WHAT IS THE BEST FOOD PLOT FOR WHITETAIL DEER HUNTING? (2024)

FAQs

WHAT IS THE BEST FOOD PLOT FOR WHITETAIL DEER HUNTING? ›

Brassicas like radishes, rape, canola and turnips contain very high levels of starch, which cold temperatures turn to sugar! So besides being the absolute best in nutrition, blends like Deer Radish, Maximum and Winter Bulbs & Sugar Beets also end up being the best in late season attraction.

However, clover, brassicas, soybeans, and cereal grains are generally considered to be the best food plots for attracting and sustaining deer populations. With the food plot systems offered by Illusion Systems, hunters can have the convenience and expert guidance needed to create successful food plots.

The real mainstay food item of deer is browse. Browse plants can be shrubs or young trees within reach of deer. Browse plants will always be available in one form or another, no matter what the weather conditions.

Deer love soybeans, but no single crop can meet all of a deer's year-round needs. Diversity is best, both in your food-plot options and in natural forages that occur outside food plots.

Throughout the range of white-tailed deer, greater than 85 % of their overall diet consists of browse, forbs, and mast. Browse and forbs are the most important forages supplying the nutritional needs of deer because they provide over 80% of the diet in all seasons except during autumn.

Even better, wheat and oats are about the fastest germinating plot plant available. Cover them with a thin layer of damp soil and you can expect to see sprouts within a week or so. They will even sprout after a few days of rain when top-sown on loose soil, although germination rates tend to be lower.

Find Fruits and Nuts That Deer Love

[6] Beechnuts: These are a staple where oak trees are absent or few, or when the acorn crop fails, especially in the Northeast. [7] Berries: Deer actually prefer the leaves, branches, and stems of raspberry and blackberry bushes to the fruit, which is usually gone by hunting season.

The top 20 deer foods are: acorns, alfalfa, apples, beechnuts, brassicas, cereal grains, clover, corn, cowpeas, fall leaves, fir needles, forbs, milo, northern white cedar, persimmons, pears, saplings and shrubs, soybeans, and treetops (felled or fallen).

Radishes and rape are the Easiest Food Plot for Deer. Plant in late July through August.

What do deer like better than corn? ›

Seeds & Nuts: Seeds and nuts can be a great supplemental food option. For instance, corn can be cut with soy for a higher protein content that better meets the nutritional needs of deer.

Trees and plants that produce a berry, fruit, nut or seed can be whitetail magnets. Hard mast trees such as beech, chestnuts, hickory, honey locusts and oaks, provide great food for deer. Soft mast trees such as apples, crabapples, pear, persimmon and plums also provide great nutrition.

By planting any of the three mentioned – clover, alfalfa, chicory – deer on your hunting property will have another food source option in addition to native sources. Spring food plots are a good way to get bucks on the pathway to growing bigger antlers for fall.

Some plants with fuzzy foliage that deer typically avoid include: heartleaf brunnera (Brunnera), lungwort (Pulmonaria), lamb's ear (Stachys), deadnettle (Lamium), wormwood (Artemisia), blanket flower (Gaillardia), coleus (Plectranthus), butterfly bush (Buddleia), spirea (Spiraea) and viburnum.

Where baiting is legal, peanut butter is a prime method for attracting deer. Image Story: Salt is a great year-round attractant. Use either blocks or loose salt to keep salt and mineral sites fresh.

Mixture of wheat, oats, cereal rye, ryegrass, winter peas & clover. An economical mix of high quality planting seeds. Makes an attractive plot to hunt over or just to attract wildlife for viewing.

After weaning through the next year, buck fawns fed a 16% protein diet had larger antlers than those fed 4.5% and 9.5% protein diets. This is true for two-year old bucks as well. Across all age classes, a 16% protein diet is ideal during the antler growing period.

Perennial Clover, Chicory and Cereal Grain Blend

This plot will keep the deer coming back year after year. Wheat plays a critical role in minimizing weed pressure early on and provides forage for deer during a time in which the clovers and chicory are working hard to germinate and grow.