# Deer and Corn?



## steveboss (Sep 4, 2002)

I planted 2, 2+ acre corn fields and I was wondering when do the deer start devouring the corn? The first field is starting to dye off and the second is still growing. Do the deer wait until the ears dry up? I am getting alittle impatient.


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## bishs (Aug 30, 2000)

The later in the season it gets, the more the deer will utilize it. If the deer have plenty to eat in the fall, they may not beat a path to your field. It takes a bit of effort for deer to get the kernels off the ears. I believe this is the reason they eat the ripened soybeans first, in my plots. I live in farmland with food everywhere. My fields get more attractive late fall and winter. If I cut the corn with my brush hog in the winter, it really brings them in. They take advantage of the easy pickings. When corn is planted in non-farming areas or areas of heavy deer populations, its a different story.


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## farm hunter (Sep 6, 2004)

Our deer don't hardly touch standing corn until snow is on the ground - usually for good.

But then - nothing beats corn










You can hurry them along by brushhogging a couple lanes on the edge after the first frost or two. - lets the turkey get a good bit too.

same Plot - Mid October:










If the deer are eating your corn alot when its green - then there's not enough other food around.
FH


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## fairfax1 (Jun 12, 2003)

You are expecting too much too soon.

Deer will eat corn: when it is just emerging as a seedling; some weeks on when tender tassles are just emerging (if the stalk is short enough); and then when it is matured and other sources have dried up, died off, or been eaten up (like Bish said). You've got a few weeks left before it become really attractive as a food source. It serves now as a pretty good bedding area.


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## Guest (Sep 12, 2005)

Steveboss,

Deer will eat corn 365 days a year if it has been available for them throughout the year. All posts are correct. New corn is a differant story. Steve when they hit it you willl know (see picture of field of corn by farm hunter). It should be pretty soon and it will be obvious. 

If you planted that 2 acrss of corn in the woods it just may be already gone. I have 1 ace of corn in the woods and 11 acres alongside the woods. There is now not a single ear left in the woods corn, yet 99.9 % left in the 11 acre field


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## steveboss (Sep 4, 2002)

For rifle season I plan on leaving it standing, and there is not much cover. Can I or should I put a pop-up bind in or around the edge of the field?


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## bishs (Aug 30, 2000)

If you take a pop up blind and stick it against some cover, that would be fine. I wouldn't leave it out over night. Deer will avoid it for a long time, they seem to hold a lot of scent. 

I take a section of 2 x 4" fencing, and make a diameter large enough for a blind. Stake it down with a couple steel fence stakes. Then weave corn stalks vertically through the wire mesh. I have one created this year. Mine is in a tree-less area. I cut shooting windows through the fence for bow hunting, or you can make it shorter and rest your gun on the top. Natural, the best blind 
 

I have 3 acres of corn and beans, then a 16 foot wide strip of corn and soys leads from the field to a bedding area and clover field 100 yards away. There are no tall trees. The blind is set up for my bow, along the travel strip.


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## Andy (May 20, 2004)

this will be our first year of hunting over and uncut corn field and it should be interesting to say the least. we get so much snow and our bowseason lasts til Jan. 31st.....I believe there will be some good chances at some real nice deer using that standing corn. Standing corn, in our area, is so valuable as a late season feed to hold the deer on our property. everything else, they'd have to dig through 3 feet of snow to get to!

andy


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## answerguy8 (Oct 15, 2001)

So deer like young tender corn plants right?

Has anyone tried planting corn now as a draw for deer in October?
I'm sure with the ground as warm as it is and with a little moisture
it would pop out of the ground pretty quick right now.
A bag of seed corn would be pretty cheap as an experiment.


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## Liver and Onions (Nov 24, 2000)

farm hunter said:


> If the deer are eating your corn alot when its green - then there's not enough other food around.
> FH


This statement is not correct. In our Central Mi. location we have acres & acres of farm crops like alfalfa & beans in the area . Many have foodplots of buckwheat, clover, etc. Yet if you put in a foodplot of corn of anything less than 5-10 acres the deer will hammer it pretty hard and you'll get very few ears of corn to develop.

