Creating an Autumn Food Plot

It’s the Right Time To Create An Autumn Food Plot
By Dan Long

If you are new at creating food plots, this article will highlight the basics needed this fall to establish an attractive, yet palatable, food plot for white-tailed deer. Believe it or not, some of the easiest and best plots are those planted late summer and early fall. Now is the time to act to establish the right plot for your personal objectives.
Determining what you want to accomplish is the first question I ask folks, but most of you are interested in a plot that will attract deer for viewing and selective harvest during the hunting season. Food plots can also provide a wealth of deer management opportunities, other than just providing a good food source. Deer managers frequently use food plots to survey the local herd year round with infrared cameras and long-range observation from binoculars and spotting scopes. Creating a strategic area to focus deer can provide the deer hunter a “kill zone” for the entire deer season.

Establishing and hunting a food plot correctly can yield not only enough does for your quality deer management goals, but possibly that special buck you want to harvest. All deer feed heavily in October, allowing deer managers to harvest an adequate number of does in their food plots. During the rut, does using food plots will most likely have a buck nearby, giving youth and seasoned hunters a chance at a good buck.
This article will focus on finding the right location, seedbed preparation, what to plant and why, and how to hunt it. Food plots can vary in cost so I will also present some inexpensive ways to accomplish your mission.
Location

Determining where to put your plot is a critical step in the process of establishing a food plot. Not only are you looking for a location that will gain adequate sunlight, but is also in a secure location away from public vehicle and human traffic, and is convenient to access.
Sunlight exposure to your plot is important. You can purchase shade tolerant blends of seed, but they can be very expensive. I recommend picking a location that sees sunlight at least two-thirds of the day. This will allow more flexibility in what you can plant.
Finding a secure location will benefit the hunting portion of establishing a food plot. We found great success in secluded, tucked away food plots, which deer can access under daylight conditions and not feel spooked. This will allow your older-age class bucks to feed, unpressured, during ample shooting light. It will also allow you to hunt the trails leading up to those plots. Just ask Mike Rex about his 220-inch-class Athens County monster from October 2005. He harvested the early season brute from a route connecting a bedding area to an evening food plot.

You don’t want the public to see your plots. Public access that can view the fruits of your management will only draw attention to your property and bucks in your area. This could lead to poaching, trespassing, etc. Securing your investment is important.
The more secluded and hidden your plot, the harder it may be to access during hunting season. When establishing your plot, make sure you consider predominant wind directions, potential treestand locations, and how you can walk into the plot without spooking deer. The best solution is to determine where the deer will bed during the day and ensure that your access route is not cutting a crosswind that could carry scent prematurely to the bedded deer.

Preparing the Seedbed
Prepping the seedbed correctly is something you can control. Rain and the weather aren’t, so you need to do it correctly when the time is right. Since it is now late August or early September, I highly recommend that you mow or reduce the existing vegetation immediately. Whether you use a weed-eater, DR trimmer, or a bush hog, cut down all the vegetation and thoroughly apply Round-up. You want to kill everything before working the ground. I suggest doing this as soon as possible, so you have at least a week for the Round-up to really kill and loosen up the existing plants. Since Round-up is effective with in an hour and a half of application, don’t be afraid to work the ground after a few days, if time is limited.
You can put in fall food plots anytime during the summer, but waiting until August helps with weed control. You can’t afford to wait past the first week of September, however, as you risk losing good weather and growing days.
I’ve found that using a tractor-mounted tiller is a great method for working ground. A plow and disc will work, but will take double the tractor time. And without the right disc, prepping the ground could take even longer. Four-wheeler implements will work and are convenient in those hard-to-reach areas, but are not as good as the tiller.
If farm implementation is not an option, you still have an opportunity to plant. Look at the weather forecast and find some time before a good, soaking rain. Broadcast your seed evenly over the dead, Round-up area. The more exposed the soil, or ability for the seed to nestle in making seed-to-soil contact, the better. You can also broadcast seed over moist or damp ground and then roll it in with a heavy yard roller. I’ve had recent success doing this with Round-up ready beans. They are currently growing well!
Some of you may ask, what about a soil sample? I suggest taking a soil sample to get the exact chemistry of your soil and recommendations for what you want to plant. Soil samples are helpful, but shouldn’t stop you from reaching your end goal. Taking samples and where to process them is information for a future article; time is critical and I don’t recommend waiting for the results of a sample this late in the game. If you are going to establish a plot in the next few weeks, I recommend using a pelletized lime and a fertilizer high in nitrogen. Visit your local agricultural extension agent for recommendations on the amounts of lime and fertilizer you need to apply per acre. The agent can also look up the soil type in the exact area you are creating a food plot and give you rough acidity levels and recommend liming procedures.

What to Plant?
When planting, you have three things to consider: (1) Are you planting an annual or perennial? (2) Do you want to plant a high protein food that will benefit deer in the fall and spring? (3) Or, do you want to plant a high-energy food attractant that will benefit deer during the harsh winter months? Ideally, you should start plots in the spring that can address both strategies simultaneously, but you don’t need that luxury now.
For hunting purposes, both options will work. It all depends upon when you want to hunt the deer. Clover, brassica and alfalfa mixes are great for early to late fall hunting due to their ability to withstand the cold. Deer are attracted to them and you can hunt over them. By mixing the seed, you will have a perennial plot established and ready to go during the early spring green-up when deer need protein the most.
Standing grain crops such as beans, corn, sorghum, millet, wheat and oats are awesome late-season food sources and will draw high numbers of deer. These grains need time to mature and I would focus on these next spring and summer, as most grain crops can’t be planted this late in the game.
As mentioned earlier, the use of Round-up ready beans provides both summer and early fall protein, plus a winter draw with standing bean pods. In addition, the Round-up ready seed allows easy summer maintenance with a hand sprayer.
I also endorse Ohio’s local food plot company, the Heartland Wildlife Institute. Heartland provides a variety of mixes that accompany the tactics I provide in this article. The staff at Heartland can provide the right mix for Midwestern deer managers and those interesting in starting food plots.

Bottom-line
Creating a food plot will take a little planning and work, but is fun and the stewardship behind it is very rewarding. Creating and managing a food plot is a tactic that is an ongoing process. In a sense, it’s like building a new home. You find the right location and set the conditions by building the home. You then hire someone or emplace your own “do-it-yourself” landscaping to beautify your creation, only to find yourself continuously improving the conditions of your home and its look. A food plot isn’t much different. You should have a long-range management plan established before creating your food plot. This plan can be as extensive as a binder with maps, a timeline, forestry practices, agriculture, etc. Or, the plan can be very rudimentary, lodged in the back of your head, at which you chip away at the work as your schedule allows. Either way, you need to answer the previously listed objectives to ensure you are starting your food plot correctly. Over time, you can improve the soil in your plot, plant mast-producing trees, buffer cover grasses, and the list goes on.
If you are serious about starting a food plot, research your options at www.heartlandwildlifeinstitute.com or order products directly from the Heartland staff at www.alloutdoorsproductions.com.