In years past I have bought the food plot mix from the local hardware store in the camo bags that have oats, rye, wheat and clover mixed in it. This year I was gonna try mixing a bag or two of clay peas in with my food plot mix to see how it does. Has anyone ever done this and if so could you tell a different in the number of deer coming to your food plot vs. not having the peas planted?

I would plant Austrian winter peas instead of clay peas if planting for a fall mix.

If you are talking a fall/winter plot you probably mean Austrian winter peas. Iron and clay peas are a summertime crop.

I plant winter peas like you are saying every year, except I buy my rye, wheat, oats and clover separate vs. in a blend.

I like the peas. My experience is that the deer will start eating the peas when the plot starts coming up, and really don't touch the grain at first. Then after the peas are gone they move onto the other things. I never have peas that get over three or four inches tall before being wiped out.

IC peas make a great early bow season plot, but you probably want to avoid them in your mix. Here is why:

If you put "a bag or two," you are going to shade out your other plants, unless we are talking large acreage.

IC peas need to be planted NOW, whereas, the rest of your mix needs to be planted between mid Sept. and mid Oct.

IC peas are for early season only. They stop all growth when temperatures fall below 40 degrees, and a good frost will kill them totally.

As has been said, if you are planning to incorporate peas into a mix, go with AWPs.

I've heard lots of good things about AWP. I plan on planting some this fall myself. What I have learned over the years that what deer like to eat is site specific. Deer will love a certain thing in one area, and 5 miles down the road they won't touch it. You'll never know until you try it. Even if they don't do much to it this year that don't mean they won't tear it up next year.

Two years ago, i planted a two acre field in rows of AWP with rye and oats broadcast over the top. My AWP got six inches high and were then completely removed from the field within a 5 day period. Our deer have never eaten anything that quickly, and our population isn't very large due to predators and two EHD outbreaks within four years.

Bow season hadn't even come in yet... I can't afford forty dollar appetizers.

Where have you had EHD that bad out of curiosity?

Dale county. 2010 and this past may. Lost 3 two-year-old bucks that i passed all season

10-4

Thanks for all the help. The reason I said clay peas is because my boss is the one that told me he mixed clay peas in his food plot one year. I'm not sure how big of a bag of peas I can buy in my area but I know I've seen them in small 5 pound bags so I'll probably just mix a bag or two per food plot since the biggest food plot I have is my wifes which is about half an acre and mine is about half the size of hers.

I don't know where your area is, but any coop in AL should carry AWP's in 50 lb bags. The price for 50 lbs will probably be pretty close to what you can buy a 5 pound bag for from one of the hunting seed companies.