These plants will produce high levels of protein and massive amounts of food. Year Round Food Plots: The Magic Bean! The size of food plots vary according to … Now products are available to address all seasons of a whitetail’s nutritional needs. If several months go by without high-quality forage being available, the damage can be serious. These include forages such as soybeans, corn, grain sorghum, lab lab … Some hunters believe if they plant a green field that provides food for their deer only during hunting season, then they're managing their deer herd. … Most nutrition gaps should be covered. This is one reason why mowing them can help, it establishes new, more tender growth.      Cereal grains, such as wheat, oats, and rye, offer great cover but provide little to no … Our land sales professionals are an integral part of our network, and their consistent success speaks volumes as to the caliber of people and professionals they are. Along with quality food plots, supplemental feeding can really help improve overall herd health and help your deer reach their genetic potential.   Take a field of soybeans as an example. That’s definitely understandable; after all, that’s why some of us originally turned soil for the first time. Tey are a 9-10 month attractant/food source. As you read this Winter issue of GameKeepers, chances are you may feel pretty confident about your food plot offerings. Donnie Buckland, private lands manager for the NWTF recommends fall plantings of cereal grains such as wheat, rye or forage oats to provide "green strips" that provide nutritional forage for both deer …      The best advice I give guys for a fall planning is, whether it be radishes or a brassica blend with cereal grains, we're looking to try to get those in a solid 45 to 60 days before your first average frost. If you live in the transitional states or north, you can have deep snow any time from November through March. To be a feasible food source, first and foremost it must be “accessible” to the herd. 5 Benefits of Supplemental Feeding Year-Round, Clover Provides Year-Round Food for Wildlife, Creating Pressure-Free Wildlife Sanctuaries. These stands will expand through stolon production and usually don’t need to be re-seeded.Â, A big challenge in providing year-round food is summer heat, and drought. But, if you manage for deer, you supply an abundant amount of high-quality nutritious food all year that grows more, bigger and healthier deer and helps the bucks to reach their maximum body weights and antler potential. These combinations ensure that deer … Put them in, mow them and keep them relatively free of weeds, and you’ll have a good foundation for the rest of your food plot program. You've got does that are starting to grow one, two, maybe as many as sometimes three fawns. They’ll green up between February and early May and provide a rich source of high protein food at that time of year, even before many native plants begin to produce well.  And their forage production is unreal at up to ten-plus tons of forage per acre. At the same time, one should also consider bolstering their native plant food production.       He was the luckiest hunter I’d ever been with in my life. Whether you’re talking about a hot day in August or a snowy, frigid morning in January, it’s imperative to have high quality food available. Sweet Spot is a perennial wildlife food plot mix that rapidly establishes, winters well and creates resilient food plots year after year. If you need to raise deer numbers, plant a food plot to be available during May, June and July. Fill in those two gaps with the forage choices listed above and your property will indeed become a model for the ultimate year-round whitetail nutrition program. Food plot … Today, even in areas that don’t receive much snowfall, these plants should be a major component of any year-round food plot plan. If you don't protect the bucks on the lands you hunt until they reach the older-age classes, then all the planting and fertilizing that you possibly can do on your hunting lease won't produce big bucks. It allows you to protect them from neighbors who might think a two-year old buck is a good deer to shoot. Brassicas like rape, turnips, radish and kale shine during the fall and winter. Sure there are other things you can add to the program, but the basics are listed below. Make the most of your time by planting a crop to satisfy both deer and turkeys. However, if you can get several years of utilization out of your clover fields instead of having to replant every year, you may save some money and time. There are probably hundreds of choices when it comes to food plot … They're fixing to start growing a new set. Perennials are like “insurance” in a way. Many food plot forages grow best when temperatures are 60-65 degrees F. These "cool-season" plants include clovers, brassicas, birdsfoot