Nutritional vs. hunting food plots for white-tailed deer
By Matt Tarr, Whitetail Stewards, Inc.
What do you want your food plots to accomplish?
When selecting food plot forages for deer, the first question you need to answer is what do you want your food plot(s) to accomplish? Is your main objective to provide high-quality food that will improve the health of the deer herd in your area, or do you just want to attract deer during the hunting season? You can accomplish both objectives with food plots. However, there are important differences between food plots designed to attract deer for hunting and those designed to improve deer nutrition. The following is a description of how "nutritional" food plots differ from "hunting" food plots.
Nutritional food plots
The objective of a nutritional food plot is to improve deer nutrition by providing as much high-quality food for deer as possible. As a result, nutritional food plots are typically larger than 3 acres in size so you can provide enough food to actually influence the nutrition and health of deer in your area. The large size of these plots is also important to ensure that your forages can handle heavy, repeated grazing by deer. If your nutritional food plots are small and deer devour them in a few evenings, you will have little or no influence on deer nutrition.
Plant forages that mature in different seasons
The goal with nutritional food plots is provide deer with high-quality forages for as many months of the year as possible. This is done by planting a variety of forages that mature at different times of the year. Every forage has a certain season when it is most nutritious and palatable to deer. For example, many clovers are most nutritious in the spring, soybeans and cowpeas are most nutritious in summer, and oats and brassicas are most nutritious in fall and early winter. Planting a mixture of forages allows you to provide deer with the food they need to meet their nutritional requirements during each season. (Click to view a list of seasonal nutritional demands of deer)
Hunting food plots
The objective of a hunting food plot is to attract deer during the hunting season and provide opportunities to harvest deer at close range. As a result, hunting plots are usually less than 1 acre in size and they are planted with forages that are most nutritious and attractive to deer during hunting season. The specific forages you plant in a hunting plot are determined by what season you plan to hunt the plot. If you want to attract deer in the early-season you would plant forages that become palatable in September or October. If you want the plot to attract deer in the late season, you would plant forages that become or stay palatable in November or later.
Plant forage mixtures in hunting plots
Even though the hunting plot is not designed to meet the nutritional needs of deer in every season, it is still important to plant a variety of forages that mature at different times. When selecting forages for the hunting plot, choose forages that mature at slightly different times during the hunting season, rather than throughout the year. If you plant forages that mature at different times in the fall you will be able to extend the period of time that the plot is attracting deer.
