Food-plot options for year-round program

Food is important for whitetail deer year-round, not just during hunting season. They will keep deer close to home, and both warm- and cool-season plots are important to the overall health of the herds and to maximize the attractiveness of a property.

Land managers can use a combination of perennial and annual food plots to provide a steady food supply. Not only does a combination offer deer a high-quality source of nutrition, they are more palatable, tasty and full of everything their bodies require.

Instincts lead deer to foods with the greatest nutritional benefits. Foods high in protein, carbohydrates, and fats go a long way. Available food-plot crops are loaded with protein and critical nutrients beneficial to deer and other wildlife.

There is no single food-plot crop species that can provide complete, balanced nutrition year-round, making seed mixes attractive. A seed mixture offers wildlife complete nutrition over monocultured crops.

Mixtures are great to provide food over a long period of time. Mixtures can be planned to mature and become palatable at different times throughout the year. They can be combined by hunters or be purchased as commercial blends. Variable maturation and palatability extends plot effectiveness into the future.

Spring plantings should be loaded with annual clovers, peas, corn, soybeans and lablab. These seeds are packed with protein and are beneficial to wildlife through the warm season. A mixture of legumes, including soybeans, peas, and peanuts, are loaded with highly digestible protein contents. While the majority of food-plot species prefer pH conditions approaching neutral, some plants such as, lablab and small burnet thrive in acidic, sandy, dry sites when others parish.

In the fall, the majority of mixtures contain varieties of peas, oats, wheat, clovers, blue lupine and brassicas. These plantings are all attractive and provide balanced nutrition to wildlife during the fall and winter. Cool-season plot mixes mature quickly, providing nutrient-rich forage. Fall plantings offer a balanced, energy-packed food source that will lure the deer herd in to feast and keep deer fed.

Food plots are planted either during the spring as a warm-season plot or in the fall as a cool-season plot. They play an important role in the overall management of wildlife on a property and attracting more wildlife year-round.