My neighbor wants me to plant some kind of deer attracting.

My neighbor wants me to plant some kind of deer attracting seed. What do you all think should be planted? I live in East Tennessee. Knox County Corryton. He had someone plow the ground up last year and they never disced it afterwards so it was very ruff. I disced it on Saturday. When do you all think I should seed something? Should I seed Rye or something before I seed the deer attracting seed? Thank you

If you want a one time thing ( they eat it and go) Sunflower but if you want to sow it in something to continue to attract them uses any kind of clover. I don,t understand it . I am about 300 mi west of you in Tenn and all we see are east Tennessee hunters, like you don,t have deer in east Tennessee.

If you want a one time thing ( they eat it and go) Sunflower but if you want to sow it in something to continue to attract them uses any kind of clover. I don,t understand it . I am about 300 mi west of you in Tenn and all we see are east Tennessee hunters, like you don,t have deer in east Tennessee.

A lot depends on if you/he want to spend some $$ or you want to do it on the cheap side. They sell a number of seed mixes that are made just for deer to help bring and keep them in the area but they are not cheap. If you want to go on the cheap side you can plant clover or buy a bag of whole feed corn and plant it. Ya it will not grow as well as seed corn but it only cost about $10 for 50lbs and deer love corn

Whitetail Institute, has a good selection of forages to plant, expensive seed, but there are others offering similar and so on.

I can say oats is inexpensive, most times a grain drill is used after tillage and seed bed preparation, but you can broadcast them, say after moldboard plowing, 1 pass with the disc, seems to set the seed with enough cover on the next pass, then you can use a cultipacker, though your soils, conditions and weather may be a lot different and oats may or may not do so well in the heat down there. I have planted them in August to get a nice fall stand, and they absolutely love it. All of the fields that were spring planted and summer harvested around here are loaded with deer when or if the oats come back or the combine spills grain that germinates, there is something palatable about young oat grass to whitetail. If you plant now, you may have to mow it, and you need rain, and of course weeds can be tough, if the oats do not shade them, out, weeds can be a problem when the oats start to turn and less shading occurs, I have seen it ruin the straw cause you can't get it clean or separate from the weeds. One year, was kind of wet, oats were harvested early august, then the rain kept up, (they were sprayed with 24D for weeds after planting when they were mature enough). that late summer fall, had the best green stand of young oat grass, I saw more deer, like a herd of 30 and the best bucks I have ever seen since I have been here and in 25 years of hunting, which also included a beautiful piebalds 8 pt as well as a piebald doe. There is an outfit that sells a type of oats for deer, but I have used whole oats from the feed store, also read that either winter wheat or similar works like this too. I can say that all the deer I harvested, each had a belly full of grass, they finish nicely on that and the meat was excellent. Oats seem to take a lot of nitrogen from the soil. Thats one inexpensive alternative, I have grown whitetail institute imperial clover and it works well just expensive to plant, though a stand will last 5 years or more, I can plant more oats and a larger area for a lot less money, and still get an excellent draw, though I would not mind creating a field like they show, if it were in the budget, lime, fertilizer, weed killer and your tillage, soil test etc, it does add up. I am not sure what it is, but the deer go for the young, supple fresh grain oat grass, not the grain or stalky plant, even if the field turns to weeds after a harvest or mowing, they come in and pick at the base or young oat grass, especially in the fall, when they bed nearby and feed to get ready for winter.

I'd just throw some vehicle grilles out there. It always attracts them for me as I've totaled 3 vehicles in about 5 years from hitting those stupid animals.

Check out your local coop or feed/seed store.
Around here you can buy a bag of Big Rack Mix which has a couple of kinds of clover, alfalfa and turnip plus other stuff in it too.
It also depends on whether he wants it perennial or to plant every year. I usually get about 3 years out of a deer plot before I have to replant. The turnip is just good for one year but does provide a good cover for the clover etc.

Having a garden works the same way.

(quoted from post at 08:47:48 06/03/12) My neighbor wants me to plant some kind of deer attracting seed. What do you all think should be planted? I live in East Tennessee. Knox County Corryton. He had someone plow the ground up last year and they never disced it afterwards so it was very ruff. I disced it on Saturday. When do you all think I should seed something? Should I seed Rye or something before I seed the deer attracting seed? Thank you

Click to expand...

I'd put clover or alfalfa myself.

Iron Clay Cowpeas.

Have the same Problem here in Texas JM. Leon county is over run with deer. But most county folks go to south Texas to hunt.

Most of us are doing our best to find a way to REPEL those nuisance critters. Seems like most of folks who like to hunt them don't have a clue as to just how much damage they can do to the crops, and how much of a danger they can be on the roadways. Nobody should be intentionally feeding them.

On second thought, go ahead and feed them, maybe all of our whitetails will eventually move down there.

What is it they say " The grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence" We have a lot of Federal (free Hunting) land around here so atracts all the fool hunters.

Selling deer corn is my livelihood.

iron clay peas in spring (now) and follow in Sept with wheat. you will need to put in some ferilizer for the wheat. I did that several years ago, saw deer all summer and fall. the peas did not have a chance. they were eaten before they could grow. wheat came up but was eaten off at about 2 inches. lots of deer tracks. that said that year my deer hunting was a bust. a neighbor used my stand to hunt squirrels without my knowledge. he did not know who's stand he was in or who's land he was on. deer knew he was there. he used no scent tactics and I am sure he moved around on the stand. friend I invited to hunt caught him and ran him off.

Send em up here to Pa. Can't hardy walk round here without triping over a fool.

Pine tree seedlings, or pine trees up to 36" tall.

Dammed deer eat them faster than you can plant them. I can't imagine anyone intentionally trying to attract deer. They're nothing but a dang nuisance. Between my wife, daughter, and I, we've had a total of eleven deer hits on the road that totalled three vehicles.

I've driven in the most deer invested areas of the U.S. for over 55 years. SD, OR, FL, MS, and northern CA. And driven there in the most dangerous times, RUT. NEVER have hit a deer,
Here's my secret. SLOW DOWN. Never drive over 50 on 2 lane roads between dusk and dark or dawn and daylight. Always use high beams in deer country. Also install spotlight and use whenever legal. (when no rifle on board)
I live in an area full of deer. All of my rural neighbors (12) have had many deer wrecks in the past 15 years. And I still have never had one. But I know where they are, and when they are, and I just SLOW DOWN!
The only way you can total a vehicle with a deer hit is driving 70 plus.

I've been playing with food plots for a few years and here in MN the best I've found is soybeans