Whitetail Deer Food Plots- Options For The Northern United States
Posted: Thursday, April 14, 2011
by Keith Cantelmo
http://www.outsidenthusiast.com
Hunters all across the country spend countless hours and money to produce whitetail deer food plots on their property. All of this is done in the hopes that it will put them in the thick of the deer come hunting season. But why do some hunters have more success than others when it comes to attracting deer to the plots in the fall? The answer to that question is often complicated and always depends on exactly where the hunter is located in the United States.
To help you decide what will best suit your needs, we will break the country into two sections; North and South. This is definitely not going to be an all inclusive breakdown. Further it has to be said that nothing can replace personal experience and trial and error. However, the areas we cover will give you a good root to begin your plantings. So, your first question is most likely, what is considered North and what is considered South? For the purposes of the information here, we will use the Mason-Dixon Line as the divider of the country. Today we will focus on food plots in the Northern sections of the United States.
Start out by deciding on your seed. As I mentioned above, there may need to be some trial and error; but try to match the seed to your area of the country. There are so many seed choices for food plots, it’s staggering. When choosing, you must be sure you understand the entire blend. The bottom line is that seeds in the same plant type are not always the same. Also, you must find the best combination of forage to withstand the grazing pressure. By utilizing a combination of the options below, you can have a successful, all season hunting and feeding area.
Frost is a major concern when it comes to planting in most northern states. A few mix options for these regions are Buck Forage Oats and Antler King’s Frigid Forage’s Big-n-Beastly. Each of these products provides necessary forage through the winter.
While most oats are destroyed by a hard frost, Buck Forage Oats has a unique blend of oats which are more frost tolerant than traditional oats. Even though this blend provides protection from a frost, there are some places in the country such as northern Minnesota and northern New England where a deep freeze will eradicate these plants long before December. The Big-n-Beasty on the other hand attracts the deer a bit differently. The mix contains rape, turnips, sugar beets and carrots. Deer feed on the greens until the frost. Once the killing frost hits, the sugars come from the roots of the forage to the leaves. These greens continue to make the deer desire this crop while providing them continued nutrition.
More traditional plantings which provide similar results as the mixes above are corn and soybeans. Keep in mind that neither of these options will produce the same tonnage as the above mixes. So be sure you have the correct acreage for your deer herd.
Other options for food plot plantings in the northern states should include alfalfa and clover. Both are able to resist heavy grazing and are very desirable to whitetails. Each of these has somewhat unique planting requirements. For example, alfalfa requires a higher soil ph. So be sure you have done your soil testing well prior to planting. Clover is a bit easier to grow. It is more tolerant of a lower ph. There are several different varieties, so do your homework for the most successful choices in your state.
Though we have focused strictly on your choice of seed, there is much more that goes into the creation of a whitetail deer food plot. Finding the right location on your property to provide the optimum conditions for growth as well as finding an area where the deer will feel safe to feed are just a couple of the additional factors.
Making certain that your money, blood, sweat and tears doesn’t go to waste is paramount. Get even more region specific information by visiting my website.
Keith Cantelmo is a whitetail deer hunting enthusiast dedicated to providing the best information for hunting America's #1 big game animal.
Discover more about whitetail deer food plots on my website, http://www.FoodPlotsForWhitetailDeer.org
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Nice job Keith, I love hunting whitetails too.
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