Help me decide what to plant for next season!!!

[eclipseman]

So with this season of deer hunting winding down, I find myself starting to contemplate what to grow next season. This is on a property we purchased 2 years ago and have learned several things which I will discuss below so bear with me and read all the info and then give me your thoughts.
Ok here we go....I have 2 food plots, both of which are about 2 acres in size. The first year I divided each plot into 2 sections of plantings, creating 4 sections total (1 acre each). In one section I planted all oats. In 2 sections I planted a mixture of brassica (Rape, PPT, and radish) and in the last section I planted a mixture of winter wheat and winter rye.
Lessons I learned in the first season...I planted the oats, wheat/rye too early. The deer absolutely loved them but I do not have a high deer population so they did not keep them browsed low and before I knew it, the oats were 3 feet tall and no longer being browsed on during the hunting season. The winterwheat and rye attracted the deer a bit more than the oats did (at this point I was not sure if it was the rye or the wheat as they were mixed together). The deer munched the brassicas occasionally in September and early October. They then hammered them in late October until all the tops were gone in early December. They then ate the bulbs all winter long.
Ok now fast forward to this past year's food plots. This time I frost seeded white clover in 1 part of the plot in spring. I chose to grow brassica again in 2 parts since the deer ate them quite a bit last year and in the remaining part I did a fall planting of ladino clover with winter rye as a cover crop. I noticed a couple things this year as well. Once again the deer loved the brassica BUT they did not touch them much until middle of October. They instead were munching the heck out of the clover. They absolutely do not like winter rye. I saw very little browsing activity in it, but I was using the rye as a nurse crop for the fall ladino clover I planted anyway.
So what does this all mean. Well what it means is I have ~2 acres worth of clover that should be nice and lush coming this spring (1 acre is in each of the 2 food plots). This leaves 2 acres of plot (1 acre in each) where I am not sure what I want to grow. I do know I am going to try my hand at soybeans this spring just for the heck of it. I was told the deer would likely hammer them and they would not last since I have only 1 acre each plot. I am still going to give it a go since I like to try new things but also they "may" survive since I think I have a low deer density. Assuming the soybeans don't last long, I am thinking of doing a blend of brassica, winter peas, and oats or winter wheat(depending on what is available to purchase near me).
Questions:
1) What are your thoughts on the blend of brassica, winter peas, and oats or winter wheat? If I do this, do I first plant the winter peas and brassica since they need time to grow...and then broadcast the oats/winter wheat into growing brassica/peas in early September? My thought is by doing it this way, there could be a potential for weed growth since I would be planting brassica and peas on the lighter side to allow for room of oats/ww. If I plant them all together, wouldn't the oats/ww grow tall before hunting season and no longer be palatable?
2) what do I do if the soybeans actually survive to canopy and create pods? Do I leave them for the season or do I broadcast into the standing beans something else and basically do a no-till?
3) Should I consider planting something else in the fall instead of what I listed above?

Thanks!

 

[Tree Spud]

In the fall I would overseed with winter rye. Great late season food source. I would also over seed with red clover. Both will green up in the spring and add to the soil health.

In early summer you can terminate the rye with Gly and then broadcast or till turnips, radish, rape, & clover. These will then be ready for late spring & early fall as a good food source. You should rotate you plots with turnips & radishes.

Something new to consider would be kale. A great cold hardy plant that could add some diversity.

Others are most likely right that your soy beans would be wiped out pretty fast in 2 acres. I planted 6 acres and they are all gone. If they do survive and canopy, not much will grow that you broadcast because of the absence of light. I wouldn't waste time on oats as the winter rye will a far better job as a food source and soil builder.

