Buck Forage Oats

[Native Hunter]

When would be a good planting date for Ohio

I'm in 6B.

I've only done BFO one time and after that I started using feed store oats. I don't think September 1 is too early, because I was still getting good browsing into early November at least. I really think it depends on when you want the attraction to be best. If you get good rains, you should be seeing attraction to oats fairly fast.

Good luck.

 

[TreeDaddy]

i continue to be fascinated with regional variations of deer food preferences, recommended planting dates,etc

The only living creatures that browse on my picturesque brassica plots are my family and friends(I stopped planting them)

If I plant fall plots before october, they fry in the east texas heat

bill

 

[Jason Broom]

I have long been convinced that variations in soil composition, as well as regional availability of other food sources, has a profound impact on what level of attraction or palatability results from the stuff we plant in food plots. I don't plant dedicated brassica plots, either, but it's because deer won't stop eating them long enough for them to get established! Where Bull has observed very little usage of rye from deer, it's one of a select handful of plants that can tolerate the kind of browse pressure my plots get. Ideally, I would have more acres in plots on each property. If I had a lot of acres in various plantings, deer probably wouldn't eat as much winter rye as they do, with one or two exceptions.

I have several goals in planting food plots, two of which are to provide the earliest possible green-up in the Spring, so deer can begin to recover body mass lost during hard northern winters, and hiding fawns in early Summer, when coyotes do the most damage to recruitment numbers. Where I'm at, fall-planted oats provide neither of those critical benefits. BFO might create the best possible hunting plot for the Fall, but that is a tertiary goal, for me, at best. Soil building is probably more important than that, making improved hunting no higher than the 4th reason I plant food plots. (Although, all three ultimately contribute to better hunting? )

Above all, I stand by my earlier comments about the relative security of the location in which a food plot has been planted. You can't throw a bucket of corn, apples and cut up sugar beets into the local Walmart parking lot and expect good hunting. On the other end of the spectrum, give me a 1/4 acre plot that is effectively screened, adjacent to good bedding cover, and I'm confident hunting the lines of movement nearby will result in elevated adrenaline levels, no matter if it has boring old WR or the most expensive food plot seed known to man!

 

[dogghr]

When would be a good planting date for Ohio

I plant brassica first week of Aug. LC mix with oats goes in first 2 weeks of Sept. My first freeze is second wk of Oct, and all the above is well established by then whether tillage or throw and mow.
As for Oats, I'v always wanted to try the BFO but I get cheap reclaimed oats at co op and the deer have usually done away with them by Nov. Usually one of the first browse in a plot mixture. So I see no need to spend more money to watch it just get pooped out the same as cheap. So important to have good natural browse to take pressure off any planting.

 

[swat1018]

You are welcome Buckeye. So now anyone in area 6a and 6b no matter where they live can relate to your planting dates. So guys from 6a and 6b lets hear what works for you

On your questions about turnips Buckeye, basically they need 60 to 75 days before too cold to grow or frost to mature. Oats on the other hand work best here in zone 4b/5a planted Sept. 1. I am only projecting dates as compared to here but would put your best oat planting date at Sept. 7- Sept. 10 for oats. The turnips have a larger window and it probably runs around Aug. 1 as being a great beginning planting date.

I have limited experience with Throw-N-Mow but think a week or two earlier than when tilling the soil works best. Rain is always important relative to germination but more so with throw-N-Mow. So yes Buckeye, you sound like you are in the right ballpark dates for your turnips and oats.

Hopefully someone from 6a or 6b will chime in here.

Yep, Labor Day Weekend is a good time. A couple weeks on way or the other will suffice. I'd rather error on the side of caution and plant a little later rather than earlier. Tender greens in hunting season is a good thing.

 

[Mennoniteman]

I liked reading this thread about Oats, my number one food plot planting. No matter what your favorite kind, OATS should definitely be a component of every hunters fall plot strategy, my method is planting the cheapest seed, more acres. This year I'm planning to plant Oats & AWP at several different times if I can, just because it's such an important part of great fall shooting plots. My experience is that after frost kills the clover, the oats are the only green thing left and green is the trump card for deer season.

