Well the deer hunters are starting to get excited.  August is the first beginning of the season.  A lot of hunters start with the labor day dove hunt.  Many have planted sunflowers and millet to attract them to the property.  

Dove season is just the start of the hunting seasons.  The deer hunt is by far the most exciting to prepare for.  September and October are the best times to get the food plots ready.  Of course, you need moisture in the ground before you actually put in the seed.  Don’t rush the process because if you plant too early and the seed comes up and then no rain you may loose the whole plot.  

Many plant wheat, oats and ryegrass.  These are great and do very well in this area.  Many stores also stock fall food plot mixes.  We carry several different brands.  The most popular is the Buck Buster seed mix.  It seems to be the premium of all of the others.  One of the seeds in the mix is Chicory.  It is fairly new in the area and the deer love it.  It is a perennial and will come back the next year if it hasn’t been overgrazed.  Clovers are great for the food plots.  Clover can be a perennial if the weather stays normal.  A really dry spring and summer will take it out.  

Oats are great for deer food plots.  Oats come up quickly and produce well.  The producers of Buck Forage oats claim that their oats are sweeter and the deer like them more than regular oats, such as bob oats.  When the parish had a lot of dairy farms, the farmers planted a lot of oats.  The oats gave a lush forage for the dairy cows and also made them produce more milk.  This was important because of school starting and the kids needed lots of milk.  Just a little old tidbit of info from an old dairy girl.  

(Mitzi Thomas owns Minden Farm & Garden LLC. Watch for her column on Fridays in Webster Parish Journal.)