Here is some good reading on what you are asking ...
Lickcreek Cereal Grains

Lickcreek Growing Brassicas

 

[broom_JM]

So with this season of deer hunting winding down, I find myself starting to contemplate what to grow next season. This is on a property we purchased 2 years ago and have learned several things which I will discuss below so bear with me and read all the info and then give me your thoughts.
Ok here we go....I have 2 food plots, both of which are about 2 acres in size. The first year I divided each plot into 2 sections of plantings, creating 4 sections total (1 acre each). In one section I planted all oats. In 2 sections I planted a mixture of brassica (Rape, PPT, and radish) and in the last section I planted a mixture of winter wheat and winter rye.
Lessons I learned in the first season...I planted the oats, wheat/rye too early. The deer absolutely loved them but I do not have a high deer population so they did not keep them browsed low and before I knew it, the oats were 3 feet tall and no longer being browsed on during the hunting season. The winterwheat and rye attracted the deer a bit more than the oats did (at this point I was not sure if it was the rye or the wheat as they were mixed together). The deer munched the brassicas occasionally in September and early October. They then hammered them in late October until all the tops were gone in early December. They then ate the bulbs all winter long.
Ok now fast forward to this past year's food plots. This time I frost seeded white clover in 1 part of the plot in spring. I chose to grow brassica again in 2 parts since the deer ate them quite a bit last year and in the remaining part I did a fall planting of ladino clover with winter rye as a cover crop. I noticed a couple things this year as well. Once again the deer loved the brassica BUT they did not touch them much until middle of October. They instead were munching the heck out of the clover. They absolutely do not like winter rye. I saw very little browsing activity in it, but I was using the rye as a nurse crop for the fall ladino clover I planted anyway.
So what does this all mean. Well what it means is I have ~2 acres worth of clover that should be nice and lush coming this spring (1 acre is in each of the 2 food plots). This leaves 2 acres of plot (1 acre in each) where I am not sure what I want to grow. I do know I am going to try my hand at soybeans this spring just for the heck of it. I was told the deer would likely hammer them and they would not last since I have only 1 acre each plot. I am still going to give it a go since I like to try new things but also they "may" survive since I think I have a low deer density. Assuming the soybeans don't last long, I am thinking of doing a blend of brassica, winter peas, and oats or winter wheat(depending on what is available to purchase near me).
Questions:
1) What are your thoughts on the blend of brassica, winter peas, and oats or winter wheat? If I do this, do I first plant the winter peas and brassica since they need time to grow...and then broadcast the oats/winter wheat into growing brassica/peas in early September? My thought is by doing it this way, there could be a potential for weed growth since I would be planting brassica and peas on the lighter side to allow for room of oats/ww. If I plant them all together, wouldn't the oats/ww grow tall before hunting season and no longer be palatable?
2) what do I do if the soybeans actually survive to canopy and create pods? Do I leave them for the season or do I broadcast into the standing beans something else and basically do a no-till?
3) Should I consider planting something else in the fall instead of what I listed above?

Thanks!

I gather from your comments that your main goal is to attract deer to your property at optimal hunting times. With that in mind, the plan you have is a good one. I think having half of your total acreage in clover is too much...I would leave the best one growing and optimize the other acre for something that really benefits deer during the middle of winter and grows fast in the spring. Look into triticale if you can find it...it's a very good compromise between wheat and winter rye. I should also ask if you have an exclosure on the field with the eye, because they often browse it quite a bit but it's hard to tell.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[eclipseman]

In the fall I would overseed with winter rye. Great late season food source. I would also over seed with red clover. Both will green up in the spring and add to the soil health.

In early summer you can terminate the rye with Gly and then broadcast or till turnips, radish, rape, & clover. These will then be ready for late spring & early fall as a good food source. You should rotate you plots with turnips & radishes.

Something new to consider would be kale. A great cold hardy plant that could add some diversity.

Others are most likely right that your soy beans would be wiped out pretty fast in 2 acres. I planted 6 acres and they are all gone. If they do survive and canopy, not much will grow that you broadcast because of the absence of light. I wouldn't waste time on oats as the winter rye will a far better job as a food source and soil builder.

