need help on food plots

[muleskinner]

I just leased 168 acres back in Novemeber. There are countless places for food plots. The property is in SE Ohio. Was heavily timbered 10 years ago and about half of it is cow pasture. The timbered areas seem to be a perferred bedding area. There isn't any food sources that hold the deer on the property most of them are at the neighboring been field. I have herd clover is not a good plot for holding the deer in the fall. Any advice will be helpful.

[Hunting Man]

hello, I only have about 5 years experience in food plots so I'm just learning. I do plant one plot in an old cow pasture with a mix of clover/chicory, and another plot in a tri-blend of clover/chicory/brassicas. I get most of my seeds from local feed store as I can't see any difference in production of the expensive seeds designed for deer. The deer do mow it down faster than it can grow but I figure their getting something with 25-35 % protien. One thing I can tell you is kill the plot in early spring with round-up then 3 weeks later plow/disk/fertilize/plant. Weeds will invade and take over the plot if you don't kill it first. Clover works well in moist soils, where chicory grows with less moisture Brassicas(which are large turnup type plants) seem to need more moisture than chicory. Deer love chicory! This is fun for me and gets back to hunting camp more often. I spent about $300.00 to plant two plots that total 1 3/4 acres . Hope you find some help from this.

[critter gitter]

I think food plots are overrated.

[Hunting Man]

Everyone gets an opinion; I know they work from experience. When you have a poor nutrition enviroment and you plant better nutritional food sources they will come and be better for it. Sorry to have a different opinion but when my fields are mowed down by the deer, turkeys and bear I know they work. I intend to enlarge the two food plots this year. We're trying to lease another 126 acres that has about 50 acres of hillside plantable ground. I plan to plant in rows leaving high scrub in between the planted rows.

[joel the signman]

ive only planted small plots so i cant offer too much .however i would suggest that since the other property is allready planted maybe you should manage your property as a bedding .staging area.then you can set up stands to intercept them en route to the food

[muleskinner]

Thanks for sending your thoughts. It certainly helps. I thought abought keeping it a bedding area but last year the deer seemed to bed right next to where they were eating which was not on my lease. I think it will be worth the effort to put in the plots to hold the deer on my lease.

[joel the signman]

i had good success using those minerals you get from whitetail institute .the deer and bear gobbled it up.best of luck ta ya.ya need a hand setting it up?where do you live again

[wmi]

I heard sugar beets are really good for after the first frost. You might want to check in on them. Beans are only good around here until they turn yellow then the deer won't touch them.

[critter gitter]

By us there are food plots all over,everywhere you look there is one so why would we want to put in another, the best thing I think is to have some kind of cover for the deer and possibly a small water source, that way you can catch the deer going between the food and bedding areas.

[critter gitter]

I had to slip that in there after my first post to clarify what I meant cuz I dont think food plots are bad,but there is a place for them Just not everywhere you look.