Food Plot Ideas that won't get scorched

[Telemark]

It was Baker who had the massive tonnage on his plots.

 

[SD51555]

Wow, I just did some back of the napkin myself.

If you have 100 deer per square mile and pull in every deer from a 3 mile x 3 mile area (so they travel a max of 1.5 miles to reach your property) and you could grow 120 bushel corn on your 20 acres: 120 bushels x 20 acres x 59 lbs/bu = 141,600 lbs of corn divided by 900 deer divided by 7 lbs/day consumption. They could wipe out your corn in 22 days.

Max tonnage on oat forage is about 4 tons/ac under pushed yields, so that won't get you there either.

Pumpkins can yield as high as 25 tons/ac. I like to figure for half with the tools we have available. 12.5 tons x 20 acres = 500,000 lbs divided by 900 deer divided by 7 lbs/day = 79 days you could feed 900 deer. Weed control could be tricky, but you could really run up the score with an early fall top sewing of annual clover, rye, and brassicas. That would also punch a major hole in your season long food chain, and may get them to disperse for at least the spring and summer. For as far south as you are, you could easily grow bigger pumpkins and still get a fall crop in among them.

With that many deer getting shot, I'd also get a dump truck load of wood chips and compost all your guts and carcasses.

Pumpkins

 

[mikmaze]

supplement their food with feeders, give em shelled corn to keep em off your crops, buy in BULK to save on corn. I like the idea of brush hog strategy, divide in 4 the plots, keep 1/4 as plot , let other three go, rotate them through the plot use, the one you mow is the one you plant that year, let the other 3 go till it is their time to mow and plant?

 

[swat1018]

Have you considered milo? It's not a common crop in the midwest. It's a goop choice in heavy population areas because deer generally leave it alone until it's mature.

 

[Catscratch]

Milo get eaten pretty quickly. Maybe I missed it, has anyone mentioned wheat?

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[ksgobbler]

Milo get eaten pretty quickly. Maybe I missed it, has anyone mentioned wheat?

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They didn't really touch mine. Blackbirds destroyed it. It was mixed with various millets as well. The milo does provide excellent cover as well as quail, pheasants, etc love it.

 

[roymunson]

Keep in mind the high deer density is artificially inflated on our property. Because for a while in the early fall, we're the only food around. Once beans defoliate and the corn comes off, our numbers are higher on our 250 acres than the other 250 acre chunks around us because of food and bedding cover.

We had about an acre of sorghum that was planted specifically because deer will leave it alone until ripe, right? Wrong, by mid september it was stems. and not just some of it. All of it.

We have considered saying "screw it" to food plots, and just hunting corn piles, but it just seems a little unsavory to rely only on that, and all of us genuinely enjoy the habitat and food plotting work that goes into it.

We may end up fencing some of our "kill" plots to at least get them up and running, then as the time is right, removing the fence for hunting purposes.

I need to take more pictures and update my land tour thread.

 

[Catscratch]

Milo get eaten pretty quickly. Maybe I missed it, has anyone mentioned wheat?

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They didn't really touch mine. Blackbirds destroyed it. It was mixed with various millets as well. The milo does provide excellent cover as well as quail, pheasants, etc love it.

I keep planting sorghums for the quail. They never see the seed, as soon as it gets doughy the deer strip the heads. I do love the winter cover it provides though. I efenced a bean plot for the first time this yr. It's been full of quail since the leafs yellowed and dropped a few weeks ago. By far the best quail plot I've ever planted!

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[roymunson]

I keep planting sorghums for the quail. They never see the seed, as soon as it gets doughy the deer strip the heads. I do love the winter cover it provides though. I efenced a bean plot for the first time this yr. It's been full of quail since the leafs yellowed and dropped a few weeks ago. By far the best quail plot I've ever planted!

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I'll be right down

 

[swat1018]

My sorghum always lasts till hunting season. It's one summer annual that the deer let mature on my places. Again, it's surrounded by lots of ag, so they would probably rather eat the corn, until it's harvested.

 

[Catscratch]

I'll be right down

:) Guests are always welcome!
I was home Sunday and did quite a bit of work in the yard. Early morning I saw a covey fly out of the plot, and then 3 more times during the day I flushed coveys from the plot as I was working around them, then one more covey flushed out of the back yard. Could all be the same covey but I don't care... I'm seeing birds and I love it!

 

[Baker]

Trying to get my arms around your situation.In the south with well managed timber and 10% of property in plots the deer densities you are referencing can be supported. 20 acres of plots can/should feed a lot of deer but if they are getting wiped out something needs to shift. I don't know anything about your forest but that is the first place I would look.Is thinning plausible and what effect would that have. an additional 230 acres of food/ habitat improvement can go a long way.

If deer are wiping your plots out seems to me you have to shift to more grazing tolerant cultivars. Alfalfa was mentioned earlier and is very good. A mixed clover stand can take a lot of pressure and last most of the year.
And bullets...lots of bullets as the ultimate solution

 

[Barndog56]

Clear another 20 acres for plots????

 

[ksgobbler]

:) Guests are always welcome!
I was home Sunday and did quite a bit of work in the yard. Early morning I saw a covey fly out of the plot, and then 3 more times during the day I flushed coveys from the plot as I was working around them, then one more covey flushed out of the back yard. Could all be the same covey but I don't care... I'm seeing birds and I love it!