Here is some good reading on what you are asking ...
Lickcreek Cereal Grains

Lickcreek Growing Brassicas

I have cameras all over my plots and the deer rarely went into the Winter Rye to browse. Also, I can see that plot from my house and never saw the deer eating the rye. They would even walk over the young tender rye to eat the brassica in early September long before a frost. They were all over the portions of the plot that had oats, winterwheat, clover and brassica. This was my reasoning why I do not think my deer like winter rye. As far as the soybeans not making, that will likely be true but I figure it is worth the try.

 

[eclipseman]

I gather from your comments that your main goal is to attract deer to your property at optimal hunting times. With that in mind, the plan you have is a good one. I think having half of your total acreage in clover is too much...I would leave the best one growing and optimize the other acre for something that really benefits deer during the middle of winter and grows fast in the spring. Look into triticale if you can find it...it's a very good compromise between wheat and winter rye. I should also ask if you have an exclosure on the field with the eye, because they often browse it quite a bit but it's hard to tell.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

I have cameras all over my plots and the deer rarely went into the Winter Rye to browse. Also, I can see that plot from my house and never saw the deer eating the rye. They would even walk over the young tender rye to eat the brassica in early September long before a frost.

That being said, I'm hesitant to remove the clover as the deer absolutely loved it. I can reduce it, but I wanted to keep at least 1/2 acre in each plot since the deer were so drawn to it. They browsed it all spring, summer, and early fall until snow and frost started kicking in.

 

[Tree Spud]

I have cameras all over my plots and the deer rarely went into the Winter Rye to browse. Also, I can see that plot from my house and never saw the deer eating the rye. They would even walk over the young tender rye to eat the brassica in early September long before a frost. They were all over the portions of the plot that had oats, winterwheat, clover and brassica. This was my reasoning why I do not think my deer like winter rye. As far as the soybeans not making, that will likely be true but I figure it is worth the try.

Then why are you asking our opinion?

 

[broom_JM]

I have cameras all over my plots and the deer rarely went into the Winter Rye to browse. Also, I can see that plot from my house and never saw the deer eating the rye. They would even walk over the young tender rye to eat the brassica in early September long before a frost.

That being said, I'm hesitant to remove the clover as the deer absolutely loved it. I can reduce it, but I wanted to keep at least 1/2 acre in each plot since the deer were so drawn to it. They browsed it all spring, summer, and early fall until snow and frost started kicking in.

Was the winter rye you planted all by itself? I thought you said it was a nurse crop? Weren't the deer in there eating the other stuff you planted?

You will eventually realize that observation is not always utilization. Being in a northern climate, I can assure you that when everything else is dormant, "your" deer (just like all whitetails) will eat cereal grains, like rye, wheat, oats, triticale, etc.

You asked for advice from folks who have been doing this longer than you have, and you have been given very good advice. If you care about the resource, versus simply caring about whether or not you see deer to shoot while you're hunting, you will gradually come to look at your habitat management from a more holistic perspective. If you are only planting food plots to see more deer and to shoot large-antlered deer, you will soon realize that you can achieve the former quite easily, while the other takes a much more dedicated approach. Hopefully you will come to see the greater benefit to you, as a landowner, in caring for the entire resource...and your food plot planting selections will adjust accordingly.

 

[Rit]

I have cameras all over my plots and the deer rarely went into the Winter Rye to browse. Also, I can see that plot from my house and never saw the deer eating the rye. They would even walk over the young tender rye to eat the brassica in early September long before a frost. They were all over the portions of the plot that had oats, winterwheat, clover and brassica. This was my reasoning why I do not think my deer like winter rye. As far as the soybeans not making, that will likely be true but I figure it is worth the try.

I can tell you something I learned this year. Cameras don’t tell the entire story. I have a few deer that seem to avoid my cameras at all cost.

I didnt think my WR was being utilized much either until I saw it again and again while on stand. It grows fast and can take the pressure. With it being a nurse crop as you said I’m sure the deer were hitting the clover and nipping the WR at the same time.

 

[eclipseman]

Then why are you asking our opinion?

