Food plots - best thing to plant late season

rutiger22

New Member
What’s the best thing to plant to attract deer in the late season for best results? When’s the best time to plant these plants/crops?
Any feedback would be great - thanks!


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I find winter wheat planted in September hard to beat.
I second this. A couple of reasons; very easy to grow (almost can't fail this planting), no weed issues, high preference, lasts all winter, cheap, no fertilizer inputs, and 20-30% protein.

There are some things that people love late season such as turnips or beans. Beans are expensive and hard to make last in a plot setting. Turnips get mixed reviews. Some people swear by them and some are like me who have planted them many times just to watch them rot. For those who have deer that like them they are great, but I would say they are risky to hinge all bets on.

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I have had good luck with cereal grains and Austrian peas. They will always grow with the right amount of rain and sunshine. There are also PTT and radishes in the mix, but they may or may not produce based on the weather or your deer just may not like them. They will always eat cereal grains.

If you buy wheat seed, I would suggest looking at a awnless/beardless variety. The deer will tend to eat more of the heads and not worry about getting poked by the awns(little needles).


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For my money and my location standing soybeans overseeded with cereal rye. However one needs to have a proportionate sized plot based on deer density. If one has a high deer density then 3 or 4 acres at a minimum, and this is in ag country.My clover plots get hit hard all winter long also but the food quality isn't as good as soybeans in winter.
 
Welcome to the forum Rutiger22. The best absolute most perfect plants to plant for late season attraction here is definitely the LC mix augmented with a complete assortment of apple trees to have apples dropping from July thru Late hunting season. Regarding the grain section of the plot, rye, triticale, winter wheat and oats are planted here and they all have their day. Luckily the deer here like PTT as they along with the grains are our preferred late season annual planting and are easy to grow. However here the most late season daytime buck movement occurs in the plots that are narrow, winding and bordered heavily with apples and heavy cover. And more and more it appears that the well established plots that offer the full menu of food plot plants which end up feeding the deer something on most days of the entire year, year after year have the greater late season daytime deer activity.
 
First question I ask is, "Do I have enough acreage?" If I do, then soybeans. If I don't, then I start walking down the desirability scale until I get to something with bigger tonnage, isn't their first choice, but will eventually get eaten. I've gotten closest with perennial clover and cereals.
 
There's a lot of variables in this question. Southern US food plots have such different planting requirements than northern plots that they aren't even on the same page. What is your climate or planting zone? How big are your plots? What equipment do you have available? How much ag land is in the neighborhood and what do they plant for cover crop? Without knowing any of these variables, as has been mentioned, I'd suggest experimenting with a type of LC mix.
 
In my area, wheat. It will grow on my tractor so it will grow anywhere. While soil amendments are naturally gonna produce a better crop, before I was savvy to such things I still grew wheat and deer still ate it.
For fall planting the southern climate guys seem to lean towards wheat and the northern guys lean towards rye.
 
Interesting thing about wheat; it can grow 3 to 4 inches in as little as 10 days using only the energy stored in the seed.... without soil.

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These are all great suggestions and may just try a variety of all them, I’m in the northern area (PA) so I’ll just need to experiment with the suggestions posted...I do have a few apple trees planted but not that mature yet .


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What’s the best type of wheat to get


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I would look for an awnless/beardless wheat that will grow in your zone. The wildlife tend to utilize the seed heads better than bearded heads.


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What’s the best type of wheat to get


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I've been using an awnless forage wheat for a long time, but for just winter attraction anything will work. I think it's called "forageking" wheat. Just so you know, my wheat is always mixed with rye and clovers.

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