They key to food plots is knowing what you are competing against. If you plant in Southern MN for example and have to compete against corn, it can be tough. If you plan to compete against corn you better plan to fertilize a lot. Any type of mixture that has Rape in it that you fertilize well will be very attractive.
Up in Northern MN you have a lot more deer but a lot less corn to compete against. You also have to decide what your goal is. Are you planning to just attract deer during the hunting season or can you maintain a herd. I use to plant to attract deer, now I plant to feed them year around. I prefer to hunt over small plots which we have a ton of. But, you need much larger plots to maintain a deer herd over the winter. The photos I posted are winter plots. Beans and clovers are great summer plots and the Rye/Winter Wheat is a great late fall and spring food source.
No matter what or how much you plant the main thing is FERTILIZER. If you can’t put in a food plot, just put a bunch of fertilizer on the weeds/grasses in an area and mow then, you not have a great food plot!! I put in a lot of time and effort into our food plots. But, I enjoy doing it and it pays back in pure ejoyment every year.
One more thing, start small. This is my 11th year doing the food plots on this property. Eleven years ago my first plot was about 1/2 the size of the one in Lips picture and we just add more every year.