Just wanted to hear some ideas. I recently planted to food plots with winter rye due to poor PH. I do get the occasional pictures of deer visiting very briefly but not what I had expected. Do they normally hit cereal grains after it has been colder for a while? I know there’s still plenty of greens in the woods, but not many acorns this year.

If you build it they will come!

I can take them time to get on the cereal rye. I always mix in some clover seed with the rye. Doesn't do much this fall, but will be there next spring. You could always try to "sweeten" the rye with some lime and fertilizer.

Bowhunter, IMO, rye or tricale is an essential component of plots in the north country. It provides forage in the fall, but more importantly, it’s the first thing to green up in early spring when north country deer are most vulnerable. Plot palabilty for any crop is dependent on getting your soil in good shape. With very low ph, your crops are hard pressed to absorb what nutrients are available in the soil. In that sense, with low enough ph, lime is more important than fertilizer. Take a look at the deerhuntingforum.com if you’re looking to up your plotting efforts. It is a community where folks are particularly happy to share their knowledge.

Rye will stay green into winter months. For me in Michigan it tends to draw better in late November and December. Food is plentiful in October and early November. I don’t do straight rye. Mix in some brassicas of some sort. It’s too late for brassicas now but next year try them.

They don’t seem to like rye much down here. Wheat and oats are better.

After spending lots of time and stupid money with exotic food plot concoctions, I've come to the conclusion that lime and clover are your best friend. Lime is cheap. Clover doesn't need nitrogen fertilizer. Deer love clover. Specifically, white clover such as Ladino, Arrowleaf, Patriot and Durana.

Clover also doesn't need heavy tillage. We had great success this year "frost seeding." There's a how to article on QDMA.

How do you put lime out. That’s probably a Dumass question, I apologize.

Not at all.

Unless you know a guy with the equipment to deal with bulk lime, or, your fields are accessible by a lime truck (and you want to pay the money), you're probably going to be stuck using pelletized lime and your basic lawn broadcast/drop spreader, or an ATV spreader.

The best thing to do is get a soil sample and see what the pH is. Your cooperative extension should do this. In VA it's free because wildlife food plots are considered agricultural crops. We send our samples to Virginia Tech and they send a report back telling you a bunch of stuff, but most importantly how much lime, nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous you need per acre.

Be prepared to haul some lime. We had a few new food plots with a pH of 4.8 that needed 4-tons of lime per acre. One took 32 40-lb bags and the other took 28. We actually had a local guy pick up 4 pallets at Tractor Supply with his rollback. It took us a couple of years, but they're doing really well now.

You must lime and fertilize unless you have perfect soil or else you won't have much nutrition in whatever you grow and deer will seek better / safer options. Next time do a mix with 50 % oats, 30 % Rye and 20 % clover after you lime and fertilize. You will see a difference in deer usage.

From reading on the net about food plots, I've gathered that many put way more thought and money in than is needed. It's quite simple to put in a plot that's most important purpose is to attract deer in the fall/winter and to attract turkey in the spring. As an added bonus you have supplemental food to float deer through the tough months. We've tried oats, wheat, rape, clover, turnips, rye, peas, and a few others and found that Winter Peas by far had the most attraction, but didn't last unless the plot was very large as they eat them to the ground quickly and they don't regrow. The second best at attraction has been wheat, which works quite well as it's also one of the simplest to grow. After 25-30 years of planting plots we've settled on a very simple approach that always works:

1)Wait until temps drop into the 80s and you've had a couple inches of rain with rain in the forecast shortly after planting.
2)Brushhog
3)Disc
4)Drag with an ATV and pallet, log, piece of cyclone fence etc
5)Seed(150-200lbs Winter Wheat per acre)
6)Fertilize (50lbs 13-13-13 for 50lbs Winter Wheat)
7)Drag again

With that simple approach we can plant multiple plots in a single day and have beautiful plots within days that last until they seed out the following late spring. We don't get soil samples, we don't cultipack, we don't kill the weeds, etc, yet our plots look just fine. I use the same approach in rich fertile croplands to sandy bottom land and even terrible red clay mixed with iron ore, it simply works.

This plot is only a few weeks old on a 46 acre tract I bought near the house to carry the kids hunting on. The dirt is terrible sandy red clay with a lot of iron ore rock mixed in. It's approx. 2 acres and has 350lbs of wheat and 350lbs of 13-13-13. I filled that feeder in early August and thus far only had a couple 1.5yo bucks and a few does visit it, but after planting the wheat, the deer have really sucked in to my small property. I carried my boy Sunday eve and we had 12 deer feeding.



Am I doing it right? Probably not according to food plot gurus, but I've been doing it long enough that I know what works for me.

Good Luck,

loder

Put up an exclusion circle fence Reloader ! I see lots of green but can't tell if they are using it, I bet you have a line of scrapes the whole length of those oaks as well. What a pretty view.

Works for me. This plot is a mix of winter wheat, and chicory. The deer are just starting to hit it, but the turkeys & pheasants go nuts for it right now.
To the left is a small plot of turnips, and the deer are hitting them very heavy at night. I see them bedded down for hours right in the turnips. Then they get up and go right back to eating.

Thanks. I'm pleased with the place thus far, only hunted it a few years and passed on most everything except for a repeat 6pt cull I shot last year and a few doe. It's nice having a place to take the kids where they can actually see a few deer. The exclusion fence is a good idea. Judging by the numbers I see and the tracks, I feel it gets utilized fairly well. It's really amazing how a plot can suck deer into a small tract of land.

That looks real nice BGunn.

Thanks,
All I use is a 6’ rototiller, seed spreader pulled by ATV, and a simple drag, also pulled with the ATV.
Fun just to watch all the deer feeding, and watching the bucks grow.

I didn’t know they made Pelletized lime. That makes more sense. How much lime per acre, East Texas sandy soil where I hunt. I planted last Sunday. Can I put it on top of since I have already planted?

Hanco, I'm no expert by any means, but I've heard you need to lime 6-12mo prior to get optimal results. I've also read that pelletized lime is more efficient than powder as in you can apply 3/4s the amount. It also takes a bunch of lime from my understanding depending on the soil. In your area I wouldn't be surprised if you had to put 2,000-4000+lbs per acre.

Thank you. I might do it this spring.

The only way to know is to send in a soil sample:

http://soiltesting.tamu.edu/files/soilwebform.pdf

Had experience in Alabama telling me deer like oats over any other cereal grain. But was getting ready to plant a plot in northern South Carolina and had a seed guy try to sell me on Wheeler rye. So I agreed to plant some but not all rye. Didn''t mix it with oats but planted the short side of a 3 acre plot with rye and crimson clover and the rest with oats and crimson clover. Only reason the deer walked on the rye was to get to the other side or eat the clover.

Like others have said, the only real way to know what it needs is to take a soil sample. Most county extension agents will take it for you. Or they can provide a probe for you, and you can mail or deliver the sample to a place like Servi-tech or Crop Quest. If you have a local co-op, ask the agronomy manager. A basic sample is like $16.00 and it will tell you everything you need to know.

They do love clover. Right now they're gorging on acorns, but as soon as they are gone, they'll eat the clover down to the dirt in a week or so.