I want to get some ideas from members on what you would recommend planting.
1. early season
2. mid season
3. late season
4. late winter into spring
There are so many choices 
just want to get everyones ideas and what works good for you. 
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There are so many choices
Fact! 
Are you talking ‘season’ as in hunting season? Or ‘season’ as in over the whole year?
The whole year 
Beans Beans Beans if I had to plant one thing that would be it especially after doing some shed hunting today you could definitely see what they wanted. then you can always broadcast some winter wheat for late and spring. MY 2cents
I’ve narrowed it down for 2011 to only high quality, high tonnage food sources. All shaded plots will be clover, all feild edge plots will be corn or beans depending on what rotation the farmers is in, I want to match him. And all new plots will be fall planted in either Brassicas or WW. I dont want to spend the money experimenting anymore the last 5 years keep pointing back to those same 5 forages for both cost effectiveness, weed control and overall atractiveness for the deer. There are a ton of options but bottem line is if its not broke dont fix it is the way I was raised and the heartbreak after all those blood sweat and tears when they dont eat your plots its agrivating!!
If I were to pick a best food plot to hunt it would be soybeans hands down. If I were to plant a food plot to get them through the winter it would be corn because of the bushels to the acre and the fact that the feed stays above the snow. Clover and chickory blend is a great summer mix that lasts for years as one uses nitrogen and the other produces it. I plant theese three every year for the great varity.
Has any one noticed the preference of deer not liking one variety of corn or beans as much as another? We noticed years ago when round up ready beans and corn came to be that the deer didn’t seem to like it as much when have the old variety planted side by side they would always take the non round up variety. It really came to light this year, I have a bean plot that is right next to the road and when the snow came there were as many as 41 deer in the beans at one time. When the beans were gone (about 2 acres) the deer left and are just starting to come back to the standing corn but they have been walking through the standing field and tearing up the field across the road that has been combined and the deer have to work to get the feed.I know that lots of research has been done by whitetail institute on some varieties of feed but never read about corn and bean preference. Anybody notice a preference or have a secret variety?
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I’ve narrowed it down for 2011 to only high quality, high tonnage food sources. All shaded plots will be clover, all feild edge plots will be corn or beans depending on what rotation the farmers is in, I want to match him. And all new plots will be fall planted in either Brassicas or WW. I dont want to spend the money experimenting anymore the last 5 years keep pointing back to those same 5 forages for both cost effectiveness, weed control and overall atractiveness for the deer. There are a ton of options but bottem line is if its not broke dont fix it is the way I was raised and the heartbreak after all those blood sweat and tears when they dont eat your plots its agrivating!!
I couldn’t have said it better myself 
Corn and Beans for food sources and Brassicas in my kill plots
You left out one key ingrediant Pat, the clover!! Its overall nutrtional value couple with its ton per acre potential have clover at the top of my list. Another great benefit of the clover for food plots is it will grow and thrive in areas that are shaded half the day that you can’t grow a large grains in and Brassicas would grow but not reach their full potential. Last year I did and experiment with clover, I cut one square foot at the same level a deer would browse and weighted it green as it would have been eaten. The results were amazing over 8 oz per square foot! The truly awsome part about it was 35 days later I cut the same amount from the exact same spot! I’m. No math expert but 8 oz per square foot X 20000square feet = 5 tons per 30 days off a TINY plot with less square footage than my town home!! And I should add with no fertilizer!!! I’m not fortunate as Pat to live in an epicenter of huge bucks 
I need to give my deer as much added nutrition as possible!!
Pat what was the overall verdict on the peas?? Did they make pods??
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Pat what was the overall verdict on the peas?? Did they make pods??
The peas grew great and looked awesome but were never even touched 
Check those off the list 
My issue with clover at my place is it’s everywhere. All the trails have clover growing on them. But I do have 2 clover plots They don’t get hit very hard thou. But that could be location also 
In spring the clover and WW seem to get the attention here. Early summer it seems to be any thing that is freshly sprouting, clover, and peas. Mid summer is alot of chicory, clover, and any small grains kept mowed down. Late summer into bow season it is soybeans and radishes. Mid hunting season is lots of brassicas, corn, and some oats. Late season hunting is solid corn, beans, and turnips. Over winter the corn and beans take the cake.
I think if I had to narrow it way down to say three plots- Id do a clover plot, corn plot, and one plot that is chicory/turnips/radish mix. Soybeans are awesome, but plenty of agricultural fields around here.
Its alot of work, but I think ill continue putting in all the various mixes and wide diversity. Just always having something they want all times of the year has really pay off for us here.
–On a side note though: There are some things that get hammer on my one property and don’t get touched on my other property 12 miles away.
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The peas grew great and looked awesome but were never even touched
What kind of peas did you have this year? Mine got hit pretty good until the peas got hard. If I remember right I had Midas Field Peas and mixed it with Triticale for them to climb on.