trefoil, winter peas, winter wheat and oats. Countless studies have shown this correlation in both penned and wild deer. Oats are a favorite food for deer. While there are other crops that may be planted and some specialty plants that may work in certain areas or under specific conditions, these food types make up the “four corners” and the foundation of a year-round program. * Clearing land and planting green fields that yield food for deer will give you an even better deer-management program. The dining room is deserted. They really need a lot of good nutrition to get those fawns started off to really good early start. There's a lot of different blends out there, a lot of different seeds you can look at. The best New York food plot for deer revolves around filling a need in our locale, during a specific window of the calendar. This system provides quality forage for deer almost year round … These plants tend to be fragile when they emerge from germination so they need to be sown when soil temperatures first reach around 60-65 degrees. Feeding plots, when used, are usually larger than hunting plots, and their main function is to serve as places where deer … Thus, for a density of 35 adult deer per square mile, warm-season food plots within each square mile should be at least 14 acres.      You will likely get a good spring out of them, but they may go dormant during the hot, dry months and then perk up again during late summer and fall.       The Difference Between Deer Management and Baiting. Food plot size is dependent on the population of deer and the size of your property. Let's look at the five basic methods of maintaining high-quality food year-round for more deer through using the Y design. He had been a few times before he made that suggestion, but I had never hunted anything in the spring woods except a place to fish or, on occasion, an errant golf ball. Food plots can be an effective method of providing food sources for game birds, deer, rabbits, raccoons, and other species. A big challenge in providing year-round food is summer heat, and drought.      Their main functions are to draw deer for harvest and provide nutrition. Many gamekeepers ignore this period for food plots, except for perhaps a perennial clover or alfalfa plot or two. An hour later, everyone has stuffed themselves and enjoyed the festive meal, but now someone begins clearing the table of the carved up ham, turkey carcass, and bowls of gravy, dressing and deserts. That's really easy find through Farmers Almanac, obviously, Google will help you out a ton on what your average frost date is. Some plants, such as brassicas (turni… Soybeans can arguably be one of the best food plot species to plant. Learn more from Mossy Oak. Chef Jean-Paul Bourgeois shares one of his Duck Camp Dinners using duck breasts and boar bacon. But as gamekeepers, one of the best things we can do to provide high quality nutrition is to have quality food plots available 12 months a year.Â, Some studies estimate 80 percent of those who grow food plots only focus their efforts on attracting deer during the hunting season. Springtime. Protecting young plants is vital. I discovered him curled up in the woods, unable to fight through the deep snow to reach the distant plots and then dig down to find the low-growing cereal grains. Then perennial clovers would thrive 10 months a year where I live in Virginia.  You want the plot lush and thick.  Keep food plot size to a minimum. The cereal grains would last well into winter. Even though these perennials can be valuable, they too, can become stressed and their quality diminishes during extremely hot, dry periods. One of the most memorable hunts I went on was with outdoor writer Joe Byers. Planting in May, beans immediately offer a high protein food … Ted Nugent is the real deal. Some will also produce seeds (beans or peas) in fall if the deer haven’t eaten them down.  You may think that using herbicides, fertilizers and possibly a second herbicide treatment during the off-season is a lot of work and a lot of expense. Hunters serve up hearty portions of prime forage, but only from late-summer into early-winter, to coincide with hunting seasons. For example, in years with poor acorn crops, deer will visit food plots more during the fall (hunting season) than in years when mast is abundant. At first it may seem like enough.  Brassica crops are fall crops that thrive well in the mild winters of the southern regions. The Smoked Pheasant Tortilla Soup is a great, warm-you-up a meal for those cold days during the winter. That spring time growing season is where the key is to provide as much nutrition and overwhelming them with as much higher protein forage as they can get during those critical months. We have developed an eight part mix that is comprised … I’ve taken a countless number of outdoor writers turkey hunting for Mossy Oak. Please see this page in our online store for a variety of deer food plot seed mixtures that grow all year. Biomass all Legume is one of my favorite warm season annual mixtures.  