Choosing a Game Crop

[EddieWalker]

Did I miss something? Is the farm in question in PA? Is it illegal in PA to farm something that wildlife will enjoy eating, regardless if you hunt or not?

 

[clemsonfor]

i did a small plot, maybe about an acre. We have found a local farmer that sells bags of winter wheat and Oats fore $7 a 50 pound bag. I went cheap this year and put out 2 bags of oats and one of wheat. No fertilizer. i caught the rain at the right time and it has come up amazing and the deer have been going crazy in it. So that's $21 for seed. I don't figure my time or the gallon of diesel or so that i used to prepare the seed bed.

 

[oosik]

Eddie - there MUST be more to the laws of PA than that. What about a home garden or a cover crop to produce green fertilizer. Has PA become a Communist state?

 

[EddieWalker]

Here in Texas, you can do anything you want on your land, and baiting is legal too. I have three corn feeders out to bait the deer, a food plot to lure them in, and a mineral lick that they really love. The season is two months long and we have not seen a legal buck during shooting hours yet. But that's just me, and what it's like here. I do know that in a lot of states, where food plots and baiting is illegal, the best hunting is on a farm that grows crops to sell, like alfalfa, corn, peas, or probably just about anything. So the question then becomes is it baiting if you sell what you grow, but also hunt over that crop?

 

[oosik]

NO - the question becomes - is this just one further step that the government is taking - telling you how you can/can not run your life. Hey - If I want to grow bamboo out here on the hopes of attracting Pandas and watching them - I sure don't need the government telling me I can't.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

The deer are everywhere here...probably more than any time in history. During the 30', 40's and 50's they were almost hunted to extinction. Now they are everywhere...especially at night. They don't last long on the interstate. Saw a nice buck that had been hit by a car, about a mile from my house about a month ago.

 

[DrRod]

i did a small plot, maybe about an acre. We have found a local farmer that sells bags of winter wheat and Oats fore $7 a 50 pound bag. I went cheap this year and put out 2 bags of oats and one of wheat. No fertilizer. i caught the rain at the right time and it has come up amazing and the deer have been going crazy in it. So that's $21 for seed. I don't figure my time or the gallon of diesel or so that i used to prepare the seed bed.

How much prep did you put into it? And did you use a drill to plant it or just sow it?

 

[DrRod]

In PA you can use bait of all sorts up to a month before hunting season.
But if you use corn or a feeder you tend to get more ears than deer.

 

[fried1765]

Deer and turkey love buckwheat and is also good for the soil. You need to eliminate the weeds before planting by either spraying or cultivating and than broadcast or till the seeds into the ground.

Will buckwheat grow in very sandy loam that does not retain moisture well?

 

[dnw64]

In PA you can use bait of all sorts up to a month before hunting season.
But if you use corn or a feeder you tend to get more ears than deer.

:laughing: