I worked for the Feds in Natural Resource Management for 34 years and I have owned my own place for 20 years. I planted my first food plot in 1979 and have planted food plots every year since. I have probably tried most plants that will grow in southern states. Our stress period down here is probably late July through mid Sept.
Right now, I have perennial clovers into which I seed wheat in mid fall. I arrived at these plantings for a variety of reasons. I have a degree in wildlife biology and worked in that field for 34 years - and yes, I like to experiment with all manner of plantings. But, over the past ten years, between hogs, deer density, drought, floods, army worms, and old age, I have arrived where I am today. I dont use fertilizer. I can plant my 35 acres in five days fairly easily - provided decent weather and no major breakdowns - and no more deer plantings for the year. In the dry years, I typically have a month or two in late summer when the clover dries up and before I plant wheat.
That said, I believe my simple plantings of wheat and clover attract just as many deer as all the years of planting corn, brassicas, vetch, chicory, beans, sunflowers, buckwheat, milo, clover varieties, and Lord only knows what else. To be honest, one planting I have found that does provide an attraction through that late summer gap I now might see in late summer during drought years is soybeans - but the deer and hogs will not allow me to grow beans.
I know there are planting regimes done in many cases to improve the soil - but speaking strictly of plantings for attractiveness to deer - do you see wide varieties of plant availability more attractive than simple one or two species of plantings?
Right now, I have perennial clovers into which I seed wheat in mid fall. I arrived at these plantings for a variety of reasons. I have a degree in wildlife biology and worked in that field for 34 years - and yes, I like to experiment with all manner of plantings. But, over the past ten years, between hogs, deer density, drought, floods, army worms, and old age, I have arrived where I am today. I dont use fertilizer. I can plant my 35 acres in five days fairly easily - provided decent weather and no major breakdowns - and no more deer plantings for the year. In the dry years, I typically have a month or two in late summer when the clover dries up and before I plant wheat.
That said, I believe my simple plantings of wheat and clover attract just as many deer as all the years of planting corn, brassicas, vetch, chicory, beans, sunflowers, buckwheat, milo, clover varieties, and Lord only knows what else. To be honest, one planting I have found that does provide an attraction through that late summer gap I now might see in late summer during drought years is soybeans - but the deer and hogs will not allow me to grow beans.
I know there are planting regimes done in many cases to improve the soil - but speaking strictly of plantings for attractiveness to deer - do you see wide varieties of plant availability more attractive than simple one or two species of plantings?
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