Cow peas, forage soybeans, and lablab get the workhorses here. Deer are unlikely to use a food plot located too far from cover. These cultivars can almost never be eaten down so badly that they won’t bounce back.      I was worried about my supposed year-round food plot program. Day 2: Defining the Y-Shaped Green Field Most habitat managers are good at providing superb plots for fall into early winter. Your deer have dropped their antlers in the late winter - early spring. Generally, aim for about 95% of the forest/farmland to be habitat and only 5% as food plots. Here’s why: Establishing pressure-free sanctuaries on your property can help maintain a strong wildlife presence. And they might wind up hanging from a rafter in your neighbor’s barn.Â, This is a situation as gamekeepers should desperately avoid. These plants will … A sound year-round food program is a key to helping them reach their full potential in both, body weight and antler growth. The pies are put back in the kitchen—if there are any left and suddenly, like a light was switched off, everyone scatters to other parts of the house. There's a little bit of a misconception that frost kill a lot of your fall food plots and that's really not the case they just slow the growth process way down. With a robust herd of deer, they’ll typically keep these plots browsed down and coming back into the prime height for palatability and feeding. Most people who assume their deer have “bad genetics” would be surprised with the kind of deer they could grow if they had better year-round nutrition. As most of us know, deer need the formula of food, water, cover and sanctuary (The “FWCS formula”) to call a location their home. What Does the Veterans Recovery Outdoors Act Entail? Where legal, you can also add feeders with protein pellets to your program, but they aren’t vital if you can provide enough acreage in brassicas, cereal grains, perennials and warm season annuals. The food is gone! Deer Food Plots - Plant Year Round . Cereal grains and clover were the two go-to offerings typically used in my area, and both performed that chore admirably. With 90% Oats, Lights Out Forage Oats will be able to … Alright, you have made your plans and now you need to buy some deer food plot seeds to plant. Depending upon your location north to south, they may remain a great source of nutrition during the summer (northern tier of states and Canada) and through the fall. There are many mouths to feed that time of year for small food plots for deer to keep up. It’s also important because it provides the nutrition needed for the animals to reach their maximum growth in body weight and antler mass.  * Rotating the crops in those green fields to have annual and semi-annual crops for deer creates a higher-quality management plan. Lets go over some example properties, and why certain plots draw deer at certain times of year.      When I plant a spring food plot, it's about providing high protein, nutrition, through the growing months. Deer eat them fervently, often choosing them over all other foods during October, November and December, but it’s after that when brassica plots become even more important, especially in areas that get significant snowfall. Brassicas are our favorite crop the last into this kind of weather we've had freezing weather it's still green out there and the brassicas make more tonnage than almost any other crop you can plant. To understand the power of the Y-shaped green field, you must first know the difference between deer management and baiting for deer. For me, that would turn out to be mostly brassicas and radish, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Certainly fall and early winter plots of cereal grains and annual clovers are great, but it’s vital not to ignore the snow-covered periods of late winter and early spring before green-up and the scorching heat of summer. And it starts even before birth. They’re especially appealing as the fast-growing plants first emerge and grow about 3-6 inches tall. Obviously on small properties or in certain situations it might be impossible to provide everything they need, but cover, safe areas, and water sources are needed.Â, This leaves the fourth part of the puzzle; “food.” While we may think we are doing a good job there, sometimes gaps may develop throughout the 12 months of the year. These will help to grow the biggest bucks and healthiest does.Â. It was lockdown.                Besides corn, brassicas are one of the only other choices. The Veterans Recovery Outdoors Act entails a task force and more to ensure veterans can access the outdoors’ therapeutic benefits. This will typically be April through June depending on where you are south to north.  