Choosing a Game Crop

[teejk]

In PA you can use bait of all sorts up to a month before hunting season.
But if you use corn or a feeder you tend to get more ears than deer.

Guess that CWD thing hasn't hit PA yet. Our biologists are looking like Keystone Kops trying to address it and one of their solutions is to ban ANY deer feeding if the disease has been found in the county or an adjacent one. They would like to ban it statewide but some people like to look at deer. The "prions" will apparently live in the soil for several years and the thinking is that feeding tends to concentrate deer in a small area where they are more likely to pick it up.

 

[DrRod]

:laughing:

eh, that probably should have read "more bears than deer" but either way might be correct.

 

[shooterdon]

Baiting was illegal in CWD counties but next year, it will be illegal throughout the state. Food plots have been, and will continue to be, legal

Our rye and wheat plots did not perform well this year. Crop grew but the deer were not hitting not them as in the past. Been thinking about chicory or alfalfa. Soil is sandy and acidic. On some plots we add lime.

Any thoughts?

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Baiting was illegal in CWD counties but next year, it will be illegal throughout the state. Food plots have been, and will continue to be, legal

Our rye and wheat plots did not perform well this year. Crop grew but the deer were not hitting not them as in the past. Been thinking about chicory or alfalfa. Soil is sandy and acidic. On some plots we add lime.

Any thoughts?

Lots of stuff on the internet:

Food plots for acidic soils

 

[DrRod]

I'm less interested in feeding game [which does quite well on its own here] and more interested in something that:
a) can be planted easily without a lot of soil prep [i.e. sow it]
b) will be aggressive [i.e. push out weeds, especially Japanese stilt grass]
c) might even be perennial [i.e. turn my weed field into something marginally useful]

Thanks

 

[oosik]

Dr Rod - - in our area here where wheat and cattle are king - we have, at least, two major seed producing companies. One is located in a rural town about 40 mile west of me. I've contacted then about fast growing, easy germinating cover crops. Without exception they recommend a type of clover.

I tried the clover - first I rough up the ground with my home made - tow behind my ATV -"drag". Sow the seed and drag again. It has come up fairly well and has continued to spread on my small - half acre - plot. Planted in the spring when the ground is damp - this clover is quite drought resistant.

Contact your local Ag Extension and see what they will recommend.

 

[GregbkH]

I've tried a lot of different things here in Wisconsin. Clover, chicory, brasicas, oats, winter rye, sun flowers, pumpkins, corn and soybeans. The bang for my buck has been the soybeans. The deer can browse on it all summer long. The turkeys will go after the grasshoppers when they show up. The rabbits can hide in them. Then the deer will eat them until they are gone all winter. Draws them in better than corn.