I was just stating that I know for fact they do not eat the rye much and this has now been after two seasons growing it.

 

[eclipseman]

Was the winter rye you planted all by itself? I thought you said it was a nurse crop? Weren't the deer in there eating the other stuff you planted?

You will eventually realize that observation is not always utilization. Being in a northern climate, I can assure you that when everything else is dormant, "your" deer (just like all whitetails) will eat cereal grains, like rye, wheat, oats, triticale, etc.

You asked for advice from folks who have been doing this longer than you have, and you have been given very good advice. If you care about the resource, versus simply caring about whether or not you see deer to shoot while you're hunting, you will gradually come to look at your habitat management from a more holistic perspective. If you are only planting food plots to see more deer and to shoot large-antlered deer, you will soon realize that you can achieve the former quite easily, while the other takes a much more dedicated approach. Hopefully you will come to see the greater benefit to you, as a landowner, in caring for the entire resource...and your food plot planting selections will adjust accordingly.

I honestly do not care about seeing larger deer. Unfortunately, the neighbors around me shoot everything and anything. I tried convincing them to try out qdma for a few seasons and they wanted nothing to do with it. So now my adjusted goal is getting venison in the freezer. Again, I literally have 5 cameras in each food plot and the deer do not care about the cameras as they have been there for 2 years straight and are black flash cameras. The deer go into all parts of the food plots, including the rye BUT I literally get way more pictures and photos in the non-rye parts. In the videos and actual obersvation both hunting and watching with binoculars out my house windows I see them walk over the rye to get to other browse items. Again not trying to argue with anyone about cereal grains but the deer definitely browse the rye way less than anything else for 2 years now is all I was saying. I had much better luck with winter wheat and oats.

 

[broom_JM]

I honestly do not care about seeing larger deer. Unfortunately, the neighbors around me shoot everything and anything. I tried convincing them to try out qdma for a few seasons and they wanted nothing to do with it. So now my adjusted goal is getting venison in the freezer. Again, I literally have 5 cameras in each food plot and the deer do not care about the cameras as they have been there for 2 years straight and are black flash cameras. The deer go into all parts of the food plots, including the rye BUT I literally get way more pictures and photos in the non-rye parts. In the videos and actual obersvation both hunting and watching with binoculars out my house windows I see them walk over the rye to get to other browse items. Again not trying to argue with anyone about cereal grains but the deer definitely browse the rye way less than anything else for 2 years now is all I was saying. I had much better luck with winter wheat and oats.

If I had a dime for every time someone was convinced "their" deer didn't eat (insert food plot item here)...

Even with 10 cameras on 4 acres of ground, and being able to watch parts of it from your house, you are still only capturing a tiny fraction of the actual deer movement and utilization, and even that is during about 1/4 of the year. The coldest weather periods are when rye really shines, plus it builds soil like no other plant out there. Without an exclusion cage, you will never really understand how much deer are consuming the various things you plant, or how well those things are growing, for that matter.

These are things you either learn from someone else or learn from personal experience. From what I gather, you are going to insist on being in the latter camp, and that's fine. I will make a note of your user name and not burden you with any further recommendations. If you stick with this process long enough, you'll eventually start to see things VERY differently than you do now. Your main goal might even shift from seeing and killing deer (5 year old +) to improving habitat for all of the critters that could benefit from such, on the property over which you have stewardship. I certainly hope that is the case, anyway.

Luck to ya. ;)

 

[eclipseman]

If I had a dime for every time someone was convinced "their" deer didn't eat (insert food plot item here)...

Even with 10 cameras on 4 acres of ground, and being able to watch parts of it from your house, you are still only capturing a tiny fraction of the actual deer movement and utilization, and even that is during about 1/4 of the year. The coldest weather periods are when rye really shines, plus it builds soil like no other plant out there. Without an exclusion cage, you will never really understand how much deer are consuming the various things you plant, or how well those things are growing, for that matter.

