The second helping of turkey, gravy and mashed potatoes sits heavy
on your paunch at the family holiday gathering. But who can resist pecan pie?
Or better yet, how about one slice of pecan and one slice of pumpkin, with a
big dollop of whipped cream or ice cream on top?
The lively conversation
begins to lag. The table is cleared. And soon, the dining room is empty as the
last guests push their chairs back and head to the living room, sun room or
deck. When the food is gone, the reason for being there is gone. Unfortunately,
that scenario plays out on many whitetail properties. Landowners offer deer
great food, most often from fall through winter. But then, they clean the table
when the fall-planted annuals die and leftover table scraps are plowed under.
Like dinner guests leaving the dining room, when the food is gone on a
property, deer often leave, too. If the pies and a few clean forks were left on
that dining room table — or maybe some nuts, cheese or cookies — those dinner
guests might have stayed. And if you plant enough varied forage, so there’s never
an empty table but always food available, deer will also stay. Whitetails, like
all wildlife, need three things to survive and call a location home: food,
water and cover (shelter). Hopefully, you have water sources or have added
them. Most landowners also know the value of shelter and have natural cover or
create it through habitat work such as hinge-cutting, planting shrubs,
clear-cutting and sowing native warm-season grasses. When cover and water needs
are met, food becomes the critical third ingredient to keep deer content and to
encourage them to want to stay on your property. Providing a high-quality food
source that’s available 365 days per year is the final step to keep mature
bucks on your land year-round. Having enough food and sufficient variety
year-round accomplishes three crucial goals. Most obviously, it helps you have
deer to hunt. Also, it helps you manage them so bucks can reach older age
classes. In addition, it allows you the opportunity to provide the
highest-quality nutrition possible so they will reach their potential for body
size and antler growth. This third
nutritional advantage is important not just for bucks but also does and fawns.
After all, the does’ milk is nourishing the next generation of bucks. And
making your land more appealing to females also attracts more bucks during the
rut. To keep deer on your property year-round, it’s vital to always have high-quality
food available, whether it’s a sun-scorched day in July or an icy morning in
February. That’s where many food plotters fall short. Too many go in big for
one type of food plot but ignore the rest. Some estimates I’ve seen suggest
that 75 to 80 percent of food plotters only plant in fall, mainly to attract
deer for hunting. That’s understandable. This was, after all, the original goal
of food plots for most people — to attract deer to hunt and lure them into the open.
But food plot options and products have expanded dramatically, and land
managers who only offer food from fall through winter will not have nearly the
number or quality of deer on their property that a year-round manager does. The
reason is clear: If you aren’t providing that year-round buffet, someone nearby
probably is. Mature buck home ranges are the subject of many studies and
conflicting findings. But the bottom line is that animals expand their ranges
as much as necessary to meet their needs. The better the three needs of deer
(food, cover and water) are met in a given area, the smaller that buck’s home
range will likely be, or at least the core part of it, where he spends 90
percent of his time. That’s the guiding principle I’ve used on my 117 acres in
Virginia. And with water and cover needs met through years of habitat work, I’ve
focused more on meeting the animals’ year-round food requirements. I’ve done
that by enhancing natural foods and, most important, planting a variety of
perennials and spring and fall annuals. If you’ve only looked at food plots as
a late summer-fall project aimed at improving your hunting, expanding it to
offer a year-round buffet program is not difficult. If you already do so,
tweaking it a bit or expanding your offerings with new plant varieties will
offer even more nutrition and encourage deer to stay on your land, at least
most of the time. Maybe you’re skeptical that you don’t have enough free time
for spring and fall plantings. This isn’t as difficult or time-consuming as it
might seem, because the appropriate planting dates are staggered, and just a
few extra weekends in spring should let you establish a year-round food plot
program. As a bonus, this also turns food plotting into a full-time hobby with
engaging projects for spring, summer and winter instead of just fall.
Color-Code
a Calendar
To make sure I get each seed mix in
the ground at the optimum time, I purchase a separate calendar for food plot
planning. I then color-code the appropriate dates for each type of Whitetail
Institute product I might plant that year. This information is included on the product
bag and in charts included in Whitetail News. The calendar gives me a
clear picture of how much time I have to get that type of seed in the ground.
But it also makes it clear that it has to be done during that period. For
example, for planting PowerPlant where I live in Virginia, the dates are May 1
to June 30. I code those months on the calendar with a yellow or orange marker
across the bottom of the dates. That’s when I have to get PowerPlant in the
ground. Then, I highlight the dates for Tall Tine Tubers and Winter-Greens with
another color during their appropriate planting times — July 15 through Sept.
15 where I live. And so on for the other products I plant. (Tip: I also mark
the exact date on the calendar when I put the seeds in so I can move the
planting forward or back a bit the next year if it seems appropriate.) This
color-coding system will let you take a day off work or keep a weekend free
during the appropriate planting time for planting that seed. Of course, you’ll
need to schedule time for other chores, too, such as soil testing, fertilizing,
liming, tilling and herbicide application. But those chores have to be
performed even if you just plant fall annuals, so they shouldn’t be used as an
excuse for not putting in summer annuals and perennial plots.
