Does Variety of Food Plot Plantings Attract More Deer?

[SwampCat]

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?

 

[BenAllgood]

In the late 90's, the biologist for a club I was in, invited Kent Kammermeyer out and he turned us on to Durana. We planted it there, then I went on to plant it at a place I managed in Louisiana. I planted about 25 acres of it along with forage oats. It was a great combo. But, like you said, late summer can be rough on it. In Kentucky, one of the primary times we need to hold bucks is late summer because of the September opener. That's when Durana can have problems. That's why I need something else besides Durana at that point in time. It can get mighty crispy in late summer. I still find they ate it then, but they really liked soybeans at that time. I experimented with forage soybeans and top sowed with Durana before leaf drop. For pure attraction, I've found different plants preferred at different times.

 

[Catscratch]

I'm in agreement but I will add that diverse plantings seem to be more resilient to extremes (heat, drought, floods, etc), better at mining mineral, and better at unlocking elements that are chemically bound up and unusable (ie fertilizer).

 

[SwampCat]

In the late 90's, the biologist for a club I was in, invited Kent Kammermeyer out and he turned us on to Durana. We planted it there, then I went on to plant it at a place I managed in Louisiana. I planted about 25 acres of it along with forage oats. It was a great combo. But, like you said, late summer can be rough on it. In Kentucky, one of the primary times we need to hold bucks is late summer because of the September opener. That's when Durana can have problems. That's why I need something else besides Durana at that point in time. It can get mighty crispy in late summer. I still find they ate it then, but they really liked soybeans at that time. I experimented with forage soybeans and top sowed with Durana before leaf drop. For pure attraction, I've found different plants preferred at different times.

I do agree, soybeans are the number one warm season crop. When I could still grow beans, I would spread wheat into the beans right before leaf drop and have 12 months of food with two plant species. My deer prevent planting beans now - which actually drove me to the clover. It also saved me a lot of work as beans are definitely more labor intensive than clover - and more costly than clover.

 

[SwampCat]

I might well be able to add chicory to my clover and have food in late summer during drought years - as long as I didnt ever spray my clover - which I usually dont

 

[SD51555]

I'm in agreement but I will add that diverse plantings seem to be more resilient to extremes (heat, drought, floods, etc), better at mining mineral, and better at unlocking elements that are chemically bound up and unusable (ie fertilizer).

100%

I had to learn that lesson in a few dry years before it sank in. When we burnt up in 2021, my polycultures held on and stayed green, even when the subsoil was powder 7' down.

In addition to resilience, the things I put in are also to try to ward off weeds. That experiment is still going to this day. It ends up being a bonus when I discover that the deer around me will eat anything I plant. They've eaten flax heads, millet stalks, stemmy sweet clover, all broadleaf weeds except mullen and thistle. Sedge is still something I struggle with. It seems to make a slow comeback over a number of years.

 

[SD51555]

I'm in agreement but I will add that diverse plantings seem to be more resilient to extremes (heat, drought, floods, etc), better at mining mineral, and better at unlocking elements that are chemically bound up and unusable (ie fertilizer).

I also think those plants brought up in a diverse blend and that are unfertilized have a far superior nutrient profile. That's the quorum sensing/mycorhizal fungi phenomenon. But it takes a year or better to get to that I think.