DC007...Rape

[AlabamaSwamper]

You were right about that stuff. IT will grow ANYWHERE! lol

Even with the drought, I have rape over ankle deep in plots the oats and wheat are only 3-4" tall and thin for now. Rape is thick in most plots.

Now if they'll eat it. lol

 

[deerchaser007]

They will eat it,... if not before frost, for sure after.

Good to hear your stuff is coming in for you. Post some pics when you get a chance. I would,... but mine look terrible this year due to lack of rain,.. but mostly the rain germinated the seed and it burn it up. I'm holding on to around 40 percent of what i planted. I tried overseeding the burnt spots yesterday and hoped for rain today. We didn't get enough to help my cause. I'm done this year,... it just ain't working out....

 

[BSK]

My ridge-top plots won't make it now that we missed yesterdays rain. All that money and time down the drain...

 

[deerchaser007]

My ridge-top plots won't make it now that we missed yesterdays rain. All that money and time down the drain...

I feel the pain with you BSK. Its so bad here now , i have my buckwheat wilted over in the spots that receive all day sunlight. The shadier spots are holding on,. but the browse on the buckwheat in the shady spots is HEAVY.

I really wish i would have added in more buckwheat into my mix in the bottoms. I think it would have held on better.

 

[BSK]

I added a second planting of buckwheat. The deer have already wiped-out the first planting and the second is just about to grow above the wheat.

I like the buckwheat because it takes the browse pressure of the wheat until the first frost.

 

[kevin mays]

Deer wont touch buckwheat as browse on either of my farms period. I had a trail cam set up on a small buckwheat plot this yr and didnt get any pics from it at all until

it seeded out and the plant died. then they killed it once the seed heads matured. they strip the seed but leave the plant alone. I bushogged and got a nice stand of volunteer. Same result. i hunted it daylight to dark yesterday and didnt see one deer. Could see several other plots and they were loaded with deer.

We planted 40 acres of buckwheat in a plot on a farm in arkansas. Same result. Never touched it for browse. Didnt see any deer in it

until the plant started dying and it had seeded out. Then they destoyed it.

We do have huge areas of native grasses and tons of better forage yr round but it surprised me they refused to feed on the leaves. We are removing buckwheat from our plantings in all but a couple of plots.

We will plant it early june and it will head out and be done in july. We will bushog close to sept 1 and hunt the volunteer growth once it has seeded out about late october.

 

[kevin mays]

on another note my winter forage plots are looking good considering this drought.I continued my trend of planting after rain (instead fo planting and hoping for rain).trapping the moisture and getting the plants up then fertilizing and praying for rain. been down that road too many times and wasted too much $$$$. they have been in the ground about 30 days and the deer are killing them. hunted for two hrs this am and they moved great. several small bucks and many does. they are still hitting ny beans and peas also. i will get some pics tomorrow of my projects.

 

[turkeyhunter]

I planted 4 acres of rape. It is coming up pretty good. If we get another rain it will be very good. To my surprise, I have not yet found a deer track in it. I figured they would be on it, considering the lack of acorns in our area.

 

[BSK]

Very interesting stuff kevin. Thanks for posting that. It never ceases to amaze me how deer will tear-up a particular plant in one place and not touch it another. Deer won't leave my buckwheat alone. They prefer it over anything I else I plant and it's always the first to go.

I've seen the same results with Austrian Winter Peas. I can get it beyond the early germination stage they love it so much, yet in the Deep South, in sandier soils, they won't touch it.

 

[kevin mays]

Figure this,

I watch my plots here in TN almost daily. Here is what i am seeing as late as today.

Let me preface this by saying these deer primarily (in daylight) use the same plots daily. They dont leave on and walk to another. They leave and return to their bedding area. they dont wander alot and I know they are still in the summer pattern and this will change over the next few weeks.

The deer are still killing my summer plots. Every plot is getting hit hard. Here is a summer plot pic

This is the buckwheat on a down slide after seeding out. I bushhogged and have a great stand currently not this far along yet though

They are not touching my rape or buckwheat at this point. Two of my plots have awp that has not been touched.

300 yrds from there i have a plot where the awp has been devoured. I can only assume that the difference in ph has had a definite effect.

The wheat and oats i have planted attract daily visitors also who stay and graze a long period of time. I did something different with my plots this yr that i think is making a huge difference in daylight sighting. I mixed each plot with stips of winter and summer forage. Last yr several of my plots got void of deer with no pressure at all once the summer plot got frost. Basically after Dec 10th i had several plots that i never sighted a deer in but they were summer plots

Another note
I planted rr beans this yr in an area. I sprayed 1/2 with ru and let the other half go. The beans that were sprayed with round up, had an instance decrease of use. All those deer went to the untreated portion of the field. i dont know if they taste different or the native graases and weeds coming up in the beans provided that much attraction.

anyways enough rambling. i do alot of test like this to see the effects. we have been lucky with our projects. We have produced a 200 inch deer last yr and several that are approaching the 180 inch mark this season.

 

[AlabamaSwamper]

Kevin, I have seen the same thing with salts/blocks. Eat them on one property and not touch them on the next..

On a brighter note, I did watch three feed on the rape yesterday evening. A mother and two button bucks. She never came close enough and both fawns were spot free so I would have "tried" to take her. lol

They stayed mainly in the clover/BF oats but did wonder over to the rape before heading out at dark.

 

[8 POINTS OR BETTER]

We have produced a 200 inch deer last yr and several that are approaching the 180 inch mark this season.

Kevin,
Are those big deer in TN or some other state?

 

[kevin mays]

Arkansas in the white river bottoms

 

[deerchaser007]

Kevin,.. with as much soybean as you had planted ,you will not see much browse on the buckwheat. Soybean is so highly preferred that they will target it first and foremost in the summer. Buckwheat is great for us plotters that have smaller plots ,.. 1/2 acre to 2 acres. Soybean will be wiped out on plots this size,.. so buckwheat is the best alternative.

The funny thing about buckwheat,.. the deer hammered on my place in the summer,... and are really hammering it on my place when i redisced it back in and sowed it in with my other plots also. Did you turn your summer plot of buckwheat back under for another planting??

 

[kevin mays]

no i bush hogged and got an awesome stand of buckwheat volunteer. It looks awesome i hunted daylight to dark a week ago over it and nary a deer.

now it will die in about 10 days or so and they will kill it. butonly the seeds. not the forage.