Late, late, late season food plot plan

[alldaysit]

Because of a high doe density I can do little about, I will be e-fencing off approximately an acre of radishes and turnips until the beginning of December in hopes of creating a late season food source. All my plots but the clover was annihilated by November.

Anyone ever do this before?


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[Blizzard Ridge]

Real World soybeans! I have 6 acres still standing and the deer are hammering them. If you can get them to canopy they will hold up to heavy browse and this time of year my plants still have tons of beans still in the pod for them. If heavy brows early will be a problem I would fence them off until right before season and after they mature mix in their plot topper, brassica, turnip, radish mix over seeded over bean plot in the fall. This made crazy good plots for me this year. I am catching every deer in the woods on camera during daylight over the last couple of weeks too. This is how all of my plots will be done from now on. I am not wasting time and money putting anything else out.
In my area there is clover everywhere, there is also LC mix, oats, rye etc everywhere or just grasses that are browsed. I had a 2 acre LC mix out and they hit it early but did not pay any attention after about mid Oct. They could go to neighbors pasture and eat grass and clover all they wanted there. Come Mid Nov - end of season they are hard pressed to find a bean on the ground anywhere and they flock to my fields.

 

[Hunter_Dan]

Where are you planting? Brassicas are great late season, but we have troubles with them getting pretty covered up by snow. Soybeans or corn do a better job of that for us. LIke Blizzard said, you can overseed these with brassicas/rye and get a great late season offering.

 

[alldaysit]

I am in Northern Wisconsin and we have at least a foot of snow on the ground right now.

I have RR soybeans left over I can plant next year. I suppose I could fence them off, then plant the radishes turnips like you did.

What radishes/turnips do you plant and how big do the bulbs get? When do you plant them typically?

My first frost date for this area is ~September 7th.


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[Buckly]

I can tell you that if you have higher deer densities, 1 acre of brassica won't last more than a couple weeks. Maybe that's all you need. Is this to hunt over, or over winter food?

 

[Blizzard Ridge]

Sometimes the simple way to fix a high deer population if you can not add enough food is to enhance your browse in the timber. Doing a couple acre hinge cut could help more than anything. The other thing that is the best way is start dropping the string on the doe population until you get it under control.

 

[Hunter_Dan]

Ok, I'm also Wisconsin but southern. I tended to go more with rye than turnips, and here's my rationale. If planting just turnips, I'd want to go earlier (late July/early Aug). However, you'll probably still have a heavy cover of soybean canopy at that time, limiting the light penetration. The more appropriate time to overseed the soybeans is late August (IMO). At that stage, you won't get much bulb growth. You'll still get some, but not a ton. Rye takes hold quickly and in some mass, and is better to plant late anyways. So for those reasons I tend to plant annual rye late and in a heavy dose.

 

[alldaysit]

I can tell you that if you have higher deer densities, 1 acre of brassica won't last more than a couple weeks. Maybe that's all you need. Is this to hunt over, or over winter food?

I might only need two weeks. Seems like the middle of December is when the target buck shows back up.


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[alldaysit]

Sometimes the simple way to fix a high deer population if you can not add enough food is to enhance your browse in the timber. Doing a couple acre hinge cut could help more than anything. The other thing that is the best way is start dropping the string on the doe population until you get it under control.

Thanks Blizzard.

I'll be doing additional hinge cutting this spring, as well as adding a few "kill" plots.

I'm only afforded one doe tag per season.


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[alldaysit]

Ok, I'm also Wisconsin but southern. I tended to go more with rye than turnips, and here's my rationale. If planting just turnips, I'd want to go earlier (late July/early Aug). However, you'll probably still have a heavy cover of soybean canopy at that time, limiting the light penetration. The more appropriate time to overseed the soybeans is late August (IMO). At that stage, you won't get much bulb growth. You'll still get some, but not a ton. Rye takes hold quickly and in some mass, and is better to plant late anyways. So for those reasons I tend to plant annual rye late and in a heavy dose.

Well, maybe I'll do a few strips inside the fence. 1/2 beans/rye, 1/2 brassicas?

I planted the LC rye mix this year and it was wiped out by the middle of September. Had lots of activity in it, but my GOAL with this later season food source is to attract and harvest with a bow, one specific mature deer.

What I'm looking for is a way to get a food source to the beginning of December and then to take down the fence.


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[Blizzard Ridge]

I use Real World soybeans and plot topper (brassica, turnip, radish mix). Real World soybeans hold their pods making a better late season plot. They do not shatter and scatter the seed on the ground after the first heavy frost like a true Ag bean will and they actually have pods unlike Eagle beans or the like which is why IMO Real World has a superior plot bean. Especially for late season food. I add my brassica mix in August to into first of Sept at the latest. My turnips are huge (Softball size) and radishes look like a typical forage type radish (about the size of a carrot you would get at grocery store).

 

[Blizzard Ridge]

The one doe tag stinks. Especially if over populated. Good luck with your endeavor. You are on the right track with your hinge cutting.

 

[The Famous Grouse]

Unless you have very low deer density or you are in a warm part of the country where your plots actually grow during the winter, I can't see how normal sized plots could last through the winter. Sure, if you can plant 20 acres of brassicas, bu t most of us don't have that option.

I'll just throw out the options that I use. No way with 10 acres of plots can I feed Minnesota deer through the winter, I know that. Too much snow, too cold, deer pound plots to hard due to (thankfully) improving herd size. So I fire up the feeders. I have the feeders throwing out a couple of hundred pounds of corn ever month. Not enough to fully sustain the deer, I know that. Strictly as a supplement to get them through in better shape and hopefully keep them in good condition if things turn nasty late in the season. If I load up the feeders, I can go 3 weeks without filling them, so I don't have to be on the property all the time.

Just an option to think about.

Grouse