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Food plot choices


andy

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Just wanted to get people's opinions on types of food plots they have the best success with. Next year my property will be surrounded by corn. Gonna do five or six plots I have planted a lot of different things just trying to get some different perspective on what people like to plant the most and for what time of season. I had a friend plant two acres of soy beans and once they turned brown they didn't touch them but then they returned late season and it seemed like they pulled deer in from every where I had never thought brown soybeans late season would pull more deer them raddish and brassicas so I wanted to see what everyone else plants.

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chicory & clover, mow it twice a year and it will last for many years, good all year plot to keep them around, low cost. However just like painting the prep work is the most important, get a PH test of your soil for sure  

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You have corn surrounding you and you want a plot? If you have a large parcel, sure. If you have a small one, no way. I'd make it thicker. Too many variables that we don't know about to give you an answer.

Beans need a higher PH. If your soil is under 6.5 you'll need a bunch of lime or you won't get beans.

Lake Ontario salmon fishing charters

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We have clover, alfalfa, corn, and oats till midsummer and the newest seeded clover (that was seeded under the oats) pulls the deer in best till we get snow and then it's corn and clover. Definitely need a soil sample no matter what you pick.

Justin Okrepki

NYSDEC licensed guide #7324

http://www.otiscolakeguideservice.com/

(607)-349-1750

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If the corn still standing during gun season it doesn't matter much what you plant. And yes soybeans are awesome late they eat the green early then are off them when they start to turn but love them this time of year. I have seen some awesome big deer spots destroyed by guys doing food plots. If you have food close make your spot thicker and stay out of it. I dropped 2 acres of trees 5 years ago in one spot and made a jungle. Killed some great dear off the edge of it this year. I'd take a major doe bedding area over a food plot any day. Now I'm hunting agg land already so I have the food close. Sean

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Fruit trees last a long time for the initial investment. Also a good supplement to nearby agriculture. I'd make a small opening between bedding and corn with 6 or so mixed apple and pears. Something sweet tasting on the way to and from feeding will be a magnet.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Lake Ontario United mobile app

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I planted a chicory and clover mix this year. Clover never took off but the chicory did. Had a camera on the food plot all year and the deer never took a single bite of that chicory all year. Even after some serious snow here that drive them into winter. Going to start over next year with straight whitetail imperial clover. Need to get my pH right first.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Lake Ontario United mobile app

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My hardwood were logged four years ago with all the tops left in them so there are some really thick spots and I have 25 acres that we don't touch that is a really thick bedding area. And yeah we have corn scheduled this year and they obviously feed and bed in the corn. But my neighbor has a good mix of food plots and when the corn is cut they leave my bedding area to hit his fields at last light. So this year out of my hundred acres I want to plant a handful of small spots that hopefully they will hit before they go into the big plots off our property. Thanks for all the input

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Hooked up did you drop trees or hinge cut them ? I was thinking about hinge cutting I have heard great things about it

Hi Andy,. Hinge cut them all about 3 to 4ft up. Left it all a twisted mess and they love it. Doesn't take long at all either. Sean

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This year I tried several brassicas including 3 kinds of rapes as well as Daikon radishes and turnips and a white clover/chicory mix to see what they prefer.  For the 2nd year in a row the deer won't touch the purple turnip bulbs or the daikon radishes but have eaten the green tops off both.  I also planted a buckwheat, millet and sorghum mix and they did eat the buckwheat tops early on but didn't really seem to care for the millet or sorghum.  Out of everything I planted I still have a good amount of tall green dwarf essex and bonar forage rape and they are eating it more and more but they still far and away preferred the white clover/chicory mix.  That got completely devoured down to the dirt.  We still have some corn nearby that is currently being picked so I think that was drawing attention away from my plot but as the corn is being taken it will be interesting to see if they come back and hit the brassicas harder in the next couple three weeks.  Next year I plan on skipping brassicas and going bigger on the white clover/chicory and trying to put in corn myself and see how that does.  Last year the local corn was picked much earlier so it's hard to get an exact comparison from year to year but that certainly effects what and how quick they eat things in my plot.  

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