Food plots

[Meridian90]

I'm a clover guy. I like to have a decent sized plot of good, quality clover. If you're in an ag area, it seems to fill in the times when the crops around you aren't ready for the deer. Ive never had any luck with turnips or brassicas. They just don't seem to hit them consistently.

I'm with you. If you are new to it especially. It's hard to mess up clover. I have 12 acres of it (hay) that is pretty packed with deer regularly. That being said, every preference chart and study I have seen shows a preference for alfalfa over clover when it comes to whitetails.

I mainly keep a few alfalfa locations to pull deer away from surrounding clover fields on other properties.

 

[88man]

Your deer have all the food they need in the summer with all the ag in the area, Your plot is small. I would plant a fall kill plot of
To half acre
75lbs RYE GRAIN
25 lbs OATS> Like a BFO
15 lbs Crimson Clover

This will be a great kill plot and will stand up to considerable deer grazing. Plant 5 weeks before typicall first frost.

 

[Billy Goat]

Your deer have all the food they need in the summer with all the ag in the area, Your plot is small. I would plant a fall kill plot of
To half acre
75lbs RYE GRAIN
25 lbs OATS> Like a BFO
15 lbs Crimson Clover

This will be a great kill plot and will stand up to considerable deer grazing. Plant 5 weeks before typicall first frost.

That planting rate is way way high for a half acre. Even given the 50% extra if you are broadcasting.

I'd be cutting that to 1/4 or maybe a 1/3.

 

[NYHunter20]

For small plots love clover but bigger plots we use a brassica blend.

 

[ScoutOut]

I would recommend visiting the local feed and seed shop/hardware store. They typically stock blends that perform well in your area and of they are blended locally they are much cheaper than big name brands.
Before you do anything get a soil test from the plot you want to plant.

 

[Marcjr47]

Here in West Michigan I just do rye in the spring to summer, then kill and till. And plant Big n Beasty!

 

[Meridian90]

I would recommend visiting the local feed and seed shop/hardware store. They typically stock blends that perform well in your area and of they are blended locally they are much cheaper than big name brands.
Before you do anything get a soil test from the plot you want to plant.

I try to avoid blends where possible, unless it's a fall annual and I want some clover or something in it to green up in spring. If I want a mix, I will sometimes plant in 10-30 foot wide strips that vary the species of plant. There are some mixes that don't seem to interfere too bad, but make sure you talk to someone at the feed shop as they will likely have great advice for the location.

 

[aand9rexs]

Roundup Ready Sugarbeets for easy weed control.

 

[Texasbuckeye]

Just so we are all on the same page, WT deer do not eat grass. They selectively browse different species of plants both woody and herbaceous, but grasses are not on their diet. Grain rye is not a grass, rye grass is pretty but deer don’t eat much of it due to their inability to process the grass properly.
Fescue, Bermuda, etc all make great looking hay pastures, but they are nothing more than a deer bedding site, unless there is some diversity in the field with some clover, vetch, other herbaceous plants they can eat.

 

[Meridian90]

Just so we are all on the same page, WT deer do not eat grass. They selectively browse different species of plants both woody and herbaceous, but grasses are not on their diet. Grain rye is not a grass, rye grass is pretty but deer don’t eat much of it due to their inability to process the grass properly.
Fescue, Bermuda, etc all make great looking hay pastures, but they are nothing more than a deer bedding site, unless there is some diversity in the field with some clover, vetch, other herbaceous plants they can eat.

Scientifically, grains (and corn) are all grasses. They all belong to the family poaceae, which includes all grasses from fescue to bamboo.

Deer will readily eat almost any of the cultivated versions of grasses - corn, wheat, oats, barley, triticale, cereal rye, but have a very low preference for other sorts of grass.

The explanation is pretty simple, most grasses have significantly low nutritional value, and the WT stomach is not large enough (see cows/elk/bison) to fill and extract enough nutrition from. Cultivated grasses, however, have much higher nutritional content.

What TB is saying though, is accurate. I would even argue that any pasture of uncultivated grass is going to be a dead zone, even as a bedding site if there is no available browse. The best bedding sites are usually a mix of young woody browse, forbs, dense grasses and evergreens.

