Interesting observing what deer like to eat when you live with them

momatt

5 year old buck +
I moved into my new home around June 1 and its been very enjoyable living here where I can check the plots everyday and observe the wildlife daily. My old farm was in central MO and the deer loved brassicas. By this time of year they would be grazing like cattle by 2 PM on purple top turnips and rape. I had two plots of a couple acres each separated by a woodline/creek. I'd rotate half in brassicas and half in rye every year. I know they ate the rye but I never saw them spend any time in the grain side. This year I've planted about 8 acres of plots in 6 places on my new farm. I never see deer in the radish/turnip plots but they are grazing like crazy all day long in the rye plots. I drilled the rye in at about 80 pounds per acre and mixed in about 8 pounds per acre of daikon radish. When I walk out in the plots I'm surprised to see that I can easily find heavily browsed rye where they walked down the row and they skip the radishes. A few hours north at my other place it was hard to find a radish, it was like how kids eat Lucky Charms, try and find a marsh mellow left in the bowl when they are done.

Its also been very interesting seeing them acclimate to human activity. Our place is very remote, about 460 acres of Ozarks. Our nearest neighbors in terms of a house is a at least a half mile away. We have about 100 acres of open pasture on the ridgetops and we live 1.75-miles from the road at the back. At first the turkey would fly when the truck got within 200 yards. Soon they stopped flying and now I can drive right by them within 20 yards. The turkey flocks are starting to get bigger, its funny to see the "new" birds all skittish flying away while the 7 or 8 local toms don't bat an eye. Most of the doe/fawn groups don't even flag any more. I rarely see bucks but they are starting to be seen in the plots. Saw a real dandy this morning took the picture with my phone. attached. He stood there chewing for 30 seconds at least before he bolted I was sitting in my side by side which idles really loud. He wasn't in bow range, but I could have easily gotten him with a rifle.
 

Attachments

  • deer.jpg
    deer.jpg
    122.2 KB · Views: 69
Very nice. I would love the luxury of living on my farm, too.
 
I found after a hard freeze the radish ,turnips get visited.

I think the roots get “ sweet”.

I have seen perineal rye grass visited this time of year.
 
Looks like an amazing place to call home!
 
Top