 

[Bullwinkle]

I liked reading this thread about Oats, my number one food plot planting. No matter what your favorite kind, OATS should definitely be a component of every hunters fall plot strategy, my method is planting the cheapest seed, more acres. This year I'm planning to plant Oats & AWP at several different times if I can, just because it's such an important part of great fall shooting plots. My experience is that after frost kills the clover, the oats are the only green thing left and green is the trump card for deer season.

Well said

 

[SwampCat]

I have planted them in half a plot with wheat. It was a wet year and the yellowed up and did not do as well as the wheat. They cost almost four times as much as regular wheat or oats. Deer will eat regular wheat and oats just fine. If you are up north and planting only an acre or two, they might be worth considering because of supposedly being more cold hardy.

 

[Buckeye]

Well they are calling for rain Monday and Tuesday,so I went ahead and got my Oats,Peas,and Clover mix in the ground today hope the weather man is right on the forecast.

 

[Buckeye]

The weather man was wrong I didn't get any rain. Does anyone know how long the seed will last without any rain. They are calling for rain Saturday, hope we get it.

 

[Mennoniteman]

The weather man was wrong I didn't get any rain. Does anyone know how long the seed will last without any rain. They are calling for rain Saturday, hope we get it.

Seed can stay in the ground dormant for years. But once it germinates it needs moisture to keep it alive. Last summer I planted brassica and it rained just enough to germinate, then didn't rain for three weeks and the crop failed.

 

[Jeff H]

I have long been convinced that variations in soil composition, as well as regional availability of other food sources, has a profound impact on what level of attraction or palatability results from the stuff we plant in food plots. I don't plant dedicated brassica plots, either, but it's because deer won't stop eating them long enough for them to get established! Where Bull has observed very little usage of rye from deer, it's one of a select handful of plants that can tolerate the kind of browse pressure my plots get. Ideally, I would have more acres in plots on each property. If I had a lot of acres in various plantings, deer probably wouldn't eat as much winter rye as they do, with one or two exceptions.

I have several goals in planting food plots, two of which are to provide the earliest possible green-up in the Spring, so deer can begin to recover body mass lost during hard northern winters, and hiding fawns in early Summer, when coyotes do the most damage to recruitment numbers. Where I'm at, fall-planted oats provide neither of those critical benefits. BFO might create the best possible hunting plot for the Fall, but that is a tertiary goal, for me, at best. Soil building is probably more important than that, making improved hunting no higher than the 4th reason I plant food plots. (Although, all three ultimately contribute to better hunting? )

Above all, I stand by my earlier comments about the relative security of the location in which a food plot has been planted. You can't throw a bucket of corn, apples and cut up sugar beets into the local Walmart parking lot and expect good hunting. On the other end of the spectrum, give me a 1/4 acre plot that is effectively screened, adjacent to good bedding cover, and I'm confident hunting the lines of movement nearby will result in elevated adrenaline levels, no matter if it has boring old WR or the most expensive food plot seed known to man!

Jason I could not agree more with your first line. I've often wondered if the plants themselves are but carriers of what lies beneath them and that the palatability is directly proportionate to the minerals in the soil they are growing in.

 

[Mennoniteman]

Jason I could not agree more with your first line. I've often wondered if the plants themselves are but carriers of what lies beneath them and that the palatability is directly proportionate to the minerals in the soil they are growing in.

An intriguing idea. Like you said the palatability is directly proportionate to the minerals in the soil they are growing in. But soil is only a medium, and the different soil types still present the same food to plants, P, K, and N, plus boron, copper, iron, and other trace minerals that are present or need to be added to most soils in order to grow a crop. That is why my friend can have a very gray, gravelly ironstone soil, and I have a very red, clay/shale sandstone soil, yet the watermelons that we grow taste exactly the same.

