Food Plots for Deer

No single crop feeds deer all year, so the best food plot program combines a few. A perennial plot of white (ladino) clover, often with chicory, is the base: it feeds deer from spring through fall for three to five years. Add a fall plot of cereal grains (oats, wheat or cereal rye) with brassicas for hunting season, and, where you have the ground and the deer numbers to justify it, a warm-season plot of soybeans, cowpeas or lablab for summer.

Fall plots go in at least 45 days before your first expected frost, ideally with rain in the forecast. Brassicas need the most lead time, about 45–80 days, while cereal rye can go in up to and after the first frost. Warm-season plots such as soybeans wait until the danger of frost has passed and the soil reaches about 65°F, usually late April to June. Our planting calendar lists the dates for each state.

It depends on the job. A hunting plot meant to draw deer into range can be a quarter to half an acre of cereal grains or brassicas planted a month before the season. A nutrition plot meant to feed deer through the year should be at least an acre, and extension guides recommend 1–5 acres. Where deer numbers are moderate to high, Texas A&M recommends at least 5 acres, because smaller plots get eaten down before they establish.

Extension guides generally recommend 1–5% of the property. Missouri suggests 2–5%, Alabama 1–5%, and Purdue at least one plot per 40 acres. Heavily wooded properties need more plot area to keep any one plot from being overbrowsed.

A fall plot of cereal grains such as oats, wheat or cereal rye is the most forgiving: the seed is cheap, it grows in less-than-perfect soil and it tolerates heavy grazing. For a plot that comes back every year, white clover is the easiest perennial once the soil pH is right.

Yes. Kill the existing vegetation with a glyphosate burndown, wait one to two weeks, rake or burn off the dead thatch, broadcast small-seeded crops such as clover, brassicas or cereal grains just before rain, then drag the plot or mow the dead thatch over the seed so it touches the soil. Large seeds such as soybeans and peas need tillage or a heavier seeding rate.

Most food plot crops need a lot of sun; aim for at least six hours a day. A woods opening should be about twice as wide as the surrounding trees are tall. In partial shade, ladino or white clover does best, crimson clover is moderate, and chicory works on moist shaded sites. Soybeans and cowpeas do poorly in shade.

Most food plot crops do best at a pH of about 6.0–7.0. Clovers and alfalfa want the high end (6.5–7.0), brassicas about 6.0–6.5, and cereal grains tolerate down to about 5.8. Lime takes three to six months to raise the pH, so test the soil and lime well before planting.

A university soil test costs about $6–10, and some states test for free. Seed is the biggest cost and varies widely by crop and brand; the table on this page shows the current per-acre seed cost from the listings we track. Lime and fertilizer depend on your soil test. Our food plot calculator works out seed, fertilizer and cost for your plot size.

The plot was too small for the number of deer, or it was browsed before it could establish. Soybeans and lablab are especially vulnerable in their first 30–45 days. Fixes: plant larger plots, plant more of them, fence the plot until it establishes, add a cereal grain that protects the legumes, or choose browse-tolerant crops. An exclusion cage shows whether the problem is deer or the soil.

Summer is when bucks grow antlers and does nurse fawns, and natural forage quality drops in late summer, so a warm-season plot can fill a real gap. Missouri Extension calls late summer and winter the most nutritionally stressful times for deer. Virginia's wildlife agency suggests planting about a third of plot acreage in warm-season annuals.

Both, for different jobs. Clover is a perennial that feeds deer from spring through fall for several years. Brassicas are a fall annual that deer often ignore until hard frosts make them sweeter, then use heavily in the late season. A common plan is a perennial clover plot plus a separate fall plot of brassicas and cereal grains.