Late season food

[Obie]

Good evening everyone, im in need of some valued opinions on next year's late season food sources. I have a 20 acre farm surrounded by 80 acres of ag on 3 sides. My hunting depends heavily on that food source because small pockets of cover in big ag areas are all usually competing on who has the best late season food sources. The area is heavily pressured but some have better spots than mine when it comes to topology.
I'm planning on planting everything in yellow in rr corn. A good friend of mine has a few hundred acres he Farms and is willing to plant it for me with fertilizer and spray gly and atrizine. The crops will be left standing all year. The fields have been in corn/soy rotation for years with good yields.
The deep dip in the right hand sign will be late planted rr beans with the green line up top. The left hand side is first year switch with pockets of fallow field. The rectangle in between the corn and switch is a premium ladino white and red clover plot in its 2nd winter. I have about an acre of greens on the farm and keeps 5 to 6 does and small bucks happy until December. I was lucky enough to have my multiple encounters with 5 different mature bucks in the plot behind the barn, until the corn came down around us.




This is this year's photos of this farm, there is a creek south west that you can see the tree line in the last photo above.

My questions are whether I should I leave small pockets in the corn to keep going into early succession for bedding spots to have some secluded spots for bucks to feel comfortable, or put clover/alfalfa/chickory plots in the corn. Also wondering if I should keep the clover or put that portion in corn also. And making clover trails from bedding areas. I've got some tsi to do on the western tree line and more trees to plant everywhere. The I'm torn between making the bigger field half corn and half trees planted in tree tops of the locust and cherry we are are cutting out.

They bed very close to the house when the corn is on. Human activity every day that stays between the barn and the house, and they don't seem to mind. The bucks bed on the back side of the property, ill post a picture zoomed out so you can get an idea of the habit.

 

[Obie]

Top view

 

[Obie]

This guy with almost pop can mass and a 19.5 inch spread came to check the plots early on November 1st. Main frame 8 with some trash. My physically biggest deer yet. My main target buck got lucky earlier that day when I misjudged range and just clipped his front leg brisket area when I took what I thought was a 30 yard quartering away shot. Turns out it was 37 yards. Rookie mistake

My 4.5 double white throat patch target buck. I'm really excited to see the jump he makes next year, if he keeps outsmarting the neighbors.

 

[Brian662]

My very first reaction is if you had 5 encounters with mature bucks on a plot and didn't kill them, you should focus on making those deer killable. Shrink the plot, create a pinch point or mock scrape, maybe water hole to bring them in bow range.

As far as late season food goes, you can never have enough grain, IMO. If you want your property to be an all season attractant, you have to dance that fine line. If you want to draw the deer in late season I would favor grains over clovers and maximize those acres as much as possible.

 

[Mortenson]

I think you bagged the best buck. Congrats.

Maybe I'm not seeing your sketching right. Is that narrow yellow band supposed to be corn, on the left? If that was here, it would have no ears in it. Plan to lose much of the outside rows. That's why the more you can put in, the better chance you stand of growing grain.

 

[Obie]

I think you bagged the best buck. Congrats.

Maybe I'm not seeing your sketching right. Is that narrow yellow band supposed to be corn, on the left? If that was here, it would have no ears in it. Plan to lose much of the outside rows. That's why the more you can put in, the better chance you stand of growing grain.

Yes, im fully aware of that. That is more for tall screening than for food. If ew would stand better I would plant it instead but I don't think corn would fall over and lodge like ew does.

Thanks! The other buck definitely has more inches on his head, but he's a year younger than the one I tagged.

 

[Obie]

My very first reaction is if you had 5 encounters with mature bucks on a plot and didn't kill them, you should focus on making those deer killable. Shrink the plot, create a pinch point or mock scrape, maybe water hole to bring them in bow range.

As far as late season food goes, you can never have enough grain, IMO. If you want your property to be an all season attractant, you have to dance that fine line. If you want to draw the deer in late season I would favor grains over clovers and maximize those acres as much as possible.

I have a pinch in that plot, but the bucks didn't follow the script. I'm hoping with the corn planted the way I drew it, they will feel comfortable going past the barn and not being in view of the house. To be fair, 2 of those encounters were after I was tagged out. It's such a low pressure spot to sit( enclosed room in the south east corner of that barn with plexiglass windows, basically scent free) I go there to observe what the deer are doing.

I want to make it a year round property, I don't expect the bucks to spend every day there, but I think I could atleast have better consistency.

 

[bigboreblr]

CAn your drone have a spreader ibstalled. Even with a small psylosd, you can spread red clover in the corn. Letbit grow 2 or 3 weeks begore the cotn harvest. Same csn be done with soybeans.

Id ask the farmer if he could plant, but leave sections undone. Plant rye clover and dsikon radish if time allows.

Gent some rent money. Have dome winter food and cover. Have someone else do the work.

 

[Obie]

CAn your drone have a spreader ibstalled. Even with a small psylosd, you can spread red clover in the corn. Letbit grow 2 or 3 weeks begore the cotn harvest. Same csn be done with soybeans.

Id ask the farmer if he could plant, but leave sections undone. Plant rye clover and dsikon radish if time allows.

Gent some rent money. Have dome winter food and cover. Have someone else do the work.

I did that before we took that section out of ag, but the plan is to leave it standing all winter. Cover and food with the corn, beans because it's just a powerful late season draw.

 

[bigboreblr]

Nothing like good AG. Spent all day on the 350 and 80 acre parcels that have corn stubble. Saw 3 deer today, the ones in my food plot greeting me while I drove the truck into the driveway. 8pm..............

Corn's alot better standing.......

Could do the three sister's thing. Corn, beans, and squash. Vetch can trellice on corn too. However, make it too weedy between the rows the deer might notgo into it. It would be nice to widen the corn rows a touch to make room for other plants. Like an etra 3 inches or so.

 

[bigboreblr]

You own the 80 acres? What ewuipment do you own or can use?

How has been harvest dates? Does the farmer own a corn dryer? That can effect when and how fast he can harvest.

Could plant winter rye mixed with red clover. Broadcast it if you have no drill. Does farmwr no-till from corn into a bean crop. If do, you would need to terminate the crop somehow.

 

[Obie]

You own the 80 acres? What ewuipment do you own or can use?

How has been harvest dates? Does the farmer own a corn dryer? That can effect when and how fast he can harvest.

Could plant winter rye mixed with red clover. Broadcast it if you have no drill. Does farmwr no-till from corn into a bean crop. If do, you would need to terminate the crop somehow.

I do not, this coming year should be beans. The corn stayed on until the last week of November, multiple big buck sightings with all the corn surrounding for cover. I dont doubt that the corn being a great post rut food source on one of the least pressured properties around was helping me.
I was thinking about planting the interior part of the corn on 60" rows with a clover/chickory mix broadcasted in. Might have to look into drone broadcasting a mix in with rye in late August.