Winter wheat/Rye, Kill plot's

What's a better attractant winter wheat or rye for fall kill plot'???

Up here the rye works fine. I've never tried wheat.

Winter wheat is something I would like to try. Hmmmm.

Many years ago, the local farmers used to plant lots of winter wheat around the deer camp. The deer loved it!

My first experience with it was in 1985. After hunting in the forested area, another guy and I went to the Stratton area to check things out. We had never hunted around farms, but heard that there were lots of deer (especially compared to the forest). We had a connection to a local farmer who agreed to show us a few places where we could hunt. After driving around for a half an hour, we settled on a large field that backed onto a stream. The field also had a large block of timber in the middle of it that provided sanctuary to deer. Anyway, at this field, my buddy and I decided that we would each walk around the large block of timber and meet at the far side and compare notes. As I walked around the far side of the timber, I saw a dozen or so deer feeding out in the winter wheat about 270 yards away. I had never before seen so many deer in one place at the same time. I was instantly overcome by buck fever. To make matters worse, there was a big buck buck standing just inside the bush line. I quickly threw my rifle up to my shoulder and commenced firing. Then deer started running all over the place, as more deer jumped out of the bush, the wind and echo coming off the bush line really confused the deer. I emptied my rifle without scratching the buck, then my buddy started shooting. Instead of running for cover, the buck ran out into the field and stood in the wide open. I quickly reloaded and commenced firing and missed every time again. My buddy shot several times more without even coming close before the buck ran down the length of the field and dissapeared into the bush. In the process of all this shooting, a doe came out of the block of timber behind me and just about knocked me over. I swung on the doe and was going to pull the trigger, but remembered that we didn't have any doe tags for Unit 10. After the smoke cleared, we just stood there in disbelief and shook our heads. We probably saw 20 deer including a big buck. We hastily made some plans to set up for the rest of the afternoon as we were certain that the deer would return to feed before an advancing snow storm rolled in. I went to the corner of the field, where the big buck had disapeared, and sat behind a fallen tree just inside the bush line. After 20 minutes of watching the bush line, I casually glanced over my shoulder and just about had a heart attack as 3 does had snuck around behind me and were now feeding in the winter wheat less than 10 yards away. I had never been so close to a live deer, let alone 3, in my life. I was shaking like Elvis! I slowly cranked my head back further and just about had another heart attack as the big buck was standing 25 yards away on full alert. The buck stood there, watching the does, for what seemed like an eternity. I was convinced that I was going to blow the opportunity and was trying to come up with excuses to tell the rest of the guys at camp later. Eventually, theuck relaxed and walked out into the field to join the does and I wasted no time in shouldering my rifle and putting a bullet into it's chest. At the sound of the shot, several deer bounded away, including the buck - who took off like a rocket across the field. He only made it about 75 yards before doing a cartwheel in the snow and dying. It was a 3.5 year old 10 pointer - my fist buck. Holly crap, what an experience.

The moral of the story is that we hunted winter wheat for several years with great success.

Sam

Great story... I'm going to maybe try it this year. I've always used rye in the past.

Last fall I planted winter wheat on a few small plots and I was very impressed, it was a great draw for my herd and the deer are still feeding on it this spring.

Is there any comparison to the two??? Do they prefer one over the other?

I have not planted fall rye although I know it is the hardiest of the cereal grains when it comes to surviving cold wheather. That is what I was going to get for a fall planting last august at the Gore Bay Agromart, the clerk at the co-op said she would sell me winter wheat at a real good price 15.00 a bag so I was sold on that.Check out QDMA and there is some good threads comparing winter wheat and fall rye by Lickcreek.

Hunting around my farms here I have seen that the deer move into the fall wheat just before the hunt because its nice and green and also soft. They will usually hit the wheat for 2-3 weeks but then will move into the corn. The fall wheat is something that they will come back to all winter long if the corn has been taken off.

Great tale Sam! That was awesome. Felt like I was there.

This is my winter wheat food plot in a hardwood stand, it stayed green all winter and moderate grazing during some of the winter months although when the snow got too deep they grazed native browse and abandoned it till spring arrived.

have heard good things about wheat as an attractant , but i have only tried rye. from what i have read, rye has alot more going for it in the way of being a nitrogen scavenger which need less nitrogen, which means less fertilizer(cheaper ) and it alopathic effect on the soil resulting in less weeds in the plot

here's a pic or a clover rye and oats plot that resulted in a thick clover stand the next year..i tried another one of these plots and planted the same time with just clover and it's 50% clover and 50 % weeds.

for me now rye is the answer as i'm trying to improve my soils and get the amount of weeds down in my plots ...so it al depends on your goals and budgets


my vote is for rye but i may rotate wheat at one point into my plots to give it a whirl

Lord knows I love anecdotal evidence. I would plant whichever gives you the most bang for the buck in your soil. This guy is enjoying a buffet of RYE and POPLAR STUMP SPROUTS.

I would take Lickcreek advice and go with Fall Rye ,nice buck in last pic.

is it easier for a winter rye grass to grow than a winter rye grain?anyone know

you dont want rye grass as it is less favorable for deer and wont die..unless u want to spray it or til it under ...winter rye grain will go to seed then die you may get volunteer seed if u let it go to seed but u can clip it before and it will die before it seeds out thus making it easier to get rid of

what about a winter wheat they say it can almost grow on concrete,anyone know?

their's two types of winter wheat.The farmers around me grown the type for pastery.I read the other wheat is grown out west for bread flour.I had winter wheat grown here as a crop rotation.I've had winter wheat around here for 18 years.The deer would eat the soya and cross my property to eat the winter wheat daily.once it was covered with snow,they stopped eating it.If a thaw occured and it became exposed they started eating it again.It appeared that they preferred the wheat to the west of my property,over the east property.The only thing i could think of is it had a better mineral content???I'm not really sure though.

it will grow on our soil.Lolfa clay used to cover land fills and for liners of drains.We have very little rain too.We get about one rain every 6 weeks in the summer and fall on average.

the deer i shot this past season was in a winter wheat field . but that was not what the deer were feeding on . it was the soy beans from last crop . the farmer took beans off in sept. then planted the wheat which was around six inches by the end of nov. . if you are planning to plant you have to consider its growth and harvest time and that is deer season and your field will be bare .

the field was plowed up 5 years ago and was never used had nothing in it for 15 years the man did disc around the edges 2 discs wide and in the middle 1 disc wide if we could mow down the grass to almost nothing maybe break up the ground then experiment with different seeds.maybe 30 years ago they used to grow corn oats wheat buck wheat but thats been sometime back.