| Baiting Deer In Michigan | | | | palatability (good taste). |
| Here in my home state of Michigan, baiting was | | | | If you want to really draw the deer in during the |
| banned in the last half 2008 and will continue to be | | | | firearm or late muzzleloader season, then you |
| banned until at least 2011. This caught a lot of | | | | want to go with a mix of perennials and annual |
| hunters off guard since it was too late to start | | | | brassicas. The brassica family of plants consist of |
| any whitetail deer food plots correctly. However, | | | | forage rape, kale, canola, and turnips. You may be |
| many hunters are thinking about starting their first | | | | more familiar with these brassicas, broccoli, |
| one in 2009. | | | | cabbage, spinach, brussel sprouts, etc. During the |
| Unfortunately many hunters have ideas of planting | | | | summer and early fall, brassicas have a bitter |
| deer food plots in open areas and the deer will | | | | taste due to the alkaloids in the plant. However, |
| just file in come hunting season. There is more to | | | | after the first hard freeze, the bitter taste turns |
| a successful "hot spot" than most people think. I | | | | sweet and these will become the preferred food |
| was a city slicker when I was young like a lot of | | | | for deer. Baiting Deer In Michigan |
| other hunters and didn't know the first thing about | | | | If you have other fields with crops in your area, |
| growing a food plot until years of trial and error. | | | | don't plant the same thing. Deer love variety. If |
| If you want to eliminate the mistakes most | | | | your neighbor's fields are planted with corn and/or |
| people make when creating their first whitetail | | | | soybeans, plant something that will be more |
| deer food plot, you need to ask yourself the | | | | attractive for the late fall after a hard freeze. It |
| following questions. | | | | will be too difficult competing with the security |
| * What time of the fall am I going to be hunting, | | | | that standing corn provides and soybeans are less |
| early or late? | | | | attractive after they turn yellow and brown. |
| * Are there already other farm fields with crops | | | | Before you start spraying weeds to prepare your |
| nearby and what kind? | | | | future whitetail deer food plots, check the soil to |
| * What type of soil do I have on my property, is | | | | see if it is too sandy or has too much clay. You |
| it sandy or clay? | | | | should be able to tell. Dig a 63 hole with a spade |
| There are other questions to ask but let's answer | | | | shovel. If there is a lot of sand with very little |
| these three first. Baiting Deer In Michigan | | | | consistency to it, or if the ground is so hard that |
| The time of the fall you plan to be hunting is | | | | it's difficult to dig a simple hole, you have too |
| critical for the type of plants you choose. If you | | | | much clay. In either case you're better off to find |
| want your food plot to peak during the early fall | | | | an alternative spot. |
| for bow hunting, then you want to plant a | | | | If you take the time to answer these questions |
| perennial such as ladino (white) clover or falcata | | | | before you get started, it will save you from |
| alfalfa. Deer absolutely love these legumes during | | | | wondering where all the deer are while you're |
| the summer and early fall. However, right after | | | | sitting in your tree stand and wasting a whole |
| the first hard frost you'll notice the deer backing | | | | hunting season. |
| off a bit because this forage loses some of it's | | | | |