Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Clover only plots

Folks that have clover only fields….Do you see usage in them all season long(in an average year) as much as regular grass plots?

I’ve wondered this as well. Plant it and just keep it maintained through the year.

More in spring until mid summer. Late summer they can get a little scarce depending on heat and drought.

I’ve had several over the years.

They see use in the winter months, they typically need to be larger in size IMO to provide enough browse.

What I’ve seen work best is plant segregated plots if you can and have a large enough field. This also helps you determine the best preferred browse for your area.

For example, if you have an acre….plant half in clover and the other half in your preferred mix or just straight wheat, oat, or rye.

I’ve had good luck with the whitetail imperial clover.

I’ll add to what Matt said. They will get more use than the other plots in Spring and Summer.

Another good one is Osceola.

A bonus is the turkeys love clover plots.

I had 3 acres of crimson clover the deer ate really well all season. Turkeys seemed to like it through the winter as well. Deer kept it ate down pretty well untill it got warm enough they couldnt keep up with it. It was part of a 10 acre plot i kept planted in something all the time. All kinds of feed out there. Kept corn in a feeder or standing corn too. Wasnt unusual to see 30+ deer in that field at dark. It was heavily used. The 3 acres of clover appeared to be the most used aside from the corn. It was a nice field of clover.

I had my mind on starting off planting a section in heavy clover, a section in regular grain, and a section in a brassica mix. We be an interesting study plot.

Thanks for the info.

I’ve heard mixed reviews on fall/winter usage from folks I’ve talked to, but having the protein out there for Spring/Summer would be a huge plus.

I usually drill or top sow grain in with it for winter.

When top sowing, which grain and how much do you use?

We have several 3 acre plots on one piece we hunt that doesn’t see much usage mainly because the neighbor beside us is a 700 acre sanctuary with 130 acres of planted wheat on it. All our deer are sucked in on that place and the owner doesn’t allow hunting, but allows it to be farmed. That doesn’t also consist of the farming to the north that has cut corn and no hunting on it either. Deer are all over that place and all we can do is watch them! lol. It’s a blessing and. Curse because spring and summer there is either corn or beans over there which are great for the deer.

Abruzzi or Elbon rye/wheat.

Oats do better if drilled into the ground.

I normally plant about 65-70 lbs to the acre in grains when establishing clover. If I’m planting into existing clover I go about 50 lbs. Some people go heavier. I’m just looking for a little supplement to the clover, not something to outcompete it.

you have a lot of deer small plots of clover dont work . what they dont eat they kill walking on it . from what ive seen here .


your results may be different .

My grandfather (many moons ago) planted a certain clover that started coming back during the winter. The deer loved it as it was sprouting and through season. It grew in a field more than a food plot. The field had low growing briars they liked as well. However, when we planted ladino clover on our food plots, I started noticing that extreme cold say in low 20s negatively affected clover and the deer stopped eating it. My understanding is that instead of sweetening it like some types of legumes it made it bitter. Overall I think it’s a good option when mixed with other seed.

Thank y’all for the info.

I have a few plots that have a good stand of wheat in them. If I frost seed them with clover this week is there anything else I need to do to these plots? I assume when spring gets here I will need to spray to knock back the wheat... cleth is what I have read about, is that right too?

Any type of clover, red or white, etc. preferred over another?

I am in north Sumter.

You've probably seen me post in the turkey forum that I plant a lot of clover only plots for turkeys. I use a 3-1 mix of crimson and arrow leaf, and don't use any fertilizer. Most of these plots have been in this mix for close to 20 years, and I just lightly disc and throw out a little more seed every year. For the deer plots, I add rye and fertilizer.

We see about as many deer in the clover only plots as the deer plots. It seems to me that the location matters more than the rye and fertilizer, and I would go to nothing but clover except that my daughter and grandkids like to hunt on plots, mainly because of comfortable shooting houses. There is one clover only patch in sight of the house that has deer in it throughout the day. They will eventually go on down to the deer plots, but they will stay in the unfertilized clover for long periods of time.

I'm not saying unfertilized clover is great for deer; just saying that they will use it a lot in certain places. There are other plots that never seem to have a deer in them. I can't tell that it matters to the turkeys.

Deer are using your clover only plots this time of year(December/January) as good as October/November?

We typically plant clover in the fall with our plots but is there something you can plant now-late winter that will jump pretty quick when temps warm for spring? Mainly for turkey?