What is you best food plot crop?

[wngsprd]

I'm making plans for spring planting, thinking of trying something new.
Have had good success with Feb/March plantings of red and white clovers and chicory, and later plantings of sorghum/soybeans/peas/buckwheat mix, and sunflowers.
In the fall I've planted oats/rye/barley/clover/brassicas mix.
Try to rotate to take advantage of the legumes.
Seems like the deer and turkey like most all of them, and the dove and other birds eat many of the seeds, while the rabbits nest in the taller crops.
I'm happy with how things are going, but willing to experiment with something new. I know success may vary based on what part of the country you're in and the type of equipment, etc.
So, have any of you have found a particularly favorite crop or mix that grows well and is attractive to wildlife? Thanks.

 

[nybirdman]

Looks like you already have it covered.I really like soy-beans for an all around planting,good browse in the summer and great winter feed.I put in about 4 acres of field corn.The best for winter feed(at least in northern NY).I have tried about all you are putting in,may try alfalfa this year.Corn can be broad cast if you don't have a drill.

 

[super55]

Up in my neck of the woods for hunting season corn is king but I rarely put much of it in anymore. The input costs to get it established and maintained for an adequate crop is just too cost prohibitive for me. Majority of my crops now I put in are strictly cover crops such as clovers, oats, rye and brassicas. For me my go to crop is winter rye for my deer. We get a lot of snow and you would have to plant a lot of corn in order to feed them all winter. So instead I plant winter rye. Stays green and palatable all through winter and is the first and only thing green when the snow melts in the spring.

Last year I planted a sainfoin/chicory mix and am really excited to see how the deer will respond to it. They were eating it last year before snow but it hasn't put on any real size yet so Im curious to see how they will like it once it matures.

Nice looking pointer by the way birdman. I have a GSP that I use to go chase my upland game with.

 

[wngsprd]

nybirdman, Never thought about trying to broadcast corn. Do you use a drag to cover it afterwards?

super55, I'm not familiar with sainfoin but will read up on it.

Thanks.

 

[nybirdman]

Up in my neck of the woods for hunting season corn is king but I rarely put much of it in anymore. The input costs to get it established and maintained for an adequate crop is just too cost prohibitive for me. Majority of my crops now I put in are strictly cover crops such as clovers, oats, rye and brassicas. For me my go to crop is winter rye for my deer. We get a lot of snow and you would have to plant a lot of corn in order to feed them all winter. So instead I plant winter rye. Stays green and palatable all through winter and is the first and only thing green when the snow melts in the spring.

Last year I planted a sainfoin/chicory mix and am really excited to see how the deer will respond to it. They were eating it last year before snow but it hasn't put on any real size yet so Im curious to see how they will like it once it matures.

Nice looking pointer by the way birdman. I have a GSP that I use to go chase my upland game with.

We are dog poor,three pointers,one GSP and five beagles..........

 

[nybirdman]

Yes,you do need to drag after broadcasting corn.I use a three point cultivator or an old spring tooth harrow.I use Round-Up ready corn and spray(with my ATV) after its about a foot high.One bag of corn will do about 2- 1/2 acres.Some years I can get a local farmer to drill but it's not always available.I haven't been using fertilizer the last couple of years,just too expensive and my corn has been doing well.I brush-hog down what is left in the spring and plow in.

 

[wngsprd]

Sounds good. I'll do a test plot this year and see how bad the raccoons hit it.

I've been lighter on fertilizer, too. Hoping all the clover I've planted has helped with the nitrogen.

 

[nybirdman]

We have tons of raccoons here.They don't seem to be a problem with field corn.Sweet corn,for get it.
They will eat it all.Porcupines do more damage on field corn than coons.On my new food plots I plant buckwheat the first year.Restores the soil and adds nitrogen.It will come up the second year also.
As with any plot;plant it square and not in long rows.My plots are a minimum of 1/4 acre,bigger is better..

 

[EddieWalker]

Why don't you plant your crops in rows?

Eddie

 

[efam3300]

I broadcast my roundup ready corn and have very good luck with lightly disc, corn needs about 1" to 1 1/2" depth at planting. The deer didn't hit it until it was very cold out.

 

[whistlepig]

For deer Ladino clover is the best that I have ever planted.

 

[wngsprd]

I just had a thought about what is really my best food "plot"...went for a walk in the forest behind my house yesterday and cleared some lanes for bow season...found some acorns. We had a failed mast crop last year, so this was good news, and hopefully will be my best food plot.

 

[OZisKTB]

Two weeks mowed down the summer plant and planted brassicas. They are already overtaking the weeds and remaining clover and fescue. Looks like they will be a new winner.

 

[wngsprd]

As soon as we get a little rain, and moisture in the dirt, I plan to plant the same. My son also gave me a bag of food plot seed that included something I've never planted before - burnet, 64% - plus some clovers, chicory, and wheat for the other 36%. Looking forward to how the burnet does.

Ever grown burnet?

 

[Western]

Just got my plot planted 2 days ago, don't know why I bothered, been so dry. Most here use oats, or include them in a mix. Oats will always attract deer. I mix in some wheat, JIC we get a cold enough winter to kill off the oats.

This year I used a pre-mix from a local seed supplier. ( I have found and there is supporting evidence that locally/regionally grown seed will do much better)

In the mix was Oats, Wheat, brassica, clay/cow peas, turnips. I added 10lbs of a 5 seed clover mix as a top dressing, clover usually doesnt do well in N central Texas, but it was only a #32 gamble

 

[EddieWalker]

I just planted a similar mix two days ago. Rain was in the forecast, so I was in a rush to get it done and take advantage of the weather. I've never had much luck with food plots, the best I've ever seen is that they will nibble on it while walking to the corn feeder. It's enough that if I saw a shooter, it might give me a bit more time for a shot, but otherwise it's just something I seem to do every year because I live hear and couldn't live with myself if I didn't do it.

Eddie

 

[Western]

Eddie, I have seen your post over the years concerning your FP's, why they don't utilize it more, makes no sense. I wonder what the culprit is? I know hogs can cause deer to avoid an area (you do have a few them running around there). I can mow the road frontage and deer will go to the new growth, they will spend many hours in my FP when it is in production. EDIT I only have 15+ acres now, much less than your 60? Something just doesn't add up with your plot? wonder what your rral deer density is, that is good deer country your in though, more for big deer rather than quantity.

 

[Heuserst]

Right now the deer are hitting the soybeans hard and have been all summer. And in a few week they will start hitting the buck oats and rape. Then they will start on the corn in late October. Corn is a big deal during the rut, but also cost the most and take the most work. IMHO.

So the best one depends on what time of year it is.




Some trail camera pictures.

 

[Missouri Pioneer]

Soybeans are the ticket around here. The deer - and the turkeys, coons, and groundhogs - love it ... to the point that they leveled my three plots totaling five to six acres.

 

[nybirdman]

I plant about ten acres a year of food plots.Corn and soybean ,corn and soybean mixed and this year sunflowers....Tried a late planting of brassicas and it is doing very well.