These are things you either learn from someone else or learn from personal experience. From what I gather, you are going to insist on being in the latter camp, and that's fine. I will make a note of your user name and not burden you with any further recommendations. If you stick with this process long enough, you'll eventually start to see things VERY differently than you do now. Your main goal might even shift from seeing and killing deer (5 year old +) to improving habitat for all of the critters that could benefit from such, on the property over which you have stewardship. I certainly hope that is the case, anyway.

Luck to ya. ;)

I like all the information I receive here and I do not want people thinking I know everything and I do like the feedback, including yours. That being said, it has been 2 seasons with rye and it is not 10 cameras on 4 acres of plots but rather 10 cameras on 1 acre at a time that I would move around every 2-3 weeks! What I did was I wanted to see where the deer were entering each food plot so I would move the cameras around in order to determine where to place treestands and ground blinds. Once hunting season started, I would leave 5 cameras in each plot to monitor what the deer were doing in those plots and when. YES, the deer would munch on the rye but it was WAY WAY WAY less than other browse DURING the hunting season. You are correct that once cold weather/snow hits then things like oats or winterwheat are basically killed and the deer wont touch them. I do understand that. But the deer would still avoid the rye and focus then on brassica and clover (if there isn't a ton of snow so they could get to the clover). Once the turnips,radish,rape is gone then they start nibbling at the rye more so but this isn't until end of december time frame. I am not interested in trying to grow mature bucks/deer on this property due to what I explained about my neighbors. This is 119acres surrounded by neighbors who shoot everything and anything. One of the neighbors has lived there his entire life (owns 40 acres) and he drives 45 minutes to hunt instead of hunting his property because of how poor the bucks are in this area. I do the same...my father owns 150 acres about 10 miles away and that is where we hunt for big bucks. This property is simply for meat and that is all. Again, I really appreciate all the feedback you give so please do not just stop commenting but I do believe I am pretty accurate in my thoughts on rye on this property. as an FYI, the deer on my father's property absolutely hammer his rye, so I am certainly not against it.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Bear with me because these will be random statements and take it for what it's worth because this is my opinion.

You have to much clover.

Food plot mixes are great but.....................Don't plant them all the same day. It will almost guarantee that some species will be planted to soon and others to late.

Plant different species in strips

When planning on over seeding with a later planted crop always plant on the light side with the earlier planted crop. If this is soybeans go with an early maturing variety and plant the regular rate.

Keep good records and rotate plots frequently to lower or eliminate the need of fertilizer

Mix fall planted peas with sunflowers

Do not mix brassicas with anything

If you want to mix winter cereal grains in your fall plantings great but plant the other stuff 2-3 weeks or more earlier and over seed with the grains +/- 3 to 4 days from Sept 1.

If you dont want observation criticism put up cages and take pictures.

TNM when tillage isn't necessary and many cases it isn't.

 

[eclipseman]

Bear with me because these will be random statements and take it for what it's worth because this is my opinion.

You have to much clover.

Food plot mixes are great but.....................Don't plant them all the same day. It will almost guarantee that some species will be planted to soon and others to late.

Plant different species in strips

When planning on over seeding with a later planted crop always plant on the light side with the earlier planted crop. If this is soybeans go with an early maturing variety and plant the regular rate.

Keep good records and rotate plots frequently to lower or eliminate the need of fertilizer

Mix fall planted peas with sunflowers

Do not mix brassicas with anything

If you want to mix winter cereal grains in your fall plantings great but plant the other stuff 2-3 weeks or more earlier and over seed with the grains +/- 3 to 4 days from Sept 1.

If you dont want observation criticism put up cages and take pictures.

TNM when tillage isn't necessary and many cases it isn't.

I really appreciate the feedback. I have a couple questions based off what you have stated.

1.Why do you say too much clover? I thought ladino clover is a good thing and have heard people plant acres upon acres of it. I have no issue tilling some of it up to plant something else though, so how much would recommend I keep in each food plot?

