What are a bucks main food source.

[Peplin Creek]

i want to know what everyone feels is there bucks preferred food source during the spring, summer and early fall. I have a couple clover plots that have doe in it all year and bucks use the trails 100 yards away but they don't seem to be in the clover ever. When the soybeans yellow my turnips/radishes get hit hard by both doe and bucks. Grains seem to be hit and miss each year. So let's hear it, what do your bucks prefer.

 

[SWIFFY]

Soybeans/Clover in the summer, Oats/Rye in the fall, Corn/Beans in the winter, Mineral/ in spring (or whatever greens) I typically see them scavenging whats left in the corn and beans...

 

[j-bird]

Once again I my show my simple mindedness here......I don't think "bucks" eat anything different than does. However WHERE they eat is a different matter and that can drive more of what they eat.

An open foodplot in daylight may be a security risk a buck isn't willing to take, while a doe will parade around in it without much issue. Instead the buck may stay back in the cover and eat what he finds and only enter the plot once darkness falls or maybe even not at all.

This is why WHERE can be just as important or even more so than WHAT when it comes to plotting.

Again - just my 2 cents worth.

 

[bwoods11]

I think beans are the key in the summer, mix in clover and alfalfa. I have 82 acres and right now nice green soybeans. All the bucks (9-10 total) are on my place. The neighbor to the north has timber and corn, he has one buck on camera, and he has better overall cover.

This is in MN

 

[browndog]

For bucks in my area, soybeans(leaves) are the food of preference now until they turn yellow. Early October my alfalfa plot is the best. Mid November and early winter, soybeans(the hanging pods filled with beans) are hot, corn and radish. I shot a 3.5yr old about 10yrs ago in early Nov and he was stuffed with willow leaves and the woody browse. I thought that was odd since there was corn everywhere.

 

[Native Hunter]

They like candy pretty well:

 

[wiscwhip]

. I shot a 3.5yr old about 10yrs ago in early Nov and he was stuffed with willow leaves and the woody browse. I thought that was odd since there was corn everywhere.

This ^^^ may go back to j-birds point about WHERE the bucks feed. Quite likely the buck you mention may have had some bad experiences feeding in and around corn fields and just refused to put himself in those situations for feeding, so he chose to stay away from the ag and feed on what was safely available.

 

[browndog]

They like candy pretty well:

Yes they do. I forgot about my white oaks! Also forgot about my apple trees too. I have a redfree that is dropping right now, any apple that hits the ground during the day will be gone by morning. Deer gobble them up, trailcam confirmed that last year.

 

[Mortenson]

All I know is what the bucks aren't eating all this summer, and that's my secure and lush clover plots. I can only assume they're elsewhere feeding on soybeans in the dark.

 

[Native Hunter]

This ^^^ may go back to j-birds point about WHERE the bucks feed. Quite likely the buck you mention may have had some bad experiences feeding in and around corn fields and just refused to put himself in those situations for feeding, so he chose to stay away from the ag and feed on what was safely available.

Yep, I have apples falling in the yard. Walked out there the other evening about dark and had a dang doe to scare the $#^ out of me.....

 

[Peplin Creek]

All I know is what the bucks aren't eating all this summer, and that's my secure and lush clover plots. I can only assume they're elsewhere feeding on soybeans in the dark.

I feel like this is close to the same type of behavior I am having. I don't have soybeans so that could be an issue too. The thing is I have clover plot that doe seem to love and it's very small 1/16th of acre in thick bedding cover. I do get pictures of bucks 100 yards away but never in that plot. I don't understand it. Come rut the bucks will be there all times of the day looking for doe so I am not worried but it begs the question if the doe take up residence for 3/4 years straight do the bucks go elsewhere for the summer? Carrying compacity issue. No clue really. But I have never been able to pattern a buck off of a clover plot or grain plot. Only off of soybeans and turnips/radishes. That was once the beans yellowed.

 

[big L]

They like candy pretty well:

Too funny

 

[browndog]

All I know is what the bucks aren't eating all this summer, and that's my secure and lush clover plots. I can only assume they're elsewhere feeding on soybeans in the dark.

I have a clover/alfalfa plot that is tucked in between very good bedding areas, no buck or doe pics on my cam in the last 3 weeks. I have an alfalfa plot that will have a buck walking through once in awhile. I have a cam on that plot also and I bet it has maybe 40 pics the last two months. Nothing eating in my clover/alfalfa plots right now.

 

[yoderjac]

i want to know what everyone feels is there bucks preferred food source during the spring, summer and early fall. I have a couple clover plots that have doe in it all year and bucks use the trails 100 yards away but they don't seem to be in the clover ever. When the soybeans yellow my turnips/radishes get hit hard by both doe and bucks. Grains seem to be hit and miss each year. So let's hear it, what do your bucks prefer.

Mature bucks prefer food that is accessible with little risk. The perceived risk is a bigger factor than the food itself in most cases.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

I can tell you on my land they sure love ptt and radishes in the month of August.

 

[H20fwler]

They eat about anything they can here, constantly nipping ends off of shrubs and branch's, in spring they seem to hit the clover steady, summer they are in the soy beans, fall they are eating acorns, apple/pears and corn, late fall they go after my brassicas. But through all that they keep eating twigs and weeds and will hit the corn feeders year round.

 

[D Hunter]

Often a doe will take over and dominate a plot and not make anyone else welcome until rut. That may be excepting her grown female offspring. Male offspring get kicked out at about year one. Sometimes, particularly if food plots are scarce a doe will be all that is seen until rut and then it becomes all disorder. That could explain what is going on for you Peplin Creek. Good hunting. "D"

 

[Peplin Creek]

Often a doe will take over and dominate a plot and not make anyone else welcome until rut. That may be excepting her grown female offspring. Male offspring get kicked out at about year one. Sometimes, particularly if food plots are scarce a doe will be all that is seen until rut and then it becomes all disorder. That could explain what is going on for you Peplin Creek. Good hunting. "D"

This all makes sense and feel like it might be exactly what's going on.