Food Plot Seed: How I Plant 6 Acres for $91

[@abigailbelford883]

Sir, I didn't know you were on the planet until today. My apologies. Life is indeed a dance. If one step don't jive, the next one sure enough will. I like your ingenuity; I love your thinking. Your a wise fellow. Thanks for making room for your mistakes. Thanks for sharing how to get to the other side of them. Such a difference between surviving and thriving. Generally looks like the gift of labor. Much appreciation.

[@CrowCreekOutdoors]

Eight days after planting the TSC oats & they’re coming up thick & pretty. Mixed Austrian winter peas in with them & they’re coming up good too.

[@TheHandyHunter]

Awesome! Great to hear. What state are you in? Shoot me some pics if you have any and I’ll post them on our community board

[@brokenarrow2835]

I remember those days, I just planted forage oats @ $45 /50lb. and $45/13-13-13/100lb.....$100 DOLLARS AN ACRE 9-10-22

[@TheHandyHunter]

Man, I hear ya! TS oats are now $28 (doubled in price) since Let’s Go Brandon took over. This is going to be my most expensive food plots ever this year!

[@TheHandyHunter]

Hi Jack, it turned out really well considering the lack of rain we got at the time of planting. I will be posting a food plot tour video after Christmas so you'll be able to see what they look like. Good stuff for the price. It's a good way around the pricey stuff during seasons of drought...deer love it too. Thanks for commenting!

[@terrycavaness8259]

Curious what state your located in? Also curious about the peanut plots? Just came across your video this evening. Hitting the Like and Subscribe button now!

[@jamisonspeicher3278]

Add some turnip seed. It's cheap and adds tonage for the winter

[@TheHandyHunter]

I quit putting most brassicas in with grains because they will take over your plot eventually if you let it go to seed (which I usually do). I usually put them in a separate plot where i use brassicas and the deer will hit them later in season. I love picking a few for the kitchen table too!

[@jamisonspeicher3278]

@@TheHandyHunter when I put turnip seed in I but way less than you are suppose to

[@jamisonspeicher3278]

@@TheHandyHunter but I get where you are coming from the first year that I planted like that the turnips did over take the grains

[@TheHandyHunter]

I’ve also bushhogged them right before they go to seed to keep them under control too. It’s easy to over plant them because the darn seeds are so small! My deer seem to like a patch of trophy radish I planted this year.

[@TheHandyHunter]

We have an Instagram but we hardly ever post on it...lol. My son tells me we need to get up to speed with all that but it’s a lot of work! Ha! I think I’ll start putting more effort into it now that you asked!

[@richardstalvey3775]

Do you ever add lime or fertilizer before planting? I got my soil test back and I’m very low in ph and nutrients. I’m planting about 4 acres that used to be pasture.

[@TheHandyHunter]

Fixing PH takes a while but you have to start somewhere. Best to do it 6 months before planting if you can. I do use fertilizer and spread a little lime with my seed (for filler) but when you are talking PH correction it can take tons of lime. Best if you can get a lime truck to spread it. Hope that helps and good luck!

[@lukemiller4802]

Price has doubled now 5 years later.

[@TheHandyHunter]

I hear ya. Last year they were $14, last week when I checked they were $28 at my local TS. Biden has managed to even destroy deer hunting!

[@shanewilliams6790]

Just got some today for 27 a bag at TSC in Mississippi

[@TrehanCreekOutdoors]

Oats gets killed off faster with colder weather. Since Mississippi has a four month season, I need something to last all the hunting period,, not just until freezing weather comes. Winter wheat does that. I get winter wheat at $9 per 50 pound bag from Wildlife Mississippi, a conservation group that promotes planting wildlife habitat by selling seed on a non-profit basis. For planting 6 acres, you would need 6 bags at $9 per bag, or $54 total cost. You are paying $37 more money and getting a short life product. It doesn't make sense to do what you are doing as is costing 68% more for a plot that doesn't work a bit better. Plus the winter wheat is actually crop seed that has been germination tested, not livestock feed that you hope will grow. Deer don't care; they will eat oats, wheat, or most any other food plot crop. So why waste money paying 68% more to plant what you recommend? Sorry, but I see your idea as a second best choice!

[@TheHandyHunter]

It doesn’t get cold enough in Mississippi to kill oats...I use to farm there with my dad. Up north oats will struggle but not in the south. They do get tough along with wheat and not as palatable to deer. My oats live through winter and seed out every spring creating free seed for next season. I haven’t had any luck with deer eating wheat so I stopped planting it. Good luck with your plots and safe hunting!

[@TrehanCreekOutdoors]