2.I am not 100% certain what you mean plant in strips. I am guessing you mean divide an area up in "strips/rows" and broadcast each plant species next to eachother in "strips"? If so, how wide should these strips of plantings be? How do you go about doing it if you have things which need to be planted earlier than others? For example, lets say I want to plant brassicas, peas, sunflowers, and some sort of cereal grain. How would I kill weeds with chemicals and then broadcast brassica, and then some time later have to spray again without harming the brassica in order to plant the other things? Thanks!

 

[yoderjac]

I was just stating that I know for fact they do not eat the rye much and this has now been after two seasons growing it.

You don't "know" that until you put up exclusion cages. If you are right, it is because they have found something that is a better tradeoff, perceived risk verses reward.

 

[eclipseman]

You don't "know" that until you put up exclusion cages. If you are right, it is because they have found something that is a better tradeoff, perceived risk verses reward.

I understand exclusion cages and will do those later but I literally have thousands of photos and videos of both food plots for the past 2 years. Hundreds of minutes of videos as well so you all May say I can’t say for certain but I feel pretty confident I’m correct as 99% of those pictures and videos are in all the other parts of the food plots OR in the woods. The occasional time they were in the rye parts, they would munch for a minute or two on their way to the other part of the plots. I witnessed this numerous times in person all summer viewing from my back porch and also during hunting seasons. I could also tell the browse portions versus non browsed rye. barely anything was touched and grew very fast.

 

[yoderjac]

I understand exclusion cages and will do those later but I literally have thousands of photos and videos of both food plots for the past 2 years. Hundreds of minutes of videos as well so you all May say I can’t say for certain but I feel pretty confident I’m correct as 99% of those pictures and videos are in all the other parts of the food plots OR in the woods. The occasional time they were in the rye parts, they would munch for a minute or two on their way to the other part of the plots. I witnessed this numerous times in person all summer viewing from my back porch and also during hunting seasons. I could also tell the browse portions versus non browsed rye. barely anything was touched and grew very fast.

Ok. I've got high end wireless cameras set up with solar panels that run 24/7/365. They are a dual lens design that have no mechanical filter and thus no noise. Like Reconyx, these don't miss pictures of deer in their field of view. They can run for many months unattended and I've had some go well over a year without changing batteries. They are true black flash and deer don't avoid the flash.

They do give me some indication of food plot usage, but are not nearly as good of a gauge as exclusion cages.

So, let's say you are right, the WR is not being used. WR is attractive to deer when it is young and tender. Your description above talk about viewing the plot all summer and during hunting seasons. Maybe I misunderstand, but the issue may be your use of WR. You are further north than me, so your dates will be different, but our archery season begins in early October. I won't plant winter rye until mid-September and use it as a nurse crop for clover. While the primary purpose of WR is to nurse the clover, it is the main attractant to that field in October and November and some into December. After that, deer still use it. It will continue to grow in much colder weather than most other crops, but the more it ages, the less attractive it becomes. When spring rolls around, WR greens up quickly and grows fast but is not attractive to deer. When used as a nurse crop it needs to be mowed to release the clover depending on seeding rates. It will die naturally during the summer. If you let WR form seed head, they may get light use by deer but they are not highly attractive.

So, when I hear you have been watching it all summer and during the hunting season, it makes sense it is not being used. The further north you go, the less stressful summer is and the more stressful winter is for deer. Deer may have better options when winter rye planted in the summer is at its peak, by hunting season, WR may already be getting older and becoming less attractive.

Hope this helps,

Jack

 

[Rit]

I understand exclusion cages and will do those later but I literally have thousands of photos and videos of both food plots for the past 2 years. Hundreds of minutes of videos as well so you all May say I can’t say for certain but I feel pretty confident I’m correct as 99% of those pictures and videos are in all the other parts of the food plots OR in the woods. The occasional time they were in the rye parts, they would munch for a minute or two on their way to the other part of the plots. I witnessed this numerous times in person all summer viewing from my back porch and also during hunting seasons. I could also tell the browse portions versus non browsed rye. barely anything was touched and grew very fast.

