Domain Outdoor No BS Deer Food Plot Seed, 1/4 Acre, Finally a No Till Mix with Zero Fillers, No Heavy Equipment Required - Forage Oats, Clover, Forage Rape, Chicory, Radish 4.3 out of 5 stars 53 $24.99 $ 24 . Here is a basic plan for establishing whitetail food sources that will nourish and hold deer for the entire year. NUTRITION: No Sweat provides a versatile food plot option to feed deer the necessary protein and energy they require on a year round basis. We return around Labor Day to plant the grains. Do the existing plots receive a lot of browse pressure? The deer change and the plants themselves change with the seasons making certain crops better during the summer than during the winter. *Do you crave no till food plots and owning nothing but the best equipment? The most inaccurate misconception when it comes to food plots is that they're too expensive for the average hunter to plant and maintain. These are practices I've used for several years with lots of success. The information you are about to read is purely in the experimental phase and is intended for risk taking food plot practitioners only. Even with a high percentage kill on the buckwheat, there just is not enough time to expose enough soil for planting. (No-till drills are expensive, but you can probably pay a local farmer to run through your plot quickly.) Corn goes through a growth stage in which it is very sweet and tasty to deer even though it has a low protein content and does them little good. Do not worry about tilling in the buckwheat, but instead, broadcast your seed right into the stand. But I would not add the "Plot sweeteners" of peas, buckwheat or beans to the brassica blend unless you have extremely low deer densities and these are first time food sources on new lands. Im all no-till now and the results are outstanding! Brassicas plants are more commonly referred to as cruciferous vegetables, cabbages, or mustard plants. I’ve seen five-acre food plots that looked great in mid-summer turn right around and look like they’d been mowed with a bush hog only two weeks later when the plant became most attractive. Too much of a perennial base can completely consume the young brassica plants by robbing them of a desperately needed exposure of full-sun, but at the same time if you plant too early excessive frosts and freezes can destroy the crop as well. Alsike clover does well in a wide range of conditions including damp bottomlands. When properly fertilized, ladino clover (the best protein producer of the clover family) has roughly 24 percent crude protein at peak points during its growth cycle (by mowing it every 4 to 6 weeks you can keep the plant at this point for much of the summer). However, we aren't discussing conventional wisdom in this article, but instead you can look at that standing mess as a great opportunity. It grows vigorously and comes back quickly afte… If an ATV sounds like a luxury to you, the same can be accomplished with a 4-gallon back sprayer but Id lace up your running shoes! The brassicas were gone by mid-winter and you can spray the wheat out of the field to prepare for your next late summer planting, but how about another planting option? Deer would still utilize the beans even if the plants are flattened. They are eaten readily during the fall, winter and spring. This may sound unconventional, but it works and there is no reason for you not to have some high quality plots at a time when the deer have little in the whitetail woods and your hunting season enjoyment can be influenced the most. The brassica blends we use are simply broadcasted onto the exposed soil, through the light covering of dead and decaying weed debris. Corn can also be a good winter food plot in the south, but it is slightly less drought-tolerant than other possible candidates. However, one of the biggest problems faced by deer managers on small properties is determining the best planting for a limited number of acres. Besides, deer are more strongly drawn to grains at this time. Without overstepping my technical knowledge here, suffice it to say that during the late fall and winter deer will eat dwarf essex rape right to the ground. Much of my fall and winter hunting is focused around cornfields. Food Plot Seed for Wildlife Brassica Seed Blend is a 100% brassica blend that is easy to establish and highly preferred by deer during the winter months. Find the corn and you find the deer. Brassica is an important part of any food plot program. There are also other problems associated with corn. As an example of the various elements involved in planning an effective food plot program, let’s take a quick look at the shortcomings of planting only one crop. They confirmed what I’d seen in parts of the Midwest; in fairly high numbers, deer will eat the corn plant itself during the summer long before it produces a single ear, and thus eliminating any hope of a winter food source. It grows vigorously and comes back quickly after being clipped or grazed, which keeps a steady supply of lush food available to the deer at all times. Assuming a high deer density that would assure maximum utilization of the entire field, I’d plant it to soybeans in the spring and then come back in mid-September with a no-till drill and interseed a mixture of winter wheat and rape. During the summer, clover is at its peak production and is utilized most heavily by deer. Typically, the last thing to be eaten is the enlarged root mass of the forage turnip, turning your food plot into a crater-field of deer foraging well into the weeks of early winter. What are the best aspects concerning your spring cultipacking activity? No Equipment, No Problem (sort of) Many of the people who contact us about planting a food plot lack the necessary equipment to put one in by traditional methods. I used to enjoy my tractor and all the trimmings but I havent missed it one bit and I enjoy both the efficiency AS WELL AS the results. When you return