Vet Judy

Let’s take a closer look at rye and ryegrass and their use in deer food plots.
 

   Annual ryegrass (Lollium multiflorum).is a cool-season annual grass commonly used in deer food plot plantings.  It is not to be confused with rye (Secale cereale).  Rye is also an annual grass, but is more commonly grown for grain than for forage.

 If you’re planting for deer forage in a warmer season, rye can be an excellent choice.  A disadvantage in cooler weather is that lower temperatures cause the rye plant to bend over (a condition called “lodging”).  This puts the plant on the ground rather than up in the air.

• Still, rye is a very valuable food source for deer and other wildlife.  In northern zones, some university research has recommended simply seeding rye into forest openings each year in the spring to improve food value for wildlife.
• My experience with the deer food plots on the ranch, however, is to treat crops as annuals with a “harvest” by the deer in the fall and winter.  Annual ryegrass really meets that purpose.  It contains about 16% crude protein.  It is also relatively high in calcium when compared to other common deer food plot crops.
•  As I’ve noted when writing about cool-season grasses, be sure that you don’t select a perennial ryegrass variety.  The perennial version can be aggressive and hard to get out of your food plot.  In addition to avoiding perennial varieties, there are some disease issues in ryegrass that can occur, especially in warmer climates, if it is seeded continuously.  (That’s another argument for rotating crops in your food plot.)
• Annual ryegrass will perform well when seeded into a food plot with a moderate pH (between 5.5 and 7.5).  Another advantage to annual ryegrass is that it is more tolerant to soils that are not as well-drained. 
•  Annual ryegrass is a great crop to use in a crop mix, as it serves as a good “companion” for some clovers and other shorter crops.  It’s quick growing and rapidly establishes, and it can be effectively used as a standalone crop to provide food value in spots where other grasses might not grow as easily.  I like to seed it on our fourwheeler trails to provide some deer cover and forage value on hard-traveled paths.

 For more free information on annual options for deer food plots visit: www.diydeerfoodplots.com/

Fawn in clover stand above:

Clovers are where the deer plots craze started, and, for good reason.  Over time however, mixes and forages have changed, advanced and been created to provide specific deer plots needs and  functions. 

While fall deer attractants can provide a better hunting resource, and winter food availability in northern regions, clovers provide the optimum spring health development food source.  That is why they are an integral part of deer habitat management in most areas.

When considering a clover planting, you should plant as a blend.  The basic clovers are red, white and alsike.  While almost any clover will do well in the spring, a well-blended plot should perform well year-round under all but the most extreme conditions.  I have found a simple mix of three pounds per acre of each red clover, alsike and Ladino, a white clover, has worked well for me. 

Another reason you should consider clover in your food plot planting program, is clovers fix nitrogen from the atmosphere. 

Simply put, as the clover planting begins to deteriorate and weeds begin to take over your stand and you should consider rotating back into annual forages, such as chicory or rapeseed for a year or two. 

These Annual Forages need nitrogen in order to grow and reach their maximum potential.  The clover, once tilled under, will provide some of that nitrogen need in the soil, thus reducing your investment necessary for commercial fertilizer. 

clover is also easy to seed.  Just be sure the weeds are gone.  The site prep starts before planting.  If the site is following a year or two of Annual Forage, you would simply include a spraying of emerging weeds, usually this is about the middle of May, unless you are located far to the south.  A tillage pass should follow that application to bury any dead plant residue.  If more weeds emerge, a second spraying may be in order just prior to seeding. 

You could conduct a light tillage just before you put in your food plot seed.  I try and plant my clover paddocks the last week of May or 1^st week in June.  The seed can then be broadcasted, no need for a drill, and then just run a drag over it when you’re done seeding. 

            Okay, let me tell you right up front: forage rape (brassica napus) is my brassica of choice in the deer food plot mix on my ranch.  It’s not just the fact that the plant contains 30% crude protein—but that’s certainly a good selling point.

            First of all, remember: forage rape is different than oilseed rape.  You won’t be able to utilize the oilseed varieties in your deer food plot like the forage varieties.

            Second, there are also different kinds of forage rape out there.  There are “giant” varieties, which are often used to graze cattle and sheep and “dwarf” varieties which are used in the sheep industry as a forage in lamb production.  If you’re using your food plot to also attract deer for the early fall hunting season, be sure to use a “dwarf” variety, which will naturally mature when the plant is shorter.

            Forage rape is often regarded as a little easier to manage for grazing than kale and turnips.  At my location, forage rape will be seeded in early August to begin being available to deer in September or October, after our first hard frost. 

            Honestly, the thing I love about forage rape is that it can offer a forage food source well into the winter.  It’s ready for grazing about 60 days after planting; I like to plant in early August so it’s ready for the deer by October.  After the first grazing, forage rape will regrow in about a month—an ideal addition to the fall deer food plot crop mixture.

