S.T.Fanatic
5 year old buck +
Thats a great looking plot!!
Deer love sugar beets
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S.T.Fanatic
5 year old buck +
Let me know if you don't have my shipping info.
SmallChunk
5 year old buck +
How are they doing for everyone? I think I might give some a shot next year. Weeds haven't been a huge issue in my bean plots this year where I no tilled into standing rye. Might try out a non roundup ready variety and see how it does!
4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
Nitro, if you need help storing some of them, look me up!
S.T.Fanatic
5 year old buck +
Mine were doing great until the neighbors cattle got out. They trampled my beets and ate the beans down to the dirt.
Bill
Administrator
That sucks! I fix one of my neighbors fences almost every year for that same reason. He doesn't and I don't think he cares if his cows get loose. They wrecked 3 acres of corn one year....
Bill
Administrator
Good luck collecting. This particular neighbor is not very liked by many. He's known by the locals to be very tough on trespassers "kinda like me". He won't even let other neighbors retrieve wounded deer. I let the cows slide that time and just fix the fence myself. Over the years I've worked on him and gaurentee the day I ever need to retrieve a deer on him he lets me. Sometimes the long game is more import than the here and now.
S.T.Fanatic
5 year old buck +
The same thing happened to me last year. I don't like it but getting pissed doesn't fix the fence or re plant the plot. I'm hoping to get it fixed this weekend and plant a cereal mix Labor Day weekend.
Tree Spud
5 year old buck +
I am thinking that if the neighbor doesn't let you track a deer, the next his cows visiting, they return in a "missing man" formation.
Did a tree fall on the fence or was there just a bad spot they could squeeze through? That really sucks. It might cause problems to get mad at the neighbor, but it sure would suck if that happened too often.
A neighbor's black angus cattle found my food plots the first year we lived at our place. It sucks that they ate a bunch of stuff, but it did look kind of nice having some tasty looking cattle on my land. I wouldn't mind having one in my freezer, but at least now I'm not too interested in the work associated with keeping a couple cattle or pigs. Maybe if the deer hunting goes downhill I would look at it differently though.
S.T.Fanatic
5 year old buck +
We have had a ton of rain this year mixed in with a decent amount of high winds. There were a few different trees that went down on the fence over the course of the summer. The section of fence that the trees fell on is in the woods up a steep hill so the farmer didnt notice it right away. I think it was down for a while but the cattle weren't a problem until the recent dry spell we had. They went searching for better forage elsewhere and the fence with no current running through it didnt keep them in.
nitro27
5 year old buck +
Pic of couple sugarbeets for size comparison with hat. You can see where deer have eaten the tops and nibbled on a beet.View attachment 14976
S.T.Fanatic
5 year old buck +
I checked my sugar beet plot out yesterday. The deer havent touched them yet and some of the leaves are brown and crispy? They seem to be putting out some new leaves though and the bulbs are huge. I am going to plant a bigger plot of them next year. If I can get the deer to eat them i might say good bye to other brasicas with the exception of radishes.
4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
Dig a few out and toss them on top see if they will start eating them.
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Bill
Administrator
Based on that pic deer do love sugar beets!
S.T.Fanatic
5 year old buck +
With food still being plentiful I dont think they are going to hit them until Jan/Feb. That has been the case with my brassicas over the past several years. I wish I could get them on em sooner but that hasn't been the case. I'm wondering if it isnt a soil issue? I just tested a plot this spring for the first time and will continue to do another every year. I figure by the time I get the soil in good shape on the last one it will be time to test the first one again.
Makes me wonder what the most important aspect of the soil is where preference is concerned. I would assume PH. But would assume there are many factors that come to play. With my what I feel are low deer numbers I would assume that unless I get the soil in better shape than the neighboring fields that are competing with my plots I won't be able to tell what the deers "favorite" planting is. I feel that my plots are in good locations as far as the deer feeling secure using them so that isnt the issue. I also dont hunt the vast majority of them so hunting pressure also isn't the case. I will continue to play around with planting times with the brassicas to see if it makes much of a difference. I will also continue to plant SB's for a few more years before writing them off. Every year I keep asking myself why I plant anything other than Ag beans. I know they will be on them every day until they are gone with only a short window where they look for something else.
The PH in my SB plot was 7.6. What is the down fall of having PH above 7? Everything else fertilizer wise was perfect and I hit them with plenty of Urea at planting and again about 6 weeks later.
Makes me wonder what the most important aspect of the soil is where preference is concerned. I would assume PH. But would assume there are many factors that come to play. With my what I feel are low deer numbers I would assume that unless I get the soil in better shape than the neighboring fields that are competing with my plots I won't be able to tell what the deers "favorite" planting is. I feel that my plots are in good locations as far as the deer feeling secure using them so that isnt the issue. I also dont hunt the vast majority of them so hunting pressure also isn't the case. I will continue to play around with planting times with the brassicas to see if it makes much of a difference. I will also continue to plant SB's for a few more years before writing them off. Every year I keep asking myself why I plant anything other than Ag beans. I know they will be on them every day until they are gone with only a short window where they look for something else.
The PH in my SB plot was 7.6. What is the down fall of having PH above 7? Everything else fertilizer wise was perfect and I hit them with plenty of Urea at planting and again about 6 weeks later.
