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Best food plot for bow hunting?

SouthernIowa

SouthernIowa

PMA Member
The property i hunt is in southern Iowa, it is 650 acres. It consists of some crop fields,pasture,and wooded draws. The deer density isn't extreamly high but here are a good number of deer on the property. There are three secluded old crp feilds that are about 13 acres in size. The crp fields are broken up by wooded draws that the bucks like to cruise during the rut. I want to plant a food plot in one of these and hunt over it in late October and early November, and possibly late season(hopefully I'll be tagged out by then). Does anyone have any sugestions about how big the plot should be and what i should put in it. I have access to tractors, planters, tillers ect. If anyone has any imput please share I am going crazy trying to decide between all of the different options. Thanks alot, cant wait to hear your ideas!
 
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Well as you might guess you can get dozens of answers to your question, so I can only give you my thoughts based on what I have found over a lifetime of planting crops and food plots.

Winter rye, spring oats and Austrian Winter Peas is a can't fail, impossible to destroy and inexpensive food plot to put in.

Follow directions in the cereal grain thread but you plant a cereal grain plot in very late August thru Labor Day in our area.

It will last all winter, no herbicides or fertlizers or lime needed...just till it up and plant it.

Standing corn and/or soybeans is hard to beat but you need considerable acreage or they can completely decimate it not to mention it's expensive to plant and a little late in the season for corn.

Clover is fine but it usually can't compete with freshly harvested crops that time of year and will freeze out eventually.

Brassicas can be a boom or bust deal in which they either love them or hate them.

It takes time to determine what might work best for you and if you have read my threads your aware of various problems you may encounter with the other crops.

Cereal rye is just a no fail plot I always reccomend people start with and if planted properly it will draw deer all winter and you'll be hunting sheds there in the spring.

That's my thoughts...;)
 
Also in Southern Iowa...

dbltree said:
Well as you might guess you can get dozens of answers to your question, so I can only give you my thoughts based on what I have found over a lifetime of planting crops and food plots.

Winter rye, spring oats and Austrian Winter Peas is a can't fail, impossible to destroy and inexpensive food plot to put in.

Follow directions in the cereal grain thread but you plant a cereal grain plot in very late August thru Labor Day in our area.

It will last all winter, no herbicides or fertlizers or lime needed...just till it up and plant it.

Standing corn and/or soybeans is hard to beat but you need considerable acreage or they can completely decimate it not to mention it's expensive to plant and a little late in the season for corn.

Clover is fine but it usually can't compete with freshly harvested crops that time of year and will freeze out eventually.

Brassicas can be a boom or bust deal in which they either love them or hate them.

It takes time to determine what might work best for you and if you have read my threads your aware of various problems you may encounter with the other crops.

Cereal rye is just a no fail plot I always reccomend people start with and if planted properly it will draw deer all winter and you'll be hunting sheds there in the spring.

That's my thoughts...;)
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I would only add that if you have 13 acres to work with, try a couple/few different things. I have had good success with winter wheat and clover in particular over the past few years, but one of my neighbors finds 10 sheds to our 1 every winter and I believe the key difference between us is that he has a couple of beauty turnip plots and my turnip efforts have been stymied by lack of timely rains, getting them in late, etc, each year.

Even the nicest clover and winter wheat will be all but totally chewed down to the dirt by late December if you have higher deer densities, but those turnips underground keep those plots active through January and February yet...or when the sheds are falling!

So...try a couple of acres of clover, a few acres of winter wheat and/or rye(cheap and easy), but I would definitely go with a couple of acres of brassicas(turnips). This also sets you up to rotate specific crops from year to year too, planting turnips in the same spot every year can lead to diseases.
 
BUFFET! If I had ONLY 4-ish areas to go with: Alf-alfa, standing corn, standing beans, annual rye/oats. But you have more options of course. Those are by far the best from my experience but I have a list of tier 2 items that are options but aren't as good from MY EXPERIENCE. 650 acres, man oh man, what a problem to have!!! You own it or have permission? I ask this because if you own it, you can likely get more aggressive with what you do.

Another issue- if you are ONLY referring to what you can plant this year, well it's obviously JUNE and you're limited now. Another issue is how much work you want to put into it.
 