 

[Billy Goat]

Just so we are all on the same page, WT deer do not eat grass. They selectively browse different species of plants both woody and herbaceous, but grasses are not on their diet. Grain rye is not a grass, rye grass is pretty but deer don’t eat much of it due to their inability to process the grass properly.
Fescue, Bermuda, etc all make great looking hay pastures, but they are nothing more than a deer bedding site, unless there is some diversity in the field with some clover, vetch, other herbaceous plants they can eat.

Deer can't process corn very well either, I haven't seen that stop them from eating it.

They don't makeup their diet mainly with grass but they do eat it. Fescue through the winter, orchard grass throughout the year in my area. We don't fool with Bermuda around here, but they also eat the summer millets (hybrids) we plant.

Deer will eat most anything. Infact after several freezes and the sugars come up they will eat a lot of fescue.

I must be missing something with Cereal Rye not being a grass? It's seed is used as a grain, but the plant is a grass. Once it goes to boot I hardly see them graze it.

When managing habitat it's important to have a lot of variety to meet the needs throughout the year.

Nutritional Requirements of White-tailed Deer in Missouri | MU Extension

White-tailed deer rely on a variety of foods for nutrients. Learn how to enhance habitat on your property to maintain a healthy white-tailed deer population. | White-tailed deer managementThis deer conservation guide is one in a series developed jointly by MU Extension and the Missouri...

extension2.missouri.edu

This is a good read on the topic. It's from Missouri extension. It would vary some depending on your region.

 

[Meridian90]

Deer can't process corn very well either, I haven't seen that stop them from eating it.

They don't makeup their diet mainly with grass but they do eat it. Fescue through the winter, orchard grass throughout the year in my area. We don't fool with Bermuda around here, but they also eat the summer millets (hybrids) we plant.

Deer will eat most anything. Infact after several freezes and the sugars come up they will eat a lot of fescue.

I must be missing something with Cereal Rye not being a grass? It's seed is used as a grain, but the plant is a grass. Once it goes to boot I hardly see them graze it.

When managing habitat it's important to have a lot of variety to meet the needs throughout the year.

Nutritional Requirements of White-tailed Deer in Missouri | MU Extension

White-tailed deer rely on a variety of foods for nutrients. Learn how to enhance habitat on your property to maintain a healthy white-tailed deer population. | White-tailed deer managementThis deer conservation guide is one in a series developed jointly by MU Extension and the Missouri...

extension2.missouri.edu

This is a good read on the topic. It's from Missouri extension. It would vary some depending on your region.

Yeah, there is a very significant difference in whether they "will" eat something and deer preference. Generally, uncultivated grasses are only browsed in the absence of more nutritional browse (usually winter on open hillsides in the north).

 

[Texasbuckeye]

As said, deer will eat basically anything to get them through tough food times. It’s more stomach filler than nutrients though.
There is so much better than any of the “common grasses” and almost any weed is better.
Thanks for clarifying my earlier post Meridian90.

 

[Billy Goat]

Deer still need crude protein in their diets. I'm not at all advocating that you want grass for foodplots, however it is still an important part of their diet. During many months of the year it's the best source available for the crude protein.



Deer are very similar to goats in their foraging habits. They need a very diverse amount of resources. Grass can be very important for the fiber and moisture content.

 

[Texasbuckeye]

Pretty much any deer biology talk you hear about food/nutrition for deer says WT deer do not/can not digest common grasses (Bermuda, Bahia, rye grass-different from rye grain or cereal rye, or other common grasses such as switch grass, fescue, etc) due to their stomach being unable to fully break down cellulose in the cell walls which are much more dense in grasses. Thus, deer are selective browsers that eat more forbs, buds, green leafy vegetation, and fresh new growth. Old cellulose rich growth will be consumed in absence of the above, so yes grasses may be on the list, but they are not a mainstay nor requirement for deer nourishment. They are the last resort, to keep a stomach full.
If you see deer browsing in a grass pasture, look closely and you may see other stuff mixed in the deer are actually eating, and if not, you need to provide better nourishment in supplemental feed or mixed food plots. I have really never seen a monoculture pasture of just Bermuda or fescue though, there is always something else in there so chances are the deer are eating something other than grass.

 

[slatebuilder]

Check with a local ag or farm supply store. A lot of the cover crops and such that farmers are planting these days are full of stuff deer like.