Milo Deer Preference - hunting season overview

[Spike_Horn_Shooter]

Guys,

I just wanted to see if anyone else has been less than impressed with the deer preference for milo both red and white varieties.

I had two - one acre plots of milo planted; one was Northwoods milo, one was Pheasants Forever milo.

The good
- Milo grew great in our record breaking drought.
- Milo does not get browsed in season like corn or beans
- Milo provided a provided enough cover for the deer to feel comfortable daytime browsing the limited amount of brassica forage that grew from over-seeding.
- Milo will likely return a large amount of biomass to the soil.

The bad
- Milo is not a preferred food source for deer in my area, especially with no known history of being planted in the local area.
-The deer did not seem to favor milo in Oct, Nov, or Dec. I hunted this plot in all three months and frankly observed no browsing on the milo.
-As for a preference to red/white milo, I saw more deer in the white milo, but that could be attributed to it being a less dense stand and having more growth from over-seeded brassicas and natural growth.

This milo was no-tilled in mid June with a Kasco Eco-Drill. A soil test was performed and this plot was fertilized according. PH was around 6.5.

 

[Spike_Horn_Shooter]

Red milo in December.

 

[Spike_Horn_Shooter]

White Milo in August

 

[Spike_Horn_Shooter]

White milo in December. It’s worth noting on this hunt, all the deer that came out were browsing on the ground and not the milo

 

[Spike_Horn_Shooter]

Milo and peas in late July.

 

[Catscratch]

I grew good milo this yr. Deer loved it when they loved it. No use since then.

 

[Stubborn1VT]

White Milo in August
View attachment 86995

Could be just the pictures you chose, but neither the red or white Milo looked very mature.
That's what happened to my Red Milo during the drought. Grew ok, but mine went in late due to wet clay and got frosted early and never made seed.
Something to consider.

 

[omicron1792]

Give it time. Year 2 and 3 they will eat every single stalk.

You may have to mow rows through it. They won’t walk through that thick stuff in your pic.

 

[Spike_Horn_Shooter]

Could be just the pictures you chose, but neither the red or white Milo looked very mature.
That's what happened to my Red Milo during the drought. Grew ok, but mine went in late due to wet clay and got frosted early and never made seed.
Something to consider.

Thank you. This was my first year growing Milo, so still in the early parts of the learning curve.

 

[Spike_Horn_Shooter]

Give it time. Year 2 and 3 they will eat every single stalk.

You may have to mow rows through it. They won’t walk through that thick stuff in your pic.

That was my plan, give it another year, maybe they will acquire a taste for it.

 

[bigboreblr]

Cold do strips of it. Like 2 passes with the seeder, then come back and seed between the passes with something shorter.

 

[swat1018]

On one of my farms, with Ag adjacent to the milo, they barely touch it unless there is heavy snow cover. On my other farm, 2 miles away, they eat 4 acres of it in a plot surrounded by big timber.

 

[buckdeer1]

Depends on where you are we had over 100 acres of milo and they wiped out my 2 acre Real World bean plot and then mowed my over seeded wheat down to 1/4 inch tall and have a 1/2 acre clover plot mowed down also.Deer like ag milo in the doughy stage.This year even though we sprayed twice army worms ate 3/4 of the milo.When they did the heads turned dark and looked like yours.If this happens theres no grain so they don't eat it.If there was grain the coons,turkeys and black birds would hammer it.That is as long as it's low in tannin.Seems they like it better.If wanting to save for late season probably have to fence like beans

 

[Badgers80]

This was my first year planting milo - red milo. I planted around June 21st in WI. After planting, it was a relatively wet and cool summer, and we had an early October frost, so slightly earlier than normal. That being said, I think my milo heads were stunted and didn’t fully seed and dry out. You can see some look whiter in color but they all should be red milo.
I have seen very little deer pressure but have seen some bedding in the plot. Even with the milo standing and all the ag nearby harvested, the milo remains untouched by the deer. I don’t know, it really doesn’t seem to be a preferred food source here at all even in tough times. But again, could be the stunted state of the seed heads.

 

[Badgers80]

Guys,

I just wanted to see if anyone else has been less than impressed with the deer preference for milo both red and white varieties.

I had two - one acre plots of milo planted; one was Northwoods milo, one was Pheasants Forever milo.

What was the name of the Pheasants Forever Milo? Thoughts vs NW milo?

 

[Spike_Horn_Shooter]

This was my first year planting milo - red milo. I planted around June 21st in WI. After planting, it was a relatively wet and cool summer, and we had an early October frost, so slightly earlier than normal. That being said, I think my milo heads were stunted and didn’t fully seed and dry out. You can see some look whiter in color but they all should be red milo.
I have seen very little deer pressure but have seen some bedding in the plot. Even with the milo standing and all the ag nearby harvested, the milo remains untouched by the deer. I don’t know, it really doesn’t seem to be a preferred food source here at all even in tough times. But again, could be the stunted state of the seed heads.

Badger, that’s funny. We have about identical experiences except my summer spring was super wet, then I don’t think it rained an inch after I planted around June 20.

Judging from the feedback on here, it seems my seed heads were also immature as well; and I’m not seeing any deer preference for the milo

 

[buckdeer1]

Between aphids and army worms it can be tought o get a decent seed head in the midwest anymore.Some of the later planted milo did good in my area this year but our early milo was terrible

 

[Spike_Horn_Shooter]

What was the name of the Pheasants Forever Milo? Thoughts vs NW milo?

SS Early Longtail Milo.

Growth was similar, the NW was planted with iron and clay cow peas, the PF was a stand alone planting.

The deer mostly came into the PF Milo, but I could attribute that to more non-milo vegetation on the ground and a big ditch next to the PF Milo where all the deer like to sit and catch thermals before entering field.

 

[Spike_Horn_Shooter]

My milo planting next year, I’ll try to plant earlier and will definitely mix in about 50lbs / acre of forage soybeans.

As far as deer preference in my area (that I can plant) I think beans followed closely by sunflowers are the best summer annuals that I can plant. I just have to develop a fencing solution to get the sunflowers and beans past August.

 

[blueKYstream]

I used to get bags free from Quail Forever or similar groups. It's been years since I got them and planted, but they used to eat milo on my place in September. It was a good draw for a relatively short period in early season before deer and birds wiped them out. There wasn't much left come muzzleloader or gun season.