Clover mini plots can produce a lot of deer food on ground that is otherwise bare.

Author: J. Wayne Fears
Source: Whitetails Unlimited Magazine

Johnny Appleseed won a place in folk history by going about the early American frontier planting apple seeds to create apple orchards as a food source for pioneers.

Harold Knight, best known as the Knight of Knight & Hale Game Calls, is a Kentucky farmer who has no aspirations to be a folk hero, but he has a lot in common with Johnny Appleseed.

Several years ago Knight—who loves quail hunting—began studying his 1,800-acre farm to find out why there were so few quail on the property. He got an answer when he analyzed how his property met—or better yet, did not meet—the basic needs of quail. The land was in fescue pastures and mature hardwood timber. There was cover for quail, but little for them to eat.

Working with wildlife biologists, Knight started putting in permanent food plots where space permitted. But there were few sites available for large, permanent plots of one-half to 1 acre.

Mini food plot planting can be done while shed hunting or roaming woods during freezing temperatures.

One snowy February day, Knight was riding over his farm on an ATV when he spotted deer tracks in an opening of bare ground partially covered with snow. He stopped to inspect the tracks and realized there were dozens of small openings like this on the farm.

He knew if he could get a food source to grow in these bare places, it would provide food for quail, and the possibility of re-establishing a quail population. “It occurred to me that when the frozen ground thawed, it would make a good seedbed,” Knight explained.

He went back to his barn, got a pocketful of Korean lespedeza seed and returned to the bare spot. He broadcast the seed on the snow, a technique sometimes called frost seeding. Over the next few days, he went to similar areas around the farm and broadcast seed on them.

	For upland game birds, the hard seeded partridge pea can be easily planted on late winter snow. The following summer, it will produce a lot of seed that upland birds love.

Knight wasn’t surprised when, the next spring, each of the once-bare places became a small food plot, ideal for producing seed that quail love.

Each fall, Knight now flags bare spots. In winter when the ground is covered in snow, he rides an ATV over the 1,800 acres, sowing Korean lespedeza. He also carries a bag of seed on his frequent quail hunts so he can plant remote spots.

“Before I had these small patches of lespedeza growing all over the place, you couldn’t find a quail here,” reports Knight. “Now, there are six coveys to hunt in this 150-acre block.”

Other Game Birds as Well

Small, hard seeds such as these clover seeds are best for winter Johnny Appleseed–style planting.

Many other game birds, including pheasants, wild turkey, dove, and grouse, can be helped by using this same method of winter seeding. Fast growing, seed-producing plants such as browntop millet, partridge pea, and buckwheat can be sowed on snow or frozen soil. In the spring, the plants offer mini food plots as well as cover for nesting upland game birds.

The Johnny Appleseed Method for Deer

The best species for frost seeding generally have small seeds that germinate quickly and grow well in cool conditions. For deer, red, white, and sweet clover are the most successful species, while birdsfoot trefoil can also be used, despite slower germination and early growth.

Carrying these hard legume seeds with you during the winter while shed hunting, snowshoeing, early scouting for the spring gobbler season, or just roaming in the woods is a good way to find and plant small bare spots on your hunting land to produce mini food plots for deer. When these seeds are hand planted on frozen ground, it is similar to what happens in nature—seeds fall to the ground in late summer and fall, and sit there all winter under snow and on frozen ground until the ground thaws several times, working the seed into the soil and making good soil-to-seed contact. The results are mini food plots in the spring, offering deer forage in areas that were once bare.

 

	Birdsfoot trefoil is a good example of winter sown seed that can become a mini food plot crop for deer.

Tips for Becoming a Winter Johnny Appleseed

• Locate and record with GPS small bare spots of ground before the snow flies. This helps you locate the future food plots when snow covers the ground.

• Seed with a small hand-seeder rather than throwing by hand so the seed is evenly distributed.

• Avoid spreading on a snow base more than 8 inches deep, as a sudden thaw and run-off can wash seed away.

• The best time to sow seed is early in the morning when the soil is frozen and a thaw is expected during the day. This reduces the chance for soil compaction while providing the desired soil heaving to improve seed-to-soil contact.

• Winter seeding is best done when the frost is coming out of the ground toward the end of winter. Surface soil is forced open by alternating freezes and thaws. The freeze-thaw cycle allows the seed to make good seed-to-soil contact and gives the seeds a reasonable chance of germinating and surviving.

• Avoid planting warm season annuals such as corn or soybeans.

• When sowing legumes, make sure to get seeds that have been properly inoculated. Double-inoculate birdsfoot trefoil for best results.

• Broadcast inoculated seed approximately 45 days before grass growth begins.

• Winter seedings work best on loams and clay soils or other soils that have natural moisture through the early summer. Sandy soils should be avoided.

• Seeding rates:

▪ Korean lespedeza – 20 pounds per acre

▪ Browntop millet – 30 pounds per acre

▪ Partridge pea – 12 pounds per acre

▪ Buckwheat – 40 pounds per acre

▪ White clover – 3 pounds per acre

▪ Red clover – 10 pounds per acre

▪ Birdsfoot trefoil – 12 pounds per acre

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