ruskbuckss
5 year old buck +
I want to put in a small plot(1/4 acre) plot for the birds. I was thinking buckwheat, sunflowers, and maybe some wgf sorghum. Thoughts or suggestions? Also would these work in a mix or would it be better to do strips?
Turkey Plot
- Thread starter ruskbuckss
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Catscratch
5 year old buck +
I've planted all those. I think strips will be best as some of your taller stuff will out compete the shorter. Sunflowers are awesome if you can outgrow the deer pressure.
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yoderjac
5 year old buck +
Adult turkey have a very broad diet. Just about anything we plant for deer benefits turkey. I like the early green-up of clover for attracting bugs. While buckwheat is a short term crop, turkey really love the seeds.
Thanks,
Jack
bigbendmarine
5 year old buck +
Love the idea of planting sunflowers and they've come up great in the plots I've planted them in... then just as they reached 6" or so I found them mowed down to the dirt.
Have many deer in your area at all, you'll need efence to protect any you plant (unless you go with MUCH larger plots -- I tried about 2 acres this year and once the deer hit them they got mowed in a single night or two).
Have many deer in your area at all, you'll need efence to protect any you plant (unless you go with MUCH larger plots -- I tried about 2 acres this year and once the deer hit them they got mowed in a single night or two).
ruskbuckss
5 year old buck +
I will do strips then. I had exactly what bigben said happen with his sunflowers, they looked awesome at about four inches, I asked my friend to check out the sunflower plot. He laughed and said "you don't have 1 sunflower plant left". Do you think the buckwheat would protect the sunflowers or choke them out? I wont be able to grow a strip that small of sunflowers without the deer eating them all.
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
If you plant buckwheat thick enough to protect them they would shade them out. Buckwheat is so quick out of the box that you really need to keep it light in a mix. Short of an e-fence you won't likely protect sunflowers in such a small plot. Deer will use buckwheat but unless there is not much else they don't typically abuse it like sunflowers. Sorghum is typically ignored by deer until it heads out. Millet is another option that generally isn't wiped out.
Thanks,
Jack
Catscratch
5 year old buck +
Current millet plot:
I also had sunflowers and buckwheat planted this summer. Both produced a lot of seed and attraction for birds. Millet is the only thing left.
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I also had sunflowers and buckwheat planted this summer. Both produced a lot of seed and attraction for birds. Millet is the only thing left.
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rocksnstumps
5 year old buck +
I agree, try to grow stuff in strips. I did the sunflower/sorghum broadcast once (early in the day of plotting a small area before the deer caught on...) just for the same reason about turkey food. Sunflowers did really well, sorghum not so much. These were just a birdseed bag of black oil sunflowers....maybe 7 lbs for 1/4 acre?? Maybe 10 lbs.
BTW, the songbirds pretty much cleaned up all the seeds before the end of Sept. Not much left for turkeys into the fall. 1/4 acre just does not go very far.
Catscratch
5 year old buck +
^^^ Nice looking field!
j-bird
Moderator
till your plot and then row plant corn!:mad:
Damn birds will wait for the seed to germinate and then walk down the rows and pick every damn seed out of the ground until they are full.......and then be back the next day for more!!!
I have very few turkey and yet they seem to love attacking my small corn plots. I have had to replant a few rows in my time. By the time I plant it's after our turkey season has closed.
I don't think this was what you where after......
Damn birds will wait for the seed to germinate and then walk down the rows and pick every damn seed out of the ground until they are full.......and then be back the next day for more!!!
I have very few turkey and yet they seem to love attacking my small corn plots. I have had to replant a few rows in my time. By the time I plant it's after our turkey season has closed.
I don't think this was what you where after......
I planted some bird seed blend and it did well. Doesn't get much cheaper than that. I disked, fertilized, broadcast and dragged It had some milo, sunflowers and other random stuff. I usually throw in some oats and corn for a little variety. It still looks good, but the turkeys ate everything by September in this little 1/8 acre corner.
hookinembig
Yearling... With promise
If you really want a turkey plot plant chufa! This stuff is like turkey crack. You plant it mid summer when the soil temps get above 65 and then till a strip over in the fall. The turkeys will leave craters in your food plot digging it up. We planted some last year and it was over taken by grass so we thought it was done and never tilled it up. We went back 2nd week of January and it was like a mine field. We attempted to plant it this year but the turkeys dug it up just after it started growing but it also was very dry this year when we planted so it didn't get a great start. Plotspike from amazon is the best price I have found.
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
In my opinion, Chufa doesn't really benefit turkey any more than the many other crops we plant. It is just over hyped by NWTF. There is nothing wrong with using it if you have more land under till than you need or if you plant for ducks. If not, there are plenty of options that will benefit both deer and turkey.
Thanks,
Jack
Thanks,
Jack
H20fwler
5 year old buck +
I agree, a lot of different birds and animals seem to like them, the nuts don't last on the ground long. I tried a few and liked what I saw so I ordered a bunch to plant in my brush strips this spring.
I've also got quite a bit of mixed clovers and chickory out that the turkeys are in early in the day, I do think they eat some but the main thing I think they are after is bugs.
I see hens with poults in my clover all the time in mid summer, they act like they are running grasshoppers more than anything.
ruskbuckss
5 year old buck +
I hear you J-bird. I always get my turkey the second week of May,the same weekend I plant. Last year I had a tom coming in only to have him hang up in my newly planted soybean field. He pecked the broadcasted beans for about 45minutes, and then crossed the road without a shot.:mad:
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
I find planting for spring gobbler is a very different prospect. For fall, I haven't found anything that will pull birds to a field when acorns are abundant. When acorns are not abundant, I find turkey in just about everything I plant for deer. Nothing really stands out.
For spring gobbler, things are different. Gobblers will roost where they feel safe and can be heard by hens. Hens will select roost sites that are safe and proximate to good nesting and brooding. Water, ponds, lakes, or creeks seem to make birds feel safe and roost sites are often found proximate to these. They are also areas where sunlight gets in creating brushy nesting cover. Hinge cutting and other habitat project that create thick cover for deer also create nesting habitat.
So, if you have the fundamental structures focus on brooding. Sure, poults don't arrive until the end of the season, but hens learn over the years where good brooding habitat will be available and select roosting close to it. 90% of a poults diet is insects. Perennial cover greens up early and generally attracts bugs before most other crops are even planted. The problem is that large open clover fields expose young poults to avian predators. It is good to have clover close to vertical cover for poults with bare ground under the cover. Young poults can navigate well through things like fescue that fall over. Tall bunch grasses like NWSG provide plenty of bare ground between the bunches and have the necessary vertical cover. I use bicolor lespedeza next to clover fields. It provides the same function and also breaks large fields into smaller ones making deer more inclined to use them during daylight hours. Every time I mention bicolor lespedeza, I want to caveat it with the fact that it is non-native and can be invasive under some conditions. Be sure you are not in a situation where it will become a problem. It has worked pretty well for me but that is not true in all areas.
RR Soybeans are another great field to adjoin clover. Yes, adult birds will scratch up some seed to eat, but the real benefit for turkey is the cover. Once the beans canopy with proper weed control, poults can be completely hidden from hawks and owls below the canopy, work the adjoining clover for bugs, and return to the cover when necessary. I like to add a light mix of RR corn to my beans (1 part corn to 7 parts beans by weight). I do this primarily for deer. I'm not really trying to grow corn and I don't fertilize for it, but this light mix of corn provides some vertical cover for deer encouraging more daytime use of the beans. There is evidently enough N fixed by the previous years beans along with the little bit of N in the MAP I use to achieve my P requirement for beans because I always get good cobs on the corn. During the summer, once the cobs mature, turkey will fly up and knock cobs to get at the corn. In my zone, 7A, deer don't really uses the bean pods in the fall unless we get an acorn failure. However, I find turkey eating the pods a lot in the fall. When the bean yellow, I surface broadcast a WR/CC/PTT cover crop mix into the standing beans. In my area Crimson Clover acts as a reseeding annual so it comes up in the spring providing additional bugging for birds and food for deer until it is time to plant the bean/corn mix again.
All of this discussion is aimed at eastern birds in the east. There are other factors in the west and the birds are different too. In some places where trees are in short supply, roost sites are the overriding factor. I'll let others speak to strategies there.
I find a cohesive wildlife management strategy that includes deer, turkey, quail, small game, and even non-game species works best for me.
Thanks,
Jack
