# It amazes me again!!



## Jeff Sturgis (Mar 28, 2002)

For the past 3 years I've used Buck Forage Oats, with each year those oats making up a larger and larger percentage of my late summer/fall plantings. Each year the oats will get to a foot high and I start too wonder if the deer just are not going to touch it. This year was no exception, and to be honest I was starting to get a little concerned because the deer seemed to love the clover so much more, as well as the brassicas.

BUT, in the few weeks, and especially the last week, with cold temps, a little snow, and many freezes and frosts, the deer are just hammering the oats. All the plots with oats are getting hammered hard, where the brassicas and clover are not growing at all, and every bite is not replaced so that in most areas they are getting lean. Basically as the use of the clover decreases due to dormancy and cold temps, the use of the oats skyrockets. The areas of oats that were a foot high just a week ago, have large pockets eaten down to the ground, but there is still a substantial portion of uneaten oats left for the rest of the season and the bulk of the property is still made up of lush, tall, green oats.

Every year I wonder if I planted too early, if the plants were too stemmy, but boy those deer love the stuff and it's a great feeling to look at the growth of clover and Imperial Extreme with a great percentage of establishment within the oats for next year's spring and summer crop. Next spring I'll frost-seed brassica's within the new clover/dead oats areas and the deer will enjoy the brassicas for summer dining....that also worked out real well this year.

I hope you guys are experiencing the same results with your BFO's. One thing I may do different next year though is try and get my hands of some Coker 227, or whatever the name is, that is supposed to be about $10 cheaper per 50#'s and rival BFO's for cold weather hardiness.


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## 4x4_Hunter (Jan 2, 2002)

NJ,

We are having extremely good results with the PlotSide Oats. Also a rival to BFO's and we got them from Bass Pro Outlet. They are still lush green and the deer have been hammering them for about three weeks now.


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## bucklessyooper (Jun 13, 2003)

NorthJeff,

You said you are having good results with the extreme you planted, how good?
Because I am having very poor results and from the sounds of it so are others.
My BFO came in very nicely as well did the rye. The extreme on the other hand is very spotty and very slow growing. I am o.k with the slow growth but what appears to be a lack of germination I am not. Especially the way that the whitetail institute promotes it as a grow anywhere in any conditions type seed. I planted 56 lbs of it using rye and BFO as a parent crop. So far, based on my experience with extreme, I would not recommend it to others. :rant:


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## Andy (May 20, 2004)

We saw a good 8 feeding in a plot we made that was 75% buck oats and 25% rye. We've had temps in the 40's for the last 5 days. So NJ, you're saying that the colder it gets the more they're going to be using this plot? Have you ever seen deer nose through the snow to eat the oats? I would say ours are 8-10 inches, so it won't take much snow for them to disappear. 


andy


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## Jeff Sturgis (Mar 28, 2002)

Those oats were the last plots the deer were eating when they left for the yards last year in mid-Dec....snow was around a foot. I've found the more that's dead in the woods, the more they hit the oats.....basically when the ferns are brown and down.

The extreme seems to be well represented throughout all of the plots where it was planted. It seems to grow about the same speed as clover, which is slow, and if it is like the clover, although it looks spotty, it will be just the right amount to spread and grow for next year. For Extreme, or clover, the seeds need to be planted in the spring, early summer, for fall forage, but by planting in the fall, although not available for fall forage, it appears to be growing well enough to be established for next year. I mixed all of mine with clover so it's easy to compare growth between the two and it seems the same. All of my plantings were on ph levels between 6.5 and 7.0, maybe that makes a differance? I don't know but I'm looking forward to seeing how it attracts for next year. Wish you had better luck with the Extreme!


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## NATTY BUMPO (May 12, 2001)

I planted a half acre of Extreme by itself in plot that had been clover. It was the third year for the clover and it was being overrun with grasses. So we killed the clover and grasses and tilled 3x about three weeks apart this summer. This is in "sandy loam" soil in the West Shore area of the Lower - not the greatest soil in MI, thats for sure. PH of 6.8.
We have been quite happy w/ Extreme, so far. Germination was good- very few bare spots in the field. Going from memeory- small burnet is only about 2/3 of the seed in there, several other things as well including. Last time I was down there, it was about 3" high. I gave it a shot of urea as suggested, And there are deer tracks all over that plot. So I'll say "so far, so good".

Natty B.
Also I should add that we planted the Extreme around Aug 15 or so. And that our BFO are growing great and the deer are just now starting to hit them.


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## upstraightshot (Jan 18, 2004)

NJ when do you plant your oats I'am going to do that next year but not sure of when to plant thanks


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## Luv2hunteup (Mar 22, 2003)

That's some good news NJ. The last 3 years of planting BFO mixed with clover they would not leave it alone. This year I planted it by it's self at the end of the first week of August, they hit it soon after germination but have left it alone since. It's within sight of my favorite tree stand. I'll have to hunt it this coming weekend if I give up on bear.


