Magic Bean for Whitetails?
Filed under: Ask Grant, Food Plots
I live in central Pennsylvania on a 200 acre farm. We have 80 acres of mountain ground which I do a lot of hunting on. Most of the farmland we have is used for our dairy operation and is in corn or alfalfa, which only leaves me with about a 1 acre pasture that I could use for a food plot. I supplement the deer heavily in the winter with shelled corn, protein pellets and trace minerals. During the spring and summer months I supplement some corn and protein pellets along with Trophy Rock. Our mountain ground is relatively brushy but is starting to thin out some since we logged 8 years ago. There is a three points to a side antler restriction in our area, but it doesn’t seem to help since most bucks are shot before they can grow into a decent 120 class buck. What can I plant in our pasture that requires little care and provides a lot of protein, calcium and other vital rack building nutrients for the deer herd in my area? Also, what are several choices of plants that thrive in this area?
Thanks,
Colton
Colton,
It sounds as if much of your farm may already be providing the local whitetails quality food and trace minerals. I also use Trophy Rock to insure each deer has all the trace minerals they need for antler and fawn development. One difference is if quality forage is available throughout the growing season. My corn and bean crops are left standing throughout the summer and fall. They are not harvested as a commercial crop. I realize that most corn and bean crops are harvested. Is the corn at your dairy farm cut for silage? I ask because silage choppers don’t leave as much grain in the field as traditional combines. Is all the alfalfa cut at once or is there young (6-12” tall) alfalfa available throughout the growing season? If it’s all cut at once and the corn is cut for silage, then the local whitetails may not be receiving a constant source of quality nutrition.
Soybeans are the crop that literally drives deer herd quality throughout the ag belt (Ohio to Kansas). This is because they provide very high quality forage throughout the antler/fawn growth season. Generally speaking, normal production beans are selected to stop growing and become dry enough for harvest before Thanksgiving. Eagle Seeds late maturing forage soybeans are selected to remain growing till very late in the growing season. Hence, they are extremely hardy and provide quality forage and attraction into bow season in most states. However, soybeans are extremely palatable to deer. If the local deer population is high, they might consume the entire 1 ½ acres of soybeans before they become well established. An electric fence could be used to allow the beans to become established before being browsed. This is a great tool for providing food in areas with high deer densities, especially for the hunting season!
If your farm crops are producing enough forage for the herd throughout the summer, then brassicas may be a good option for the 1 ½ acre plot. They should be planted at least 45 days before the first expected frost. If your mission is to attract deer during the hunting season, then planting corn and leaving it standing may be a great option! Standing corn provides a great source of high-energy food and cover for deer in areas with heavy hunting pressure.
Growing Deer together,
Grant
