Dang deer

Eat up all their ic peas and sunhemp. I had three acres i T&Med. With all the rain it did great. I had an awesome stand of peas. Not any more. About 90% loss i guess. If theyd just leave their food alone a little while, they could feast, but no. They are pretty and they taste good but theyre not too bright.

I feel your pain. I don’t even plant summer crops on my place anymore. I can’t get a stand

You have to plant alot for a good summer plot. 10 acre block at least.

Or thin the doe out.

Change your summer goals to improving the soil

My soil is in fine shape. 20 acres of food can’t survive my pressure.

What do you have growing in your fields during the summer now?

Sicklepod. Pigweeds and grasses. Deer ate up my sunflowers and corn I planted for doves. I’m loading up my sprayer right now tho to put out liberty and roundup. Time to nuke all those weeds and have it weed free and fallow for fall planting

You would agree that growing "something" is better than nothing wouldnt you??.......What will you do next year?

No. Letting pigweeds and sicklepod go to seed are awful. I’m nuking it today. I’ve tried every summer crop there is. None survive. I’ll likely plant soybeans next year and use this new repellent we’re experimenting with in row crop acres right now. It’s showing promise. Right now my focus is a weed free seed bed for early September plots.

I’ve got 50 acres out of 75 on one farm of soybeans that probably won’t see a combine this fall.

Thats what i was doing dummy. Throw and mowing two plants that would build the soil and feed the deer.

Keep adapting.......

I’m done with summer plots I’m afraid. The milorganite isn’t doing it anymore and I’m not gonna waste the money on trying to feed them something they won’t allow to grow. I may try sunhemp but that would be about it.

2 years ago I planted a sunnhemp/buckwheat blend. Toast. Got eat up almost in a weeks time.

I chickened out on the liberty looking at radar. I went with 32 oz pmax2 and 20 oz of a 5# dicamba with a hot load of surfactant and a pyrethroid for fire ants. I have a huge flush of copperleaf and crabgrass. In this heat outta clean my weeds up pretty good. Hard to believe could possibly planting fall plots in 60 days

Man - I am ready - what all u gone plant this fall 257?

Here’s one of my summer plots that I planted in September and it looks pretty good and the deer are still tearing it up.😂

What is that Hayman?

Looks like clover

50/50 wheat triticale
Crimson clover
Sodbuster radish.

My normal

Thanks - I need to put some triticale in mine - it gets great reviews

I hav been fancy planting several diff clovers but I had the old forester who is also a highly successful big buck killer tell me for Bama climate - crimson probably about the best performer and producer

I’m not planting so much for deer food as I am the benefits of N fixation it gives my wheat/triticale for seed production in the spring

I planted a penington seed blend and heavily overseed with a perineal clover. This just happens to be ladino but others work good as well.

Yeah but what kind?

Will the ladino grow all summer and winter?

Yes for about 8-10 years if you play your cards right and mow it when needed. I don’t do that though. I just like having a lot of clover in the fields during turkey season Incase I decide to go hunting. I get one year out of it from mid September to mid September when I plant fall plots.

I do however feel that there are other plants that deer would prefer over the clover but you can kinda kill two birds with one stone by planting it.

Ive got a field of crimson that does really good but its gone right now. I need something for summer the deer wont destroy. I might plant that three acres in ladino this fall, unless theres a better option?

Arrow leaf is great as well jwalker

Mix in several clover varieties with your fall mix (crimson, arrowleaf, ladino, balansa, etc) and then just let it ride during the summer like hayman is doing........or maybe mow once or twice during the summer......Do it over again the following fall......

I planted sorghum and peas. The deer have hammered the peas but now the grain sorghum is waist high so they are laying off of the peas some now. I’m hoping the grain sorghum heads out here soon so the deer and turkey can eat the seed head of them. Hopefully I can leave some standing and have some good dove shoots

Keep an eye out for sugarcane aphids on that grain sorghum. They can ruin it pretty quick

If I were gonna plant something in the summer that would help the soil and the deer would moderately browse on it would be millet. It's a small seed that is very easy to establish and will provide good ground cover and carbon production......We used it for erosion control on some dirt work and it did great that way too.

I planted milo a few times. Seemed to attract more blackbirds than anything else. Thinking i might try one of them clover mixes this fall. Trying to go to stuff thats better for the ground and easier on me. This is the first year the deer have destroyed my iron clay peas. They usually let them get up about knee-high before they start on them. Time to move on to something else.

This was the millet we used for erosion control…….It’s a lot more grassy than something like milo…….

Good tip thank you. I didn’t know that

I planted brown top on some areas and rds where we did some some work and it looks like those pictures cnc gonna make for some fine dove hunting

I am curious if you have deer pounding buckwheat if you either don't have other good natural forage around, or your density is super high?

Reason I ask is buckwheat is the cover I use to keep the deer from eating the peas/beans. And it works pretty good. In my field I think has hardpan (the edges do) I planted buckwheat, soybeans, sunn hemp and clay peas. It has a good stand of clover on one side of it, just the Plotspike brand from TS, and the deer are eating it pretty well. I can see they are eating the peas a little. But at my place they really don't hammer clay peas until august anyway. It's about half an acre. And it has a really good stand of volunteer brassicas, I guess they reseeded before I cut the field.

I was out there this am looking at it, where I ran the subsoiler around it less than a week ago, and there are alot of deer tracks in and out of the field. So I know deer are using it, but they aren't able to mow it.

I did watch a youtube about sunn hemp this week too. Guy said sunn hemp provides more biomass, and more nitrogen fixation that beans. And it has tanins which are beneficial for deer digestion.

All I know is if its not a half acre or bigger field, it's going to get planted in Whitetail fusion or some sort of clover blend.

Lockjaw he sees over 40 deer in a 40acre field at a time sometimes. Is that high density?

My density is super high. We got hit with EHD bad in 2016. Grew some summer food in 17 but since the herd rebounded so well and fast the mouths are there. It’s not uncommon to see 20+ every afternoon. On real good sits 40+ is easy. And that’s on my 40 acres. I’ll be texting with the neighbors and they’ll be seeing same type numbers on same days.

Good grief!! Thats a lot of deer. On my small fields I have watched 3 or 4 wear it out in a week. But that usually doesn't happen until August.

It’s a ton of deer. Use to b a member at awesome place in Marengo county where u could see anywhere from 5-30 and hardly ever got shut out
Think my density in Clarke county now is close to right though. I see anywhere from 0 to 3-5. my Camden spot way to many - can see 10-15 per sit and I Will try to thin out does there after I try to kill mature deer there this year

If the dogs would quit running them, we had got it to where we would see 20-25 in an evening at times. Not every time. But you could count on seeing over 10 about every evening. Dang dogs squashed that last year. Plenty of days we didnt see any. Had dogs run deer out of the field five different times that i saw. I hope this new bunch of dogs dont run deer like that last bunch did.

I always load my fall plots up with durana and patriot clovers and I've had a great luck with summer food plots. Durana has a high stolon count and it's so thick it will help to keep weeds at bay. I T&M so I dont have as many weeds because I'm not disturbing the weed seed bank.

I like Whitetail Fusion. I have 3 fields in it, and one in straight whitetail clover. They are the fields right now I see deer stay in and eat for more than a few minutes, often for 20 or 30.

What I have found with clover is you probably need to cut it right after turkey season, or any residual winter crops with it as well, and then fertilize it. Then wait and cut it again in June before you are going to get some rain and then leave it. I have a field right now that has clay peas, soybeans, sunn hemp, buckwheat and plot spike clover in it. They are eating the peas/beans some, but they are really eating the clover the best from what I can tell. The big thing is the beans and peas are still somewhat covered by the sunn hemp and buckwheat. And all the cereal grains I cut with the flail mower are doing a better job of keeping weeds down that if I had gone in there and disked.

My 3 fusion plots have all thickened up dramatically just by cutting them a couple times and fertilizing them. I think you would be surprised if you got out and really sprayed an area good and then plant clover in it, how little you really had to do to maintain it. I got over 50 pics last night of 2 bucks in one of my fusion plots. They were in it for over 30 minutes feeding and several of the shots where them eating either chickory or some volunteer brassicas from the fall. I have 4 doe's that stay in my whitetail clover plot for a long time like that too. But when you go look at it, its not pounded looking.

I planted mine in the fall with some sort of cereal grains and bassicas. Or No Plow. Hit it with triple 17 and watch.

My clover mix from the fall plots does really great up until about June, the heat just takes it out. Wish I could get it to last thru the summer. This past fall I did crimson, fixation, ball and frosty berseem in my mix.

I just cut my whitetail fusion plots saturday. When I look at them or walk around them, I can't tell how much traffic is on them, but when I start cutting, I can see for sure. They do fine as long as we get some good rain. The PlotSpike clover mix from TS is good too. Its' doing really well on the side of my biggest green field, that I would say is pretty crusty. Stuff just doesn't really grow well over there, but this stuff seems to. And the deer have kept it mowed.

What I think helps it though is I cut the fall cereal grains with a flail mower, and that left a really good covering of "mulch" so that helps hold in some of the moisture, not that we are lacking for rain as of late. I also noticed the alfalfa from the 1 bag of alfa rack I spread around a couple of fields was stating to come in pretty good too.

Two of my fusion plots I ripped up with a subsoiler last fall before I planted them. They are doing pretty good. The clover seems to spread when you cut them for whatever reason. Try some whitetail clover, plant it in the fall, with some cereal grains, and then in the spring mow it and add some 0-20-20 fertilizer. The other field I just disked and I notice the fusion but more particularily the clover in it was spreading into the parts of the field that I have struggled to get to grow anything. If you have a spot that gets a ton of direct sunlight, try fusion or alfa rack.

If your not using durana, you dont know what your missing. It's a lot more drought tolerant perennial than ladino and spreads better.

I have looked at Durana. I was reading something online where a guy compared Durana to Whitetail clover and said the deer preferred the whitetail clover more. Wether that is true or not I don't know, I would have to try some and see how it does.

I do know they like the Plotspike from TS and its only 16.99 and that is pure seed, not coated like Whitetail. I haven't seen Durana where I could look at the label and see what the contents are.

The biggest thing to me is it seems Durana is 1 clover, whereas the whitetail or PS are multiple varieties. I just ordered innoculant to do 50 pounds of clover, so we shall see how that does with the PS this fall.

Durana is durana clover nothing else. When your buying durana, all your money goes towards durana clover. When you buy whitetail institute blends, your paying a high price per pound, but your not getting a pound of the ladino clover. Your getting cheaper seeds in with it. I've used WI seed many times and it's high quality. I've found that durana does better late summer. Nothing wrong with using both. Both were scientifically created.

Blumsden you got a PM

I ordered a bag of durana so we shall see what happens. I also ordered clover innoculent for the Plotspike clover from TS. So thinking I may just mix all 3 together and see what happens. I have been really happy with Imperial Clover, and so far, since this is my first year with it, the PS from TS is doing well and getting pounded as well.

One of the things I have noticed about both that I am using is the clover tends to fill in the spots of the field that typically don't grow as well with other crops.

Or I may plant all 3 on a field separated and watch and see what happens. I am not sure why when you watch a youtube they talk about having to maintain clover is such a bad thing, especially compared to having to run out and bush hog, disk, spray and plant peas/beans in the spring and then come back in the fall and plant something else.

How much was the durana Lockjaw?

It was about 40 bucks from amazon. It is like Whitetail clover though, it comes with a seed coating, So its probably only about 3 or 3.5 pounds of seed.

I am going to plant it this fall and see what I think. I do know the deer like Whitetail clover and Plotspike on my lease, so I don't expect they won't like this either. I am getting frustrated with the peas/beans too. I don't really have a big enough field to grow enough of them to keep them from mowing the field. They don't regenerate as quickly as clover seems to. It seems with the peas, they sort of leave them alone for a while, and then they hit them and they are all gone in a couple weeks. Then I don't have anything left to feed them.

When I looked at my main field that has plot spike clover on it saturday, the clover is low, but as you move towards the center where I have other stuff that gives the clover cover, its much taller. Judging by the number of stems I see with no leaves, it looks like they are eating it pretty hot and heavy.

So I think for next year, the chances of me planting anything in the spring is pretty low. I will just get clover established this fall, and cut and maintain it in the spring.

I have a patch of durana that is about 10 years old. It likes some shade in late summer.