Brassicas have always been good plots to hunt over late fall. Three years ago I tried winter rye as a hunting plot and had good results. I think the best bang for the buck is a clover chicory mix. Good year round grazing, with some attraction still up into late November. The OP claims to be from the same area as I’m from, let’s see if this guy is a sock puppet.
For a number of years, I planted various clover types in strips so I could try to monitor preference. I really like red clover. However, a couple times now, I’ve seen deer dig through a foot of snow to get to white clover and ignore red clover that was thicker and mere feet away. I gather from those observations that their is probably a nutrient difference that the deer were particularly in need of. I now mix whites and reds whenever I plant.
I like to plant a mixture of white and red clover. But my neighbors land has a strip of shaded red clover they are always munching on in early September. I.E . The clovers always greener on the other side!
Ended up with 48 chestnut, 29 swamp white oak,5 filbert ( in one pot), 66 sawtooth oak, 3 paw paw. The smaller cooler has some more filbert and paw paw seeds. I will monitor for germination and plant them if they sprout.
"Shoot low sheriff, I think he's riding a shetland!" B. Wills
Deer here love sunflowers in the summer. Particularly when the bloom starts to form, and makes what I call a dog knot. You think that they are about to bloom and then all that is there is a stem. Early fall Daikon radish seems to be the favorite, until acorns start to fall. miles
Ended up with 48 chestnut, 29 swamp white oak,5 filbert ( in one pot), 66 sawtooth oak, 3 paw paw. The smaller cooler has some more filbert and paw paw seeds. I will monitor for germination and plant them if they sprout.
That's a nice mix. I have a handful of sawtooth producing along with about 3 dozen English oaks. My best English trees drop over 2 months, which is a great draw. I've got about a dozen other oak varieties planted, but they aren't old enough yet to produce.
Both were about 7-8 years. They're about 18 years old now. I put them in 5' treepro tubes for the first few years. I've also planted: chestnut oak, white, red, pin, swamp white, bur, swamp chestnut, turkey, burenglish, shuettes, beadles, sauls, nuttall, shumard, and a shumard/northern red hybrid. Just remembered, the chestnut oak has produced twice now in 18 years. Along with about a dozen dunstan, I do have a 30' tall straight American chestnut that's beautiful. I hope to pollinate it with the genetically engineered chestnut they're working on. The dunstans don't do well for me. They are multi-stemmed and die off alot. This year will likely be the last year I plant oaks. Moving on to Apple varieties. Wish there were a "habitat improvement " forum on here.
I have had good luck with winter rye. I have a good plot of clover and try several other things when the weather is favorable. When the bed is ready for fall but the rain doesn't come, winter rye has saved the day several times. It germinates and grows fast. It grows at lower temperatures then most other stuff and frost don't bother it. Deer and elk love it. Just make sure its cereal rye and not rye grass.
Of course recipes vary by region. I am in NE PA so similar to you in NY. I have planted many things over the years but decided to simplify about 4 years ago. I settled on a red/ white clover mix and drill in winter wheat every fall along with some more of the clover mix. Fertilize twice a year and 1500 lb of lime per acre every 4-5 years. Works as good as the other stuff I used to put in and one heck of a lot less work, fuel and wear and tear on the tractors and implements. My advice, get a no till drill and just sew the mix I stated above.
And set aside a "sanctuary" chunk of your land adjacent to the food plot, at least 10 acres if you have it. Stay out of it and keep others out of it. Will do as much for you as the food plots. Drop trees etc and let the brush come up in it.
Heaven has a wall, a gate and strict immigration policy.
Best foodplot where I live is alfalfa. Buddies dad had 10 acres. You could drive by at night and it looked like a city. Couple hundred deer in it. They ate it down to sticks though. Wheat is practical and grows anywhere and draws deer in.
Soy beans planted late so they’re still green for bow season. Corn for cold weather.
Other plots have wheat, oats, radish, turnips and whatever else I find to mix in. I’m far enough south I’ve never seen them eat the turnips…. Doubt I’ll plant them again. But my dad lives further north and they eat the heck out of his turnips.
I’ve planted a bunch of oaks and fruit trees but they’re not producing yet.