We were walking back from training at the pond 10 days ago and busted a big covey. Dog required stitches after hitting a barbed wire fence. Hoping the birds stick around for the opener.

 

[Catscratch]

That's a bummer about the dog. Won't slow her down though.

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[Mortenson]

The bigger bucks (and all the other deer too) have really been hitting the red clover plots of mine this year. I'm starting to change my thoughts on red vs white clover.

 

[Belchertown Bowman]

Mortenson,.. care to elaborate?

I am just two years in and only been a white clover guy.

 

[scott44]

I'm not sure how this do with really high deer densities but it works good with mine. Alfalfa, red and white clover and chicory with a sorghum/milo mix right next to it that is about a 12 way blend ( I can't remember for sure ).

 

[DIY]

I'm beginning to notice something. Our target for bucks is 3 1/2 and older except for our novice hunters who can shoot anything. So, we have lots of 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 year old bucks running around. I have some stands that can overlook several of my small fields. I'm noticing that during shooting hours the does and 1 1/2 year old bucks seem to prefer those planted fields that have lots of planted food (WR, brassica, clovers, ... or whatever). I'm also noticing that during shooting hours 2 1/2 year old bucks prefer the grown up weed fields.

Why?

I think that does, regardless of age, are tied to the family structure. Fawns and teenagers have accelerated growth and want to be in those open fields where food is everywhere and even mature does will stay with them. I often notice fawns enter the field first and feed for quite a while before mature does enter the field. They function as the canary in the mine for the does. Does will come out when it is a little later closer to dark. By the time a buck has reached 2 1/2, it's growth demands are lessened, and its preference for security is greater. A field full of weeds and diversity will have plenty in it to eat, but it also has more cover than a green field of crops.

To my way of thinking:

Food Plots = See more deer.
Cover & Sanctuary = Shoot more mature bucks.

I’m glad you wrote this. I’m still relatively new to plots and I’ve stumbled upon a similar observation. The last two summers/falls I didn’t have time to tend to all of my perennial plots. My trail cams revealed that the ones that I sprayed and mowed and that looked impressive received regular visits from fawns, does and young bucks. The ones that I didn’t have time to manage grew weeds, got tall and attracted big bucks.

I found myself wondering why I’m spraying or mowing anything???

 

[yoderjac]

I’m glad you wrote this. I’m still relatively new to plots and I’ve stumbled upon a similar observation. The last two summers/falls I didn’t have time to tend to all of my perennial plots. My trail cams revealed that the ones that I sprayed and mowed and that looked impressive received regular visits from fawns, does and young bucks. The ones that I didn’t have time to manage grew weeds, got tall and attracted big bucks.

I found myself wondering why I’m spraying or mowing anything???

It all boils down to objectives. I'm attempting to do QDM. Quality food is an important part of that, but most folks trying to do QDM think food plots feed deer. They don't. They comprise a tiny fraction of a deer's diet. Most comes from native foods. That is why deer are limited by the underlying soil. We can amend soil in a small area like a farm field, but it is not practical to amend soil over miles unless you are farming for profit. The real purpose of a food plot for QDM is to provide a quality food source during times when nature is stingy. The best we can do is to even out the cycles.

I also have an attraction objective to some extent. I need to shoot does to keep the population in check and I want to introduce kids to the sport so harvest plots help with that.

My overall approach has evolved over time. The lion's share of our improvement over time has come from smart large scale timber management. Thinning, controlled burns, and such can provide hundreds of acres of improved quality food and rather than a net cost, there is a net profit. The key is balancing wildlife management objectives with timber profit.
With my food plots, my objective is to improve the long-term BCC as much as possible given the limitation of our underlying soils. I'm focusing on soil health and nutrient cycling rather than amendments. Like a doctor, my first duty is to do no harm. Thus, I'm minimizing depth and frequency of tillage to the top inch and often just surface broadcasting. My strategy is to create "wildlife openings" rather than traditional harvest plots. These are small and scattered. I start by trying to establish a clean clover base. I use gly for the initial burn down and only plant in the fall with a WR nurse crop. I mow the following spring as often as needed to release the clover from the WR. This generally gives me a very clean plot to start with using no post-planting herbicide. After that, I let the field go and become quite weed tolerant. I'll typically mow once a year just before the season. It is amazing how established clover bounces back when the cool evenings and fall rain favor it over the summer weeds. I'm also planting mast trees in these openings. Once they start bearing fruit, my plan is to simply mow them every couple years and let them revert back to nature. I'll only mow them often enough to keep them from becoming woody keeping them herbaceous. It will take years for this to come together but that is where I'm headed.

For our large feeding plots, I'm trying to address the summer stress period. I used to plant soybeans, but I'm moving to crops that don't require post-planting herbicide. I'm still refining that, but It will likely be come combination of Sunn Hemp and buckwheat with perhaps one other component. I still don't have high enough OM in my clay to get good results without min-tilling in the spring. In the fall, I simply throw and mow a cover crop. I like PTT/CC/WR in my area or something similar. This covers or fairly mild winter stress. They are plenty attractive for doe harvest as well as feeding deer.

If hunting mature bucks was my sole objective, I would plant a lot less food plots. I'd focus on bedding and arrangement. I'd limit hunting and would not harvest does.

It has been a great journey for me as my thinking has evolved over the years. It may change even more as I move forward.

Thanks,

Jack