Fall Food Plot Success
3 Proven Cool-Season Crops That Attract Deer Without Breaking the Bank
Are your fall food plots ready? With autumn quickly approaching, anticipation of the opening day of deer season heightens across the whitetail’s range. Landowners across the country run trail cameras, glass bean fields, and work on their properties in an effort to boost their odds of success this season.
Why Simple Beats Fancy When It Comes to Food Plots
One of the most popular land management practices that improves hunting success is the establishment of cool-season food plots. Food plotting has become so popular that we now of full-fledged marketing campaigns focused on selling seed to hunters. Just look on the shelves of any outdoor store or even the outdoor section of your grocery store – you’ll find dozens of pre-packaged blends with enough marketing power to make you feel like Pro Staff just by holding the bag. Unfortunately, establishing successful food plots requires more than picking out the bag with the biggest buck on it. The good news is that we don’t have to be fancy or pay an arm and a leg to attract deer to your property and improve your hunting success this fall. Below are a few of my favorite cool-season food plots with seed that is easy to find and easy to establish. Most importantly, they’re all proven favorites of white-tailed deer!
The Top 3 Cool-Season Food Plot Champions
1. Cool-Season Grains: The Dependable Workhorses
Oats, winter wheat, and cereal rye (not ryegrass) are proven winners when it comes to cool-season food plots. They germinate quickly and are very attractive. I love the simplicity of cereal grains. They are easy to plant, quick to sprout, and low-cost in comparison to other options.
You can plant cereal grains using no-till methods if you have a seed drill, or you can plant them with a conventional tillage approach (disk, plant, disk again to incorporate).
I recommend 120 to 150 lbs per acre as the seeding rate. You can plant them as individual species or mix them. Target seeding depth is 1 to 2 inches and planting dates span August 15 – October 15.
2. Crimson Clover: The Cold-Weather Champion
Not to be confused with red clover, Crimson Clover grows as an annual clover, which means it grows from fall through spring, then flowers and dies in late spring or early summer.
Crimson clover tolerates cold temperatures and remains green and attractive to deer throughout the entire season. It establishes rather quickly compared to other clovers and withstands grazing pressure from deer exceptionally well.
These characteristics make it a good option for smaller plots and areas with a high deer density.
I recommend a seeding rate of 20 to 25 lbs per acre and a seeding depth of ¼”. You can plant it with a seed drill, no-till top sowing before a good rain, or using a conventional tillage approach (disk, plant, cultipack). Target planting dates span August 15 – October 15.
3. Intermediate White Clover: The Long-Term Investment
Intermediate white clover is a perennial variety of clover in a size class between the smaller white Dutch clover and the larger ladino clover. A common variety used in food plots is called Durana.
This clover is a perennial, meaning that one planting persists on your property for multiple years as long as you manage weed competition.
It establishes slowly in the first year but forms very well when planted with oats as a nurse crop. The addition of oats in the first year not only helps the clover establish, but also ensures a quick attraction in the plot after planting.
After establishment, intermediate white clover is very tolerant to grazing pressure and can withstand stress from dry weather and poor soils more than many other clovers. This makes it a great option for small plots and high deer density areas.
I recommend planting 60 lbs per acre of oats first, then adding a seeding rate of 6 to 8 lbs per acre intermediate white clover at a seeding depth of ¼”. You can plant it with a seed drill, no-till top sowing before a good rain, or use a conventional tillage approach (disk, plant, cultipack). Target planting dates span August 15 – October 15.
Pro Tips for Food Plot Success
- Conduct a soil test and amend accordingly. Lime matters more than fertilizer if you must choose.
- Use a broad-spectrum herbicide such as glyphosate for 7 days or less before planting if using a no-till drill or a no-till top-sowing approach.
- If possible, plant when a high probability of rain appears in the 48-hour forecast. Nothing increases your odds of good establishment more than a timely rain after planting.
- Use an exclusion cage. Placing a wire exclusion cage in your plot shortly after planting to protect a patch from grazing pressure provides a great way to monitor deer use and how your plot would perform without grazing pressure.
Beyond the Plot: Strategic Hunting Considerations
Don’t just hunt over your food plots – view them as a component of the deer habitat available across your property. Understand that strategically accessed transition areas between food and cover are often better places to catch up with a mature buck than sitting over a field.
Get some spring camo, because all three of these options will persist into the spring and will be extremely attractive to turkeys as well!
