No-till operations take years to build OM and promote natural nutrient cycling. The underlying fertility of the soil is a factor. Keep in mind that a healthy mix of weeds and your crop is great for deer. Germination rates are lower for T&M but that can be compensated for with seeding rates. Browse pressure and competition from weeds impacts the rate of growth.
All too often, we look at plots in an isolated context. For deer management, we should be looking at our food plots in terms of whether they are meeting our objectives. Those pictures all look like great food plots to me. They look much better than having a monoculture of WR that is so thick and tall that is shades out better deer food.
Why do I like WR for my fall plots and what is it's role in an overall program? WR is a great attractant in the fall. It functions well as a nurse crop for clover. An annual clover like Crimson mixed with WR and a light mix of brassica (PTT or GHR) is a great fall mix here, especially if you plant for a summer stress period. WR is a great early attractant when it is young. Brassica becomes more of an attractant as the season goes on. Here in zone 7A, WR will continue to grow on warm days providing food into early spring. By then, Crimson Clover (which acts as a reseeding annual here) is providing great deer food. WR is of little value to deer at this point. They will hit the heads to some degree if you let it head out. All of these crops are adding great OM to the soil over time.
The only time I would be worried about the thickness of WR is if I planned to use a crimper to terminate it without herbicides for a no-till drill of a summer crop. Here, the purpose of the WR is to smother weeds so herbicides are not needed. I don't have a crimper, so a thick/tall crop of WR is of little value to me. WR has done it's job for me long before it begins to head-out.
Sometime we think our food plots are the main source of food for deer, but they are only a tiny fraction of a deer's diet. From a QDM perspective, the objective is to provide quality food during the peak of a stress period when quality native foods are scarce. If we get through the stress period and there is still quality food left in the field, even a little, the plot has met the QDM objective. During much of the year, at least in my area, there is plenty of quality native foods. It doesn't matter if deer are eat it, or my food plot crops. Either way, they are getting the nutrition they need. My crops only matter, from a QDM perspective, when natural quality foods are scarce.
From an attraction perspective, plots are filling a hunting goal, influencing deer movement. Whether you hunt the plots themselves or the travel routes between bedding and food, or the edge of bedding itself, they are a factor. If deer are using the plots during the hunting period you are targeting, the objective has been met. Keep in mind, the most attractive plots, just don't cut it sometimes. In my area, when acorns fall and we have even light hunting pressure, deer abandon the most attractive food plots during daylight hours.