to broadcast your rye, wheat or both, the brassica portion of your no till food plot should be 4-8″ high, depending on rainfall. Instead, small seeds like clovers, brassicas, chicory, alfalfa and some cereal grains will need to be your choices. It just takes a little planning, a good eye for adequate soil exposure, and an appropriate planting date. You don’t need expensive equipment to put in serious food plots. Mature buck hunting, herd and habitat techniques. As the growing season ends, the clover increasingly lays down on the ground becoming less accessible to deer – especially if there is a snowfall on top of it. What that leads to is planting those perennial forage bases such as clover and chicory along with a cool-season cover crop during the late summer, to provide some great attraction and nutrition during the colder months. As an example of the various elements involved in planning an effective food plot program, let’s take a quick look at the shortcomings of planting only one crop. No disc? Can you imagine incorporating a successful spring brassica planting within an existing clover field with an underlying focus of a hunting season punch? A simple broadcasting of 5#s per acre of your favorite brassica blend will do, and when combined with an appropriate planting date for your region, at least 50% soil exposure, and the use of a cultipacker to improve germination rates, you can extend the overall window of utilization and efficiency of your food plot well into the hunting season months. No-Till Annual Food Plot Rotations. To furnish a high quality food source for post-rut bucks and pregnant does. Currently, rape is the most common brassica planted in food plots for deer, and it has many benefits. It is high in the carbohydrates required to fuel their furnaces when the mercury drops. With forage rape, kale, tillage radish, and 3 varieties of turnips, our brassica blend has it all. The term “brassica” covers turnip, kale, forage rape and swede. There are other legumes, however, that seem to do best in the south. When you are done destroying your crop of buckwheat your seed will be covered with plenty of organic matter that will die and decay while aiding in germination. I personally love my double 5 cultipacker that I can pull behind an ATV, but even the ATV tires themselves can become an effective tool for crushing the stalks of your summer annual. Earthworms hate hate hate tillage and you'll have hard time finding very many or any for that matter on fields that are constantly disturbed from tillage. What about having the best fields on the block during the peak of hunting season without ever touching a disc or tiller? By the late summer the trees will nothing more than dried out and decaying branches and you can use the same methods to distribute and plant your seeds. Winter wheat is also fairly inexpensive to grow and easy to establish. When the first frost hits the Brassicas will turn from bitter to sweet, converting the starch to sugar and creating a highly attractive food source that is high in energy. In this video I plant 2 separate small food plots. Later in the season and into the winter the clover has totally stopped growing and begins to lose its appeal. In fact, on the four acres of food plot on which I arrowed this buck, name-brand seed was used, but it still was put in for under $200. This may or may not be a problem. It is at this time that we rely on a 2 quart per acre spraying of 41% Glysophate solution to begin our annual plots. You also have the luxury of flooding the area with food – at least as much as the budget allows. The reason for the forage variety is because in many cases the brassicas can experience heavy and consistent grazing within the perennial blend through early autumn. Clover other than ladino also have their place. Hunter shown weraing Mathews Lost Camo. As most of you probably know, brassicas require cold temperatures to convert the plants’ high levels of starch into sugar and transform it into its most attractive, palatable stage. Cereal grains are highly attractive to deer, and they perform well under a wide range of conditions. Then make sure to check out the Genesis 3 Planterthat I am blessed to use today! When it gets cold, corn is king. Best of all, this high-powered annual rotation can be completed with very little equipment concerns or personal resources. In reality, food plots don't have to cost an arm and a leg. If young saplings exist, simply drive your ATV with sprayer over the top of the young growth and let the Glysophate do its job. In areas with lower deer densities I’d split the field into three parts. It is high in the carbohydrates required to fuel their furnaces when the mercury drops. However, if you can get sorghum past the deer in September (either by offering so much they can’t eat it all or by mixing in the taller forage varieties) it serves as a good winter food source, and is more drought-tolerant than corn. Years ago, when Toxey Haas and Grant Woods first introduced brassicas to the food plot market, rape was the primary type of brassica used. The winter wheat and rape will benefit from the nitrogen the soybeans returned to the soil. Brassicas, in general, are also cheaper to plant than typical food plot grain options such as corn and soybeans. Clover is clearly a second choice and if you don’t have a good fall/winter food source on your hunting property deer will start to drift off. We don’t use the ordinary turnips you can get at the local feed mills. Though protein will also be converted to energy by deer, the decreased protein levels in the clover make it a less attractive energy source during the winter. Even picked cornfields are utilized more heavily than clover. Instead, the best time to incorporate a brassica crop within your young perennial plot is when your last frost date is within 2-3 weeks. Getting back to the challenges faced by deer managers on small properties, if you have only one field that you can plant each year, here’s a strategy to maximize that single source to the best of its deer-attracting ability. 