What’s the best time to establish food plots in Georgia? They have large, energy-burning bodies that require, at times, up to 8 to 12 pounds of food per day. However, look at these two definitions to learn how just planting green fields for hunting season doesn't mean you're managing deer but may fall under the banner of baiting deer. Care is simple. I’ve been fortunate enough to hunt with rock star Ted Nugent several times. Cow peas, forage soybeans, and lablab get the workhorses here. Several, smaller plots are better than one large plot.             But then the snows came. For example, creating a food plot for white-tailed deer where heavy populations currently exist, you may need large, numerous plots … One way to boost the year round food plots for deer is to realize that we are not farming. If there is ANY period when a property does not offer high-quality food, they’ll simply move somewhere else to find it. That’s the way I felt early in my early years as a food plotter. Planting a food plot with Antler King’s Light Out Forage Oats will attract deer from early September well into late Fall. My wife was worried she wouldn’t be able to make it to town for several days until the snow plows cleared the roads. The southwestern flavors create a wonderful mix with the tender smoked pheasant, making this recipe one to keep. We want to offer the animals as many of their needs on our property as possible. My clover, wheat and oats were nowhere near reachable to the deer, no matter how determined they were.  Maybe the crops have declined in nutritional value or been harvested, been covered in deep snow, or worse, been plowed under and the ground left fallow. The most successful food plot programs often include a combination of annual (warm season or cool season) and perennial (year-round) food plantings. We want to make sure that I've got enough time to establish a really solid root system, and provide enough forage that will last you through the fall in the winter.      You can mix and juggle what exact plants to use, and when you plant them will vary with the crops you choose and your location, but a 12-month food plot program including all four of these components will get the job done no matter which plants you go with, as long as you provide enough of each. Day 4: Late-Season Shrubs and Fruits Food Plot Size. Or, why couldn’t supplemental feeding have the same impact? Unless there are other things keeping the herd there (food, cover, sanctuary), once the food is gone, the mature bucks will be gone, too. The idea of food plots for deer came around, and today, planting a food crop for whitetails is a common practice. For a buck to show you his best set of antlers he will need a year-round diet of 16% protein or better, and does require protein levels over 20% at times, especially when producing milk.      But food plot options have expanded tremendously since those early days. Remember that natural foods, after all, average only 7 to 11% in most areas. Sure, native foods are important, protecting and enhancing these native plants is fundamental to a sound food program. Thus, aim to plant any food plot in areas that receives ample sunlight yet near natural cover. Best Spring Food Plot Mix.  “Seeing deer” was never a problem in these fields.      That was the response I gave to my longtime friend Cal Marsh over three decades ago when he suggested we go turkey hunting. Drawing deer out of thick cover and into shooting range was the original purpose of food plots for many of us. In the transitional states and south, they are almost a year-round planting, though summer is a weak period because of the heat. The last two aspects of “cover” and “security” go hand in hand, and are often influenced by pressure, or lack thereof. * Fertilizing naturally-occurring trees and shrubs, the least-expensive form of deer management, definitely will increase the nutritional value of those trees and shrubs and cause them to put on more tonnage of deer food than they normally will. That’s when warm season annuals are the answer.  Some even have a few perennial clover plots thrown in to take a stab at providing a year-round program. So there’s a crucial need for something stronger and standing taller than wheat, oats, and clover. You need to see and understand the components that make the Y-shaped green field the best design with the best plantings for hunting deer during bow and gun seasons.   You need to see and understand the … It’s true; natural foods come out with a flush of bright green color and high nutritional content in spring, but by early summer the quality of natural forage declines rapidly.  These trees will increase the amount and the diversity of the food that the deer on your property have to eat as well as provide places for harvesting deer.      