Hunting & Fishing food plots for whitetails

[jackh]

do any of yall plant food plots? if so, what do you use and when? any tips for someone starting out?

i was thinking of planting an acre or 2 of lablab or biomaxx from biologic this spring, then come next fall disc the whole thing and replant with texas draw

 

[Lucks]

Re: food plots for whitetails

Either one of the products you mentioned are excellent for whitetail in terms of protein levels and antler production. Straight lab lab is one of the best choices, the only problem with lab lab is that it doesn't tolerate early grazing pressure at all. If the deer eat it when it is first coming up it will kill it. If you are going to plant lab lab then you need to either plant it in an area where you can keep the deer off of it (high fence, electric fence, etc.) or plant a large enough area that you plant more than the deer can over graze. Usually you need to plant at least one acre per 8 deer to stay ahead of the deer on food plots. Also there are products where lab lab is blended with other seeds, like the Tecomate Lab Lab plus, the theory behind this is that the deer will prefer the other plants in the mix early on, which gives the lab lab time to develop. I'm not sure if it really works that way though, I've sold that product to people and the only thing they get a stand of is sorghum.

I haven't used BioMaxx, I was thinking that was the product that is a mix of corn and soybeans. I would think you would have to have pretty good soil conditions to get a good stand on it. Also, the early grazing pressure issue could affect the soybeans in that mix as well. I know in the Central Texas area it is very hard to get a stand of soybeans, I guess our climate isn't right.

It's important to remember that a lot of the seeds that work well in Kansas and the Midwest, doesn't work worth a darn in Texas. A lot of these seed companies and hunting shows promote products that don't work well in warmer, drier, southern climates.

The Biologic Texas Draw you mentioned is also a good food plot blend, it has a mix of different seeds that grow at different times of the year. The Chicory in that product if planted in September will grow until July...giving you as much as 10 months of grazing.

For spring/summer food plots just remember that this is the toughest time to plant something and get it established, but this is the time of year that will directly affect antler growth.

Fall food plots to me are important mainly just as attractants. I haven't seen any of the blends that "attracted" deer any better than just straight oats or wheat. I have mixed Austrian winter peas and Vetch in with my oats and had good success getting a good stand. The Austrian winter peas seem to do the best as far as a legume mixed with winter small grains. Clovers never seem to do much for me. I might add though that I plant in Central Texas and the Texas Hill Country, I'm sure different areas get different results.

I have also used the Brassicas myself. They are great for deer but it is a weird plant. They are basically hubrid turnips that are very easy to get established, you can literally just throw the seed out on top of the ground. They are bitter until they mature or you get a frost on them, so they get to be 3 foot tall and nothing touches them, then when they mature and begin fermenting sugars, the deer can't eat them fast enough. At my place the deer didn't touch them for 2 months, and then ate every ounce of them in one week! The bad part is if you're not hunting that week, you may come back to your food plot and just find a bunch of stumps where the turnips were...

 

[jackh]

Re: food plots for whitetails

wait is tx draw just a mix of seeds or is it a bag with packs of difference stuff that you plant at diff times? i dont see how you would just spread a mix of stuff that would come up at different times throughout the year.

anybody know if ill see the same results of a yr around food plot by having protein feeders out yr around and then plant a small plot in some sort of attractant for hunting?

 

[Lucks]

Re: food plots for whitetails

It is a mix of seeds. The different plants grow and mature at different times, but you plant them all at the same time from one bag. Some of the plants grow quicker and mature earlier, some grow better in the cold and some take off when it begins to warm up.

My opinion is that if you can only plant a SMALL summer food plot that it's not worth it and you won't be happy with the results. Those pictures you see of deer standing in lush green fields of peas or lab lab are on fenced off irrigated food plots. In most parts of Texas on 2 acres with lots of deer...your small summer food plot will probably look like a plowed field with a couple of weeds in it. What I would recommend is feeding protein in the spring and summer and then planting oats in the fall. You can get away with a much smaller plot of oats in the fall, than you can with legumes in the spring and summer.

 

[vpexp]

Re: food plots for whitetails

Go to QDMA.COM they have all the info needed on food plots. Lots of guys with considerable experience that will help you out. Lucks is steering you in the right direction, you may not need much more info than he has provided.

 

[matchking]

Re: food plots for whitetails

The most important thing one should do when establishing a plot is soil testing.

A mixture of warm and cool season plots are recommended, with the warm season plots usually being more important than the cool season ones. Depending on the area/cover type, certain habitat enhancement techniques (burning, selective herbicides, etc.) can do alot more for a lost less $.

 

[whelen35]

Re: food plots for whitetails

I live in north central Pa. I own and have access to several hundred acres of land both wooded and fields. My land is an old farm that hasn't been farmed properly in about 30 years. By properly I mean the only thing done to it is the hay has been taken offf every year but nothing put back into the soil. The other place I hunt is my father and Uncle's working dairy farm about 40 miles south of our old farm.

Working a factory job and not a farmer, I don't have the time or the money to plow, lime fertilize, and replant our fields. I dont have the money for the expensive and "exotic" food plot seeds on the market today. What I do plant are the free samples of clovers and alfalfa that they get at the dairy farm. In my crappy soil I have the best luck with Lydina clover. I have 5 fod plots that average about 2 acres apiece. The deer draw is excellent all year. The clover is good for about five years before I have to plow it up and replant it. Before I do that howevery I disc in some buckwheat. This makes a turkey and deer magnet. I do mow everything a couple of times a year too. If not mowed the stalks get tough and bitter.

One year down on the dairy farm, their seed suppier gave them a bag of biologic, enough to do a couple of acres. They planted it next to a field of newly seeded alfalfa hoping to get a little crop damage relieve. By late muzzleloader (day after Christmas) there was a couple inches of snow. The biologic didn't have one deer track while the alfalfa field looked like a sheep pasture.

Oats and rye planted late in the year are very good draws. I plant these late August or early Sept. By the time we have our first frost they are up several inches and the deer and turkies love it. The best thing about oats or rye it can be planted anywhere and in all types of soil without the need for fertilizer and lime. only drawback is the deer and turkies don't let the heads get mature and it wont reseed itself for the following year.

Deer as a whole are just looking for anything that has a tender, sweet, and green shoot. Knowing this, I don't get caught up the food plot seed craze that alot of manufactures are claiming as the latest and greatest. I go simple and cheap. With excellent results.

 

[jackh]

Re: food plots for whitetails

thanks for the info guys. i have looked through qdma before but last time i was on there i couldn't find the link to register for the forum and there wasn't much info on food plots in the forum.

my new plan: there is a 20 acre open pasture that borders some woods that i know holds deer and the pasture is pretty centralized on our property. i will heavily graze it down with livestock then drill it with a mix of wheat, oats and maybe rye in fall. lightly graze off and on with livestock depending on how the plants are doing. come season ill shut the gates and only allow deer in it. field is big enough to be hunted from several different locations depending on wind direction and where deer are entering/exiting field. i could even bow hunt trails at the tree line once weather warms up, either 1-what was drilled will die off and native grasses come back or 2-i will drill it with BMR sorghum for spring/summer haygraze for deer and livestock. i will also buy a protein feeder to leave out yr around. i already have 2 corn feeders that will be on oct-jan every yr so this wont be the only spot i hunt and i dont hunt this place that hard.