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Anyone ever try Canola for fall food plot?

corygnc

New Member
Couple of my friends in Wisconsin, Iowa and Kansas have had very good luck with Canola (a form of rape) as a fall food plot.

Was curious if anyone has ever tried it. I'm going to broadcast strips of it this year in mine. Along with rye, oats, wheat, AWP, and red clover. (and possibly Cow Peas)

Anyone have any luck with Cowpeas also?

Thanks,
Cory
 
Couple of my friends in Wisconsin, Iowa and Kansas have had very good luck with Canola (a form of rape) as a fall food plot.

Was curious if anyone has ever tried it. I'm going to broadcast strips of it this year in mine. Along with rye, oats, wheat, AWP, and red clover. (and possibly Cow Peas)

Anyone have any luck with Cowpeas also?

Thanks,
Cory

Canola is rapeseed...the same rape we plant for deer. It was bad PR trying to sell a product with the word "rape" in it so they dubbed it "canola"

So yes...we plant thousands of acres or rape/canola across this country and the most common is Dwarf Essex Rape that deer absoutely love it on one of my farms but they will not touch any brassicas on the other farm.

You can learn more in the brassica thread in Dbltree's corner...;)
 
So yes...we plant thousands of acres or rape/canola across this country and the most common is Dwarf Essex Rape that deer absoutely love it on one of my farms but they will not touch any brassicas on the other farm.

dbltree, Why do you think that is? My friend has had similar results. The deer pile into his fields planted in Dwarf on one of his farms, but the other they don't even touch? :confused:
 
dbltree, Why do you think that is? My friend has had similar results. The deer pile into his fields planted in Dwarf on one of his farms, but the other they don't even touch? :confused:

Often it depends on available food sources and safety issues. If deer have less feed available without crossing into unsafe open areas they will adapt to feeding on the brassicas.

If they have plenty of crops they are used to such as corn, soybeans and alfalfa in safe hidden areas, they will snub their noses at brassicas.

Sometimes it requires planting them for a number of years until they adapt to feeding on them, so no one should ever assume that if they plant them...deer will actually eat them...;)
 
I'd guess 75% of the acres planted where I live are planted in Canola. I rarely see deer in Canola unless a field doesn't get harvested and theyg o after the oil seeds or in some cases after volunteer small canola gets whacked by frost after harvesting.
 
I'd guess 75% of the acres planted where I live are planted in Canola. I rarely see deer in Canola unless a field doesn't get harvested and theyg o after the oil seeds or in some cases after volunteer small canola gets whacked by frost after harvesting.

Same scenario here, the best place to be late fall/winter is in a canola field that has been harvested with some regrowth. Food plots aren't very common here. I have seen deer hit these fields harder than any other food source out there. (Untill snow gets too deep/packed down)
 
For what it's worth, the first year we planted brassica, the deer did not touch any of the plot. By the 2nd year, they consumed everything! For us it was a matter of the deer acquiring a taste for the new plant. If brassicas go untouched for multiple years, I would agree with dbltree that they must have alternatives that are more palatable.

Mick
 
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