 

[Jeff H]

I agree with your watermelon scenario to a degree. Consider that what we taste and what a deer taste are very different. Consider that a deer can smell (and through the use of their Jacobson's organ actually taste) the difference between 2 blades of grass. They can smell water! Would those two watermelons taste the same to a deer ? or for that matter a dog ?
Earlier this year I found that clover growing in an old mineral site was eaten to the ground while the same clover 3 feet away was just lightly browsed. I believe the clover in the mineral site was simply a carrier of the minerals in the ground.
Next Spring I'm going to do an experiment on 2 clover plots. I'll divide in half diagonally and add Redmond minerals to half and monitor the two sides through exclusion cages.
Lots to consider and I don't claim to have any expertise in the field. Just my mind wandering in and out of the shadows of conventional knowledge!

 

[Jason Broom]

An intriguing idea. Like you said the palatability is directly proportionate to the minerals in the soil they are growing in. But soil is only a medium, and the different soil types still present the same food to plants, P, K, and N, plus boron, copper, iron, and other trace minerals that are present or need to be added to most soils in order to grow a crop. That is why my friend can have a very gray, gravelly ironstone soil, and I have a very red, clay/shale sandstone soil, yet the watermelons that we grow taste exactly the same.

Some would say the plants growing from the soil are a medium, delivering nutrients to the critters eating the plants. I would also suggest that the watermelon may not taste any different to you and me, but deer have a much better sense of smell and taste. The variability with which deer in different areas consume different plants can only be explained by a few possible factors, one of which is the soil composition.

 

[Mennoniteman]

You guys have good points, a deer's senses are definitely way different than humans. And even humans can taste the difference in grass, pull a cattail and chew on the tender bottom is good, where a different species of grass has a bitter stem. And my watermelon theory has holes in it, such as horses raised in bluegrass country being better conditioned than some other areas.

 

[Rempump870]

I was working with a food plotting guy that was just starting out. We made a deal that he would plant food plots, experiment, run tests etc. in my food plots on my lease. In one of the test plots he broadcast deer mineral and was experimenting if the deer liked it more or less. They seemed to favor the part of the plot where the deer mineral was broadcast into the plot. I picked up a bag of deer mineral from cableas on super sale. I am going to broadcast into half of a couple plots to see what happens.

 

[OkieKubota]

My experience is most all "deer minerals" have a high salt content...I have never been able to get anything
else to grow where I have fed mineral...just like the days of old when marauders would poison the fields with salt...

 

[Jason Broom]

I was working with a food plotting guy that was just starting out. We made a deal that he would plant food plots, experiment, run tests etc. in my food plots on my lease. In one of the test plots he broadcast deer mineral and was experimenting if the deer liked it more or less. They seemed to favor the part of the plot where the deer mineral was broadcast into the plot. I picked up a bag of deer mineral from cableas on super sale. I am going to broadcast into half of a couple plots to see what happens.

I don't know what the food-plotting guy was calling "deer mineral", but minerals are minerals. There are key macro nutrients, like Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium (NPK), which are the basis for most fertilizers. There are also many different micro nutrients that are also too numerous to mention. All of these components (or a relative lack thereof) is what makes up the soil in your food plot. There is no such thing as "deer mineral", only trace minerals (usually as part of a salt block) that can be source deposited (a block) or spread over a small area. I've never heard of someone referring to macro and micro nutrients as deer minerals, but that would be misleading, at best.

If that bag of deer mineral you bought on super sale at Cabelas is mostly salt (sodium), all it will do is ruin the soil, if you dump it in a pile. If you broadcast it across a large area, there won't be enough minerals in the bag to make any difference whatsoever. Ya gotta read up on this stuff and educate yourself on how this all works. It starts with a soil test and a basic understanding of both pH and NPK fertilizer requirements, although that is really just the tip of the iceberg.

 

[Booner21]

My experience is most all "deer minerals" have a high salt content...I have never been able to get anything
else to grow where I have fed mineral...just like the days of old when marauders would poison the fields with salt...

I broadcast redmund mineral on my plots every year at planting just like fertilizer. As we can't use mineral sites in IL Plots grow just fine. Now I am not dumping a 100lbs on a spot but 200lbs an acre as usual.

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