Every area is different, for sure. Last year was exceptionally warm and none of the cereal grains would have suffered from cold. Oats would have worked just fine. But we do get snow and colder winters occasionally. I used to plant them every year but if we got a cold winter, they were gone by the time rut started in late December so the food plots had nothing left to pull in the does and lure the bucks to follow them. Season goes for 4 months here until the end of January. We are allowed to harvest 8 deer per season so no one quits hunting after a couple week long season like they do in some states. Keeping enough food in food plots that will grow well for four months of winter is a real challenge. My experience with oats is that they are very good for early season bow hunting as they can be planted early enough to be ready by October 1. The weather here tomorrow, on Sept. 7 will hit 100 degrees with heat index above 111. Oats is about the only cereal grain crop that is possible to plant in a hot September. Just way too hot for wheat or cereal rye. Realistically, I have found that unless you do plant a 6 acre plot, the deer density here is just way too high so small kill plots get wiped out. Since I am a traditional bow hunter, a six acre plot isn't what works for me. I need short shots of 35 yards or less which means small kill plots not large food plots. The truly best strategy for planting several small kill plots for short range bow hunting is to plant oats early enough to have the plots green and in use by deer by October 1. Then over seed with winter wheat in late October. The deer will wipe out most of the oats by December but the wheat will easily carry the burden through the rest of the season. If a colder than normal winter happens, Elbon rye can still be planted up until mid December and will germinate and grow until spring. A $9 bag of winter wheat per acre planted after your $13 bag of oats isn't cost prohibitive as you would still be planting your 6 acres for a total seed cost, excluding tax, of about $22 per acre, or $132. Lime and fertilizer, of course, would add to the total cost for any food plot, as would any herbicide treatments applied. And then there's the cost of operating the farm equipment to add to the calculation. Most of the time, the total cost of planting a decent quality food plot for deer, even going with low cost seed options, will range between $50 to $75 per acre, and that's not factoring anything for the actual cost of the farm equipment. As you correctly point out, what is planted for a cool season food plot may likely get plowed up when spring arrives so the land can be planted in some other crops. Thus, any land manager wanting to dedicate land for use as year round food plots and to keep something growing in the plot at all times, will face double or triple the fall food plot costs in order to have a year round plot. Depending on the crops planted, I have found the cost of having a year round dedicated food plot for deer will run closer to $200 per acre per year, sometimes higher if you plant more expensive deer food. Finally, if you want to see deer eating winter wheat, just keep watching my channel. I'll be posting plenty of videos this fall showing deer munching in my food plots. You mentioned palatability. If any deer forage plant grows long enough to reach maturity it will become less attractive to the deer because of the toughening of the plant. However, the deer density here is great enough that the deer keep the plots mowed down regularly so that the crops are constantly having to generate new growth. Thus the food source never gets tough enough to be rejected by the deer. I planted some sun hemp, an extremely fast growing crop last year in a summer food plot. Sun hemp can grow 6 or 7 foot high if left alone. The deer never let a single stalk of it get more than about 18 inches high. That may not be the case where you are however. Hope your plots do extremely well and you enjoy a very successful deer season.

[@TheHandyHunter]

Thanks for all the info! I’m going to plant sunn hemp next summer because of the many successes I’ve heard about this year! Regarding winter wheat, I failed to say that one reason I feel our deer don’t eat it as much as oats is because the big farms fields around us sometimes plant wheat and I think the deer look for something different. Pressure on all my plots depends on which crops are planted next to my farm....like peanuts or soybeans. Wish you the best this season with your bow. I’ll be bow hunting as well. Good luck!

[@TrehanCreekOutdoors]

So very true. If you offer a food source that is appealing but different on your land from what your neighbors have planted, the deer will visit your plots just for the variety. Deer prefer not to eat just one type food as they are browsers and prefer to move about from place to place. I'd suggest just plant a smaller test plot of the sunn hemp, not your whole plot. Some people report their deer don't seem to eat it right off and it can take a couple years before the deer learn what it is and to want it. Personally, I didn't like the sunn hemp as it grows tough very quickly if it gets too big. My deer are woods goats that eat nearly anything that is green and never stop eating! What they cannot stay out of however is white clover. I've planted Durana and Patriot both. The video I posted yesterday on my channel shows them even bedding down in one of my yet to be fall planted fields that still has a lot of left over clover growing.

[@SOCORROGM]

try a little Buckwheat $1.25 at your seed mill, easy to grow quick

[@TheHandyHunter]

Brother, we are thinking alike! I've grown it in blends but never tried it as a single seed added to oats. I may even try a small plot of pure buckwheat just to see how they eat it. I love the price too. Great suggestion and thanks for the tip! God Bless!

[@ronmacdougall9612]

I’m just wondering what you think about winter rye and mixing it with oats.The deer hammered my turnip and radish greens very early this year,I need a back up,what do you think.

[@TheHandyHunter]

What state are you in?

[@ronmacdougall9612]

@@TheHandyHunter in upstate NY

[@TheHandyHunter]

Oats would be awesome! You can add rye as well just make sure it’s rye grain and not rye grass. Sounds like you got some hungry deer. Good luck!

[@ronmacdougall9612]

@@TheHandyHunter 15 deer eat a lot of food,I wished I was younger and could put in more food plots.

[@jeddiajones4570]

I guess I missed the promised footage of feeding deer.

[@TheHandyHunter]

Jeddia Jones Hi Jeddia, I haven't been able to capture feeding deer in any of my plots this year (other than trail camera footage) because I primarily bow hunt in woods stands that are close to the plots. I have family that hunt over plots but they don't film...they just hunt. Sorry I didn't get you the footage you wanted to see. I will be doing a food plot tour video soon...stay tuned! Thanks for your comment.

[@jeddiajones4570]

Trail-cam footage is good.

[@eak185]

No fertilizer or anything else needed?

[@TheHandyHunter]

Some years I fertilize some I don’t. It depends on if I’ve recently had a legume planted over summer like cowpeas or clover which build nitrogen in the soil. Also depends on how good your soil is. Good luck!

[@jackc.3079]

what did this field look like germination wise?

[@jimb6683]

? what did you end up with?

[@TheHandyHunter]

Hank Hill Hi Hank, are you asking what these plots ended up looking like? If so, you can see them in my recent food plot tour video. They turned out pretty good considering we had another dry spell around planting time. Thanks for commenting.

[@jimb6683]

Saw the video after I asked the question. I found Oat seed at the coop for about the same $ but have used feed seed in the past. Nice plots!

[@TheHandyHunter]

Hank Hill Thank you! Lots of opinions out there over brands of seed. I've used the most expensive oats and the cheapest feed oats and my deer eat both. It's just that one is easier on my pocketbook! Thanks for stopping by!