99 CropCare Sprayers and Sprayer Accessories, Advanced Greenfield Deer Hunting Techniques, Top 10 Invasive Species Threats to Hunting & Fishing. USES: To attract and provide nutrition for deer. When they work in areas with high overall deer numbers they don’t have as many options available to them and must get a little more creative. They don’t have the luxury of being able to make mistakes because they can’t simply shift over to a different part of the property. The addition of Purple Top turnip provides an attractive food source that will sustain the draw of your plot through late fall and winter after the tops are gone. These include winter wheat, winter rye and triticale. Brassica Blend is a mixture of fast growing brassicas that produces a lush forage to attract and hold deer to your plots from mid- to late-fall. Generally, this is just before pollination when the ears begin producing silk. However, when you achieve that appropriate balance of planting date and soil exposure your experiment can end up being much less of an experiment than you think, and those two factors need to be counted on with the next practice of warning label food plot strategies. Typically, these legumes should be planted at a time when sufficient moisture will be forthcoming so the plants will properly germinate and start growing a root system. If you care to read on and push the envelope of small parcel food plot strategies, then proceed with caution and consider how these practices that have been designed for the resource-challenged could possibly lead you to increased success. No tiller? Some were developed for seed/oil production while others were developed for forage. Do not be temped to frost-seed a brassica blend! In this video I am planting Antler King’s Lights Out Food Plot mix in 2 separate small kill plots. All three can take considerable grazing pressure while offering a reasonable amount of both carbohydrate and protein. Bucks in particular seem to really love to wade out into a soybean field in July and gorge on the nutritious leaves. In the south, the best time to plant your summer food plots is in the spring – March through early June. The rape makes a great late season attractor and (assuming sufficient rainfall) would reach a height of about six inches by the end of the growing season. On average, considering that clover has a life cycle of about three years, corn will cost you about twice as much per acre as clover. If you hunt late in the season you already know this lesson. When it gets cold, corn is king. It's an easy to statement to grab and latch onto (and even sounds cool), but it reflects a lack of experience with this power-packed little seed blend. Establishing a No-Till Bean Plot is a great practice for folks who may lack the resources of traditional planting methods, or possibly even more importantly, "TIME". The 6 acres of plots provide a huge amount of nutrition at a time of little in the whitetail woods, but at the same time allow us to build a high quality QDM herd that includes a population of protected bucks that we can graduate into the next season. Hancock's No Till FALL Food Plot Seed Mix allows hunters with limited tillage equipment a method to grow a great food plot. No Problem! It’s like Ho-Ho’s to a child – junk food for deer. Here’s a minimum equipment list. Brassicas like turnips, rape, and forage radishes will mature in 60-90 days depending on soil type and pH. With regard to deer preference, oats consistently rank higher than the other cereal grains … Granted, it is a great starting point, but let’s follow clover through the year to see where it comes up short.During the summer, clover is at its peak production and is utilized most heavily by deer. Buckwheat is also very attractive when young but depending on the quality of the soil and growing conditions, buckwheat can also be transformed into a 3-4 jungle by late summer. I spoke with the managers of Enon Plantation, in eastern Alabama, about a common problem that occurs when you try to grow grain crops in areas with fairly high deer densities. In fact, every year if find myself tilling less, and less. No disking or tilling is needed, and the results can be fairly effortless to achieve. Granted, it is a great starting point, but let’s follow clover through the year to see where it comes up short. Deer just flock to corn when the temperature starts to drop. Brassica plants prefer soil pH close to 6.8 but will tolerate more acidic conditions. This couldn't be further from the truth. In the north, spring planting works, but you can also plant in September to take advantage of a wet season that typically occurs from mid-September through November. Through several years of trial and error I've found that you need a minimum of 50% soil exposure but that is always possible with just a little planning. Dwarf essex rape is just beginning to gain its due attention from deer managers as a winter deer food. Sorghum would seem to offer some hope in these settings. Both plots have are around 100 yards apart and have the exact same soil and growing conditions. They seem almost desperate to get to corn when times are tough. 