on 684 acres along the West Fork Choctawhatchee. Property currently has 4 established 3-way mix plots of rye/wheat/oats, none of which did very well this year but they definitely pulled some deer.

I'd like to establish some spring plots. Where should I start? Going to do some soil tests first and see what we need lime wise. I'm thinking some turnips planted in late March to add organic matter to the soil and then cut them under in early September and making my own mix of rye/wheat/oats/soybeans/lab lab/cow peas? Any suggestions? Not very experienced with it all, but I want to do a really good job.

Also plan to two more plots btw, and 3 mineral sites and 2 supplemental feed sites with pellets (not the devil's corn), probably the Purina Antler Max stuff.

Make your own mineral sites with the recipe listed a few threads down. You have lots of planting options, but on the properties I help my friends with, I'm gonna plant sunn hemp, soybeans, buckwheat, and clover.

How large are your fields? Whats your deer density? Small fields with high density, go with buckwheat maybe mixed with pea's. Its according to your goals. Are you trying to build your soil or trying to feed deer?

Small 1/2 - 1 acre fields. I'd say there are two 1 acre fields already, one 3/4 acre field, and one 1/2 acre field. Will add another 1/2 acre and potentially another 3/4 acre. Deer density is above average for this part of the state. I hunted as a guest 6 times and saw 10 deer total, 6 does, 2 fawns, 1 spike, 1 big 4 pt. Heard deer grunt on two of the hunts that never showed themselves and heard fawn bleating after dark twice. Only time I didn't see deer was the last day but I was moving around to existing stand locations checking the place out.

Thanks for the tip on the mineral site mix, will be doing a few of those. Plan on getting those done and cameras out for a survey within the next week or so. Hope to cut in the 3 way mix and plant something for spring/summer in late March but just not sure what yet. Something high in protein.

I'd say the goal is feed deer more so than maintain soil quality, though we certainly want to keep that up.

Should note that the deer also have access to about ~100 acres of pasture land on the property that is used for about 50 head of cattle, so they have that as food as well. I have never once driven to the property in the morning without seeing deer in that pasture on the way in.

I dont think I would waste my time planting turnips in March.

I would create one mineral lick for every 50 acres of property. Sun hemp, lab lab would be a good spring/summer crop to plant. Also, find your natural browse, honeysuckle, black berry bushes and fertilize them as well as any acorn producing trees. You can get a hand auger and fertilize around the perimeter of the trees and you will see a much better yield in the fall.

Skip the turnips, is there any way you could fence off a few acres of that pasture and plant a large plot? Those fields are awfully small for summer plots and biomass

With high densities, small fields may not have a chance. Buckwheat builds soil and OM, if you cut it after it seeds out, it will reseed itself. I've tripled cropped it before, and its not highly preferred, so the deer don't decimate it but do browse it. Next fall add a perrenial white clover to you plots and that will feed them into August, maybe later.

There are thousands of oaks on the property. Very little of it has been converted to an Alabama pine farm, plus it has a very large river bottom that is almost half the property.

So that many mineral sites? That would be a dozen or more. Sounds good to me. "but honey I HAD to buy more cameras" lol

I don't think that is happening but we are toying around with ideas for a large field that is north-center of the property that is natural growth right now.

Question on establishing a large mineral site: can you hunt over them if they are natural minerals? Just the mix of salt, trace minerals, and dicalcium phosphate? Need to know before we pick the spot to put it is all. Probably do a huge one on the middle of the property and use some acorn rage or other stuff to get them all to find it.

Can't hunt over them, but they'll be gone by season if you do them now and replenish during summer. I like mine on the edges of food plots and logging roads

If you want a successful summer plot with biomass for high deer density, large field is a must.

Sunn Hemp (you can add some beans, Lab Lab etc with it if you like) spray them with an $8 bottle of fish emulsion mixed with water once they get up a few inches. I mix this with my fertilizer and spray both at once. The smell of the fish emulsion will keep the deer off for a few weeks. You may have to spray the fish emulsion a second time if needed, but after that the SH should be up and growing well enough to withstand heavy browsing.

Good points to ponder right here. Let me give you another. How close do you live to this property and how much help are you going to get with chores such as spraying for weed control. Spring and summer plots are much harder to grow than winter plots with respect to weed competition. If you don't live very close or can't get the other guys to help you, you may be spinning your wheels unless you pick a crop that requires very little maintenance.

Another part of the blessing is that it is less than 1/2 hour from me, a good friend lives on it and is as interested in getting it to the next level as I am, and the owner of the farm has plenty of equipment and has handled all this in the past and no doubt will do maintenance on these if needed. I'm getting hunting rights in exchange for just buying seed and fertilizer to maintain status quo...but I want to go way beyond that for them and for the hunting. I want to show my appreciation by making some jam up mineral sites, feeding areas, and food plots. And bringing their stands up to safety standards that I work with at the nuclear plant ha. Also want to build them some new shooting houses and plan to predator control like nobody's business. Getting in on this is property is a dream for a small town guy whose done well but not well enough to own a lot of land yet. I was planning on spending some really shiny pennies on a lease for this fall and now all I have to do is spend it on making this property a haven, and then hunt it with two good friends, both of which are much more fun than joining a random club and having no management input other than trigger control IMO!

If anybody wonders, the tractor supply in Dothan has no idea what DiCalcium phosphate
is lol. Will be checking with co-op's this week.

Thanks, that's the kind of stuff we've never heard of here!

Sunn hemp produces a lot of biomass and will grow in just about anything. If you can get it established and mix in some beans or whatever in, it should bring some nutrition to the deer and provide good organics to the soil.

Thanks! Knowing that, should we start just putting out trophy rocks in the smaller sites that may be near hunting areas when we replenish them? The huge one is going to be off limits then but I want it to hold deer. A LOT of this property hasn't been hunted at all shouldn't be hard to find a central spot to put it in.