Sunflowers for deer.

   / Sunflowers for deer. #1  

N80

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Over the last year I've scraped up a few food plots on my poor, hilly soil using nothing but my boxblade. I've had a fair amount of success given the conditions. Got a fair stand of oats, wheat and cowpeas. They deer came to the oats last fall but they didn't seem to be crazy about it. They pretty much ignored the wheat. So far they haven't touched the cowpeas.

But, I also planted about an acre in sunflowers. Mostly just to have some sunflowers and maybe attract some doves. Well, they came up great. Got a really good crop for simply broadcasting. But, once they got up about 8 inches the deer mowed them down. Every last one. They are coming out in broad daylight with us watching them from the cabin porch about 75 yards up the hill. They seem to love these things.

The moral of the story is to plant something that you don't want the deer to eat. I won't get a single flower. But, the silver lining is that sunflowers are cheap and apparently pretty easy to grow. So I might just plant them every year as summer time browse for the deer!
 
   / Sunflowers for deer. #2  
George,

Interesting. I would have thought the would eat the peas right away and ignored the sunflowers. Did you buy the sunflower seeds from a seed supplier or are they just birdseed? What type of soild do you have?

Eddie
 
   / Sunflowers for deer. #3  
I had the exact same thing happen a few years ago. Planted about an acre of sunflowers for the doves, they came up great. Checked on them 1 weekend and all had flowers, went back a week later and they where all eaten off at the head.

Last couple summers we planted a 10 acre field with sunflowers at our hunt club and had plenty left for the doves.
 
   / Sunflowers for deer.
  • Thread Starter
#4  
Eddie I got them from a local feed and seed place. They are a variety called peredovick. They really didn't cost much more than the 'oil' seed you use for birdseed.

My soil is pretty bad. Mostly clay and rock. When I run the box blade rippers through it the rocks just pop up like magic. If you didn't know any better, you'd think I was trying to grow rocks!.

Jay, the deer ate these long before they had a chance to flower. They are eating the leaves off and leaving the stems. New leaves come back on the sides of the stem, but nothing comes back on the top of the stem, so I doubt I'll get any flowers at all.
 
   / Sunflowers for deer. #5  
The ones I've planted in the past where just "black oil" bird seed variety. I get them in 50 lb bags and broadcast over tilled soil then run a drag ove to cover. When the deer ate mine they only ate the flowers, but I did have some biologic plots on the property that they wore out.

This year at the hunt club we planted Pennington dove mix, which includes sunflower, millet, and sourghum. We added in 100 lbs of "black oil" and 50 lbs of "grey stripped" sunflowers and planted the same 10 acre field ( which I spent hours tilling with the new Kioti) as in the past. I'll let you know around Sept how it worked out.:D
 
   / Sunflowers for deer. #6  
Hi fellas; I have enjoyed reading your stories and would like to share some of my experiences with you. I hunt in southwest Alabama. I enjoy planting different things for the animals each year. About 4 years ago I planted about an acre of turnips, something not to expensive to plant and easy to grow. I will eat a mess of turnips 1-2 times a year but really enjoy just pulling up the roots, wiping them off and eating them right there in the patch. Through the whole deer season there wasn't 10 tracks in the patch. Every once in a while you could see a turnip root that had a bit out of it or a few leafs nibbled on, that was it. The 2nd week of February I told my wife that I was going up and get my four-wheeler which I kept right there at the patch. I asked if she'd like to ride up with me and she agreed. Its about a 3 hour ride 1 way.When I got to the patch she said she would wait in the truck seeing as how it was cold and windy that day. I walked in the patch , turned around and went and told my wife she needed to see this. She wasn't real thrilled but she got out anyway and came with me. We were both just speechless. The whole turnip patch didn't have not 1 leaf left on a turnip. All that was left was the roots.It looked like some one had throwed a truckload of softball out in the patch. All we could do was just laugh about it. The point I'm making is that sometimes it takes the animals a while to figure out what they have is good. I have seen the same thing happen when I planted soybeans the next year. I guess I'm just keep them confused. This year its Tyrone soy beans,catjang peas,corn and buckbeans. We'll see what happens this year. Thanks
 
   / Sunflowers for deer. #7  
Those animals know what is good. They are just waiting around until maximum ripeness/goodness and then make a buffet line out of your garden and/or orchard which is usually the evening before the day you plan to harvest :). It used to make me :mad: and :(; now I just accept the fact and assume that I am growing everything for them ;). With that mindset I am happy with the leftovers :). Jay
 
   / Sunflowers for deer. #8  
jbrumberg said:
Those animals know what is good. They are just waiting around until maximum ripeness/goodness and then make a buffet line out of your garden and/or orchard which is usually the evening before the day you plan to harvest :). It used to make me :mad: and :(; now I just accept the fact and assume that I am growing everything for them ;). With that mindset I am happy with the leftovers :). Jay

As long as they leave me a few veggies to throw in the crockpot with the venison roast they can eat all they want.:rolleyes:
 
   / Sunflowers for deer. #9  
Gary,

Thanks for the story, I enjoyed reading it.

Keep us posted on how your food plot does this year, and if possible, please post a few pics.

Eddie
 
   / Sunflowers for deer. #10  
Thats good to know, I planted deer salad(brand name)and sunflowers for dove. If the salad dosen't work maybe I'll be ok with the sunflowers.:D
 
 
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