I’m a huge food plot fan. I grew up on a farm, and food plots have always been a tie to my childhood. I like growing food for deer, the connection to the land, and watching wildlife feast in my plots. That said, I plant fewer acres of food plots today, and that’s especially true for summer plots.
This shift was deliberate as I learned about new research on deer nutritional needs and habitat management. Let’s look at the costs versus the benefits of summer food plots and the alternative habitat techniques, and then you might join me in rearranging your deer habitat priorities.
The Cost of Summer Food Plots
Summer plots typically consist of warm-season annuals like corn, sorghum, soybeans, cowpeas and American jointvetch. These species are planted once soil temperatures reach 50° to 65° and can produce 4,000 to 10,000 pounds of forage per acre. That’s a lot of food, but it comes at a high price.
Lime, seed and fertilizer aren’t cheap, and this is especially true for nitrogen (N). The current average cost of urea (46-0-0) is about $600 per ton. That means that 5-acre corn field you planted needs nearly $500 in nitrogen. Add in the needed phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) on top of the seed cost and you’re looking at $500 to 600 per acre to plant corn appropriately. That’s $2,500 to $3,000 for your 5-acre corn plot. You can do better, and here’s how.
Food Plot Season Breakdown
Many deer managers traditionally divided their food plot acres into cool-season perennials, warm-season annuals, and cool-season annuals. Cool-season perennials include alfalfa, red and white clover, and chicory. They’re typically planted in spring and provide forage from spring to fall.
Warm-season annuals are described above, are planted in late spring/early summer, and provide forage/grain from summer to winter. Popular cool-season annuals include arrowleaf and crimson clover, oats, wheat and brassicas. They’re typically planted in late summer to early fall and provide food from fall to spring. These species are perfect for hunting plots during archery and firearms seasons regardless of where you live in the whitetail’s range.
The Food Plot Alternative
I used to religiously plant about 50% of my food plot acres in cool-season perennials, 25% in warm-season annuals, and 25% in cool-season annuals. I follow a very different approach today. Thanks to Dr. Craig Harper and his University of Tennessee graduate students, we know far more about the value and benefits of early successional vegetation.
Whether you refer to this as old fields, grasslands, ESV or something else, I’m referring to open areas dominated by annual and perennial herbaceous forages. These are the successional stages that occur prior to those dominated by woody shrub and tree species. I love ESV because it’s easy to create, costs only a fraction of food plots, provides tremendous cover, encourages daytime deer movement, and can provide 1,000 to 3,000 pounds of high-quality food per acre.
These are all tremendous benefits to deer managers. The kicker is ESV is the first to green up in spring and provides food at the most critical time for deer. Bucks begin growing antlers, and does enter their final trimester of pregnancy in April, with most fawns being born in May and June. Your habitat should be absolutely rocking from April to June, but is it? This is where most deer managers fail. They may have great deer forage during summer and fall but next to none in spring.
Think about it. At green-up your cool-season perennial plots are just waking up from winter or aren’t even planted yet, and your summer food plots won’t be planted for another month or so. What are deer eating? On my land they’re feasting on the broadleaf herbaceous plants in our old fields. Common ragweed provides 18% crude protein, blackberry has 19%, old-field aster has 23%, and beggar’s lice provides a whopping 28% crude protein! These plants also contain above maximum usage levels of calcium and phosphorus, so deer are getting the perfect food at the perfect time to maximize body and antler growth and milk production.
Where to Create Early Successional Vegetation
The National Deer Association has numerous articles and videos on creating and managing ESV, and the first thing you need is an open space to start. For me, those first places were old pastures and existing food plots. I quickly realized I could impact far more acres much less expensively and produce far more pounds of high-quality food and excellent cover by managing for ESV. I love food plots, but it was a no-brainer to convert some of those acres to ESV.
Which Food Plots To Convert
Which ones did I choose? Mostly the ones I was using for summer food plots. These were often the largest plots that cost the most to plant. Because of their size, they offered the most to gain from an ESV perspective. Essentially, I saved a bunch of time and money by not planting them, and I simultaneously provided tons of high-quality food and cover at the most needed time of year, spring to early summer. This was an absolute game-changer for the deer using our farm and for our hunting opportunities.
Rather than plant all those summer plots, I now concentrate on a few alfalfa and clover plots and focus most of my planting on smaller hunting plots containing cool-season annuals. I plant far more winter wheat, winter rye and brassicas today than anything else. These species are less expensive than many other deer forages, they’re easy to grow, and they provide high yields, which is critical for smaller plots. Importantly, they’re super attractive to deer, so they’re perfect for our hunting plots from the opening day of archery through the last day of firearms season.
So, as May arrives what are your habitat plans? I still plant a little corn and a few acres of screens (Egyptian wheat, tall sorghum and pearl millet) along interior roads and fields, so I understand the affinity for getting your hands dirty this time of year. Plant some summer plots of warm-season annuals if you’d like, but I’m encouraging you to dedicate some of those acres to ESV.
Get your food plot fix later this summer and fall when you plant your hunting plots. The timing for me in northern Pennsylvania is late July for brassicas and mid-August for winter wheat and winter rye. This timing allows for preferred growth of these species before our first frost in late September/early October. Adjust your planting dates as necessary, and then reap the benefits of ESV this fall.