Food Plot and Land Management Tips for Deer
A good friend and hunting buddy of mine and has been hunting and managing food plots for over 20 years successfully. He has 300 acres to which he has dedicated 125 acres just for food plots for Deer and has been a big help to me in providing these helpful tips on how he has prepared and managed his land and food plots. I would like to specially thank Larry Perkins for providing the following tips and information. If you have additional tips and information on how you manage land and food plots for Deer, Dove, Turkey, Ducks, Quail, and other wildlife, please feel free to share them.
Creating and managing areas to use for hunting or just simple enjoyment can be accomplished if you are willing to put forth the effort. The success of the food plot that you make will show if you put a lot of effort into it or if you just plow an area and throw out some seeds. The more you put into it, the more successful your area will be and produce a larger Deer harvest. You can create a successful food plot if you have around 25-40 (more is always better) acres of land to dedicate as this would be a good start, but can work with slightly less land.
A lot of people do not understand that there are more variables to creating a food plot than just clearing an area and planting. You might want to consider is the approximate Deer population you have in your area and this is important because the size of your food plot will determine your yield. You do not want to have an undersized plot and an over population of Deer due to that fact that your plot will be stripped clean before you know it and may not attract the mature Deer that you want for hunting purposes. You may be able to find wildlife population information by checking with Fish and Game agencies in your area or County and State Wildlife Research agencies. This information may be helpful in determining how many sub plots you may want to create along with your main one.
Once you have determined the acreage you wish to dedicate, the next step is to do some surveying and think about where you want your main food plot location and the size including any sub plots that you want and their size. I would suggest that you mark these areas off with some sort of markers and draw yourself a simple little map. Ideally, your main plot should be at least 3 acres to provide sufficient food sources to support your Deer population and your sub plots at .75 to 1.5 acres.
Now that you have your acreage problem solved, you might want to take a look at your soil quality. The reason you need to think about the quality of your soil is because this will be a major factor in the type of food crops it will support. If you live in an area where the soil does not have a sufficient source of nutrients then you will be very limited in what you try to grow there and may require you having good quality soil imported in an extreme case or require you to dramatically treat it with a large amount of fertilizers and other crop nutrient products. An important thing to keep in mind is that you want to offer year round foraging for the Deer, so in one sub plot you want to plant something for those hard winter months. A nice annual mix of Brassica, Wheat, and Clover around 40% and the remaining 60% planted with a Perenneal food sources works well. The following are some examples of perennial food sources: Perennial Ryegrass, Maximilian Sunflower, illinois Bundleflower and Englemann Daisy, so do some research and find what will work best in your area. Some other suggestions to plant for Deer food sources include LabLab, Chicory, Chufa, Ironclay Cowpeas, Alfalfa, etc.
When selecting your location you need to consider things like available bedding sites that are naturally available for the Deer or if you plan to create them by planting sufficient brush species, tree species like spruce or pine, and mid to large grasses, this will help attract Deer to your area by offering them sufficient cover and concealment. You may want to locate any available water sources nearby or may even consider creating a small pond in the middle of the plots so that it will be centrally located and easily accessible to them.
Determining wind direction can also be helpful especially if you are going to use the site for hunting purposes. You can do this by placing stakes with small flags or pieces of cloth tied on them and watching for a period of a month during hunting season as this will give you a rough idea of the average wind direction for that period of time. This information will help you determine the best location for your stands or blinds in the area of the hunt.
The following is a small list quick reference of some common seed crops that can be used for Deer:
SEED TYPE
- Alfalfa Perennial
- American Joint Vetch Annual
- Buckwheat Annual
- Brassica Annual
- Chicory Perennial
- Chufa Annual
- Clover, Alyce Annual
- Clover, Crimson Annual
- Clover, Subterranean Annual
- Clover, White Ladino Perennial
- Cowpeas Annual
- Englemann Daisy Perennial
- Illinois Bundle flower Perennial
- Ironclay Annual
- LabLab Annual
- Rape, Dwarf Essex Perennial
- Maximilan Perennial
- Millet, Brown Top Annual
- Ryegrass Annual
- Ryegrass Perennial
- Soybeans Annual
- Sunflower Perennial
- Winter Wheat Annual
For more detailed information on seeds, planting times, average prices, zone maps, and what crops are suggested for a variety of different types of game you want to attract you can check the following website. You can also download information in PDF format, keep in mind that this is not the only website that offers information so do some research to find what better fits your needs.
Seed Selection Chart
| Seed Name | Plant #/ac | How Deep | Min. pH | N2 Fixer | Annual Perennial | Far South | Mid | North |
| Alfalfa | 20 | 0-1/4 | 6.5+ | yes | Perennial | Oct-Dec | Sept-Nov 15 | Aug-Sept |
| American Joint Vetch | 15-20 | 1/4 | 5.5 | yes | Annual | Mar-Aug | May-Jun | Jun |
| Buckwheat | 50 | 1/2 | 5.5 | No | Annual | Mar | April-May | May |
| Chicory | 6 | 1/4 | 5 | No | Perennial | Apr/Sept-Oct | April/July | May-Jun |
| Chufa | 30 | 2 | 5.5 | No | Annual | Mar-July | Apr-July | July |
| Clover, Alyce | 15-20 | 0-1/4 | 6.2 | Yes | Annual | May-July | May-July | n/a |
| Clover, Crimson | 25 | 1/4 | 5 | Yes | Annual | Oct-Feb | Sept-Feb | Aug-Apr |
| Clover, Subterranean | 20 | 1/4 | 5.5 | Yes | Annual | Sept-Oct | Sept-Oct | Sept-Oct |
| Clover, White Ladino | 10-30 | 1/4 | 6.0 | yes | Perennial | May/Mid-Sept-Oct | May/Sept-Oct | May/Sept-Oct |
| Cowpeas | 60-80 | 1 | 5 | Yes | Annual | May | May-Jun | Jun |
| LabLab | 10 | 1 | 5 | Yes | Annual | Apr-Aug | Mid-Apr-Aug | May-Jun |
| Rape, Dwarf Essex | 10 | 1/2-1 | 5.5 | No | Perennial | Mar/Aug-Sept | Mar-Mid-May/Aug-Sept | May/Jul-Aug |
| Millet, Brown Top | 40 | 1/4 | 5.8 | No | Annual | Mar/Sept | Apr/July-Aug | May/July |
| Ryegrass, Annual | 35 | 1/4 | 5 | No | Annual | Mid-Sept-Oct | Sept-Oct | Sept |
| Soybeans | 60-100 | 1/2 | 6 | Yes | Annual | Mar-May/July-Sept | May-June | May-June |
| Winter Wheat | 60 | 1 | 5.5 | No | Annual | Sept Or Later | Aug-Sept | Aug |
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