Northern food plots

[Big Country]

Our party is in the process of buying a 40 acre lot with surrounding acreage of county land for deer hunting. We have hunted the 40 for many years and once purchased, want to put in a food plot. We do have acess to equipment, but were wondering what others have planted that worked for them in the northern portion of Minnesota. The plot would be 2 to 3 acres large. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks. BC

[00rowe]

Alfalfa (sp?), if you are able to cut and bale twice/year. If there's a farmer in the area they might maintain it for you. I think it's the best year around consistent food source, the only time it's not very productive is under 3' of snow.

Mike

[Code-Man]

Biggest question you have to ask yourself is do you want to always plant them or do you want to plant once and every 4-5 years switch out. Depending on where you are hunting it changes the crops I would suggest. Being in Agriculture and also love of hunting I would say whatever the farmers are planting rotate crops.

Annual Plots: Corn is one of those that if you can plant it works great...if the neighbors plant corn and actually harvest it they will hit your plots up. But no matter what by having corn even if a few plots of corn you will make sure during the winter they will have adequate food to survive. Another option would be Soybeans. Soybeans is a great and easy crop to grow since all you have to do is spread it and work the ground to cover the seed. Low input costs (No Fertilizer) but since you can find them relatively any where easy to just buy what you need. Soybeans is a high oil crop so would be a very good crop for during the winter.

Perennial: If you are only looking every so often I would strongly suggest planting some mixes. Biologic, Antler King all of them have there mixes but if you go to the Coop and ask if they carry Agassiz Seed brand it would save you lots! Agassiz Seed is out of Fargo and has a few mixes that I would suggest. If you want to do plots like Alfalfa or Clover I would strongly suggest planting a Cover crop with it to help protect it. WARNING with alfalfa: If you are trying to replant alfalfa it needs to be taken out of rotation for a solid year or two. Alfalfa will change the chemistry in the soil and will prevent other alfalfa plants from growing in that spot so when it dies out in 4-6 years you will want to take it out of rotation before spending the money to replant. If your looking for Alfalfa you will see 20 different varieties, the salesmen will try to get the expensive stuff at 2-400 dollars a bag and if you hold off you can get RR Alfalfa but I would suggest Vernal Alfalfa...yes it wont produce the tonage that regular alfalfa will but for 80-110 dollars a bag it is very hard to beat. Plant alfalfa around 6-8lbs per acre and yes I'm sure you know how much an acre of land is but imagine an acre as a football field without the end zones and that is like 0.9 acres. If you over seed it will hurt you. I would suggest spreading it with wheat/barley/oats to help protect the alfalfa when first growing. Another option is to do a Clover Mix which I would suggest strongly. Both alfalfa and clover will need to be mowed.

If you have 40 acres and access to equipment I would suggest mixing up the plots so you have early and late season food sources. But if you only rifle hunt the property i would suggest more of the beans and corn especially with weed control being nice with Round Up.

Hopefully I didn't get long winded and the information is of some use for you but you have to manage the property the way YOU want and not how everyone else would. Soil, terrain, and light are very valuable factors when making a decision on food plots but if you decide to do plots please spend the 20-30 dollars and do soil samples for fertility. you can spend 200-300 dollars in seed and not really grow but if you spend 100 on seed and 100 on fertilizer you can have great crops which will usually result in great hunting.

Good Luck

[Big Country]

Thanks for the quick response fellas. Great information. Corn does not grow well in these parts AND I forgot to mention, the plot will be located in the middle of heavy woods (Northern Minnesota). There are no agriculture farms near. It's an old clear cut that has grown about 14 years old. In the middle is an old staging area that the loggers used. We plan on using a Bobcat to clear that area (2 to 3 acres) then disc it all up prior to seeding this spring. I am worried that such a small size plot may get absolutley hammered by the deer too early, not allowing anything to grow. Thought's? BC

[00rowe]

With alfalfa you'll have to use a cover crop, probably oats (cheap), and that should green up quick enough to stay ahead of the deer, otherwise you can use "food-plot fence", it's just a temp fence that deters deer. Don't cheap out on soil samples, and then the proper amount of fertilizer, if you do it right the first time, it can be productive for 4-5 years. Good luck.

Mike

[Code-Man]

They also make a product called PLOT SAVER which you spray on the plants to discourage feeding. Since your going to be looking at alfalfa I would say if you don't get everything planted by June/July I would suggest waiting till later August/September whenever we start getting some rains. If that don't work one nice thing about Alfalfa/Clover you can spread it on the ground when it is frozen and when the frost comes out it will plant itself and because you spread it when it was frozen you wont tear up or rut up the ground so you wont have as many obstacles when mowing. Cover Crop will also help with reduction of deer feeding on your main crop.

[hockeybc69]

I would go clover over alfalfa for sure if you want to go this route.

Clover is very cheap to plant. And you can just mow clover and leave the residue.

Alfalfa you really need to clean up what you cut in order for it to grow properly. A big hassle.

[Big Country]

There are small amounts of natural clover on areas where we keep our camper. There are always deer dung / sign in that area when we aren't there for a while. Great idea. I have heard others speak of planting things like rutabagas,turnips, any other ideas? Thank you to those who have contributed thus far. BC

[NIBOWMAN]

My friend and I plant about 6 acres of food plots a year, geared more toward bow hunting. In the spring we plant about 2 acres into roundup ready soybeans. We prefer a taller bushy variety because the deer will feed on the tops during the summer when they are tender and green. We plant 2 acres in oats also. Do not plant the oats in the spring for a hunting plot, the stems will be dry and most of the heads will be gone by then. We plant oats Labor Day Weekend, we double the application rate, they don't have to compete with weeds, and by bow opener we have a carpet of light green tender oats. My buddy calls this the harvest plot, deer can't resist them. On the final 2 acres we plant clover for more of a all around feed for the deer from early spring to late fall. I hope this will help.

[00rowe]

Clover is much easier to maintain, but based on my observations deer like alfalfa MUCH more, maybe because its not as readily available as corn/beans. The change from a dairy farming area to crop and some beef has drastically changed the crop selection, those "hay" fields that are a mix of clover/grass don't hold a third of the deer of the alfalfa fields. Just my observation.

Mike