Fall Plot

Anyone else love green carpet in the fall!?

The social tree we planted has been a huge success so far. Every deer that enters the field wants to check it out.

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What type of a fall plot is this? How late into the hunting season will the deer continue to hit it. We have a great place to put a foot plot but can’t seem to get anything to last till the hunting season. Would really love something that would last till the muzzleloader season. Food really seems to be the key at Muzzleloader time. We’ve tried Beans, Corn, Radish, and Rye. All of the plots seem to get eaten well before the Muzzleloader season. Its a decent size plot ( around 5 acres ) Hunting buddy is a farmers so have all the equipment needed.

Nice plot. Looks like some kind of winter grain or grain mix.

I do some pure rye plots every year. I’m a big fan of rye (cereal rye). It’s easy to plant and grow and it adds some late-growing-season tonnage. It’s also basically the last chance crop here in the northern tier, I have customers call every year in August looking to plant and by that time of year the winter grains are really the only thing that will produce reliable growth to make planting worthwhile.

Here’s one of my strips of rye, as seen in the far background behind the soybeans.

Grouse

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We have a very high deer population as well. We tried turnips and they would get eaten to the ground before the gun season. The last two seasons we have planted winter rye, oats, and peas around the 3rd weekend in August. We add another layer of winter rye seed around Labor day, and another layer two weeks later. The layered approach really seems to help keep the plots lush.
These fields still have drawing power into muzzleloader as long as the snow isn’t too high.
Next year we are going to try turnips again. Plant in mid July and if the grazing pressure is too high, we will come in around the 3rd week of August and add winter rye and add a second layer a couple weeks later. That should provide plenty of lush green growth for sept/oct while protecting the turnip bulbs for Nov/Dec.

ranger777 wrote:

Next year we are going to try turnips again. Plant in mid July and if the grazing pressure is too high, we will come in around the 3rd week of August and add winter rye and add a second layer a couple weeks later. That should provide plenty of lush green growth for sept/oct while protecting the turnip bulbs for Nov/Dec.

The biggest problem most food plotters face is overbrowsing and managing browsing pressure.

In experimenting with different potential brassicas food plot blends, I noticed a clear difference when it came to browsing pressure. Mixing tender treats like clover and grain in with the brassicas attracted more deer to browse on the plot in the early stages of growth. In the process, they almost always browsed the brassicas to the ground.

The more “pure” brassicas-only mixes don’t look as good, but they fared much better because brassicas leaves are a little starchy and bitter and the deer don’t like them as well. So we found if you aren’t attracting the deer into the brassicas with other plants in the mix, the brassicas can benefit.

Anohter way to manage browsing pressure is through use of the PlotSAVER System. There is no way I’d have the soybean plots I get without using the PlotSAVER.

Grouse

My first year plot is mowed to the ground by deer this entire year. The clover is short but still very green. My brassicas are immature and and stunted because of over browsing. Next spring I will be doubling the size of the plot with emphasis on clover with tall grass borders. My brassica area will be planted a month earlier to give them a chance to mature more. Hopefully the added clover area will take a little pressure off them also.

I’m curious, should a take a few passes with my middle buster just before gun season to expose some of the brassica roots making for easy pickings for the deer?

castle-rock-clown wrote:

I’m curious, should a take a few passes with my middle buster just before gun season to expose some of the brassica roots making for easy pickings for the deer

No. If overbrowsing is a problem why make it easier for the deer to browse? Make em work for it. They won’t get discouraged.

As far as planting time, brassicas north of the Cities need to be in by July 4th. South to the Iowa border you until July 15.

Grouse