Food Plots

What does everyone recommenced as far as planting a food plot. I know clover is really popular but what else produces good results? I am thinking about planting one on a farm this year but wanted to get some information from you veteran food plotters.

Great topic and question Joe. Here is what i do and would recommend and also what i do for the hunters i plant food plots for. I ussually try to figure in planting the farm around 2% of the total acres to food plots. Now in your case you probably wont want to do all that work since you are just going to be giving it a try for the first time. There are 2 different kinds of food plots. One is a protein and nutrition plot, which consists of your clovers and alfalfa and chicory etc... just say the plants that give out all the good horn growing and nutrition the deer need. The deer will hit those plots in the spring and throughout the summer and a little in the fall. Now the kind of plot you are after planting would be considered a "Hunting Plot". These food plots are planted for maximum deer attractant and have foods that are sweet to the deers taste because they are trying to put on as many pounds as they can for the upcoming winter. So during the Rut you will see most of your does feeding on the hunting plots rather then the nutritional ones. Oh forgot to mention that the nutritional plots are your big 4 or 5 acre plots and could even be 20 acres depending on your land and terrain. The hunting plots will be scattered throughout your property being small 1/2 acre to 1 acre plots so you can get the deer more funneled by your stand. No sense in planting a plot so big you cant even shoot across to hunt on right? Thats why these plots are made smaller and are called hunting plots. Now for the real answer to your question what to plant. My best luck for a fall mixture would be planting oats in early september and after you sew the oats in the ground sprinkle some purple top turnips on top of the ground. The turnips will come up fine without being burried. You could also use some brassicas in place of the turnips but the turnips work best for me. Once everything comes up the deer will graze the oats all fall and once the first hard freeze then they will nail the turnips, i mean they will be out there literly digging them up . You need to watch there activity on the plot to see when they do hit the turnips but you cant go in there everyday and leaving a scent trail cause then they wont hit it like they should.

Sorry i made this very long but this is what i was told to do and what i have found is best. I may not be a veteran food plotter but i do know whats going on. Also if you go with the oats and turnip mixture you can get the seed for much cheeper then clover seed. If you have any questions on how to plant it or anything let me know, i wont write a big paragraph on that unless you ask

Hope this helps!!

Jeremy...that is some fantastic information! Thank you so much. I love the idea of the turnips since once it gets cold they will def. be after them since they know food will be harder to find. Great post. Thanks man!

Excellent post Jeremy! If I may I'd like to expand on it a bit too. Some other plants that work great being planted in the later time frame for rapid attraction to go with a cold weather forage plot and even some are cold forage. I have begun using buckwheat as the early draw instead of oats for a little more room for other things like sunflowers, winter peas, sugar beets, and some brassicas too. We always have the perennial plots on our farm so we always put in about an acre at least of cold weather forage for late season and just something for the deer to feed on post rut. Another excellent plant can be winter wheat or rye for this type of plot.

Thank you for the info rattlesnake, like i said im not a veteran and enjoy learning new things all the time

Another little tip for you in the future too Jeremy is the Buckwheat is a TWO fold crop. Not only do the deer love the stuff, but it is without a doubt one of the BEST natural weed deterrents there is. All the rage in today's world is "GOING GREEN" and grown ORGANICALLY. If you are going to break in a new plot from something like CRP, I would mow it off, use a landscape or estate rake to clear the debris, and then start working it up.
Once you can establish good seed to soil contact seed the Buckwheat heavy and let it take over instead of the weeds as it's rapid establishing even in dry times, and it will take over before most of the weeds come back. Another bonus involved with it is that it is CHEAP compared to Round Up at only about $1 per pound and only about 50 pounds per acre seeded alone....MUCH more COST EFFECTIVE, and no chemicals!

thats some good info Snake

purple top turnips are great to hunt lat season. Here in New York when the snow is on and all the other food is hard to find for the deer they will dig in 2 feet of snow to eat them. The bear love them as well.

For a quick and fairly cheap hunting plot that the deer will destroy,Plant some Rape Seed,It's a turnip and it' handle's the frost really good.

THATS SOME GOOD SUGGESTIONS, AND ADVICE. I HAVE A FEW FRIENDS THAT ARE DOING THE SAME THINGS. BUT I HAVE A SMALL FIVE ACRE WOODED AREA TO HUNT SURRONDED BY SOY BEANS AND CORN. MY PROBLEM IS. THE LAND OWNERS DOESNT ALLOW HUNTING TO ANY ONE. SO IM TRYING A RED CLOVER PLOT ON THE BOUNDRY LANE BETWEEN THE LEGAL PROPERTY, AND THE CONNECTING SIXTY ACRE WOODS BEHIND IT. HOPEFULLY, GIVE THE DEER SOME THING TO STACK UP ON BEFORE AND AFTER THEY FEED IN THE FIELDS. MIDDAY HUNTING MAY BE MY BEST BET ON THIS. WISH I HAD BETTER NEIGHBORS, BUT THAT IS ONE THING I CANT CONTROL, BUT HEY, THEY HUNT TOO. GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR PLOTS, GET A BIG`EN!