How to Fix Overgrazed Food Plots, Now and Later

October 23, 2024 By: Mark Turner

I’ve visited many properties managed for deer across the eastern United States, and the number one most consistent problem I see is overabundant deer populations. This problem becomes apparent quickly when you step into an overgrazed food plot. If you are seeing your fall food plots being overgrazed, I’m going to share a few strategies to address this problem immediately in the current hunting season and beyond.

How to Diagnose Overgrazed Food Plots

If you recently planted a food plot that appears to be shorter or less dense than you would expect, it’s easy to blame overgrazing. However, other factors such as fertility, moisture, and planting rate also play a role in planting success. Accurately diagnosing grazing pressure is one of the most important steps in evaluating planting success. It’s relatively easy to do, but I wish I had a dollar for every food plot I’ve visited without an exclusion cage! 

Placing a wire exclusion cage in each plot (or several cages for larger fields) is absolutely critical, and you should head to the hardware store for supplies right now if you don’t have exclusion cages in place. It is possible to evaluate grazing pressure based on visually evaluating bite counts, but this method isn’t nearly as useful as comparing the exclusion cage to the rest of the plot.

food plots
Some difference in height between the caged and uncaged plot area is a good thing! This relatively small perennial clover planting (above) is showing signs of use, like the missing leaves on some of the stems, but is still providing great forage availability and coverage across the field. But heavier pressure (below) becomes a problem, even with browse-tolerant plantings. Bare spots being created by the heavy pressure on the clover and wheat planting below give weeds an opportunity to establish.
food plots

When evaluating exclusion cages, it’s also important to have realistic expectations. We should expect the caged areas to be taller than the outside, and some difference is a good thing. You are planting food plots to feed deer, right? Grazing pressure becomes a concern when it begins influencing the success of the plot by decreasing the coverage of planted species. Gaps forming within a plot because of plants being killed or stunted decreases forage production and creates the opportunity for weed problems. Fortunately, there are a few strategies you can implement if you see overgrazing become an issue in your plots. 

Immediate Solutions

In actively growing cool-season plots, overseeding can be helpful if it quickly becomes apparent a plot is being overgrazed. I recommend overseeding with either wheat or cereal rye in most cases, as these are quick to establish and are grazing tolerant. Overseeding with cereal grains is often a great strategy if early grazing pressure reduces the density of brassica plantings.

On many properties, overgrazed food plots are symptomatic of a bigger problem: too many deer and not enough food! Overseeding and other short-term solutions (more below) can’t solve limited forage availability nearly as effectively, efficiently, and enjoyably as harvesting more does. Removing does early in the season can help cool-season plots as they are establishing, but even doe harvest later in the season will help. 

The best solution to food plot overgrazing is reducing the deer density, which is best accomplished through doe harvest. Harvesting does early in the season is especially effective, as it reduces grazing pressure on establishing cool-season food plots immediately.

Doe harvest is an annual event that requires planning to succeed, and I highly suggest setting a goal and sticking to it. But it’s not too late to implement doe harvest now, even if you didn’t start this season with a plan. Many hunters worry about doe harvest causing pressure on their property. This can be a reasonable concern, but it causes many hunters to avoid shooting does on food plots. However, I’d certainly rather hunt on a productive, attractive plot where a few does were taken early in the season than one grazed to the dirt because of overabundant deer! Rather than overthinking hunting pressure, I encourage you to make doe harvest a fun part of the hunting season each fall. Few deer management tasks are more rewarding than filling the freezer! 

Other Short-Term Solutions

Beyond the current hunting season, you can start planning solutions to be implemented next year. Begin by selecting grazing tolerant species at planting time. This can be a balance, however, because the planted species should still be selected by deer. There are plenty of species that are unlikely to be overgrazed primarily because they aren’t selected by deer, but these species (such as ryegrass) should be avoided. Instead, consider planting species that are either more tolerant of overgrazing or are slightly less selected during their early growth.

Warm-season plantings of soybeans or cowpeas commonly are overgrazed, especially in smaller food plots or areas with limited food resources. Jointvetch, alyceclover, and buckwheat all are good alternative warm-season plantings if you’re concerned about overgrazing. Most cool-season plantings tend to be slightly less susceptible to overgrazing, but some species are more resilient than others. Cereal grains and annual/perennial clovers tend to be fairly grazing tolerant, but it may be necessary to adjust seeding rates if overgrazing is a problem.

