I don’t read Sturgis, so I don’t know what he means by that, but my summer plots are there for nutritional purposes. Why would you not want to feed your does ? Does need good nutrition in order to produce healthy fawns, of which half are your future bucks. And where they feed the fawns will imprint, that’s how they learn, from their mama. The bucks will also feed there all summer, and at least some of them will check those plots all during the hunting season to see if any of those does are there.
I would suggest running some game cameras on your property in order to see how your deer move. Of course this is gonna change a little throughout the year as different food sources come into play, but you can leave your cameras in one set of locations for a month or so, then move them around for another period. I’d also suggest running them on video as much as possible. In the spring, if legal in your state, put out a few trace mineral blocks from your local feed store, put a camera on it (video), and you can inventory your deer, as well as see your fawn crop. If you study the deer well, you can sometimes even tell one doe from another and of course the bucks will all be a little different.
As to what to plant, grains can’t be beat for an annual fall crop IMO. Wheat, oats, rye, or a combination of any of them. In the spring/summer, soybeans and cow peas if you can plant enough acreage, or if your deer density is not great. These are “ice cream” plots for deer and they will stay in them until the vines are all that are left. That doesn’t bother me as I know that for six weeks or so I have provided them with a high protein diet that’s as good as it gets. Clovers are a very good perineal crop if you have the soils for it. Sandy land is not too good for clover in my experience, something that holds moisture a little better is desirable. For any crop getting your ph in line is almost a must. A ph between 6 and 7 allows the crop to better utilize the fertilizer as well as the natural nutrients in the soil. Grains will grow about anywhere.
Ok, where to plant ? This one is a little harder because we’re not on the ground there. Some places are no brainers, some are not. Clover, at least in my neck of the woods, grows better in low places, but I found out the hard way that low places are tough to hunt unless you’re doing it from up the hill with a rifle. The winds swirl too much, but if it’s just a nutrition plot then you’re good to go. I like plots with good ingress and egress because if you can’t get in and out without bumping deer, your odds go down. To do that you must take into consideration which wind is the most common during hunting season. If possible, you need options for different winds on the same plot. Also to be considered is where a mature buck feels comfortable, and to me that says a plot longer than it is wide and possibly shaped like an L or a chevron. If a buck can’t see the whole plot from one spot, he has to move around more and you’re more likely to see him. Of course most mature bucks will just go downwind and use their noses to tell them what’s there. The bucks I’m talking about are the ones that come by when those does are feeding in that plot. He’s more likely to check them out if he can’t see them. So now we’re back to the original question. Why would you not want to feed your does ?
BTW, there are lots of guys here that know much more than me, those are just my experiences.
