timeout
Silver $$ Contributor
So this was year # 4 in my food plot experimentation. I live in an agricultural area where the deer have a smorgasboard to eat say April to end of October. All the Corn, soybeans, alfalfa and more readily available to them. So I dabbled in a few different things along the way and decided to plant brassicas in my main food plot the 3rd week in July. The plot was well fertilized and had sufficient rainfall to provide a good crop. I have approximately 80 acres of mature timberland and 120 cropland. I have 40+ acres that are sanctuary where I have not entered them to hunt or otherwise, in the past two years. My food plot sizes are small, with the largest one being 3/4s of an acre. I have some small clover plots and some small corn, soybean plots. My focus this year was to provide a great food source for after the ag crops were harvested. Now I do have a neighbor that probably has somewhere around 50 acres of corn still standing (he had corn standing all of last winter also). So my brassica plot consisted of Winfried brassica, purple top turnips, and a white radish sugar beets mix. The sugar beets did not germinate however. I read great things about the Winfried brassica. We have had plenty of cold weather to supposedly turn the brassicas to a sugary taste. In my plot from day one the only plant the deer are touching is the white radishes. One caveat is that my deer population isn't super. To see 6 or 7 deer at any time feeding is tops. So to say that I am quite unimpressed with the brassicas is probably an accurate statement. The kicker is that all of my cropland was in soybeans this year. Following the fall harvest, my observations are that the deer are almost always more numerous out in the soybean fields eating the bare bean stems that came out the back of the combine. Blows my mind! I have a luscious brassica food plot and they are eating dry soybean stems!! So in my experience, I'm leaning toward planting soybeans early in the spring as a food source for the does and fawns, then disking them under and planting the white radishes about August 1st. Let's hear your food plot experiences!