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The Best Food Plots?????

J

J Becker

Guest
We have had food plots and a pretty good outcome with them. However, we would like to improve our land by putting in better, more attractive and more nutritional food plots for the deer. In your experience, what have you found to be the best food plot for deer? Any information would be helpful. Thanks!!!

HunterMan
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Really depends on the time of year and other food in the area. The best programs provide year round forage and nutrition. I don't know if anything is the "best".
 
Our farm is South-Central Iowa and there is a cornfield on one side and a bean field on the other. We have had oats and soybeans there before.

HunterMan
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You can't beat corn and alfalfa/clover. That combination will provide deer and other wildlife most of what they need. Just be careful planting low growing foodplots where they can be seen by poachers! I used to plant soybeans but it was to easy for the neighbor to shoot deer in them with his rifle (and brag about it no less!!)
Plant tall crops around your perimeter and or tree/shrub windbreak type plantings. It keeps the rest of the world from knowing what's on your property and deer more comfortable feeding in your foodplots.
 
Deer will eat the alfalfa but prefer a multi-mix clover that are in most mixes. It is more palatable and digestable for the deer. As far as corn it is a one - two month wonder. It is high in protein but not as high as the food plot mixes. They need the brassicas for their protein in the really cold winter months. I think but do not quote me that corn is like 27% protein with brassicas being 50-60%.
 
What I do, because like you there are lots of corn and beans close is concentrate on the times of year those food sources aren't around. Late fall through early spring.

I've found that even the clovers are second choice for deer anytime soybeans are green, so I don't plant soys, there are plenty in the ag fields. I have clover which gets a good chance to get established because it doesn't get heavy use during the summer. Once the beans turn yellow the deer just hammer the clover, next in line is Brassicas like Rape and turnips, once they get some good frosts they start getting hit which is about the time the clover fields stop producing and start running out of forage. with a good rape/turnip crop the deer will have a good protien source (along with the soybeans left in the ag fields) deep into winter.
The clover/Alfalfa also tends to green up pretty quickly in the spring also filling the gap before most forage plants and ag plantings are available. (That's why deer are in mowed ditches so much right away in the spring, the fresh green growth)

I also plant some corn and leave it standing, giving a good food source if we happen to get a deep snow winter, and the location of the corn also keeps deer more concealed from passersby and harsh winter winds than they would be out in open fields.

In Iowa with all the grain available almost every winter I don't see calories as being the main issue for our deer but keeping protien levels up is a challenge, one that Brassicas and clover do nicely.
 
IA ML'r is correct, corn is low in protein, but very high in carbohydrates. That is why they tend to ignore corn in the summer and pound it when it gets cold.

Clover is hard to beat for year-round usage.
 
The key is...what do you want your foodplots to do...feed deer or draw deer during the fall hunting seaons? I have never killed a "skinny" deer in Iowa...they have the very best of everything.
Any dairy farmer will point out all the reasons why they use a combination of corn, alfalfa and soybean meal. The very same items that are in abundance in southern Iowa at least.
I find that deer hit the alfalfa until it is completely froze off and they start eating my corn from the minute it comes up until they have stripped every last ear from the stalks.
Corn is expensive to put in, so is not for everyone. I like it for the cover and benefits to pheasants and turkeys.
Ladino clover is better suited for grazing then alfalfa...I've planted both side by side and they didn't seem to have a preference.
I planted turnips next to the clover and they never touched them...until Jan. and then the place looked like hogs had been in there! They dug up every last one!
I will agree that planting different plantings then are already in the area will be a draw.
No matter what is available...check a freshly combined cornfield after dark...you will find it full of deer. They need the energy as well as the protein from the legumes.
 
ML'r,
You are correct it is under 10. I do not know where I came up with that number. I plant my plots with a perennial blend mix and the other half with an annual. The perennial will feed them thru the summer and into the first frost. My annual will help them thru the winter if they need it. I have tons of corn around me also and alfalfa. They are always constantly nibbling on the corn and alfalfa as it is available. The last snow we had they were pounding the food plots.
I like to have my bigger plots out in the open for nighttime feeding and the hunting plots are just inside the woods strategically located. I also like to keep the plots some distance away from each other so the bucks will constantly check them. Thanks for the information and good luck to you.
 
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