Soybeans are probably the most common food plot to fail because of grazing pressure. Reducing deer density, increasing planted acreage, and changing to more grazing-tolerant species all may be necessary if your exclusion cages look like this.

Increasing seeding rates can be an effective strategy to combat overgrazing in warm- and cool-season plantings. This works better for some species, as clovers, soybeans, and cereal grains can typically be planted at higher rates without a problem. I wouldn’t recommend greatly increasing seeding rates of brassicas, radishes, or corn to fight overgrazing, however, as these species are more sensitive to planting density. Increasing seeding rates should be considered within reason, and it isn’t always an effective solution. For example, planting soybeans at two to three times the recommended rate may increase the likelihood of successful establishment in some plots, but this won’t overcome grazing pressure on a half-acre soybean field surrounded by woods. 

Maintaining soil fertility within your food plots is another consideration when overgrazing is a problem. Providing adequate soil fertility allows plants to produce greater forage biomass to help overcome heavy grazing pressure and is a step which especially shouldn’t be overlooked when intense deer use is a problem.

The last short-term fix for overgrazing is deer deterrence. Electric fencing and deer repellants often are the first step many consider to prevent overgrazing, but there are problems with this approach. First, deterring deer use is counterproductive to most management objectives, as it essentially removes forage availability on acreage where resources are being dedicated to growing food. Second, there are usually better options that are less expensive and more efficient than keeping deer out of a food plot. 

Third, if you’re having trouble establishing cool-season food plots specifically because of grazing pressure, there are serious deer density problems that need to be addressed! Nonetheless, deer deterrence can be an effective temporary solution, especially when trying to grow highly-selected forages like soybeans in a small food plot. If you decide deterrence is necessary, I recommend doing it right with electric double-fencing using three strands. Other options can work to reduce deer pressure, but few other systems are as effective without installing a high fence around a plot. 

Long-Term Solutions

The best long-term solution is also the best immediate solution mentioned earlier: annual doe harvest at an adequate level to maintain balance between deer and food. You should also look at increasing food supply.

Most properties devote less than 5% of their acreage to food plots, yet hunters often rely solely on food plots to feed deer. It should not be surprising when grazing pressure causes problems in this situation! Actively managing the rest of your property can greatly alleviate grazing pressure on limited food plot acreage. Your woods can produce more than just acorns if they are managed with timber harvest, forest stand improvement, and prescribed fire. Similarly, openings and “odd areas” can be sprayed with herbicide to kill nonnative sod-forming grasses, then burned or disked to promote forbs. There are many practices that can increase forage across your property, and the NDA website is a great resource for information on these topics.

Deer shouldn’t rely on your food plots alone for high-quality forage! This old-field was previously dominated by tall fescue, which was killed with a single herbicide application. The seedbank response after the field was burned included pokeweed, daisy fleabane, common ragweed, and horseweed, all of which are highly selected deer forages, and we didn’t have to plant any of them!

If you are actively implementing doe harvest while managing your woods and fields for forage production and still have overgrazing problems, it may be worth considering expanding your food plot acreage. This approach is more expensive, but if you are determined to grow forages like soybeans it may be worth considering, especially if you aren’t surrounded by agriculture. Timber harvests offer the opportunity to offset some of the cost associated with clearing additional acreage in forested areas, although there will be further expenses associated with destumping to prepare the plot for planting. Openings should be expanded with consideration for slope and erosion, as well as equipment access. I have also expanded many small food plots with a chainsaw to fell and girdle trees, as well as using a front-end loader on a small tractor. Even if you don’t plant all the newly cleared acreage, the additional forage produced by putting more sunlight on the ground should reduce grazing on your food plot!

Preventing Overgrazed Food Plots

Food plot grazing pressure can be a wake-up call to many managers who would otherwise be unaware of forage limitations on their property. Heavily grazed food plots can generally be salvaged, but they should encourage you to consider wholistic herd and habitat management practices to improve your property. I hope this article has provided a few short- and long-term solutions you may consider if your food plots are only lip-high this fall.

About Mark Turner:

Mark Turner is an NDA member and Level 2 Deer Steward who is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Tennessee working under the direction of Dr. Craig Harper. His research is investigating how nutritional carrying capacity and land use influence deer body and antler size across the eastern United States. Instagram: @markturner442