How is the fall food plots holding up?

[Radar]

I have been lucky this year and my plots are staying in good shape. Oats, Daikon radish and a few turnips. My deer are strange in some ways, they will eat one plot down to lip high and move to the next one.

This is the first plot they ate down:

[Radar]

I have two other large plots that are in good shape still:

[Radar]

Got a few turnips coming up, it has not been cold enough here to bring up the sugar content in them though.

[lovemylegacy]

The whole of Fall and into Winter the deer kept it ate down to the ground. We got a little warm weather, pre-emergents were being consumed more and the plot grew. Checked them Monday and the plots were being pressured again. So they fulfilling their purpose

[Razrbk89]

They’ve hammered my plots this year. We had a solid mast drop but they’ve really mowed down my stuff.

It was really dry here during the early fall. I didn’t get great stands like usual, but they came up decent with some moisture. I think a wetter start would have helped me. Wheat came up good, clover decent, turnips basically failed?

I think we have too many deer. I’m going to try to get some more acreage planted next season.

[kylebryan]

Mine are looking good in Merkel TX. Rains over the past couple weeks have helped a lot.

[Drycreek3189]

My wheat did really good, the daikon radish was planted too late because of lack of moisture. They’ve eaten it all down to the ground. I’ll take a look at mine tomorrow, going to my lease to fill a feeder and check sd cards. This is what they looked like a few weeks ago.

[KactusKiller]

I have two other large plots that are in good shape still:

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yours look great, did you add alot of nitrogen this yr? I didn't fertilize and mine look bad, not sure if it was just planting too late and/or too much browsing or if I should have fed them some fertilizer.

[Throwin Darts]

My cows keep mine hammered down. I'm just glad they have something to eat on

[KactusKiller]

heres a question to most of the fall food plot guys, how big are most of your plots? We don't have super high deer density with good native browse but I'm thinking I need to up my overall acreage. Most of my plots are 1/3-1/2 acre. Most are for hunting and hate having issues getting deer in bow range because of a big plot but don't think i'm getting enough tonage.

[Radar]

yours look great, did you add alot of nitrogen this yr? I didn't fertilize and mine look bad, not sure if it was just planting too late and/or too much browsing or if I should have fed them some fertilizer.

No sir, I just planted and left alone. I try to buy drought tolerant seed varieties if possible and I also plant large plots. I have not fertilized in two years now.

I just priced 20-10-10 fertilizer for a 40 acre hay field and it was 3800.00, that is 200 pounds per acre though.

[txbowman12]

Been pretty (very) slow on mine this year. They hammered the broadleafs (brassicas / turnips/ chicory) after the freeze, but didn't have a camera on it then.

The cereal grains have taken over, some clover underneath.

[Razrbk89]

heres a question to most of the fall food plot guys, how big are most of your plots? We don't have super high deer density with good native browse but I'm thinking I need to up my overall acreage. Most of my plots are 1/3-1/2 acre. Most are for hunting and hate having issues getting deer in bow range because of a big plot but don't think i'm getting enough tonage.

At home I have a 10 acre, a 4 acre, and a 3 acre.

Hunting place I have a 12, a 6, and two that are 3ish.

I usually seed hay meadows and pastures in clover when I fertilize so that helps a lot too.

As far as getting them into bow range on bigger plots, I just scout them pretty hard figuring out entry points and then play the wind. More often than not I strike out, but that’s just hunting!

[EastTexun]

heres a question to most of the fall food plot guys, how big are most of your plots? We don't have super high deer density with good native browse but I'm thinking I need to up my overall acreage. Most of my plots are 1/3-1/2 acre. Most are for hunting and hate having issues getting deer in bow range because of a big plot but don't think i'm getting enough tonage.

I have 2 that are 4 acres and several smaller areas that are 2-3 acres plus more that are 1/2 acre or so. I get much greater utilization on the larger plots than I do on the smaller plots based on exclosure pen analysis, but that may have to do with location more than anything else. If I had 10 acres of open territory, I would plant that too, specifically to make sure that plenty of forage was available. Plus, I can't get IC peas or beans up above 6 inches in most years, even if I plant everything at the same time. Larger planting should in theory allow dispersal of the deer to allow the plants to get a few leaves out before they are eaten down.

[tps7742]

I planted buck forage oats and they haven’t hardly touched it. Someone recommended I should plant winter wheat also in my setting. I should have listened to Mr Drycreek3189’s knowledge & experience. Next year for sure.