            As for all brassicas, forage rape will be more attractive to deer after frost.  It is also not a one-size-fits-all wonder crop for your deer food plot.  But if you’re looking for a winter-hardy, nutrient laden grazing crop of choice for deer—especially in regions of harder winters—forage rape is my brassica deer food plot crop of choice.

            The bulk of most deer food plot crops are cool season — crops that produce during cooler weather.  In today’s blog, I’ll explore cool-season forages, focusing on cool-season grasses and their value in deer food plots.

            Generally speaking, there are two strategies for cool-season crops used as deer forage or other grazing animals.  The plot manager can select a crop to “stockpile,” allowing a crop to grow during the late summer months for grazing in the early fall, when temperatures drop and the crop’s growth slows. 

Birdsfoot trefoil, a legume, is a good example of a crop used in many deer food plots that is suitable for stockpiling.  Birdsfoot trefoil is a popular selection for this practice because it does not lose its leaves as easily as some other legumes after frost.

            Many cool-season grasses, however, are selected for deer food plots because they are able to keep growing in lower temperatures.  This allows for deer to potentially utilize the grasses as a food source over multiple months.  Cool-season annual grasses often grown for grain—such as ryegrass, wheat, and oats—are often used in food plots. 

            If you’ve grown these crops for grain use, such as winter wheat, using them in deer food plots will require some adjustment to your past experience.  Cool-season grains like wheat and oats grown for fall grazing should be planted almost a month earlier than they are typically planted for grain production.  As always, be sure you’re using varieties that are suited to the typical severity of your fall and winter.  Fertilizer application at planting (equivalent to 40 lbs of nitrogen per acre) is also vital for cool-season fall grass growth.

            One note on ryegrass: be sure you’re using an annual ryegrass, as there are many perennial ryegrass varieties available.  On my ranch, I’ve found ryegrass is used best on small spots that are harder to access.  We also seed ryegrass on our four wheeler trails to provide some grass cover and forage availability.

            perennial cool-season grasses can often create problems in managing land for deer forage, because they can crowd out warm-season grasses in the spring.  For this reason, I keep clear of perennial cool-season grasses in deer food plot plantings.

I found my first shed deer antler purely by accident. I nearly tripped over it while climbing a fence on the way to the farm garden. It was so neat, I now spend time every year searching out deer sheds. My daughter is particularily interested in these peices and it is a nice time spent outdoors together.   

Where can you find these shed antlers?

* Look for bedding areas, food sources and also the routes in between these areas. If you use deer food plots be sure to check in the areas surrounding or on the way into your plots.

          Now that you know where the deer are, there are some specific locations to key in on. While checking the food sources, and fringe areas near these sources, you should easily be able to find the entrance trails. Walk these trails back into the woods about fifty yards. Bucks will hang out in these “staging” areas before coming out into the field.

* Look where the deer are concentrated during the process of shedding antlers.

           Other key locations where deer shed antlers can be found are areas where deer may be forced to jump or jar their bodies: like fence crossings, creek bottoms and gullies.

           That oak flat which proved to be a hot spot when the mast was falling, may not have deer traffic in between January and March when most deer will lose their antlers.  Don’t forget to recheck locations more than once, as an area may have had deer traffic since you were last there.

*Use good optics if you have them:

           You can find a good number of shed antlers by simply glassing a food source, such as a hay or soybean stubble field for example, and looking for something out of place.  You can cover a lot of ground by simply standing in one place and scanning an area with your binoculars. 

*Improve your odds of actually seeing these shed antlers:

       Finding a shed antler is much like finding that first spring morel: the first one is the most difficult to see.  I know darn well I’ve looked right at a shed and my minds-eye just didn’t identify what I was actually looking at.     

      Here is a TIP:

     Bring a shed antler with you and toss it out each time the terrain, field type or cover type changes.  Sounds a little geeky I know, but you do need to train your eyes and your mind to work together in order to identify what you are actually looking at. Without that recognition you may look right at a shed you actually don’t even see. 

Be Consciensious: Don’t disturb the herd though. If you go traipsing around their key bedding areas during January and early February, these disturbances could cause the deer to move and could put them under undue stress. Early in the deer shed hunting season, through January and early February, focus your attention on those food source areas and make your best effort to stay out of the bedding areas.  You may follow a few access trails back into the bedding areas early solely to identify key spots to check later in the year.  

If you are in an area with a lot of snow like we are, you may have to make the trek out later in the spring. Be aware though that weather and rodents have a way of making a good antler peice really poor: so you have to beat the rush, so to speak. Get out there early when the snow starts melting.

Have fun hunting for your antler sheds:)

Dr. Judy