Plant It Right And The Deer Will Come

Dave Richey (left) checks his clover plot.

More and more people are putting in food plots every year. Some people use them to attract deer so they can watch the animals from their house, and some people hunt over them. Either way, putting in a food plot is good for all wildlife in the area.

So what is a perfect food plot? Perfect means it grows well and provides extra nutrition.
This question was put to Bruce Grant of Rogers City. He’s become the expert at putting in large and small food plots in the northeastern part of the Lower Peninsula, in the so-called Club Country.

Food plots can grow well in northern counties if properly planted.

"What is a good plan for a year 'round food source?" Grant asks, before answering his own question. "Some type of plan that will carry our wildlife, such as deer and wild turkeys, through all four seasons and still provide an excellent food source during hunting season.

"We need a plan and must keep good records. We need to know what does and doesn't work. Remember, it takes a whole growing season to learn what may have went wrong."
Grant breaks down his food plots in various ways. Alfalfa/clover is high in food value and important for fawn development and antler growth. It is good in the spring, and most valuable in January and February. He does not cut his crop after Aug. 1 because he wants all the growth possible before cold weather and snow sets in. His alfalfa/clover fields provide a food source while annual plantings are getting started.

He wants his ground pH to be at 6.5-7.0, and warns people not to buy seed in the spring. It often is last year's inventory and may be outdated. Chicory is a good crop but requires 18 months to produce. It doesn't grow real well the first year. He also warns sportsman that a primary diet of pure clover can cause deer to bloat. He suggests mixing clover with orchard grass.

In early May, Grant works the fields he wants to plant by June 1. This could be a small patch of rape and turnips. His major spring planting will be a soybean, forage peas and brassica mix. It grows fast and makes an excellent summer and early fall mix. It also keeps the deer off new alfalfa/clover or chicory plantings. Soybeans and forage peas have a protein rating of 38 percent, much higher than corn.

He said that in early May he works all the fields he plans to plant, and lets them sit for two or three weeks before reworking the fields to be planted. He spreads fertilizer and seeds the same day in hopes of getting ahead of the weeds. He uses herbicides, but only on new fields to be established.

Fall plantings should be planted sometime in August, and the earlier the better.

Fall plantings, he said, begin in early August when oats, wheat or rye mature. He will disc them, spread 200 pounds of fertilizer per acre and let them grow. This is a soil building crop.

This crop also will provide excellent fall grazing. Oats and wheat planted in the fall, and handled in this manner, offer a place for spring fawns and turkey poults to hide. It also is a great food source.

Aug. 1-30 is when he does his fall plantings. He works his fields two to three weeks prior to planting for weed control. His major fall crop will be a brassica mix.

Dwarf Essex rape and purple top turnip are the magic crops for many hunting camps. It they are planted by the first of August, by October 1, there will be a very good crop of rape and turnips. Deer normally will not eat this crop until the first heavy frost. After that first frost, the animals won't stay out of it.

Kay Richey poses with a nice 12-point.

Grant said deer first eat the turnip bulbs and tops. They also feed in a brassica field until the ground freezes so hard that they can no longer dig or they have completely destroyed the field, usually by early January.

"Fall is a great time to plant a mix of winter wheat and oats," he said. "The oats come up first and fast. The first hard frost freezes out the oats but the wheat will be the first green crop next April.

Plant a mix of annuals and perennials for attractive food plots.

"A good plan includes both annuals and perennials. When you consider the cost to maintain perennials, like mowing, fertilizing and weed control, I believe the cost between annuals and perennials is a toss-up."

He is a strong believer in diversification. He says it is best to rotate crops between areas, and change what is planted in each field from year to year.

"Go plant it," he said. "The deer and turkeys will come. Diversify, maintain and rotate. Just don't expect a perfect food plot the first year. It often takes two years to get growing well. Hope for some rain and warm weather."

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors