My quest continues. Food plot size is a limiting factor, most of my big ones are barely over 1/2 acre. My goal is I want some sort of year round food source. One of the things that has always bugged me about hunting clubs is the bush hogging in August, and fields sitting there barren for 2 months in between crops, when deer need the nutrition. If I had a drill, it would be easier, but I don't.

I started with clay peas in the spring. They grow well, my deer tend to leave them alone, until August, and then they decimate them in a couple weeks and there is nothing but stems. That's no good. I did plant some Eagle beans, they did pretty well the first time, not the second. Whitetail power plant has done well when I planted it.

I like to plant soybeans, but the deer just hammer them. I played around with that and found if I planted buckwheat with them, and went about 1/3rd clay peas and 2/3rds soybeans, the deer would leave the soybeans alone long enough to get them up past the cotyledon stage. But to truly get the best production, I have to disk the fields first.

The first time I planted Powerplant, I noticed the deer really liked sunn hemp, so I started adding that to my mix. It does well, but again, disking helps with production. I also learned I could broadcast my fall blends into standing beans, and get very good output. I wanted to stop having to disk all the time, and I needed a solution that worked on smaller fields, because that is where disking is a PITA. So I switched to clover. The deer love Whitetail clover, and it grows well, except these last few hot dry summers have ruined some of my stands. I tried durana, and it holds up a little better, but I honestly don't believe the deer like it as much as whitetail clover. And I have about decided no matter what I do with it, I need to replant some each fall.

So now I am back to square 1. The hot summers are killing my big fields I plant clover in. So I think I am going back to a soybean/clay pea/lab lab/ sunn hemp mix on bigger fields that get alot of direct sun light, and on ones that tend to have some shade or retain moisture better, leave clover. Maybe I need to have a heavier cereal grain planting in the fall, and mow it a couple times during turkey season to add organic matter that shades the soil a little better.

I do believe my efforts have yielded deer herd improvements. I am seeing nicer bucks in the 2.5 year age range. I am seeing first year bucks sporting more than just spikes, like 3 and 4 points. Interestingly, I had a wompy rack buck last year that is back this year, and boy did he add some mass if its the same buck. I see doe's with twins often, although I think we need to work harder on Yote control.

Curious what others have seen in their piddling around. Keeping a club dues payment affordable, while keeping the member count lower, and planting properly isn't an easy task.

I have a plot ( 1/2 acre) on the club i hunt and this is my 2nd year planting. Last year i did wheat only ( no discing) and it came up fine. Deer didnt hammer it so i done it differently this year. This year i did wheat, oats and whitetail institute clover and hope for better results. This year i did disc though..
IDEALLY i want all clover to minimize the work but want to try a few things first

Sunn hemp and milo are two of the most overlooked spring plot items but have really done well for us.
It took the deer till its 2nd planting to get into the sunn hemp but they hammer it especially when its young.
Add in some beans or peas to climb the stalks and it works out pretty good. They also have really helped in building up the poor soil.

I like to let my fall plots grow until I plant again the next September. This way it grows up in natural browse and also acts as cover for deer and turkeys.

This has worked out great for me and is super easy.

This ^^^^^.......If you want to add something then add lime and a little nitrogen.

Exactly. One of our lessors disced up a perfect stand of ragweed in a sandy food plot of barely an acre, to plant corn. A total failure and even if the plot had made 150 bushel corn it would have only lasted a few weeks. That ragweed plot would have feed the deer plus offered great cover/food for turkey poults without spending a penny on it.

The problem with natural is what else comes up in it I don't want. Like trees, briars, johnson grass, the crap that is like dandelions, horse nettle, nutt grass etc.

Clover is my preferred forage base. It's just easy to maintain. But it won't work on my bigger fields until we start getting wetter summers. If you have never gotten a good stand of whitetail clover established and put a camera on it, you should. It's why I want it. Deer camp out in it, and they can't eat it all. Turkeys stay in it too.

As much as seed costs, I am going to rule out stuff the deer don't eat. Buckwheat is a good example. It is a great cover crop, but the deer don't eat it, and its $50/bag. Corn would be the same. I don't want to invest in something the deer can't eat once it comes up. That also sort of pushes milo out. And I need something that will deal with this dryer period of August until its wet enough to get a fall crop up. Even weeds struggle there. I also want to rotate a little. For example, I don't want the same thing planted on all the fields in the fall, I want the deer to have to move. In the spring I don't care, I just want them eating.

This fall I am going to do things a little different. See what happens. Spring is going to be beans/peas/sunn hemp. I will just have to disk.

You can spot spray Johnson grass, but by in large, the good outweighs the bad by a long shot.

Deer will absolutely eat Buckwheat.

^^^Yeah, they eat it at my place and it adds phosphorus to the soil.

Have you ever seen the QDM book Quality food plots? Lots of good info.

Unfortunately your plots are too small to really do anything IMO. It's just not going to work you just can't get the forage in terms of tonnage off a 1/2 acre.

Supplemental feeding in late Summer is your only option IMO.

1/4 and 1/2 acre food plots was something the Dr. Deer industry pushed.... I would NOT fool with a plot under 1 acre and prefer 2-4 acres. A lot of these deer hunting theories are garbage IMO.... a 1/4 acre plot is near top of that list in my book

My deer hammer Buckwheat

With small plots you're just as well off to let nature's soil builders repair them during the summer months.

Mine stay mainly crab grass which sucks.

Mine was pretty much pure crabgrass in the beginning but changed over time......Have you ever added lime??....Seems like that really helped

Even better is Dr Harper’s book on early successional habitat and food plots. Currently out of print but a revised copy is supposed to be released next year.

Yeah I’ve put a couple tons out in pellet over the last 5 years. I need to pull a test though my bottom field is sandy loam to issame but with a very hard underlay of some sort of sandstone. You can’t hardly dig it it’s so bad.

When you pull samples, use a true Ag lab such as Watters, Waypoint, Ward etc. Get a complete soil test that includes micros and organic matter. It's only a couple of dollars more than the Auburn lab which really only provides pH, P & K. What's the depth to the sandstone ? You might be money ahead hiring someone with a subsoiler and a tractor large enough to pull it.

Pay close attention to the depth at which you pull your sample from as well......Once I built up a thick layer of black soil I pulled a sample from that layer and another sample from below it and they were drastically different.