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## Jeff Sturgis (Mar 28, 2002)

Luv2,curious to see if they have touched it by now, there has been a big differance in the past week. Some of my oats plots hadn't been really touched up until just a week-week and a half ago, but now......

UPstraightshot,

This year was on 8/8, but I'd probably use Labor Day as a cut-off and with what I've seen around the middle of August isn't a bad bet. Like this year, I'll watch the weather and if I see a huge batch of rain around 8th of August, I'll plant. If it's dry I'll wait until the next big rain, even if it takes until Labor day, but I definately want to get them into the ground by then just to get the most growth. It seems the deer don't mind the stuff a little "stemmy", and 12" high probably has a lot more food than 6" high.


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## dcgreil (Sep 15, 2004)

NJ, I've seen you mention it before and I see that you mentioned it again earlier in this thread...you are going to frost seed brassicas in with your clover plots. Have you tried that before? Is it fairly successful? Am I correct in assuming that you are not mowing your clover plots that are mixed with brassicas?

We had similar success with winter oats that you are seeing with the BFO. They weren't touched until this past weekend. They were also a foot tall before the deer started feeding on them. I was starting to have reservations!


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## Jeff Sturgis (Mar 28, 2002)

I've frost-seeded brassicas for the past few years...more last year, and will do even more this coming year. I still mow the plots as well...sometimes 2 times, and the brassicas will just keep coming back. Most of my clover/oats areas the clover is coming in real well so I will probably only frost seed in brassicas this year, as opposed to brassicas and clover. My brassica frost-seeding has been light in the past, so this year I'll go with more of a full mix per acre and expect more brassicas.


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## ThumbBum (Oct 13, 2003)

Hey NJ
This is my first year using BFO. I planted 3 small (1/3acre) fields as attractant plots. These fields are in a modified version of Ed Spins soil builder program that involves a June application of Roundup, a July tilling and Buckwheat planting, and a late August tilling and BFO planting. The BFO came in pretty good but I havent noticed any heavy action in that field yet. The deer are still busy obliterating my Alpha Rack. I havent been out since the 10-11th but on the 10th 8 bucks were seen in the AR including one really nice 8pt and 3 6pts. 
The best part about that was that the guy hunting over the AR had his 12year old son with him and he got to see the 8pt mock sparing with some of the smaller bucks. When he got back to the cabin that night the kids eyes were the size of dinner plates. 
The worst part of all this is while all this was going on I sat over my BFO watching one button buck. 
A mix of BFO and clover sounds like a great plan once I have this soil a little better established. But since the clover is perennial, how do you plant the BFO. Do you just overseed it into the clover, or do you replant the clover every year??


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## bucklessyooper (Jun 13, 2003)

Thats good to hear about the Extreme NorthJeff. Hopefully I will see much better results in the spring. I am also planning on adding a brassica mix to the
field in the spring. Then I plan to add a good 1/4 to 1/2 acre of new food plots a year to help keep up with the ever growing deer population.


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## Jeff Sturgis (Mar 28, 2002)

bucklessyooper,

Hopefully there is more in there than you think! You'll see next spring.

Thumbum,

What I've done for the past couple years is to take my worst 1/2 of the field (except for some of the smallest 1/10, 1/8 fields or trail plots) and kill it about the first of July. Then, if some weeds are still left I'll kill it 1 more time about a week to 10 days before I plant that 1/2 in August. What happens is that the deer really hit the clover hard through mid October, but then with the arrival of a little snow, frosts, and freezes, the use of the clover deminishes, and the use of the oats really takes off. Basically each 1/2 of the field gets re-planted every 2 years, with the first spring after a fall planting getting a frost-seeding of brassicas for a boost in variety. The 2nd year of the planting the field is all clover until July when it's killed and then re-planted in August. In that way the entire field is not killed or tilled and there is no stoppage in the utalization of the field by your local deer herd.


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## Lew (Jun 8, 2003)

I can add to the support for BFO. I planted an acre around Aug 20 and the deer don't leave it. They run off when I arrive and in a couple of hours they are back. It is now getting down to bare dirt. With the warm Fall weather and rain it is still continuing to grow. I am going back up next week and don't expect anything left but it has been a big draw. I am located in the WUP and there are no agricutural field around and I'm sure that adds to the attractiveness. Lew


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## jig head (Jan 13, 2003)

this is my second year of planting BFO and just like last year they did not touch it until a couple of weeks ago I will be there this weekend and am expecting it to have been hit real hard. I also mixed a little rape in with it this year and planted it in the middle of august. my property is in cheboygan area and I am a believer in bfo and rape for a late summer planting.


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