Late oats

FYI – I had an observation this year that got me pumped for next years plots. I have 15 acres leased to a neighbor for crop field. Besides the extreme drought conditions we had, he also had some major equipment failures. An abundance of oats was randomly scattered on the field while he was picking them this year. With the weird weather and late rain, there was rows of oats that grew & matured very late. Over the last 8 1/2 days that i sat out hunting, these oats got hammered by the deer and turkey almost every day! I always do a couple small patches of very early oats, next year I’m doing a late oat crop to leave for the winter!

I have had very good luck in years past planting small grains late summer. I have used buck forage oats, winter wheat, and winter rye; all have seen a lot of use. I tend to plant these plots around that first or second weekend in August. Depending on weather pattern, I had one year where this planting date left too much growth on the plants, and they were not utilized as well. Every other year however, these plants stay small, green, and palatable to the deer. The key appears to get germination and growth, but not too much growth. If you get too much growth, and the stems start to become hollow, the utilization of these plots is greatly reduced.

As of Friday, my winter rye plot was still green and being used heavily. This plot is in a 5 acres tillable piece that also has beans, corn, turnips, radishes, chicory, and clover (therefore I conclude that this use is not determinant upon lack of other food sources). I would say that your observations directly align with mine, and lends me to say that small grains can be a great addition to any food plot system. I also like the winter wheat or winter rye as the spring regrowth is very early and gives the deer early season nutrition.

In west centeral MN wheat regrowth is the hottest thing besides standing corn or beans! My avitar was killed in a wheat regrowth feild.