what are the deer eating now
Whitetail Deer
What are the deer feeding on now on your land?
There is a wide variety of grazing going on at the farm. We have a lot of deer in the corn fields as they pretty much picked over much of the soybean fields, as the looked for spilled beans or shattered pods.
I am seeing a lot of consumption on the plantains this week and also i have been pleased with the consumption and growth with one of my experimental, annual clovers. Look for me to discuss that variety as i get enough inventory bought and priced.
They are eating the heck out of my broadcast wheat/oats/rye, and red clover, I have about $28 an acre in the clover and about $25 an acre in the wheat/oats/rye mix, for seed. Fertilizer and lime are a little more. Ultra cheap food plots and great results. Cheap and easy. Clover was frost seeded in February at 15lb an acre and wheat/oats/cereal rye broadcast into standing beans and some in bean stubble immediately after the combine at about 75lb an acre. Plenty of rain this year, turned out real nice. Makes a nice feeding and hunting plot. There is wheat right across the road from it and deer are still using it like crazy.
mostly left over beans and corn. no acorn trees in my area. Nutritionist, I live in eastern N.C. what is your opinion of sugar beets for a fall, winter, food source for deer. Forrest
Sugar beets are the most finnicky thing one can plant. Yes, i love them on a good year but they also don't like water and wet years. They need to be planted 1/2 deep and many people don't get them planted deep enough. Seed prices on sugar beet seed is climbing due to many people going to roundup ready sugar beets.
I planted fodder beets this year and like them but they are a tad pricey. I prefer rutabaga over sugar beets for nutrition and ease of planting. I also have been playing with a few varieties of swedes. I think sugar beets are too hit and miss for the average or new to food plotting people.
If you do plant sugar beets know they don't compete well with many other species. You should have kale, swedes or other slower growing brassicas blended with it.
Deer do loveeeeee them though.
I will test out a blend next year using sugar beets, fodder beets, rutabaga and a swede. It should be put in the ground late May-June.
On my places, wheat, oats, rye, and ACORNS. We have a bumper crop of acorns this year and they don't have to move far for a belly full.
Alabama. They are eating acorns of all types, persimmons, honeysuckle green briar, mushrooms, berries, leaves, poke salad, weeds and shrubs, green fields and the left over summer plots with soy bean, sunflower, sorghum, and some corn. Better known as yellow acorns for the ones who dump it on the ground. Personally I don't. Many more things are available to the deer here for food consumption but it would take a long time to identify it all. It is still 80 degrees here and the bucks are still in bachelor groups. They should be breaking up soon and start the pre rut rituals. I would just be happy with cold enough weather to knock back the skitters right now.
we are 2' below sea level , so sugar beets probably not a good idea. the deer do not like turnips in my area. love wheat, oats Forrest
Nutritionist, forgot to say thank you. do you feel like their is a different taste between turnips & rutabaga ? have not tried to plant rutabaga. thank you Forrest
On my place in KY, I planted Clover, Wheat, Winter Oats, and brassicas. The clover is very active right now and the oats which are just starting to get taller is getting some browsing. The Winter wheat didn't grow too well and the brassicas hasn't been touched yet. I am happy with how the clover and oats have been doing but the brassica and wheat plots didn't do well at all and I would say they were a waste of money. The brassicas didn't generate any interest last year either so it might just be I am not planting the right seed and conditions. We had a really hot Aug and early Sept so soil conditions were not ideal. I think next year I need to rethink what I am doing, feels like I wasted 2K.
I hunt in a flood plain area and they are eating the huge fields of giant ragweed that is still lush & green due to a late regrow in the aftermath of a rare July flood. Absolutely hammering it. In the timbered areas they are hitting fallen leaves off the silver maples along with native forbs that are common in the bottoms. I did get some food plots in after the floods and they are hitting my white radishes real well. Totally ignoring my winter peas. And not seeing much action in my Rye plot yet. Probably will hit that later when more of the native stuff freezes off.
Here in KS they eat corn. Lots of corn judging by some of the semi live hunts
acorns and a few forbs, some late falling apples in old fields and fencerows, frost-wilted kudzu leaves, the last of the red mulberry leaves, some beechnuts, and a mushroom here and there after all the warm rainy days.
I have a few wild apple trees that hold on till this time of the year to drop apples. Those trees are being hammered. I also have clover around them and they graze on that a bit as well. I am also still seeing deer in the cut corn.
My place is in Crawford CO. WI
Bill
We have 6 or so old apple trees scattered around (four by the house where I never hunt per house rules). It was a banner year for apples and there are deer around the house every day/night eating them. In my plots, BFO and daikon radish are popular as well as corn from two gravity feeders. All of the good bucks I had seen around earlier in the season have disappeared; I'm hoping someone wanders back through this weekend. I'm off for a week starting Thursday, but calling for 30-45 mph winds Thursday/Friday, so Saturday may be the next day I get out.
Do you all fence your plots off while they are growing. Mine all look like putting greens.