6 acres of plots may seem like a lot of plot acreage to work with, but its actually extremely easy to prepare and plant the entire acres with just a few timely hours of work every few weeks. Brassicas are cool-season annuals that have high proteins (15% to 20 % crude protein) and digestibility (65% to 80%). Because although perennials have a great window of utilization, that window does not typically cover the best periods of hunting season through the early spring, especially the further north you travel. Good stands can be established by broadcast planting 4-6 lbs/acre of kale or rape or 3-4 lbs/acre of swede or turnip followed by cultipacking. They’ve taken off like wildfire because of their ease of growing, high protein content, productivity and low planting costs. Forage brassicas can be used to extend grazing season and to provide food plots if they are planted in late July to mid August. This is too early for wheat or rye, so we return a last time to broadcast the grains around Labor Day, which is timed perfectly for the 3rd weekend of WI's bow opener. Brassicas. But, of course without sunlight your young plants will not grow so that leads to the next step in the process. I’ve covered ladino clover in some detail, but there are other options, as well. You can afford to make a few mistakes when you have many acres committed to food plots. Although these methods may push the envelope of accepted commonly accepted food plot practices Ive found they are highly applicable to the little guys of the food plotting world. Dwarf essex is one of the most common varieties used in food plots. Unless you’re planting dozens of acres of food plots every year, you will get by cheaper if you pay a local farmer to plant and maintain your food plots for you – at least at first. Your late summer no-till planting was a huge success! It takes thinking back many years to the last time I planted perennials by themselves. Depending on the parcel (even neighboring parcels can vary greatly) the rate of foraging on a brassica planting can vary from \"nothing left on the ground within a month of planting\" to \"rotting bulbs and greens in the Spri… Again, the stalks of the buckwheat are an important aspect within the concept of the annual no-till rotation, but that does not mean that buckwheat is your only summer option. On top of this, clover is high in protein – exactly what bucks need in the summer to grow antlers and does need to produce lots of high quality milk for their fawns. The small plot of rape I planted last year was the most attractive plot on the farm last November. Again, when you have that much soil exposed, think of it as a golden opportunity. Soybeans are not tough to establish making them another good summertime choice. Deer won’t touch sorghum during the summer. Corn is planted in the spring and requires a lot of nitrogen to grow properly – 75 to 100 units per acre even in food plot applications – which makes it a fairly expensive annual to plant. The key to Sturgis’ no-till system is buckwheat. Buckwheat is a great soil builder. But when the seeds reach the dough or milk stage - usually in September in most places – deer flock to it. To best attract deer in late fall, plant Brassica Blend anytime from late summer … Deer management is a lot easier when you’re dealing with thousands of acres than when you’re only dealing with dozens. red clover offers an adequate food supply on 1/2 of every plot post Spring-green up, and at the same time creates an incredible, nutrient-rich seed bed after it is disced or tilled under to plant the brassica combination that follows. My lease partners and I have 6 acres of plantings on my SW WI lease and those 6 acres play a critical role in both the hunting and QDM potential of the parcel. I’ve seen rape the size of a large broccoli plant eaten right down to the roots seemingly overnight. This works with a brassica blend, clover, annual grains, chicory, and I've even established a lawn in my backyard with this practice simply, it works! The protein level starts dropping fast. If so, more palatable crops such as forage soybeans would most likely be over browsed unless they were protected by a food plot fence. At this time of the year deer are looking for high carbohydrate foods that produce fast energy and heat. A bonus to the entire practice can be experienced by making sure that forage turnips are included in your brassica blend. Again, my experience and that of the managers at Enon Plantation suggests that very little will remain in a small plot past the first week of October. Green forage is a better winter food source than corn or sorghum in areas with high deer densities. The 1 acre brassica blend provide over a ton of power-packed nutrition heading into the early winter months, and the accompanying 1 acre of wheat led to an encounter with a … Your goal should be to design a food plot program that addresses both time frames equally, providing nutritious and attractive foods to help your herd reach its potential while drawing and holding deer in your area. They seem almost desperate to get to corn when times are tough. If you are hunting in the bottom tier of states also consider cowpeas, lablab (proven effective in Texas), peanuts and alyce-clover. Initially used for cover crops, soil conservation and forage for domestic animals, brassicas were popularized for deer food plots by Biologic, which imports varieties from New Zealand where deer are raised commercially. It’s no secret that cereal grains – wheat, oats, cereal rye, triticale – are popular choices for planting in food plots managed for whitetails. Your late summer no-till planting was a huge success! The advantage of brassicas is the fact that deer generally will leave them alone until the onset of colder weather at which time the plot will become very attractive. This will insure that the majority of the buckwheat will stay in a horizontal position, while at the same time limiting any future weed growth that may have become established within the field. Why? You as a small property land manager should expect success. On the other 1/2, the med. This assures a good supply of both legumes for summer utilization and grains for fall and winter attraction. Deer will continue to use it, even digging through snow to reach it, but only when more preferred sources aren’t available. Well, the following planting practices may not be universally accepted and widely proven, but they are some of my personal favorites for use in diminutive-resource food plot management applications. 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