Sugar Beets

[Bowmania]

Are they the best food plot???  BuckLunch.com sure seems to think they are.  I've had mixed results with brasicas.  Some very good but after the season.  This year I'll be trying sugar beets in two plots, maybe a third.  What result have any of you had.

Bowmania

[owlbait]

Seen sugar beets used a lot for bait here in Michigan and they are very effective. I know some guys that hunted on the field edges of a sugar beet farm and they were quite successful. Don't know how hard they are to grow but it seems the deer will dig them all through the season.  Our best food plots have been purple top turnips, and again, they eat the greens early, and dig the roots late. Hope you have good luck. Let us know how it turns out for you.

[b.glass]

I remember Gene and Barry saying they would hunt harvested sugar beet fields cause the deer love them and the machine left bits of sugar beets all over the place.

[Bow man]

Todd check out an Oat Brassica mix like the Whitetail Inst. Pure Attraction. That is all I plant for a late season food suppliment besides my clovers
 http://www.whitetailinstitute.com/products/pure.html

[Bowmania]

Hi Dave, see you at the Odd Year Gathering.  I just planted 3 plots with Imperial Power Plant.  I'll take a look at PA.

Bowmania

[Ryan Rothhaar]

Todd

The Old Man tried them out a few years back, not much success.  As I recalled they didn't grow well though, so that may have been the problem moreso than getting the deer to eat them.  Also getting reasonably priced seed was nigh onto impossible.  I remember him working the phones several months to try to get cheap seed.  The only brassicas he fools with now are turnips and other than that its beans, corn, medium red clover, and some forage oats.  You may have better luck growing them up there than he did, though.

Also, with the amount of acreage of stuff he puts out there is no way he could afford the high dollar "deer food" companies other than some forage oats so the name brand "deer food" seeds don't make it to the farm.

As far as the turnips went it took a year for the deer to figure out they were edible, since then they eat'em up.  The first year, though, you could smell the rotten turnips in the food plots from a mile away in the Spring!

By the way, how did the dog tracking go last year?

Ryan

[Bow man]

Originally posted by Bowmania:
Hi Dave, see you at the Odd Year Gathering.  I just planted 3 plots with Imperial Power Plant.  I'll take a look at PA.

Bowmania

I used power plant last year for the first time it worked great my ground just needed more lime. See you in a 8 day's

By the way the online price with free shipping is cheaper than I have seen it anywhere I priced Gander Mountain Yesterday

[BowMIke]

I hunted a spot that had a large acreage of watermelons. The deer ate so many their droppings looked like pink pellets! I saw raccoons, skunks, and even a coyote eating the watermelons. It was interesting to watch. So, watermelons make a good food plot and you can even take one home so you never go home empty handed!

[MadDog]

I've heard about the same as owlbait, the sugar beets work but the turnips will grow about anywhere and the deer will eat the tops early and dig the goody up after all the tops are gone.