Avoid Brassica Food Plot Failure With These Simple Steps
Aug 24, 2022Mark Turner
Approaching the food plot, I was shocked by what I saw: an entire field of yellowing turnip and radish leaves. I wondered if I had skimped on fertilizer. Or perhaps I had applied soil-active herbicide…
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Crimson Clover for Deer Food Plots
Jul 21, 2021Ryan Basinger
Versatile. Rugged. Productive. Attractive. Nutritious. Resilient. Persistent. These are some of the characteristics that come to mind when I think about crimson clover. Maybe that’s why it is one of the most popular species of…
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Food Plot Screening Cover for Better Deer Hunting
Apr 28, 2021Ryan Basinger
If hunters are willing, the easiest part of a deer management program is to produce mature bucks. It’s quite simple. If young bucks are not harvested, most will get older and provide hunters with an…
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Break Down the Brassicas to Choose the Best for Your Food Plots
Aug 19, 2020Ryan Basinger
Although they have long been used as a livestock forage, brassicas came on the scene as a deer forage about 20 to 30 years ago. There are numerous species that belong to genus Brassica, and…
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Annuals, Perennials or Both for Food Plots? How to Choose Wisely
Jun 24, 2020Ryan Basinger
One of the most basic characteristics of a deer forage that essentially lays the foundation of a food plot program is the time of year it is available and how long it lasts. When you…
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Deer Prefer Awnless Wheat
Jul 16, 2015Craig Harper
Winter wheat is an excellent cool-season forage for white-tailed deer. Healthy, green, growing wheat contains more than 20 percent crude protein, and with less than 25 percent acid detergent fiber it is highly digestible. Forage yield is…
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Food Plot Species Profile: Berseem Clover
Sep 19, 2014Ryan Basinger
One of the primary reasons berseem clover hasn’t gained much traction since its introduction to the U.S. in 1896 is that it lacks winter hardiness. Likewise, its use as a deer forage has been limited….
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Food Plot Species Profile: Red Clover
Jun 30, 2014Ryan Basinger
If you don’t have red clover growing in some of your food plots, let me explain why you should. Dr. Craig Harper and I examined red clover in research plots in Tennessee for several years. We…
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8 Rules for a Successful Hunting Plot
Sep 18, 2012Jeff Sturgis
Beautiful fields of green dot the landscape, evidence of hunters attempting to attract deer. Many of these food plots are intended not just for nutrition but for hunting, and they are often called “hunting plots”…
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Food Plot Species Profile: Chicory
Aug 29, 2012Bob Westerfield
For a change of pace, try growing chicory – a tough cool-season perennial crop that is a preferred deer forage – in your next fall food plot. This nutritious broadleaf crop is actually in the…
