Food plot

[Nova]

At the end of august I planted a fall food plot with rye and clover. It came in very nicely but the deer are not touching it. Do they save this for when the other crops are out? I have deer around and see them all the time. I also have apple trees in the back yard that they were using regularly 2 months ago and now the apples are falling off and they don't touch them. I have 11 acres that has 60 plus acre cornfeilds on 2 sides. Are they just eating corn now?

[Powerstroke]

Do you have any Oaks nearby. I have a couple different books about deer and deer hunting and they all say that when the acorns start dropping that the deer will eat them and nothing else. Acorns are the ticket right now.

Also, when was the last time you mowed your plot? They love it alot more when its been mowed and new shoots start to develop. Becareful though. Its supposed to hit 35 degrees on wednesday night. Hope it doesn't frost damage your plot.

[Nova]

Nope, no oaks, and the plot is only a month plus old and about 3" high. The frost shouldn't do much to rye and clover should it?

[Gofishleech]

I have 2 rye plots and they were hitting them before the acorns started to fall. I had a Biologic Maxum plot that they mowed down to the dirt, it was planted first part of august and was about 6 inches high but now its gone!!

One thing I have noticed over the years is deer are not afraid to move long distances for acorns and will ignor all ather food sources for white oaks. In my area I think they have eaten most of the white acorns and are now back on the rye but they brouse on the red oak acorns on there way to the plot.

[BLACKJACK]

nova, the deer will hit the rye harder after a few frosts kill off all the other green vegetation, the rye can withstand some cold weather and when its the only green plant around, they'll hit it hard. Same with the clover, except the deer will hit that all fall until its gone, I wouldn't mow it anymore. Face it, right now is time of plenty for deer - acorns, soybeans, corn, clover, all the other natural foods.

[luckey]

Nova, the guys are right on. I have the same situation. They are eating acorns and will attack the plots later.

[Nova]

thanks guys, I was just hoping I didn't do it all for not. I will be patient with this plot.

[PerchJerker]

Are you sure the deer aren't eating it yet?? Rye grows fast enough that it can be hard to see obvious signs of browsing. A trail camera, an exclusion cage, or even deer tracks might show you that the deer really are there.

Even if they haven't been using it yet, like the other guys said, they will. Deer have lots of preferred foods in the fall that only last for a short while and rye grain isn't going to compete with them right away. But the rye will still be there later and the deer will hit it when the time comes.

[Nova]

I have an exclusion cage on it and it's all the same. I also have been putting the apples off my trees out there to get there attention and nothing. I am not hunting over it so I am not baiting with apples. Are apples considered bait? Anyway, the tracks in the area have been down to very little in the last month. They must have found a nice oak grove full of acorns somewhere.

[Mark Christianson]

Nova,

From page 69 of the DNR hunting regs:

The new regulations

will define bait as any foods capable of attracting deer, and hunters

will not be allowed to use bait or hunt in the vicinity of bait

that the hunter knows about or has reason to know about, or hunt

where bait has been placed within the previous ten days.

[Nova]

So yes, apples are bait. I don't plan to hunt the area until late november and december when all the corn is out. Hopefully the apples will be long gone by then. I more or less put in the plot for practice and want them to find it and see how the rye works. The way things are going at the cabin I may not have any tags left to hunt the plot this year. Thanks for the tips.

[tealitup]

Stupid question but... if you put out a corn feeder 2 months in advance is it still considered bait?

What if it is an electronic device that disperses the corn?

[Mark Christianson]

According to the rules, as long as its removed 10 days prior to hunting an area, it would be OK.

[PerchJerker]

That's frustrating that they're not in your plot. Hopefully they'll get in there before the rye gets too mature or hardens off with some frosts. If you don't have to worry about the baiting rules (sounds like you don't since you're not hunting there) then I would toss some more apples, pumpkins, molasses, etc. in the plot to get their attention.

[Jigging Bob]

I just planted some rye and a turnip blend last weekend. I am wondering if this cold weather is going to kill this off? The directions said to plant at the end of August or September some time. So I am a few weeks late on the planting part of things.

A few years back I dumped a pickup load of apples down by my plot and it was gone in a couple weeks. So I wouldn't worry about having those off in time. They will have those divowered in no time.

[PerchJerker]

Your rye will be OK because it germinates quickly and you don't want it to mature, but your turnips need 10-12 weeks to reach maturity so they should have been planted much earlier (like July or early Aug at the latest) in this part of the country.

[Jigging Bob]

Someone mentioned Pumpkins in a food plot. Do the deer like them when they are ripe or kind of rotting? I never would have thought they like them. Would it work to go get a bunch and put them down on my plot. Not planting, just botten pumpkins?

[Mark Christianson]

That would be considered baiting if you dumped pumpkins.

And yes, they like them. A friend of mine used to hunt a pumpkin patch in Dayton. I guess they stomp the pumpkins open and eat em up.

[BLACKJACK]

I had heard that deer like pumpkins, so I did plant some in a food plot, with the dry weather they only got about the size of your head, but there are about 30 of them, it will be interesting to see when the deer start eating them, whether it will take a hard freeze to soften them up or whether the deer will figure it out before then. I did plant some clover inbetween and the deer are hitting that, need to get a camera over there.

[PerchJerker]

Pumpkins are an attractant - not a great one, more of a novelty - but they're not too hard to find at this time of year

I smash the pumpkins against a tree to crack them open and get the odor out there for the deer. The deer mostly eat the pulp and seeds on the inside but sometimes they chew on the rind. After they've figured out what pumpkins are about they'll raise up on their hind legs and smash their front paws down onto a pumpkin to break a hole in the rind and get to the insides.

I don't go out of my way to get pumpkins but we usually have a few around in the fall for decoration (not carved jack-o-lanterns). When we're done with them I usually toss them out where the deer will find them.