Personal experience with fall plots

What part of the state are you located?

I am in Ohio County and the closest ag field is about 3/4-1 mile away. I have tried a few different things in my 2 acre plot.

1. WTI Oats Plus- The deer just hammered my two acre plot all the time.
2. turnips and radishes- later in the winter the deer hit this pretty hard but not much action during Oct. and Nov.
3. WTI Pure Attraction- has the oats and the brassicas but what I really liked was the winter peas in the mix. The Deer seemed to do well with this blend as well.

I'm in far northeastern Indiana. Lots of ag around I'm hoping to be a good source for them after the crops get removed in October. That's good information. Sounds like oats may not be a bad option. Plot isn't very large so they could wipe it out in no time.

The deer liked the winter peas?

I think winter wheat is something I'd be interested in doing too. Not sure how many of the farmers may be doing it though. Not sure if it's the right approach but I would like to offer something different. Maybe it doesn't matter.

Here locally I bought a little bit of buckwheat, chicory and purple top turnips so I want to do a few test spots of this to see how they like it along with something for the main field.

Absolutely agree and will probably get one of those as well but that only covers about 600sqft as each sample pack covers 10sqft. I can get the double but still only covers 1200sqft. Just looking for my best bet for a first plot here. And I'm really indecisive on this stuff and can see any of them being better than what it was just curious of others luck.

Thanks steiny I'm thinking of doing a 7 card stud this year. It's by evolved harvest. Not a huge fan of their stuff but it has a huge mix of seed and seems like the mix will last through late season hopefully.

Any one tried this stuff?

A couple comments regarding food plot seed selection.

First, read the white seed tag on the bag. This tag is required by law and shows the exact contents of the bag and what percentage of what type of material is in each bag. It is not uncommon for some of these "buck picture on the bag" mixes to have a very high percentage of things like rye grass which is basically useless as feed, or "inert matter" which might be just a filler such as sand or saw dust. In many cases, the bag may only contain about 50% of the seed you are really wanting.

Second, be careful of these "do it all mixes". Seven card stud sounds like one, too many different seeds together. I think you would be better served to stay with a single seed or no more than a couple types of seed that are very similar plants, such as turnips and a couple types of radishes.

Third, you can get a much better buy on seed and better product staying away from the off the shelf stuff found at the farm and sporting goods stores with photos of big deer on the bags. Buy on line from outfits like Deer Creek Seed or Seedland, or at your local elevator and purchase single types of seed or economical blends. Some very affordable seed you can get from your local farm store that is good stuff would be white clover or alfalfa.

Problem with a mix of both grasses (rye) and broadleaf (clover) is that you can't easily chemical treat for weed control and keep a clean plot.

I always check the sticker on the bottom. I remember one year I put in a tiny little food plot, I went out and mowed a spot down then used a tiller to break up the ground planted my seed and then made sure the seeds were covered. Came back to find that about 75% of what I just planted was the stuff i had cut out of there! The 7 card stud doesn't have rye grass in it unless its part of the small other seed category. I didn't think the price was terrible for the mix, seems like most of the stuff I have seen is right in the same neighborhood. I also ended up buying some of the biologic last bite. I like the mix of that as well. The last bite has a decent amount of wheat while the 7 card stud had a decent amount of oats. I will be curious to see how they react to the two different mixes. I will be sure to put a utilization cage in them to decipher the winner there.

Also I never realized why they had so much rye grass in them I just figured it was a cheap seed and the companies could make a killing off of it. Had someone tell me that if you don't have a lot of tools and you haven't had a plot there before the rye grass has a very deep root that helps to break up ground. They said plant a throw n gro type plot the first year then plant whatever you want the year after. Not sure how true it is but made more sense than anything else i had heard. 

With my little experience, I sure have planted a lot of different plants. I personally like Whitetail Institute, but just because of all the research they do. Working in the science field made me appreciate the value of research and development.

Anyway, I'm VERY excited about the WI Ambush that I just planted. Have you read about it? They sold out quickly last year, but I got some early this year and they made more. It seems to be all the craze right now as far as WI goes. It does read like it's a good mix.

I also planted Winter Greens.

My Power Plant did really well. I will plant it again next spring ...Good Lord Willing. Advice on Power Plant, mix it before spreading it. I didn't and got a lot of sunflowers together. They should be more spread out to help the plants grow up it. My deer loved the sunflowers though, and probably would have cut them all down had I not been supplementing with corn.

I must admit that I have planted a cheap mix of something, and they devoured the buckwheat. It's not all how much money one spends, but I still spend a lot.

I was surprised at how much they liked the WI clover, especially after cutting it.

Have you tried sugar beets? They get 2-4 pounds; that's a lot of sugar, and they like sweet. I can relate.

I'm thinking the Ambush has some sugar beets in the mix too.

We got winter wheat, peas, rape, oats,crimson clover and ladino clover going in this weekend on buddies farm. I got 15 acres of corn on BILs and he gets paid for it and I get to hunt it