Spring vs winter wheat and deer preference

[Elite]

I thought the farmer would be planting corn this year but it looks like he went with wheat. He just planted it about one week ago and it's starting to germinate. I'm not sure if it's spring or winter wheat, or how the deer will respond to it. Any experience?

[swampyak]

In Minnesota we is planted in the fall
I'd say spring wheat

[Quest1001]

Are the deer in spring wheat during the fall hunting season compared to beans?

[Elite]

Are the deer in spring wheat during the fall hunting season compared to beans?

I'd also like to know how they react to spring wheat.

[matt1336]

When the beans turn yellow they’re on the greens. I’ve seen deer walk past green beans to get to clover....depends what the are in the need for at that particular time.
Wheat stays green for a long time and it shoots up first. It’s great for deer imo and something I plan to plant more of.

[1STRANGEWILDERNESS]

When I lived I corn country I remember two different occasions I found some deer and nice bucks in wheat field after harvest.Bedding in a tiny wood lot. After they thrashed the wheat there was clovers and such underneath and they were hammering it. September sometime..But Both times the field was chisel plowed and the deer disappeared as this was in the wide open flat lands where there was about 5 acres of woods in 10 sq miles.

[Hawthorne]

I’ve never seen them plant wheat in spring. They plant it in fall then harvest it the following July. That’s in southern Michigan. Could be different there

[cspot]

It is usually planted in the fall but have seen some cases where farmers plant in spring. I don’t believe the deer will hit it this fall as it should be dead. They usually don’t like it once it starts getting very tall. Are you sure it is wheat and not something else?

[Elite]

It is usually planted in the fall but have seen some cases where farmers plant in spring. I don’t believe the deer will hit it this fall as it should be dead. They usually don’t like it once it starts getting very tall. Are you sure it is wheat and not something else?

I was told by a neighbor that it's buckwheat, but he doesn't talk to or know the farmer. It was beans last year and early this spring the farmer said he was either going to plant corn or wheat.

[Lockdown]

Around here, almost everyone plants wheat in the spring. It gets planted before everything else because it can handle colder temps.

It usually gets combined in August. Generally speaking, deer around here ignore it. On occasion during the summer months I’ll see deer in tall/green wheat before it dries up. In certain situations I’ll see them hit the regrowth pretty hard after everything else freezes and dies. The regrowth will stay green really late. To me that’s when the biggest draw is. That said, corn stubble is just as much of a draw.

The only time I get excited when I see a wheat field is when I’m in western SD. It can be a gold mine out there.

[Elite]

Around here, almost everyone plants wheat in the spring. It gets planted before everything else because it can handle colder temps.

It usually gets combined in August. Generally speaking, deer around here ignore it. On occasion during the summer months I’ll see deer in tall/green wheat before it dries up. In certain situations I’ll see them hit the regrowth pretty hard after everything else freezes and dies. The regrowth will stay green really late. To me that’s when the biggest draw is. That said, corn stubble is just as much of a draw.

The only time I get excited when I see a wheat field is when I’m in western SD. It can be a gold mine out there.

Good information to know, thank you!

[tim]

Buckwheat makes more sense. Now is the time for planting, I just broadcast some on Sunday. It’s a cover crop and not exactly high on the deer preference list. I’m using mine in my Apple orchard to drown out weeds. Most likely he will plant something else in a couple months if ThTs what he planted.

[Elite]

Spoke to the farmer tonight. The field is planted to spring wheat and he plans on harvesting in July/Aug with planting afterwards. It's unfortunate due to the fact that I created a transition plot knowing the deer would be working their way to the bigger ag field...

[Elite]

Here's an update:

Farmer harvested the wheat today but there's at least 6" standing. He gave me permission to put in a food plot after it was harvested. Will the wheat draw deer in now that it's been harvested?

[andersta01]

No, deer won’t eat the actual wheat head usually, unless it’s awnless (those little spines off the seed are called awns) they like it when it is small & green & kinda looks like grass, they will start hitting it mid Oct-mid Nov, then after the snows it will go dormant until spring. This is based on me being in Western New York as far as a planting climate map, even with MI but across the lake! I just planted mine last week, you want to get it in about 6 week before hard frost. It’s called Winter wheat and you plant it in the fall.