Year round plots

Bill Loser

5 year old buck +
So as a relative newbie to food plots and such, meaning I'm just now seriously getting into planning prepping and planting for exclusively wildlife . I think its time to up my game some.
I have been planting any mixture of soy beans, corn, sunflowers, pumpkins and assorted other "normal" crops the last few years.
This coming year I'd like to change things up and plant more of a year round type food or foods.
I currently only have 20 acres, 6 of it is farmed and is alfalfa now. Another 6 or 7 is a retired crop feild that i have planted 7 apple trees, 2 pear trees, 6 hazelnuts, and an assortment of evergreens along with a few oaks , aspen and sugar maples.
All the trees except the fruit trees are young yet, less than 3 foot tall. The fruits have all been in for 5 years plus and should start producing well this year.
We mapped it and it comes to about 4 or 5 acres i can plant winding around the trees and bushes. I normally use the corn or sunflower as vision blocks first and food second. As this is open fields now i feel they need the cover to use it during the daylight. It has worked decent so far.
What i want to do is plant somethings that would give more of a year round feeding option for them than what i am planting now. Keeping in mind the need for some type of cover.
Im not looking for trophy bucks, just deer numbers and if i can get a bruiser or 2 once in awhile great. But im happy with just getting a deer or 3 a year.
Its a touph situation for hunting but it's what I got so i try to male it work.
 
Clover is the best perennial plot I can think of. It's the cornerstone of a good plot program.
Even with the alfalfa feild already there?
 
Sure thing man!! You've got a ton of room to do it too!

Take a look at cover cropping. There's a great company outta Nebraska called Green Cover Seed that specializes in cover crops.

Multiple species open pathways for natural nutrient sharing between each other.

That creates healthier soil, which creates healthier deer.

They have spring, summer, and fall blends to last all year.



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I've had 10 acre of alfalfa on one of my farms for 7-8 years, my clover still gets killed. Besides clover and alfalfa, I can't think of too many other perennial options.
 
I second clover. Wouldn't take out alfalfa, but certainly look at a couple of strips of a clover mix thrown in. Med red, ladino, arrow leaf, and chicory. Drill or broadcast a cereal such as winter wheat or winter rye in the fall for late season green. Go heavy with the cereals as it can be difficult for them to get started into living clover.

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I achieve this multiple ways.

Early maturing beans planted at low population. Over seed with turnips and then over seed with winter rye later on.
Mixture of low population beans and a standard rate of sugar beets
Mixture of beans, peas, sunflowers, milo
multiple strips of monoculture crops in the same plot
 
This is preaching to the choir, but its all about the soil

Keep it covered year round(green) with diversity,and minimize disturbance

bill
 
I achieve this multiple ways.

Early maturing beans planted at low population. Over seed with turnips and then over seed with winter rye later on.
Mixture of low population beans and a standard rate of sugar beets
Mixture of beans, peas, sunflowers, milo
multiple strips of monoculture crops in the same plot
Thats what im looking for. I get the clover ideas, but we already have 6 acres or s of alfalfa so i just dont see the draw of clover.
I was going to go with strips of sorghum and sunflowers next year for cover, the rest is what im struggling with. Trying to get the most feed in the least amount of space.
 
Can you plant corn? If so I'd lean that way instead of sorghum and sunflowers. I do not have a corn planter so I don't plant corn. As mentioned on a different post I have a deer that I am trying to draw in off of the neighbors property. I will be attempting a broadcasting of corn this spring. Worse case Ontario I'll rescue it in the late summer and early fall with other plantings.
 
Yes i can plant corn. I have about 2 acres of it in strips this year. I thought it would be better to rotate a little?
 
Thats what im looking for. I get the clover ideas, but we already have 6 acres or s of alfalfa so i just dont see the draw of clover.
I was going to go with strips of sorghum and sunflowers next year for cover, the rest is what im struggling with. Trying to get the most feed in the least amount of space.
If you're focused on year round, you almost have to have clover, but for the soil, not for the deer. If you're on limited space, also focus on 2nd and 3rd preferences by the deer, and think about what time of the season you want them there.

The one benefit of an open hunting system is you can offload your summer and early fall forage responsibilities onto other properties. Now, this only works if your neighbors run outta food before your desired hunting period. Tweak as needed.
 
There are no crops very close by my property. As far as I know no one else plants any food plots. The closest cropland from my property is around a half mile or so. Not that the deer dont go that far, but if i can give them a reason to not want to....
 
I'll go with winter rye to extend the food plot into the colder months. It's not the most preferred but when it's the only thing green they will be eating the rye until the snow gets too deep. Plus the winter rye helps a lot to keep the weeds at bay the following year and makes working the ground much easier. Rye brings up nutrients from deeper in the soils and gets it back up on top where other plants can benefit. Works awesome in conjunction with clover.
 
Bill L - You might listen to this, great timing btw.. Dr. Bronson Strickland.

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For year round use, it's hard to beat perennial clover.
 
Bill L - You might listen to this, great timing btw.. Dr. Bronson Strickland.

View attachment 38733

For year round use, it's hard to beat perennial clover.
THANKS! Now all I have to do is figure out how to listen to a podcast! Lol

So would you frost seed the clover and then drill into that once established?
 
FWIW - at our camp we have plots of MIXED clover and alfalfa, plots of pure clover, plots of a brassica mix, and we always plant winter rye grain and winter wheat to add to the over-winter / very early spring deer menu. Our deer prefer the winter wheat first - but as the winter deepens, the rye becomes more desirable. Deer dig through the snow to get at the rye and wheat - and the turnips & radish bulbs. The deer hammer the mixed plots AND the pure clover plots. Clover is our cornerstone crop. We have some clover in almost all of our plots - for N and to add diversity in any plot. Deer can nibble clover, rye, wheat, radishes, chicory, alfalfa ........... pretty much all year round, there's something available for them.
 
So would you frost seed the clover and then drill into that once established?

You definitely can, frost seeding works well provided you have soil showing. The best method IMO is to establish a perennial clover plot is in the fall with a cereal grain. Much less weed pressure!
 
This is some great info. Thank you everyone.
A couple more questions.
1. When you frost seed am i best off broadcasting before the first good snowfall or late winter as the snow is melting?
2. Would you seed a mix of wheat and rye with the clover or wait till later summer to do that?
3. Would it make sense to add some field peas to the clover mix?
Thanks again for all the great info.
 
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