phil, 3' is 3' and all the way around your pretty much screwed, even corn is questionable in that much snow unless you got a very good, tall crop(most of the food plot corn I am accustomed to seeing rarely gets above 6' or 7' tall, unlike some of the guys on here who grow 10' tall corn plots like they are on 250 bushel/acre prime ground in the cornbelt). Most of the time beans will not hold up under that much snow either. I was talking snow cover in the 10" to 16" range at the beginning of the snowy season, like we see this time of year. The taller plants give the deer more weeks of food than they would have if it were 3" tall. Will these taller plants feed them under the heavy snowfall amounts that accumulate in late January or February, most likely not, but they will maximize the plot usage during the early months of winter, so they do not have to rely on woody browse for as many weeks during the long northern winters. Any advantage you can provide is worth the minimal effort to get your plantings done a few weeks earlier to allow for taller growth. When you have good snow cover and minimal melting, it can be pretty easy to dig through 12" of snow, and unless it is the heavy, wet type of snow, one would be ok at that snow depth. Now, with heavy wet snowfalls, freezing rain on top of existing snow, or constant thawing and refreezing of the snowpack, the benefits go away quickly under those types of conditions, even with only a foot of snow and taller plants. I have observed many alfalfa/red clover fields that are in drift prone areas on hilltops where the wind keeps the snow from completely piling up that are dug up and browsed on throughout the whole winter.
