Newbie Food plot fail. Change to native?

[ourcountryway]

Hey HT, south central Va, zone 7b. Bow season starts first week in Oct. I have a blind that looks over 1/4 acre food plot. 40 yard shot max. Planted mix of name brand plot seeds which included brassicas, clover etc.. it grew, deer didn't touch it. Some brassicas are now (Feb) softball size!! I have some young chestnut and apple there, no fruit yet..

I'm thinking..in my area everything is still green in Oct, they have plenty of food choices.

What are some options for a kill plot that could bring them to me there? Was thinking of a lush clover chickory only plot. They have a creek 80yds away for water. Trails in the pictures were cut by me and they use them. Total Area in pic is about 10 acres.
Or maybe Let it go back to native and add something. The area was farmed 10 years ago and the soil is very good. Plenty of sun.
Atv equipment only..

Thoughts ?

 

[Native Hunter]

It’s not uncommon for deer in some areas to shun brassicas - especially turnips; however chicory is eaten well most anywhere. For a fall kill plot consider clover, chicory and a cereal grain such as wheat, oats or rye. I personally like a mix of wheat and oats, but northerners seem to prefer rye. The oats may freeze out in late winter, but in October in 7B - tender, emerging oats should be the cat’s meow.

PS - if you want to test some different brassicas in the above mix, try adding a small amount of rape and daikon radish. Deer generally will eat those somewhat better than turnips, but they likely won’t be a strong draw. Sun hemp, on the other hand, gets eaten well by my picky deer if you want to test even more. Good luck.

 

[Native Hunter]

And, I had one more thought - instead of planting just white clover, be sure to mix in some medium red clover. Deer really go after it in my area, and it should really be a good draw in October in 7B.

 

[ourcountryway]

And, I had one more thought - instead of planting just white clover, be sure to mix in some medium red clover. Deer really go after it in my area, and it should really be a good draw in October in 7B.

Thank you, I had to clean the native brush, cut small trees and was able to atv pull behind till the area when it was moist for my first attempt at the plot.
If i go clover, rye, should I till again whats there first or just over seed?
I am finding it difficult to get just clover seed to purchase, local or online, they are mostly small bags and or mixed, maybe i don't need as much as I think for 1/4 acre..

 

[Derek Reese 29]

You probably don’t have to re-till this will only allow more weeds to come up out of your seed bank. For 1/4 acre you don’t need much seed (like definitely a pound or two of each kind of clover) but depending on how you are seeding it that may go up…if you are broadcasting it, do like double the rate…so if it calls for 8lbs an acre for a specific kind of clover, plant like 2-3 lbs(some guys say not to but I always go a bit heavy on seeding rates)..I always do a mix and a fail safe mix for me has been medium red, mammoth red, alsike and ladino plus some chicory and over seed with winter rye (if planting in the fall)..up here in PA I do this around Labor Day so you could even wait a week or so later to broadcast the rye.the goal for that is to be small and green when your season is in, but that stuff will germinate at very cold temps (like under 40 degrees) so you could wait till later and just broadcast it before a good rain to get some more green attraction when the native local stuff is starting to go downhill..also, for seeds look into Merit Seed..have had good luck with them and their prices aren’t crazy and their shipping is usually pretty reasonable..they also will ship a 3 lb bag which if you combine a couple of them will make your mix..good luck!

 

[ourcountryway]

Thank you very much, I'll check out Merit, I've heard of that place in previous post but I always thought it was a local store somewhere but I'll give it a shot.

 

[Native Hunter]

Thank you, I had to clean the native brush, cut small trees and was able to atv pull behind till the area when it was moist for my first attempt at the plot.
If i go clover, rye, should I till again whats there first or just over seed?
I am finding it difficult to get just clover seed to purchase, local or online, they are mostly small bags and or mixed, maybe i don't need as much as I think for 1/4 acre..

Any seed you plant needs to get soil contact and not face competition from existing vegetation. That means either tilling or doing "no till" methods like farmers do these days when they plant soybeans and corn. A lot of us guys here are doing a what we refer to as "spray/thow/mow." We kill the existing vegetation with Gly, spread the seed, and then mow the thatch down over the seed. If done correctly and with good rain, this usually gives acceptable results, but it's not as foolproof as drilling seed in the ground after spraying, like farmers do.

If you can't find seed locally, you may need to order it online at some place like Merit Seed or some place similar. The shipping, of course, is an extra cost, but maybe you could get an order in with some of your friends and help with spreading the cost.

 

[PatinPA]

Hey HT, south central Va, zone 7b. Bow season starts first week in Oct. I have a blind that looks over 1/4 acre food plot. 40 yard shot max. Planted mix of name brand plot seeds which included brassicas, clover etc.. it grew, deer didn't touch it. Some brassicas are now (Feb) softball size!! I have some young chestnut and apple there, no fruit yet..

I'm thinking..in my area everything is still green in Oct, they have plenty of food choices.

What are some options for a kill plot that could bring them to me there? Was thinking of a lush clover chickory only plot. They have a creek 80yds away for water. Trails in the pictures were cut by me and they use them. Total Area in pic is about 10 acres.
Or maybe Let it go back to native and add something. The area was farmed 10 years ago and the soil is very good. Plenty of sun.
Atv equipment only..

Thoughts ?

Took a few years for the deer around me to catch on to the brassica's. I'm surrounded by commercial ag. Mostly corn, soybeans, and hay in the fall than winter wheat over winter. I try to give them something different. My deer really like oats and chicory but it's pretty hit or miss with small plots. I keep experimenting every year with some new stuff, looking for that magical draw.

 

[SwampCat]

I dont know what your deer density is like, but at my place, they would eat a 1/4 acre plot to the dirt if it was something they liked - almost overnight. I am not a big proponent of apple trees - but IF you could grow apples without disease causing the trees to lose a crop or every critter in the woods eating them long before they get ripe (do you have bears?), or drought killing the trees - I might try apples. If you could concentrate on apples that dropped during your october hunting period, a few apples dropping everyday could have the deer coming back for more all month. I quit planting 1/4 acre food plots. Smallest I plant now is one acre - and two acres is even better - but my deer density is pretty high.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

As a couple other guys said above, it may take a couple years before deer get used to brassicas. Our deer paid no attention to brassicas the first year . . . a few eaten in year 2 . . . and then gangbusters, especially on the radishes early, then the turnips later. Rape is a good thing to add as well, also in the brassica family. If you have room, maybe don't cross off brassicas entirely, to give deer a chance to "discover" them.

As SwampCat said above, disease-resistant (DR) apple varieties - or for even less headache - crab apples are hard to beat for fall attraction. 2 really good DR apple varieties are Liberty and Enterprise. For some really good apple and crab selections, look up Blue Hill Wildlife Nursery online. Our camp has a number of their trees, and we have no complaints.

 

[omicron1792]

If that was your first year I would make no changes. It takes deer a while to warm up to new foods. I like a diverse mix of different clover. Otherwise keep doing what you are doing. They will be eating it to the dirt soon enough.

Also put an exclusion cage this year. You might be surprised that they are eating way more than you think.

Lastly, very few good bucks here are killed over food. It’s on the way to food. Now in offseason try to find their paths to the plot. Set up minerals and water on that path and find a good blind or tree location to hunt them next year on that path

 

[jsasker007]

Just a thought but if your plot isn't in a place where the deer feel safe and are out in the open they may not hit it during the day. They do like to feel "hidden" to a point. jmo