Two
Plant Types Most Food Plotters Need
Those plant types — perennials and
summer annuals — are the ones you need to add if you’ve focused mainly on fall
hunting plots. To me, perennials are the most important. They should be the
foundation for any food plot program. Whether you choose Imperial Whitetail
Clover or go with Fusion, Extreme, Edge or Alfa-Rack Plus, these plantings will
provide food year-round in Southern regions and nine to ten months in Northern
locales. But as good as perennials are, they aren’t perfect. That’s why you need
annuals. They offer deer highly palatable nutrition during the lower-production
periods for perennials. Remember, don’t clear the table. Because most land
managers already put in fall annuals, the easiest way you can improve food
offerings is by adding summer annuals. If you don’t put in warm-season annuals
in late spring, you’re missing a huge opportunity. The fall annual crops you
planted have pretty much petered out by spring. So why not put in another
annual that grows super-fast and offers food from May through September where
those cereal grains and brassicas were? This lets you make use of those fields
for four to five months of high-protein forage production instead of leaving
them fallow (that is, cleaning the table) until your fall planting.
The
Year-Round Program
Every situation is different, but I
like about half of my tillable acreage devoted to perennials. That serves as a
base that will support deer with lush nutritious growth in spring, when antler
growth is largely determined. These plots will also produce varying degrees of forage
during summer and thrive in fall, keeping deer on your land and fattening them
up for the rigors of the rut and winter. With that perennial base, I also
dedicate acreage for warm-season annuals planted in spring. This is the step
that too many food plotters ignore. A great choice for most of us is a mixture
of plants that complement and protect each other, such as PowerPlant. This
product includes high-protein offerings such as peas and climbing forage soybeans,
as well as other plants that offer food and structural support for the legumes
to attach to and climb for enhanced production. These include sunn hemp and
sunflowers. Best, every one of these plants thrives, even in hot weather. From
my calendar chart, I see that PowerPlant goes in from May 1 to June 30. This
time is free for a food plotter who just plants fall annuals, which typically
go in the ground from August to October. Even those who have perennials don’t
have much to do at that time except perhaps mowing or herbicide spraying to cut
back on weeds. So there’s no excuse not to put in a warm-season annual in
spring. Even in Northern regions, there’s a good six-week window for planting. Surely,
everyone can squeeze out one weekend out of six. With major antler growth still
to come from June through early August, the high protein content in PowerPlant
can help boost tine length and mass. Not only that, bucks not wanting to move
far during hot weather will often bed right in the 5 to 7 foot-tall plants to
save time and energy traveling to a distant bedding area. Take a breather and
maybe go fishing. Then, you have another window of opportunity. Check the
calendar for where you’ve color-coded the time to plant brassicas. For various
areas, this starting date might range from July through October, with a
planting time frame lasting six to ten weeks. Although cereal grains were once
king for fall annual plantings, brassicas have become increasingly popular with
many food plotters. And it’s no wonder. Their attractiveness, tonnage
production and protein levels far surpass most grains, and they’re easy to
plant and manage. Winter-Greens or Tall Tine Tubers are excellent brassica
choices. I like to put both in the ground in different areas. And don’t believe
the myth that deer won’t eat them until after a frost. Often, that’s the case
with poorer quality brassicas or generics. But Winter-Greens and Tall Tine
Tubers have been developed to have the highest palatability possible, with
tender lettuce-like leaves. Be sure to plant enough that deer don’t destroy the
crop. I made that mistake with a quarter-acre plot of Winter-Greens in front of
my office. It’s an area does and their fawns like to hang out in, and I love watching
them between writing sessions. If the sight of fawns bucking and chasing each
other and then running back to their mother doesn’t bring a smile, I don’t know
what will. But by the middle of September, those deer, now bigger and lacking spots,
wiped the smile off my face when they almost obliterated the plot, even though
it was weeks until the first frost. This year, I doubled the plot to a
half-acre, and now it’s thriving despite heavy feeding pressure. And again,
they’re eating it before the first frost. To take the pressure off these
plantings, the next offering I turn to is Whitetail Oats Plus. This planting
period does not overlap substantially with that of the brassica products,
leaving plenty of time to get both types of fall annuals in the ground before
hunting season. Deer love the oats when they’re just a few inches tall, which
takes pressure off the brassicas, letting them obtain larger leaf sizes and
produce more forage. And the great thing about Whitetail Oats Plus is it can
continue to produce highly palatable forage through the dead of winter, when
other food sources become scarce. Chances are that after I get some oats in, I’ll
plant another plot or two of Imperial Whitetail Clover at that time. That will
wrap up my food plot efforts in time for the bow opener in October. Then in
March or April, if the soil isn’t too wet and I have a weed free site prepared,
another perennial plot might go in the ground. After that, the planting cycle
for annuals will renew in May with PowerPlant. Of course, each person has time
limitations for food plot efforts and times of year when it’s harder to get
away. But if you can work a few days free during the widely spaced prime
planting dates for spring annuals, fall annuals and perennials, you’ll have a
buffet of food that can be available to deer 365 days per year. Don’t clear the
table, and the deer living on your land will have no reason to leave. Now, can
I get another piece of pecan pie?
