Topic: The Best Food Plots for Deer of 2022 (Read 39 times)
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Why It Made the Cut
This blend provides the perfect co*bination of early and late season feeding opportunities for deer. The oats and wheat co*e up quickly to ensure you’ll have deer in your plot for the early archery opener, and the clover and brassicas will keep them co*ing back well into the late season.
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Product Description
Green Patch Plus delivers all the attractiveness of grains with the nutrition of brassicas and clovers. From germination through the end of hunting season, it’s a forage blend that establishes quickly and provides the groceries deer crave.
This easy growing blend is more cost effective than other options on the shelf. It grows in most soil types with adequate moisture. Whether you’re planting a small, hidey-hole plot tucked deep in the timber or a larger destination plot, Green Patch Plus has a variety of nutrients that your deer herd needs to maximize their growth potential. For best results, plant it in the late summer or fall at a rate of 40 pounds per acre.
Why It Made the Cut
For southern states, these legumes can handle drought conditions better than most other food plot options. LabLab, particularly, is a drought resistant option that can handle the heavy browsing by high deer numbers found in a lot of southern states.
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PowerPlant provides deer with ample protein during the long spring and summer months of the south, and it handles heavy grazing. In fact, it continues to grow as deer feed on it. The blend consists of vining forage soybean, peas, sunn hemp, and sunflowers to assist in maximum growth.
Aside from the incredible drawing power and nutrition, this seed serves as cover for your deer herd, thanks to plants growing well over six-feet tall. Deer will find plenty of security and shade living in and around this food plot. Plant at a rate of 25 pounds per acre in the spring when soil temperatures reach a constant 65 degrees.
Why It Made the Cut
Brassicas are a great option across the Midwest where early frosts sweeten the attractiveness of this food plot option. It’s inexpensive and easy to grow, and deer won’t have a problem finding it when the snow begins to fall.
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The name says it all. You get maximum forage with this brassica option, which produces anywhere from 10-15 tons of forage per acre. The yield, attractiveness, and nutritional value make this a fantastic option for hunters and land managers. It grows in a variety of soil types and keeps the groceries stocked for your deer all season long.
The brassica in this blend mature at different rates to provide highly palatable forage for the entire life of the plot, particularly after the first frost when sugars flow from the roots to the leaves. Plant Maximum in late summer to fall at a planting rate of 2.25 pounds to one-fourth of an acre.
Why It Made the Cut
This cool-season annual packs great protein in a highly digestible food source for your deer herd. The plant pulls double duty with protein derived from both the leaves and roots, and a maintained plot can yield from six-eight tons of forage per acre.
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Want every deer in the neighborhood on your property in the late-season? Radishes can help make that happen. They have incredible drawing power in the later months of hunting season, and Biologic’s Deer Radish is hard to beat. Deer crave this highly nutritious forage, as well as the sweet roots. From top to bottom, this Deer Radish planting is 100-percent consumable.
Deer Radish grows in a variety of soil types with adequate soil moisture, and you can plant it by itself or with other seed blends for early season attraction. Though it works best as a late-season alternative. Regardless, this is one of the best food plots to draw deer for extended periods of time throughout hunting season. Plant in late summer to early fall at a rate of two pounds to one-fourth of an acre.
Why It Made the Cut
This blend allows you to plant a quality food plot, regardless of location or lack of equipment. Simply rake the ground and roll out your seed.
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No farming equipment? No problem. Hot Spot works perfect for small, hidey-hole food plots or micro-plots and allows you to plant without big equipment. Clear the ground with a rake to ensure seed-to-soil contact to get this plot started, and it’s good to go. It’s perfect for remote stand sites where using equipment isn’t feasible.
Hot Spot contains a blend of wheat, deer radish, rye, and rape that germinates fast and easy (usually within a week of planting), which allows you to draw deer to your plot in no time. Plant Hot Spot in late summer to early fall at a rate of five pounds to one-fourth of an acre.
Bucks need protein for antler growth, and they’ll find it in high-protein forage such as legumes. Soybeans and clover, in particular, can provide as much as 30-35 percent of protein for deer.
The best fertilizer needs depend on the type of food plot you’re planting, but generally, a 0-20-20 fertilizer works best for legumes, and 15-15-15 fertilizer works for most everything else (brassicas, cereal grains, etc).
The best time to plant a food plot is in spring or fall, depending on the crop and when you want the best forage results. Soybeans, peas, sunn hemp, and sunflowers can be planted in the spring, while brassicas, oats, turnips, and radish should be planted in the fall. You can plant clover in the spring or fall.
Growing successful food plots doesn’t have to be co*plicated, but there are a few tips that can help eliminate a lot of the guesswork.
Not all food plots are created equal. You’ll rarely find a one-size-fits-all approach when it co*es to them. That’s why it’s important to consider food plot size, timing, and what you can realistically plant with the equipment you have.
Size
Depending on the tract of land you have access to hunt, as well as the terrain features, you may have limited or limitless plot size options. Your budget will also determine the size of the food plot you can plant as well. Larger food plots will cost more. Smaller ones will cost less.
Timing
The timing of when you plant and hunt makes a huge difference. Just because you get your seed in the dirt, doesn’t mean you’ll reap the full benefits this season. If you plant too early or too late, you might even kill or delay your efforts.
Also, some food plots thrive in the early part of the season, while other options like clover are extremely cold tolerant and can handle the frigid temps of the late season. If you hunt in colder regions, having a high-protein food source on your property during that late season can help keep the deer on your side of the fence.
Equipment
Do you have the tools and equipment to till and plant a food plot, or will you be looking for a no-till option with minimal equipment?
Food plots are not the end-all means for success this deer season. While there are plenty of myths about food plots, they should certainly be a part of your land management plan. They can be as simple or co*plex as your time allows, like a small kill-plot or a large destination food source for deer throughout the entire season.
The name of the game with whitetail hunting is creating opportunities. Put the time, energy, and effort into the best food plots for deer this season, and watch new opportunities abound for both you and the bucks you pursue.
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