My dad owns the land and im out of school now so i cant put as much work into it as it needs. There are already corn and beans in the feilds around it now so i wanted to pant something else.
 
SouthernIowa said:
My dad owns the land and im out of school now so i cant put as much work into it as it needs. There are already corn and beans in the feilds around it now so i wanted to pant something else.
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I would work on a 3 way rotation of clover, brassicas and cereal grains so that you have all three growing at the same time in a variety of plots.

All have great attributes and work well to rotate back in forth but i will add that you will find it nearly impossible to beat standing corn and soybeans.

True...there may be lots of corn and beans...but how many are left standing thru the winter.....;)
 
none lol never really thought about that...i just might try a rotation like you sugested. My main goal is to set up stands in the draws about 100 yards away from the plot and catch bucks checking the plot for does in pre rut and rut. With that in mind do you still think i should go with the rotation? Are there any other ideas that you could tell me? Im 17 and i've just been hunting by trial and error for a few years now with some success (139 and 145 inch bucks with my bow) but no one in my family hunts so any sugestions are welcome.
 
We start with clover, planting it now and then in late Aug. early Sept. we mow the clover down low and plant our Brassicas or deer oats right over the top. the clover goes dormant when it freezes and that's when the Brassicas kick in. The starch in the leaves turns to sugar and they hammer them as well as the bulbs. Then we are good for the hunting season and in spring our clovers come up again. We mow the clover to maintain and start the cycle over again!! Works great!! If you just want hunting plots, then the Brasicas or cereal grains, deer oats are the way to go!! Make sure you use good seed with low inert matter.
 
SouthernIowa said:
none lol never really thought about that...i just might try a rotation like you sugested. My main goal is to set up stands in the draws about 100 yards away from the plot and catch bucks checking the plot for does in pre rut and rut. With that in mind do you still think i should go with the rotation? Are there any other ideas that you could tell me? Im 17 and i've just been hunting by trial and error for a few years now with some success (139 and 145 inch bucks with my bow) but no one in my family hunts so any sugestions are welcome.
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In Iowa deer have adapted to foraging on grain in the fall but unless weather prohibits harvest, crops are removed and often fall plowed leaving nothing for wildlife.

I don't care what you plant...if some (even on your Dad's own farm) combines corn, they will be drawn to the high energy food source like a magnet.

Keep that in mind because regardless of what type of food plot you plant it will be nearly impossible to compete with corn and beans.

Early in the fall "green" food plots can be very attractive and one option you might consider is broadcasting winter rye into standing soybeans in late August/early September to provide a combination of "grain and green"

Brassicas can be very attractive but in corn country deer will often turn up their noses at brassicas if there is plenty of corn and beans. One has to "test" them in smaller quanities over several years sometimes to see how deer will react to them.

At this stage of the game, I would consider planting a mix of winter rye, spring oats and Austrian Winter Peas in very late August. Fall is also a great time to establish clover by sowing clover seed with rye and oats.

Check thru the threads in Dbltree's Corner to see proper planting times, seeding rates etc. and see problems and concerns with each type of crop.

You are a very blessed young man to have that much ground to hunt on and we'll be looking forward to seeing harvest pics this fall...:)
 
One idea not yet mentioned for an early season bow hunting food plot is... soybeans. Soybeans planted during the early fall will die after the first hard frost, but nothing beats the attraction of newly germinated soybeans! Obviously, the soybeans will provide zero attraction during late season.

I would not plant an area much larger than your effective bow/gun range - why make the plot so large that deer are attracted to areas outside your effective range? Leave the large plots to your warm-season varieties that are planted for nutrition purposes. Attractant plots should always be small. If necessary you can double the seeding rate and fertilizer rate, which will greatly increase plot yield (but reduce individual plant yield). Another option is to fence the small plot and then remove/raise the fence just prior to hunting the plot.

I like corn, soybeans, winter wheat, any type of brassica, triticale, & forage oats for my "attractant" plots in the order listed.

Good luck!

