Food plots can be frustrating. In previous posts, I described how I frost-seeded a small plot on our hunt club. Despite two applications, I got zero results, and now the field is mostly small weeds. In addition, deer are at their most “needy” time of year. Bucks are growing antlers, and does are about to give birth and need all the nourishment they can muster to feed their fawns. Also, my attempt at a food plot provided zero fawn cover to avoid coyote and bear predation.
Kip Adams Has a Better Plan
“I’m a huge food plot fan. I grew up on a farm, and food plots have always been tied to my childhood,” says Adams. “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 the 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.
Here’s a Better Option
This plan addresses all three deer needs at this time of the year: Antler growth, doe nutrition, and fawn cover. For the rest of this program from the NDA click here.
