What Attracts The Best In Your Area?

[Cabin Fever]

I've tried just about everything now, but I haven't been impressed with the little attention my plots have gotten over the past couple of years. Seems I'm competing with the surrounding apple orchards and ag fields, so my little 2 acre (total) plots just don't seem to have the drawing power that I'd like. Those sweet rotting apples are like candy to deer and everyone knows how they love corn and soybeans in the fall and winter also!

This years fall plots include:

1 acre of Winter Rye/Austrian Winter Peas/Oats

1/2 acre of Dwarf Essex Rape/Groundhog Radishes

1/2 acre of Clover/Chicory

What have you found to be the most attractive fall plot?

[burmjohn]

I'll let ya know how our new plot takes off. Must be so hard with those apples though

[Geno C]

Ive used Biologic: Maximum, Hotspot, Lab Lab, trophy oats and a few other blends.

the deer by me seemed to really like the Maximum and trophy oats.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Try sugar beets and turnips.Mix them with winter rye and you should have a good plot for all hunting season.

[nyslowhand]

The neighboring apple orchards on two sides of my property. My area is a brush lot with lotsa cover & bedding. I let the apple farmers incur the labor and expense and I hunt the travel routes to/from the orchard and my property. Call me lazy if you must, but it works out great for me. Only problem being the deer/antler size is determined by normal browse by the time the apples are ripe. Thinking about some clover in a couple of open areas.

[Cabin Fever]

The neighboring apple orchards on two sides of my property. My area is a brush lot with lotsa cover & bedding. I let the apple farmers incur the labor and expense and I hunt the travel routes to/from the orchard and my property. Call me lazy if you must, but it works out great for me. Only problem being the deer/antler size is determined by normal browse by the time the apples are ripe. Thinking about some clover in a couple of open areas.

Trust me, it's very hard to plant anything that can compete with nearby apple orchards! My plots are back off the road in the center of my property, not bothered by anything. My hope is to plant something that will attract them in during daylight hours, maybe as they wait/kill time for darkness before heading to the orchards and picked cornfields or as a late morning snack on the way back to their beds.

I've tried about everything. I'm going to see how the plots attract this season and if they are digging down through the snow to get to the plots in the winter, to see if I'll even bother with plots next year. It would save me a lot of money, time, and aggrevation if I didn't do it! I've been planting plots now for 3 years and the number of deer that I've actually seen feeding in the plots, I could count on ONE hand!

[nyslowhand]

Think in the spring I'll plant a couple of areas with clover or that Sucra to give them a boost in spring/early summer.

No huge investment in time or $$.

Wish I could get them to eat poison ivy!!!!

[erussell]

Plant a few apple trees and pear trees. The deer will walk over apples to get to pears. Then you have the apples an food plot with turnips and sugar beets to carry over after the pears are gone and everything else has been killed by frost. Everywhere else plant the tallest growing  grasses you can find as cover and the deer will never leave once the shooting starts. If you hunt smart and don't trample your hunting grounds to death and hunt the edges you would probably see an increase in deer IMO.

[Fantail]

I have heard there are some pear trees that can produce within 3-4 years from planting given a good start of course. Been reading up on starting trees from trimmings or shoots. Sure wouldn't mind an acre or so worth of pear & crab-apple.

We probably all dream of hunting an area loaded with mature bumper crop white oaks. But that takes a decade to plan.

[NYBowhunter]

Im fortunate in that my property has crab apple trees all over it, I'm in my third year of prunning and still have lots of trees to get to. But the dowside is that apple trees dont always produce each year. I'm surrounded by AG, so I have to compete with miles and miles of corn fields, however as much as there are corn fields and as much as everything is green now my clover and chickory plots are visited daily with most activity close to dusk, but I do get pictures in the plots as well in the morning and midday. I also planted Pasja turnips last fall which is a turnip that is leaf heavy with no turnip and can recover from browsing, that plot got hammered last year. This year I made my fall plot much larger and planted purple top turnips.

[burmjohn]

How NYBow - Any new trail cam pics?! I love seeing yours.  I'm going up next weekend, caint wait to check out the plots and swap the cards.  I hope to find a crap load of pics!

[NYBowhunter]

Hi John, No new pictures just yet. Will be going up as well in the next week or so. I have one camera overlooking the new turnip plot and clover plot and I moved my bushnell trophyl cam to an apple orchard on my property in a spot where I usually bowhunt. Hopefully I will get some good pictures.

Be sure to post pictures of your plots, they sure seem to be coming along nicely from what I have seen so far.

How NYBow - Any new trail cam pics?! I love seeing yours.  I'm going up next weekend, caint wait to check out the plots and swap the cards.  I hope to find a crap load of pics!

[JR60]

Buck Oats and Winter Peas planted in the first week of Sept. timing just right for archery season , always had good results with this combination...

[Cabin Fever]

Buck Oats and Winter Peas planted in the first week of Sept. timing just right for archery season , always had good results with this combination...

That's good to hear! I'm planning on planting my oats/rye/winter pea plot next week! I've never tried winter peas before, but everyone that has says they are like ice cream to a deer! They can't resist 'em!

[Fantail]

John R - what zone are you planting in?

[JR60]

I plant in 9p with the combintation of peas and buck oats , I am praying for rain now !

[LTC24]

My property is half woodlot and half leased to AG use , with corn, soybeans and alfalfa, neighboring properties are very similar, so I don't try to compete with food plots.  However, I do manage my timber.  Every fall before first frost I cull out some weed trees and unmarketable timber for fire wood.  I find that felling trees with full green leaves is attactive to deer and has the added benefit of providing winter browse. Deer seem to like beech which will hold the leaves all winter and has little timber value. I pull the logs and tops the following summer and start over.

[VenaticOutdoors]

North of Watertown, we've found that nothing attracts like clover.  We've had success with corn as well - brassicas seem to be hit very late though.  This year we've opted for cereal grains - I'll make sure you keep you posted on our success!