I know the deer I observe spend just as much time if not more eating natural browse along the edges then standing in one spot filling up on just one crop. I have a plot that is about 30 yards wide but very long and they take 3 or 4 bites in the plot while browsing on everything else.

 

[eclipseman]

Ok. I've got high end wireless cameras set up with solar panels that run 24/7/365. They are a dual lens design that have no mechanical filter and thus no noise. Like Reconyx, these don't miss pictures of deer in their field of view. They can run for many months unattended and I've had some go well over a year without changing batteries. They are true black flash and deer don't avoid the flash.

They do give me some indication of food plot usage, but are not nearly as good of a gauge as exclusion cages.

So, let's say you are right, the WR is not being used. WR is attractive to deer when it is young and tender. Your description above talk about viewing the plot all summer and during hunting seasons. Maybe I misunderstand, but the issue may be your use of WR. You are further north than me, so your dates will be different, but our archery season begins in early October. I won't plant winter rye until mid-September and use it as a nurse crop for clover. While the primary purpose of WR is to nurse the clover, it is the main attractant to that field in October and November and some into December. After that, deer still use it. It will continue to grow in much colder weather than most other crops, but the more it ages, the less attractive it becomes. When spring rolls around, WR greens up quickly and grows fast but is not attractive to deer. When used as a nurse crop it needs to be mowed to release the clover depending on seeding rates. It will die naturally during the summer. If you let WR form seed head, they may get light use by deer but they are not highly attractive.

So, when I hear you have been watching it all summer and during the hunting season, it makes sense it is not being used. The further north you go, the less stressful summer is and the more stressful winter is for deer. Deer may have better options when winter rye planted in the summer is at its peak, by hunting season, WR may already be getting older and becoming less attractive.

Hope this helps,

Jack

Good point but the rye over summer was planted the fall before and the rye this past fall was planted on September 2nd. Both falls saw very little rye usage but again I did not use an exclusion cage. I do feel very confident as all other food plot items, were well eaten. You could tell by where the deer actually were biting, foot prints on the soil, deer poop, and camera pictures/video where as the rye did not have much of any of that. That being said, the intent of the rye was to cover crop the clover and it did its job.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

To the OP

It can be quite difficult to find that one size fits all planting. Deer in different areas may have entirely different preferences/nutritional needs. Are you plotting for harvest or stress period nutrition. Limitations in time, money, distance from property, soil, Food plot location/layout, and plotting equipment all need to be considered and are different for all plotters.

If year round attraction/patterning is your goal I would make sure that there is something attractive at all times of year in your plot and with a 2 acre plot I think you can easily achieve that goal and in your case 2X over.

This is where "strip or row planting" comes into play. For the sake of simple math divide the plot in four even strips. Plant 1/2 acre in a clover/chicory mix. 1/2 acre in soybeans, 1/2 acre in a winter pea/sunflower mix, and a 1/2 acre brassica mix.

On top of that be sure to mow your clover plot around Labor Day and over seed the entire 2 acre plot with a winter grain and crimson or berseem clover mix at the same time.

Something like this should get you a darn good start.

I am doing something similar to this only I have a smaller plot and are planting a great number of strips.

Mine consists of

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
sugar beets
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early maturing soy beans
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corn
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Over seed/cover crop entire plot with a cereal grain
early maturing soy beans like WW, WR, W triticale, W barley, or a mix of all of them
----------------------------------------------------------------------- I am also going to try Cover cropping with lentils which is a very small and inexpensive seed
tillage radishes and am also going to give white sweet lupin a shot
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
pea/sunflower/oat
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clover/chicory
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Edited:

Over seed/cover crop entire plot with a cereal grain like Winter Wheat, Winter Rye, Winter Triticale, Winter Barley or a mix of them.
I am going to give lentils a shot. They are well under a buck a pound, are a tiny seed well suited for areal application, and are a legume.
I am also going to try out white sweet lupin as a cover