Time to start thinking about what to plant this spring:
If you live and hunt in the Northeast: Try planting a 60/40 mix of perennial clover (Imperial Whitetail Clover is my favorite) and chicory. Later in July or August, plant a couple of cool-season (fall) plots heavy with brassicas and the like.
If you live and hunt in the Mid-Atlantic: Trebark camo creator turned deer-management guru Jim Crumley plants good old ladino clover on his 300-acre property along the James River in Virginia. “It’s a low-maintenance, high-quality perennial (25% protein) that, once planted, will last for 5 years and can be easily over seeded,” he says.
If you hunt in the South: If you have the land, equipment and money plant corn and soybeans. After Labor Day, plant plots and strips with fall attractants like wheat, oats or clover.
If you live and hunt in the Midwest: Some of the best big-buck hunters I know in this region plant 2- to 4-acre fields of soybeans in May. From late August to mid-September, they come back and plant 20-yard strips and borders of oats around as many of the bean fields as they can. The green oats will attract deer during October, and the beans (20% to 25% protein) are the best food source for Midwestern deer from November to January.
