Land & Legacy - Habitat + Hunting · Land & Legacy

To Plant or Not to Plant

·49 min·4 clips

Why do summer food plots often fail because deer love them too much?

Hosts Adam Keith and Matt Dye, habitat consultants for Land & Legacy, tackle the perennial debate over planting spring food plots for deer. They are joined by guest Brady Bradley to analyze whether these plots are a necessary investment or a potential misallocation of time and resources. The episode centers on evaluating your property's specific conditions and management stage before deciding to plant. The conversation begins by acknowledging the exceptionally wet spring, which has prevented many farmers from planting corn and complicates food plot establishment. Bradley argues that a quarter-acre spring plot is rarely the primary factor attracting or holding deer on a property. Keith shares his personal experience of initially over-prioritizing summer plots and supplemental feeding before his farm's habitat was ready. They introduce a "tier" system for properties, suggesting spring plots are often inappropriate for Tier 1 or 2 farms lacking foundational habitat work. A key story involves a client who planted a small soybean plot within a highly diverse, native old-field unit; the beans were immediately over-browsed while the native legumes thrived. Keith calculates that the six hours spent establishing a small summer plot could be better used improving timber habitat with a chainsaw or hatchet. Bradley notes that well-managed native fields, like those with partridge pea, provide food year-round, including in late winter. The hosts advocate for diverse fall plantings that carry over into spring, such as crimson clover, balansa clover, red clover, and chicory. An interesting insight is that deer were observed heavily browsing the seed heads of awnless forage wheat, a valuable phosphorus source during antler growth. For properties with advanced habitat, the hosts recommend specific summer forages like American joint vetch, which handles pressure and remains palatable into late summer. Bradley suggests collaborating with local farmers to establish alfalfa, which benefits wildlife and provides hay, though it requires monitoring for pests like armyworms. They conclude that perennial clover plots are resilient, drought-tolerant assets that can support deer when fall plots are struggling to establish. The tone is educational and conversational, grounded in the hosts' direct consulting experiences and personal land management trials. They adopt a practical, step-by-step approach to problem-solving, avoiding absolutism in favor of context-specific advice. This episode is ideal for habitat managers and hunters who feel pressured to plant every season but are questioning the return on investment. Landowners struggling with high deer density, limited time, or poor plot success will find actionable alternatives. Listeners solely interested in quick-fix plot techniques or product promotions might find the habitat-first philosophy less immediately gratifying.

As heard by us

A native old field can do more late-season work than a food plot if it is being managed well.

Adam Keith and Matt Dye frame onX as a practical land management tool, then use an old field example to show that native habitat can carry real value on its own. The property in question is about 10 acres, with about five acres of fields managed as old field.

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Why you'd press play

Before you seed another plot, hear why an old field might already be feeding deer.

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