Food Plot Basics

[Deer Slayer]

What can I grow,that is nutritious for the deer, in NW OKla when I have rainfall of 18" or so annually?? The soil is sandy, of course, but pH balanced. I would suggest a product called "EXTREME". This blend will survive with 15" of annual rainfall and is high in protein. The bag contains a plant that has a very deep tap root and looks like parsley. I have used it for some time and the deer relish it. The plant will do well in poor soil too. This is another fine product from The Whitail Institute of North America

 

[Oklahomabassin]

What can we do to get a nice inch of slow rain?

 

[Deer Slayer]

Go wash your truck on your food plot? Beats me, if you find a solution to consistently make it rain you can retire. My plots are virtually dormant and have not germinated. I am not finished with my final planting at Antlers because my mother died Sunday and I had to race home. I expect I will finish planting just before the special youth hunt weekend. This is late but then again it has not rained. I suspect or hope that we will get rain and then have a warm fall to allow everthing to get established.

 

[Oklahomabassin]

Sorry to hear about your mother, Deerslayer. Turnips and Brassica's look ok, but some of the wheat is starting to look dehydrated. I dusted in the last of the plots a week ago, knowing there wasn't enough moisture to get any sprouts. Hopefully when it rains, there will be enough to get it up and keep it going.

 

[Deer Slayer]

Well it has not rained yet has it??? The fields and plots are planted and every one is full of hope but nothing has happened. I do not wish to be a stick in the mud but does everyone remember my earlier post about planting their plots near the first of October rather than mid August to early September? This is the reason why. I surmise that those people that could not wait to get their seed in the ground are now sweating bullets over their food plots. They planted and then got a wee bit of rain and the seed sprouted but now it is so dry that the seedlings are stressed or have died. Granted it has not rained and seed planted now has not germinated but the probability of cooler weather and rain is higher. The rains will come and the photoperiod which is shorter now spells cooler weather and lower ground temps. The probability of more surface moisture for a longer period of time is higher now and will allow for better germination and a higher chance that the plants will become established. This is why you plant this late. I used to plant in early September too, but I learned the hard way and lost alot of seedlings.
I still have fields to plant or finish planting and I hope to get them done after next weekend. I am being held up by work projects that demand my time and a funeral on Monday. There is not enough time in each day.
I hope that I have helped many of you by sharing my 23 years of experience in developing food plots. Experience is gained from bad experiences. So shorten your learning curve and make the right decisions by following in the foot steps of someone who has gone before you and had many failures.
Next post will discuss spring planting for warm season success.

 

[swamp donkey]

I cheated this weekend. my plot is small so I took a 55 gallon drum of water and a garden hose and watered it. I was tired of waiting for the rain lol

 

[Deer Slayer]

I spent 3 days TRYING to till my food plots at the farm. I had NO moisture at 5". I looked like a dirt clod when I got off the tractor after tilling for a couple hours. My clothes had sheets of dirt settled on them. My skin had a layer of settled dirt on it. Thank God for my respirator! I tilled, double cultipacked and planted 6.5 - 7 acres. Deer were moving from daylight to around 9:30 Am and little movement in the evening. The night movement was way into the night.

 

[Deer Slayer]

It is getting time for you to start adding protein pellets to your feeders to help the deer get thru the winter. They should be starting to stress soon. Corn is fine for providing carbohydrates to stay warm but the protein content is around 6%. The food sources are starting to go dormant and being eaten down. I have watched my clover patch get shorter and shorter and now it is on the ground. The deer are coming to the feeder regularly now. So I will switch to alfalfa pellets to get the protein up to around 22% and add to the corn, rice bran and sweet feed which is high in molasses. I thought some of you might be interested and want to know.

 

[Deer Slayer]

The deer are anxious to get fed now. I went out to feed them yesterday and they were standing around waiting. They did not really trot off 30 yds like normal. They waited then immediately came to the feed. It is time for the protein pellets to be put out along with the corn. This provides carbohydrates to keep them warm (corn) and protein to keep them healthy (alfalfa)

 

[sleeperx4]

Is alfalfa hay sufficient or should I use the pellets? BTW, thanks for all the great info in this thread.