Standing corn for deer

[wango tango]

Wondering people’s experiences leaving standing corn to hunt over? The deer at my farm are literally going around a 1.5a plot and seemingly just would prefer to find cobs in the field that was harvested and not chiseled. I've never had standing corn, just didn't know how normal that was. I guess it might be easier for deer to just find corn cobs then deal with standing corn in the husk? I know that might change when it gets snow on the ground. Just wondering about mowing some of it.


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[BenAllgood]

Wondering people’s experiences leaving standing corn to hunt over? The deer at my farm are literally going around a 1.5a plot and seemingly just would prefer to find cobs in the field that was harvested and not chiseled. I've never had standing corn, just didn't know how normal that was. I guess it might be easier for deer to just find corn cobs then deal with standing corn in the husk? I know that might change when it gets snow on the ground. Just wondering about mowing some of it.


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I had the standing vs picked corn scenario this year. The deer using the corn field this year did so from when it started growing until after it was picked. It was picked a little at a time through the month of November. They did seem to prefer the corn on the ground that was missed when picking.

 

[wango tango]

Maybe I’ll mow lanes in the standing corn then. People rave about mowed corn.


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[S.T.Fanatic]

I like to run my crimper through it to knock it down and to break up the cobbs. The deer gravitate to it almost immediately.

 

[bwoods11]

The deer will be in the picked corn stubble on my Iowa farm until we get snow. Then they move to the standing corn!

In Minnesota they hit the standing corn —pretty hard when it gets cold !

 

[wango tango]

Thanks. Have always done beans. This is a different take.


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[Ben.MN/WI]

Some states have rules against hunting over corn that has been mowed or manipulated. I asked our local warden in Minnesota, and he said you can hunt over standing corn, but you can't mow it or drive over it to make a shooting lane.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

I've always seen them flock to a fresh picked corn field, but they will eventually eat any standing corn.

 

[SD51555]

I think it's just a logistical problem. Pile of shelled corn is easier than scattered corn. Scattered corn is easier than cob corn. Cob corn is easier than nothing.

That's why I like the cheap forage corn. Smaller skinnier cobs are easier to get their mouth over. Just a theory. My dream plot would be half forage corn, half soybeans, half vining beans to climb up the corn. You need some big acres, no bears, and a good coon trapping program to pull that off.

 

[Diesel5610]

We have done corn for years. Deer are lazy, they will eat the corn on the ground as long as it is there and then they will move to the standing corn. Corn is king for late season around our parts.

 

[H20fwler]

I've left four rows of standing corn along the woods in the past for winter feed. The deer would walk along the rows as travel corridors but really didn't eat it. So I drove my truck down the rows and knocked it over...deer ate the ears right up.

 

[Booner21]

We mow ours a little bit at a time with a brush hog deer will eat the standing corn once it snows or ices. Once we mow deer flock to it


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[wango tango]

It’s legal to more corn in Illinois. I mowed a bit of it. Hoping that does the trick.


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[Brian662]

Some states have rules against hunting over corn that has been mowed or manipulated. I asked our local warden in Minnesota, and he said you can hunt over standing corn, but you can't mow it or drive over it to make a shooting lane.

The local warden I spoke with in MN said the same thing. He also said that you would win the court case so long as you didn't use a mower or brush hog to distribute the corn when you ran it over. So basically running it over to create access paths through it is acceptable, but brush hogging or distributing the corn in any way is unacceptable- according to prior court cases.

My advice in MN - use caution when disturbing standing corn that youll be hunting near. Same thing goes in WI, which is crazy since in portions of the state you can dump corn on the ground if it's less than 2 gallons.

 

[Brian662]

Back to the original topic, it has been my experience that all standing grains are more attractive to whitetail after there is snow on the ground that covers waste grain from farmers.

If you are in a state that allows mowing of corn, I would definitely do that. Looks like crack cocaine to the deer if you watch any TV shows in Iowa. Winke has been doing it for years, Lakoskys, etc.

 

[Tree Spud]

I wouldn't worry about cutting corn with a mower, it is common practice. Many farmers around us will go over corn to grind and break down the stalks & cobs for better incorporation with the soil.

 

[T-Max]

Do any of you overseed the corn with a cereal grain in the fall? If so, before or after you knock the corn down? Seems like there would be a good amount of residue to contend with for soil contact, but depending on the success of the corn it could be challenging to broadcast into 8' tall standing corn. Thoughts?

 

[Brian662]

Do any of you overseed the corn with a cereal grain in the fall? If so, before or after you knock the corn down? Seems like there would be a good amount of residue to contend with for soil contact, but depending on the success of the corn it could be challenging to broadcast into 8' tall standing corn. Thoughts?

I normally walk the outside rows and broadcast into the corn, so it covers the first several rows and then I'll look for spots where the corn is thin or the coons knocked it down and I cover those areas too.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Do any of you overseed the corn with a cereal grain in the fall? If so, before or after you knock the corn down? Seems like there would be a good amount of residue to contend with for soil contact, but depending on the success of the corn it could be challenging to broadcast into 8' tall standing corn. Thoughts?

It works best to over seed the knocked down corn with more corn lol

 

[sdoyle1]

Some states have rules against hunting over corn that has been mowed or manipulated. I asked our local warden in Minnesota, and he said you can hunt over standing corn, but you can't mow it or drive over it to make a shooting lane.

Curious about that. What if it’s mowed early to make lanes or small areas to plant other food plot seed? Is I the act of mowing that’s disallowed or is it the fact you’re putting food on the ground because of mowing?


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