They are hammering my tillage radish. First year I've planted it but it won't be the last.
I am curious about the turnips as well not that I am planting but in northern MO a lot of farmers are planting after the crops are out to help the soil do the deer like them?
Leftover Halloween candy I drop from my stand ;)
They love leftover Halloween pumpkins. And the candy, too! LOL
They've eaten by turnips/radish/brassicias almost down to nothing. They're always in the clover and are starting to hit my corn now that a lot of the big ag fields are being cut.
In my neck of the woods, they are working on acorns, HARD. Last two had their belly's full of nuts and surprisingly not one kernel of corn. Only pictures I get at the inventory feeder is of squirrels & turkeys.
drahthar...yes there is a huge difference between rutabaga and turnips. Most companies won't put rutabaga in their lineups because they won't hit their profit margin.
Most people wouldn't know the difference between the rutabaga and turnips if they plant them in mid to late August. Rutabaga are 90-100 days to maturity and turnips are 60 days. The rutabaga will grow much bigger of bulbs and a lot more tops if they are planted in a time frame to reach full maturity. They are sweeter and because they are slower growing, won't become "WOODY, like turnips at times do for people who plant turnips too early.
For an extra $5-6 an acre if your planting straight or about $1 an acre if you put rutabaga in a mix, it's a no brainer for me. I'd never choose turnips over rutabaga.
Side note, i first planted turnips 24 years ago. I also still plant turnips but more for the research than as a staple.
Last night as i was watching the does eating spilled soybeans and clovers, the bucks were again eating in the plantains. This isn't a surprise and it's what i'd prefer.
Deer by me are eating corn and beans in plowed fields...had a doe and her fawn hitting the alfalfa last night.
In North Central Kentucky on my farm they are eating the Alsyke/Ladino mix of clovers. The alfalfa is getting hit pretty heavy. We had a late frost that eliminated most of our acorns, persimmons, wild plums and apples. The deer are really hitting the spin feeders of corn. This year I didn't plant turnips and I haven't missed them. The kale and rape don't seem to be palatable due to the warm Fall weather. I've planted sixteen Dunstan Chestnuts, Fifteen deer pears from Mossy Oak and tomorrow I will plant a mixture of Oriental and Keiffer pears. If you plant it they will come.
JimG
In central Ohio, the deer are feeding heavily on our Daikon Radish plots, clover plots and they are just starting to feed on our turnips. Corn and bean fields are being utilized but the are absolutely hammering a newly emerging winter wheat field. Had around 20 deer in it the other night.
Daikon looks to be about gone, looks like alfalfa from here on out, I have 240 acres of new alfalfa to tide them over. I may even shoot a deer this year.
My food plot has 2 acres of real world beans, 1/2 acre of oats and 1/2 acre of turnips, brassicas,radish.....+ about 25 apple trees which the ground is covered with apples. And guess what deer are not touching any of it! My plot is in a big woods low dpsqm area, no ag In the area and we have a bumper crop of acorns and deer just won't touch it when there's this many acorns. Years when. There's no acorns it draws deer from all around......not this year
Vitamin K which helps blood clotting. Green leaves browsing the woods. Food plots still not getting hit hard do to mild November! Northern Illinois!
Are deer are spending 60 % time eating neibors corn piles , 5 % of there time eating my turnips , mustard , and wheat, the frost killed the beans, and the rest of there time chewing cud, they finished up my peanuts and tobaco
I have some small Bucks hitting my bird feeders.
Deer densities are a huge factor into what deer are eating. In my case, there is way too many deer per square mile and I worry about the carrying capacity going into the winter. The natural browse is not enough. We never have acorns on the ground in November like some areas.
I had a few conversations this past week on this topic. Every farm and case is different. This is why i always ask where people live and what is their deer density before getting too deep into what they should plant. I have clients where you might see 100 deer in a field eating and then 20 miles down the road, they are lucky to see deer during gun season. Wolves, coyotes, bear, the weather, hunting pressures are all factors that come into play.
My goal is to supplement 1/4 of the deer's yearly diet with food plot forages. Knowing how many deer and how much land we are dealing with gets my mind whiling. Note, during the peak of the farm crop growing season, there might only be 1/8 of the deer herd's diet coming from my food plots.
An example.
So, i know i will have 50 deer eating from November on in the core area, as the crops come off. I am looking at 1 lb of dry matter per head per day that i want available. That is 5 lbs/head/day of "wet matter". So every day i know i need 250 lbs of clovers, alfalfas, brassicas, grains and forbs out there. In my case that amounts to 15000 lbs i need til Jan 1. (then deer scatter some due to snowmobiling pressures and their metabolisms are well changed.
so 7 1/2 ton of forage i need. If i am conservative and have stockpiled 2 ton of forage per acre, i would need 3.75 acres of food plots in that area. That is what i have and always plan for.
so i'd use a generic number of .1 acre of food plots per deer that lived in the core area you own. That would be my ideal number.