Mick
 
Mick,

I might try this on a small plot. It used to be a brome field. Couple questions:
1. What is ideal time to plant the soybeans (SW Iowa) for this strategy
2. Would you blend soybeans with anything else (cowpeas, wheat, rye, etc.?)
3. What and how much fertilzer?
4. When will the soybeans be not attractive to the deer?

Thanks Mick
 
Corygnc, a bag of red zone might be just what your looking for.

I just bought two bags of red zone from antler king. It has late maturing and early maturing soy beans, buck wheat, different kinds peas and sun flower seed. Two bags will only plant 1 acre, so i plan on planting half an acre of brassicas and half an acre of some sort of legumes along side the red zone. I will start tilling and fertilizing after the first cut of hay and I'll let everyone know how it goes.
 
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Obviously, the soybeans will provide zero attraction during late season.


I have to disagree with this statement. If you can get beans to make it to late season, you have one of the hottest plots around. If the weather gets snowy and blowing, alot of the time they will head for combined bean stubble even. I believe its because the snow generally blows off of the bean stubble fields and scratching thru to get what was left behind is alot easier.

If I could only plant one plot it would be a late season bean with turnips and rye broadcast over the top of in late august. This is a win/win for my situation. Gives the deer a high protein forage thru the summer, an archery season attractant with the ryeand beans (if still green), and a late season attractant with beans and turnips. Just my opinion.
 
shrek1 said:
Obviously, the soybeans will provide zero attraction during late season.


I have to disagree with this statement. If you can get beans to make it to late season, you have one of the hottest plots around. If the weather gets snowy and blowing, alot of the time they will head for combined bean stubble even. I believe its because the snow generally blows off of the bean stubble fields and scratching thru to get what was left behind is alot easier.

If I could only plant one plot it would be a late season bean with turnips and rye broadcast over the top of in late august. This is a win/win for my situation. Gives the deer a high protein forage thru the summer, an archery season attractant with the ryeand beans (if still green), and a late season attractant with beans and turnips. Just my opinion.
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I think he means beans planted very late so that they will be green during the early season, those type of beans will provide no late season attraction.

Soybeans planted May thru June WILL provide a late season attraction and adding rye or brasicas only sweetens the pot as you already know...;)
 
dbltree is right, soybeans planted in late summer as I suggested, will never mature to the point they produce beans. They will only provide a short term attraction, but a very strong attraction over that short window - only good for early season bowhunting.
 
corygnc,

I would plant the soybeans 2-4 weeks before you plan to hunt them, but you are limited to an early season hunt only (Oct) because soybeans planted later than this may not germinate at all.

You would have a short (<2 weeks) window of time in which to hunt the newly germinated beans depending on daily temperature lows.

Without knowing the specifics of the soil where you wish to plant the soybeans, I hesitate to recommend any fertilizer. Soybeans are a legume and as such they fix their own nitrogen so nitrogen will not be needed in the fertilizer.

You could plant any of several varieties of cool-season annuals with the soybeans to provide attractants after the soybeans have died out. In this case, I would recommend a brassica or cool-season grass such as winter wheat, triticale or forage oats.

Mick
 
I'd just like to add a couple thoughts on the subject of late planted beans...;)

If one decides to plant late beans (late August planting) I would just go to the elevator and buy bin run soys at crop price, no point in buying expensive seed that will freeze out a month or so later.

Most of you notice by now that I much prefer to plant cereal rye and peas, rather then late beans. Peas are like candy to deer and the find them irrisitable...so which should you plant...peas or beans??

Peas are cool weather crops and thrive during fall wather that will kill soybeans. Austrian Winter Peas can sometimes even survive the winter here in southern Iowa if we have a mild winter.

Either field peas or AWP's will work and often these peas are planted in March for spring crops, so they can easily survive into November (providing deer do not murder them by then)

Deer will attack either peas or baby soys with a vengenace so the choice is yours, but peas at least have the possibility of lasting well into the rut giving you both an early and mid season attractant versus and early only draw.

Welters has field peas for $21 and AWP for $50 and there is very little difference bewteen the two other then AWP's are more apt to survive longer in cold weather.

If you live in the SW part of the state, shoot nannyslayer a PM as he carries some great forage peas as well.

Think about what might work best for you in your situation and then choose the option that fits your needs...:)
 
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