Brady mine were Tecomate Deer Peas Plus and had corn mixed in for them to climb on
It looks like everyone is in agreement on the corn, soybeans and clover, I also believe that cereal grains are a very good choice for both kill plots and destination plots. One thing I have added to my plots is falcata alfalfa, It is very drought resistant and will stay green in times of heat and drought. In the pictures i have planted corn and soybeans together. either 2 rows of each or else i broadcast and till the soybeans in and then plant the corn right over the top. Thanks for your all of your input I keep looking for the “magic bean” but never seem to find just one crop that will do what I want it to do
Bob have you found that the yield on the beans to be dampened by the shading of the corn? I have seen it planted that way and like the idea of the added security of the corn for daytime feeding but have thought that the yields would suffer to much.
I have done this for years and have only seen a slight reduction in yield… unless we have a drought, then I will notice some reduction in yield, One thing I like is that the soybeans will provide nitrogen for the corn
Post master, your yeilds per acre are gonna be less due to the fact that its only about 60% beans in my mix but over all the yeild is not hampered much by the corn and my get help from the corn on the hot summer days. the key to soybeans is gettin them to canapy, this keeps much of thier moisture in the ground and with corn standing above and around the beans it holds even more moisture. The beans are intended to keep the deer off the corn til it matures at the same time providing tons of high high quality browse. The plants that benefit most from the mixing of the 2 is the corn, the fixed nitrogen from the beans coupled with the lack of compition from other corn allows the corn to always double and sometimes triple cob. So thats less than 50% of the seed for Just a bit less corn than the average feild, plus theres beans everywhere!
Those are some great looking corn/bean plots guys
Bob, have you noticed any reduction in use of your alfalfa when its near some of your small grains plots? When we first started food plots, and did not have the diversity we have now, our deer hammered the alfalfa. Now it seems that our oats seem to be getting used alot during the times of year that our alfalfa used to. They still use the alfalfa some in the summer but when the oats are kept cut low they seem to get much more attention now (buck forage oats).
Have you guys tried tillage radishes before? The deer here hammer these from about the end of August through September. Walking through the plots this year around the second/third week in the bow season there was not one radish I found that had any leaves left.
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Those are some great looking corn/bean plots guys
Bob, have you noticed any reduction in use of your alfalfa when its near some of your small grains plots? When we first started food plots, and did not have the diversity we have now, our deer hammered the alfalfa. Now it seems that our oats seem to be getting used alot during the times of year that our alfalfa used to. They still use the alfalfa some in the summer but when the oats are kept cut low they seem to get much more attention now (buck forage oats).
Have you guys tried tillage radishes before? The deer here hammer these from about the end of August through September. Walking through the plots this year around the second/third week in the bow season there was not one radish I found that had any leaves left.
I agree, the oats and ww are more palatable so there is less use of the alfalfa when the cereal grains are available. as far as radishes go this will be my first year planting them, I was planning on mixing them with the rest of my Brassicas, How do you plant yours?
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Has any one noticed the preference of deer not liking one variety of corn or beans as much as another? We noticed years ago when round up ready beans and corn came to be that the deer didn’t seem to like it as much when have the old variety planted side by side they would always take the non round up variety. It really came to light this year, I have a bean plot that is right next to the road and when the snow came there were as many as 41 deer in the beans at one time. When the beans were gone (about 2 acres) the deer left and are just starting to come back to the standing corn but they have been walking through the standing field and tearing up the field across the road that has been combined and the deer have to work to get the feed.I know that lots of research has been done by whitetail institute on some varieties of feed but never read about corn and bean preference. Anybody notice a preference or have a secret variety?
I Just get the cheapest rr corn and soybeans that I can get Brad I have had years when my corn plot was hardly touched maybe they just didn’t like that variety
This field was 1/2 Brassicas and 1/2 soybeans Not much left anymore But it sure shows what they like in the snow and cold
I’m going to try a small patch of winter radishes this yeAr , seeded same time as brassica mix, I’m going to plant seperate from the brassicas but in the same plot so I can see weather or not they show preferance. I’m getting a lot of leftover turnuups on the Randall farm and am looking to”tweek” my plantings up there a bit.
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as far as radishes go this will be my first year planting them, I was planning on mixing them with the rest of my Brassicas, How do you plant yours?
Broadcast with hand broadcaster and then drag lightly with floating yard rake behind 4wheeler. Roll packed them this year too. I plant mine with my turnips and added sugar beets this year. They are very easily distiguishable from the turnips. Seed size and planting depth is spot on with the turnips so it works out good.
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as far as radishes go this will be my first year planting them, I was planning on mixing them with the rest of my Brassicas, How do you plant yours?
Broadcast with hand broadcaster and then drag lightly with floating yard rake behind 4wheeler. Roll packed them this year too. I plant mine with my turnips and added sugar beets this year. They are very easily distiguishable from the turnips. Seed size and planting depth is spot on with the turnips so it works out good.
Thanks
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