The Best Spring Food Plots for Deer and Turkeys
I was looking at the shiny bags in the store the other day and was amazed at the marketing effort, obviously successful, targeting hunters who want magic bag of beans to attract deer to their property. I picked up a bag of Monster, Super Giant Buck, Easy Green 40% protein blend and took a gander at the tag which is required by law to be attached to the seed bag. Hmm, sounds like a pretty good blend. Then I looked at the percent of seed coating and inert matter, then I looked at the price tag. Yikes, I don’t think I want any of that. For one thing, one of the plants in the blend did not grow well at all, so is a waste on much of the ground I plant. Having said that, if you want convenience, these seeds are blended strictly for deer, not cows, and they have inoculant in the coating so they are easy to get and spread on your field.
Why Are Food Plot Seed Sold in Blends?
The main reason is that if a seed company puts several plants in the bag, something is bound to grow. I used to see a lot of annual rye grass in expensive blends, which is a plant that will grow anywhere quickly and looks nice and green. Another reason is that as the season progresses, some of the plants will thrive and be more palatable in the cool season, early and late growing season and some will be more so in the hot dry weather. For example, chicory and red clover can take over in the dry months when white clover is dormant and not as palatable.
If you want something quick and easy and don’t want to blend your own mix, there are some pretty good mixes on the market. Try Real World Wildlife Seeds. Also check out Drop Tine Seeds in PA. Steer clear of Biologic, whitetail institute and evolved harvest. This is over priced junk in a shiny bag and is a waste of money.
If you want to get creative, read on.
Building Soil with Cover Crop Food Plot Blends
What I do in my practice is to purchase cover crop blends for my clients and try to build up the soil so that it becomes more productive and does not require soil amendments and constant spraying and tilling. I mix as many plants as I think will grow and also be attractive to deer while growing and after they go to seed. Some plants are good at weed suppression, some fix nitrogen or phosphous and some will attract pollinators.
One summer blend I planted in a demo plot thrived while all of the single species patches were full of weeds and did not thrive. I was amazed as I stood in it and could feel the buzz of life emanating from the thick blend of 7 plants. There were bees, other insects and birds all over it. This was a demo patch, but if I had a big field of it, I could imagine turkeys feeding in it, deer feeding through it until freezup and many other benefits. We should always be thinking about providing pollinator habitat and the life that exists below the surface of the ground.
Simulate the Prairie When Planting Summer Food Plots
The Great Plains had a couple hundred species of plants, all of which had a place in the system. The plants feed millions of buffalo, elk, antelope, deer, small game, birds and the many species of microorganisms in the soil. Life thrived on land that received just a few inches of rain every year. As food plotters, we should emulate the Great Plains as much as possible. If you build good soil and a soil ecosystem, it will provide great nutrition and cover for your game without lots of tillage, herbicides and fertilizer. These chemicals and tillage will acidify soil, kill miccorhizal fungi, beneficial bacteria and other microbes. This ecosystem moderates pH and helps transfer nutrient elements to the plants and to the animals that eat them.
Spring Food Plots Should be Planted in the Fall
As spring approaches and temps reach into the 60s during the day, the cool season plants such as clover, winter wheat, winter peas and other perennial start to flush with growth. As plants begin to photosynthesize, they become full of protein and sugars that create new growth – excellent food for browsing deer. If we wait until late spring when the soil dries out enough to spray/till/plant we miss the most important part of the growing season when animals are coming out of winter hungry and low on energy. The best time to plan for an early spring plot is in the early fall. Then, as spring food plots peak and the hot sun starts to beat down, this is the time to plant our summer blends either separate from or into the same plots using a seed drill. If deer are mowing down these plots, you won’t have a problem drilling into it. If the field grows tall, you may have to terminate the existing plants. This is best done with a roller crimper but not everyone has access that, so you may have to mow or use a light application of herbicide.
The Best Seeds to Plant for Summer Food Plots for Deer and Turkeys
The best plant for deer in summer is soybeans. Beans are very palatable and high in protein. If they survive browse pressure they will of course develop seed pods that will provide very good feed into the winter, making it a true multi-season plant. Soybeans come in many varieties, including GMO plants that can be sprayed with glyphosate. This is a good choice when trying to clean up a field that has been taken over by weeds. However, they are expensive and we want to get away from using glyphosate as a crutch. We can use plants to accomplish weed suppression as well. Beans come in several maturity lengths. The longer the growing season length, the better the plant will continue to sprout new growth after browsing. These can be mixed together to promote longer peak nutrient content through the season. Beans chosen for forage characterisics are shatter resistant, meaning they hold the beans in the pod into winter and grow more green than varieties bred for harvest. Along with beans, peas, phacelia, sunn hemp are plants you may want to try on your ground. Along with legumes, we should be adding broadleaf plants that include sunflowers, chicory, buckwheat, spring oats and a variety of brassica that are attractive in summer, such as pasja, african cabbage, canola. A grass can also be added, such as sorghum or millet. Basic mix suggestions are to take the full rate and divide by the number of species then add some for heavy browsing. Good cover crop experts often plant a mix of ten plants that, once the system is established grow very well together and become drought tolerant – an important characteristic in the unpredictable summer heat.
Check out this video on how I planted my summer food plot this spring: https://youtu.be/LHoXSOnDpu8
Some packaged seed products that make good summer plots, check out these amazon links:
https://amzn.to/2L5wvso for Whitetail Institute Power Plant
https://amzn.to/2J762KM for Antler King Red Zone
For information on how to plant food plots in the woods take a look at this article food-plots-in-the-woods