L & O


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## mike hartges (Jun 9, 2003)

I planted a few small corn plots that are between 1/4 and 3/4 acres in size. The deer do hit the corn as the ears are growing. My corn plots are all bordered by soybeans and clover. The deer browse on all the plantings during the summer with the corn being the least browsed of the 3 plantings. However, my corn is usually gone by mid December. The soybeans are gone before they eat all the corn. They will continue to eat the clover till it's covered by snow and even then, they'll dig thru the snow to reach the clover.


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## fairfax1 (Jun 12, 2003)

re: planting corn now.

Here's what I think I know: 

Other seeds may be more attractive than seedling corn. I haven't done this mind you......just thought about it: _sunflowers._ We've never had luck establishing a sunflower food plot...because the deer eat them down as fast as they emerge. But, with sunflower seeds so cheap for bird-feeders it would be easy to broadcast & cover and still have time for the seedlings to emerge prior to frost. They are a very fast germinator.

Another alternative to corn, would be soybeans. 

If I had to choose doing just one of these three as a planting right now....I'd go with the beans.

F1


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## Guest (Sep 13, 2005)

Answerguy8,

Your thinking is on the right page. The most effective attractant type food plots are those that are planted later in the planting season to be just right in palatability for opening day.

I have planted corn as an attractant on the first of August. It works but not enough to satisfy me. By the time October 1st arrives, deer lose their taste for the two foot tall corn. There are many other plant types that deer prefer even over tender young corn shoots, such as soybeans, sweet peas (cowpeas, also known as black eyed peas). Lab Lab Plus by Tecomate has several cowpea varieties in this blend and it works quite well till a frost, (add 2-3 lbs per acre of Biologic's Maximum forage rape blend to Lab Lab Plus for an extended season's hot food plot. Grain (oats rye and wheat) will beat young corn, All of the above works much better than young corn plants. 

One more thing, deer go after the young corn shoots but this window is too short in duration for accurate timing for opening day and after a frost you have nothing left, unless you planted a cold weather forage along with the corn.


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## farm hunter (Sep 6, 2004)

> This statement is not correct. In our Central Mi. location we have acres & acres of farm crops like alfalfa & beans in the area . Many have foodplots of buckwheat, clover, etc. Yet if you put in a foodplot of corn of anything less than 5-10 acres the deer will hammer it pretty hard and you'll get very few ears of corn to develop.


I suppose that every area is different - but generally, corn leaves and stalks are really poor browse. Almost no protein and very little carbohydrates. I'll still say that if you cannot get 5-10 acres of corn to get ears, then either: 1. its not getting enough Nitrogen, 2. the corn variety is too many growing days for the region (or planted too late) 3. there are too many deer - and not enough other preferred browse. 4. there is too much competition from weeds.

We have deer walk up and down the rows and eat the tops off some plants too -I'm sure your farmers do as well. We have about 40 deer/square mile - probably not much more than you - but I can grow a corn plot?

We see it more often with sweet corn, than with cow corn. Its not usually enough to hurt the Ear crop. When the corn plant is knee High - the ear is already developing below the surface of the dirt - and will eventually form an ear or two - even if the top 2/3 of the plant is damaged or ate. Sometimes you'll see a 3 ft plant with an ear or two this time of year as a result. By far, most of the corn we plant goes untouched until October - when it begins to dry out and most green forage is disappearing - fast.

If the deer really are eating a 5 acre corn plot to the ground - then most likely your deer herd would be better served by a high forage summer plot of clover or soybeans.

As far as planting corn late for "young growth" - it generally would be less attractive than Rye, Winter Wheat, clover or any other "green plot" in the fall - and won't do anything for the deer. Worse - after the first frost - the deer will never touch it again once it browns up. Really young corn will fall right over flat after a good frost and not even offer cover.

FH


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