When you bait for deer, you put out a food source - either a green field, a spin feeder, sugar beets, corn or some other attractant - that draws deer to within gun range of the hunter during the season. That deer was old and his time was growing close even without the deep snow, but I vowed then and there to have more plots and different crops in strategic areas - crops that would stand up to snows and grow tall enough for deer to reach them. Nutrition is the key for growing quality deer: bucks and does. Different crops draw deer at different times in the year, and … That answer was brought to our industry by Mossy Oak Biologic many years ago, when they came out with brassicas for deer and more recently added radishes.      But one of the biggest bucks I’ve ever had the pleasure to nurture and watch grow on my land, a deer that in his prime reached 170 inches, died in that storm. Here are a few tips that will make your property more attractive to wild turkeys. There’s a table full of all your favorites. Diversify the crop. However, if you are struggling to offer enough food during the Fall or … We're planting cereal grains, brassicas some annual legumes like winter peas, but for the most part the workhorses are going to be cereal grains, oats, wheat, triticale, things like that, or brassicas, which would be turnips, radishes, Usually considered high energy high carbohydrate top food sources that provide really good food, really from the mid part of the fall on into the winter, that's when we really kind of concentrate on those brassicas being the most beneficial to our deer harvest. Cereal grains that many old-timers turned to religiously for hunting time attraction are also worth planting. We believe it’s the ultimate answer for southern soils and will create the best food plot for deer in the winter. In drought years, deer may frequent warm … Selecting Proper Soils. They have no choice; they must find nutrition somewhere. Instead he stayed bedded and died in the storm. Clearly, the most fertile and … They can be planted by broadcasting or drilling and sometimes mixing them with sorghum or sunn hemp provides a cover-crop and “anchor plant” for the “vinous” beans and peas to climb, in addition to another source of forage. Warm-season plantings are typically planted in spring and grow throughout the summer and into fall. To get close to providing food for the majority of the year often the two missing links for most people are providing brassicas for late winter or snow-covered conditions and warm season crops like lablab, cowpeas, and forage soybeans for late spring and summer. In one particular storm 38 inches tumbled from the sky. * Supplying sanctuary for the deer also means quality deer management. There’s no reason to stay.       They are a good draw for deer, a … Providing food for 365 days a year is vital to keep bucks on your land all year. When I attended the State University of New York at Binghamton, we didn’t see the ground from Thanksgiving until Easter.  Most folks who plant food plots for deer plant hunting plots.      The deer will hammer the beans from … Mark Stowe, the producer and host of The Direction – an adventure-travel fishing television series, well regarded for its entertaining and educational storytelling – has announced a strategic alliance with MOOSE Media by Mossy Oak that includes increased awareness for the 811 Outdoors’ “call before you dig” national safe digging initiative. But Clover Plus and Alfalfa are also good choices. A strategy I like is to mix them with annual clovers for more palatability, browse-resistance, increased protein and a bit of a soil amendment.      What’s the big difference between food plots and their native vegetation? The deer may come to your property and feed on the food only after dark, if you don't have daytime sanctuary for them. When the “food plot” table is empty, the deer leave, just like the guests at the dinner table when the food is gone. Clover can provide almost year-round food for wildlife with good weather and proper maintenance. So if you have a high usage on it and want it to last, the best time here in Minnesota to plant radishes, July, 15, you'll get enough growth to get a decent root growth as well as top growth. At the end of that period the food has either been eaten, declined in quality, or been buried in snow. The Y design of green field planting will produce the most big bucks in the shortest time because it incorporates all these elements. Another stressful period in the nutritional life of a deer is during summer, when many landowners devote themselves more to fishing and sipping cold brews than habitat work, most hunters believe that with all the green vegetation growing, things must be OK for whitetails. I try not the blame myself. It doesn't get wilder than this! Just about everyone in the hunting community knows who he is. Day 1: The Difference Between Deer Management and Baiting Make these four forage groups available for the deer on your property and you’ll be well on your way to providing a year-round menu that will keep deer fat and happy, and if you have their other needs covered they will be unlikely to leave your land.       (Sheds were found and measured each year.) Lack of quality nutrition for the unborn deer in a doe’s womb starts young animals off at a lower level than those born from does with all their nutritional needs met 12 months a year. Ronnie “Cuz” Strickland Tells About Hunting Turkeys with Ted Nugent, The Direction Presented by 811, MOOSE Media form Alliance, Mossy Oak Properties Recognizes 2020 Fourth Quarter Pinnacle Club, Two of Cuz’s Most Memorable Celebrity Turkey Hunts, How Quality Roads Can Impact Your Property. They’ll offer high protein forage in their big, blue-green leaves starting in July or August, but become an even stronger attractant after cold weather and frosts turn the starches in the leaves to sugars. I would have wheat and oats, sometimes mixed with annual clovers, plus perennial clover plots or occasionally alfalfa. The photo period starts getting shorter you know your length the days. It’s never too late for some last minute food plot action. However, it is illegal as a food plot in some areas so be sure to check local laws before planting. Editor’s Note: If you understand the Y design of green field planting, you not only can see and take more bucks, but you'll have a hunting site for both bow and gun season. Another option is to plant so many acres that you “overwhelm” the deer and they can’t destroy enough young plants during the first few weeks to set them back appreciably.Â. These can be anywhere from 1/10th of an acre up to two to three acres. Be sure to plant cereals thick enough, so a deer can get a mouthful each time it takes a bite. Two to four acres total within a 40-acre area is sufficient. And the benefits of these plants to the soil could fill a whole article, from suppressing weeds, to preventing erosion, to aerating the soil, and releasing glucosinolates that suppress harmful nematodes.  Airing on the Outdoor Channel | Whitetail Food Plots | On this episode of The GameKeepers of Mossy Oak we discuss the ends in out of creating a successful food plot, why it’s important for your wildlife, and how to measure success. Day 5: Permanent Plantings That Work Best in the North and Those for the South, Shrubs and Fruits That Attract and Feed Deer in the Summer and the Fall, Permanent Plantings That Work Best in the North and Those for the South. When you go to sell that property, one factor that many people tend to overlook could mean the difference between sold or not - a quality road system. Filed under: Food Plots ← Grant's Answers — Food Plots. If your desire is more wild turkeys on your property the best way to accomplish that goal is to provide everything possible that turkeys seek in their home range. By GrowingDeer, 04/12/2011 Filed under: Deer Hunting, Food Plots, Hunting Blog, Turkey Hunting I was part of a panel at a national convention years ago when a member of the audience asked each member of the panel what they thought was the “magic bean” for food plots. | TUE-8 PM | THUR-10 AM | SUN-2 PM Central Standard Time (CST), Picture the scene…you’re gathered around the dining table with family and friends for a lavish holiday meal. You can do this with electric fences, double fencing, or ribbons soaked with P2 Plot Protector. Best New York food plot for deer … The Y-shaped green field enables the hunter to provide a smorgasbord of highly-nutritious, very-palatable food for the deer all year. Sweet Spot is different from other food plot mixes since it …     Non-typical Clover is one of my favorites with its big Critical Mass leaves.      These food plots were planted primarily to attract deer to the gun or bow …      Sadly, this analogy shows how the deer population has it on a lot of properties. This dire situation of “food lacking for wildlife” typically happens during late-winter or early-spring, however, summer can be a tough time, too. Some people plant deer food plots only in the hunting season, but it has been proven that it is best to keep deer food plots all year even having a summer deer food plot.      Treat them with selective herbicides and mow periodically (at least three times during the growing season. When we talk to Cranky about turkey hunting, he always says, “Turkey hunting comes hard to me.”, Donald Devereaux Jarrett | Mossy Oak Pro Staff “Turkey hunting? You have lost your mind!” I remember saying. * Planting fruit and nut trees can furnish permanent deer food for a long time. I may forget the details of taking those two gobblers, but I’ll never forget the experience of being with those two men. Day 3: Shrubs and Fruits That Attract and Feed Deer in the Summer and the Fall