Prepare Your Deer Food Plots While You Eagerly Await Deer Hunting Season

Deer hunting season is just around the corner, but you still have a few weeks to plant your fall and winter food plots before deer season begins. Even if you plant spring and summer deer food plots, fall and winter deer food plots are just as important. The main reason for fall deer food plot planting is to insure that your deer will still have an available food source as crops are beginning to be harvested. Also keep in mind, wherever the does come to feed, the big boys will follow. Planting fall and winter deer food plots is a great way to find sheds in the late winter and early spring.

Three great options for fall deer food plots are: brassicas, forage oats and winter wheat.
Follow these simple steps for planting quality deer food plots:

Be sure that your site is weed free. You can spray RoundUp ™ or a similar product with no residual effect to kill the weeds and grass on contact. Make it easier with a Moultrie Feeders ATV sprayer.

Make sure that your deer food plot has pH-neutral soil. If the pH is too low, add lime accordingly. Neutral pH is between 6.0–7.0

Till the ground after the weeds and grass have died (usually 5-10 days after spraying).  You can use a small tractor with a disc, ATV equipment or even a garden tiller to work up the ground.

Make sure that you plant your food plot seeds to the recommend planting depth. If you plant them too deep, they won’t grow properly. You may choose to broadcast seed and work the seed into the ground with rakes, or use a drag-behind ATV spreader or a Culti-Packer.

One of the most common mistakes when planting is the amount of seed applied.  If you plant more seed than what is recommend for your size of deer food plot, you increase you risk of stunting the growth of the plants.  As a rule of thumb, 1 acre is nearly the size of a football field (4840 square yards).