source on your property.
Another option that I think is way overlooked are fruit bearing trees in combination with wind barrier or cover trees. I am not sure what zone you are in but Fuji and Golden delicious are cross pollinators and excellent trees and one of my favorites is the Arkansas Black apple tree as it does not mature and drop it's fruit until late in to October.
If you have enough land to support your local herd then you will be fine. However if you are only talking about 1/2 acre or less you could probably do yourself more good by turning the area into a bedding paradise that is hunted selectively and left alone until the time you plan on going in for the kill.

[BackWoodsHunter]

I posted another thread called "my spring plans" where I touched on it more.

Basically we own 120acres and have access to an adjoining 40. So a perfect sqaure of 160 acres. Not much land relative to the deer herd and surrounding timber. What we do have that a lot of farms don't have is open/plantable land. We have a lot of open acreage that would be a bear to plant. And another 3-4acres that should work up pretty nicely for us. However we will probably plant maximum 3 acres of it out in the open. And then I have a micro plot back in the woods which would basically be the half way point between the deers bedding on the neighbors to the south and the main food source our big field.

I would like to plant alfalfa but from what I've read its hard to establish and maintain. I don't have the best farm equipment to get it planted and our plantable grounds haven't been farmed in 40years. Getting it going and getting the soil right will take too much time and money at least that's what has been advised. What I am really banking on is the late season draw of the brassicas. Everyone baits near us and getting the deer to browse on a plot over eating a pile of corn wll be pretty difficult I am afraid. However in late season when the baiting stops they should really hammer the plots we have assuming they are still standing. I appreciate all the input keep them coming. I hate to shoot so many ideas down but my budget (college student keep in mind) available time and tools/land to work with just don't agree with what I'd love to plant ideally.

In a perfect world I'd have access to a big tractor/tiller and ever inch of bare ground would be tilled up and planted in corn or beans. It would thicken up a lot of our property and provide alot of awesome places to hunt and hang stands that are virtually dead space right now.

[BackWoodsHunter]

What I should say is we have a lot of open/plantable ground relative to surrounding farms but not relative to the state of WI or most hunting lands.

Of 160 acres we could probably plant about 10-12 with the right equipment and stuff. That'd be a lot of work though, like 40 hour weeks of work for the entire month of may! A large chunk of plantable ground has an overgrown pine stand running through it so the needles and acidic soil they create is not the best for most stuff. We would like to plant our "big field" and then the micro plot in the woods. The micro plot in the woods is part of the atv trails we have and will probably be planted in clover/chicory hopefully in spring.

The main field will be planted half in brassicas and I don't know what the rest will be...still working on those details which is why I made this post.

heres the tentative plans for now just need the last puzzle piece






also I have 25 wild plums on order hopefully they will fruit in the upcoming years!

[solocam88]

I would go with clover.

[cornfedkiller]

In your situation, I would go with clover or alfalfa as well. Not sure how well your stand of clover is going to be the first year, but the second and third years you should have a pretty nice stand with pretty minimal work.

One thing with clover and alfalfa is that it provides much better nutrients and attracts deer better if you keep them mowed down a little. Let it grow, flower, then mow it down to 6 inches or so. Deer really go crazy over the new growth, and it provides more protein than old growth..

In my clover plots last summer, I mowed them three times.. Beginning of June, beginning of July, and mid August.

[solocam88]

Mowing also helps control the weeds which is important when starting a new plot. The clover will start to take over after mowing it a few times and shade out the weeds.

[cornfedkiller]

Mowing also helps control the weeds which is important when starting a new plot. The clover will start to take over after mowing it a few times and shade out the weeds.

Yep, forgot to mention that..Thanks for adding that solocam!