Evolved Harvest 7 Card Stud food plot seed: what's in the bag

Last updated 2026-07-25

What is Evolved Harvest 7 Card Stud food plot seed?

7 Card Stud is a packaged food plot seed blend sold by Evolved Harvest, built around the idea that a mix of plant types outperforms a single species across a whole season. The name is a poker reference (seven species dealt into one bag), and the marketing pitch is a plot that feeds deer from early fall through winter without replanting. Most blends in this category combine a brassica (like forage rape or turnip), one or two clovers, a cereal grain (oats or winter wheat), and sometimes a legume like winter peas or a forage soybean. Evolved Harvest doesn't publish a fully itemized breakdown of every lot's exact percentages on a public spec sheet the way some university-tested products do, so treat the bag label and the seed tag as your actual source of truth once it arrives. Read the tag. It's required by law in most states under the Federal Seed Act and state seed laws, and it will list noxious weed content, germination percentage, and the actual species mix by weight ^[1]. A blend like this is really a bet on redundancy. If the brassica gets hammered early, the cereal grain and clover carry the plot into late fall. If a dry spell knocks back germination on one component, another one often still comes up. That's the real value of a multi-species bag, not some magic ingredient list. Want a plan built around your actual dirt and zone instead of a one-size bag? The Custom Food Plot Plan runs $99 one time and gives you species picks, rates, and a calendar matched to your soil test and location.

What is a food plot, exactly?

A food plot is a planted area on hunting land, usually somewhere between a quarter acre and several acres, seeded with forage crops to attract and hold deer and other wildlife. It's not the same as a garden and it's more than scattering feed on the ground. State wildlife agencies generally treat food plots differently than bait piles or feeders under the law. A planted, growing crop is legal in almost every state, even where baiting (piling corn, minerals, or feed) is restricted or banned. Check your state wildlife agency's regulations before you plant or hunt over anything. Baiting and supplemental feeding rules vary a lot state to state, and some states also restrict feeding due to Chronic Wasting Disease concerns ^[2]. Food plots do two jobs on hunting ground. They provide nutrition (protein for antler and body growth in spring/summer plots, energy and carbs for fall/winter plots), and they concentrate deer movement in a spot you control, near a stand or blind. A well-placed plot is really a habitat tool wrapped around a hunting tool. For a broader look at how plots fit into an overall land plan, see food plot whitetail and deer food plots.

Do deer eat sorghum?

Yes, deer eat grain sorghum, both the standing plant and the seed heads, but it's more of a late-season and winter food source than a preferred summer forage. Sorghum (milo) is planted more for its drought tolerance and its standing grain cover than because deer prefer it over clover or beans. Sorghum shows up in fall/winter blend bags mostly as a structural and caloric component. It's a decent screening and bedding cover crop because it grows tall and stands through wind and light snow, and deer tend to work the grain heads once they dry down and softer options thin out late in the season. If a blend like 7 Card Stud includes a grain component, don't expect deer to hit it hard in September. Expect it to matter more in December and January when the softer stuff (clover, brassica leaves) is gone or buried.

Do deer eat clover, and do deer like clover?

Yes, clover is one of the most consistently preferred deer forages across the whitetail's range, and it's usually the backbone of both spring/summer plots and the perennial portion of mixed blends. Deer like clover because it's high in crude protein, digestible, and it regrows fast after grazing. University extension forage work on food plot species consistently ranks white clover and red clover among the top perennial choices for whitetail nutrition, with crude protein commonly measured in the 20 to 30 percent range in vegetative growth stages ^[3]. That's a big reason clover shows up in almost every commercial blend, including annual/perennial combo bags. The tradeoff: clover needs decent soil pH (most extension guides recommend 6.0 to 6.5) and it doesn't love heavy grazing pressure without some rest. If your soil test comes back at pH 5.2, clover is going to struggle no matter what bag it came out of, and lime becomes the actual first purchase, not more seed. For species comparisons across clover, brassicas, and grain, see deer food plot seed and domain food plot seed.

When to plant food plots for deer (by region)

Deep South (zone 8-9)	Mid-September to mid-October	March to April
Mid-South / Transition (zone 7)	Late August to mid-September	Mid-April to May
Upper Midwest / Northeast (zone 4-5)	Late July to mid-August	Mid-May to early June
Northern tier / Canada border (zone 3-4)	Mid-July to early August	Late May to mid-June	These windows reflect general extension planting guidance for brassicas and cereal grains, which typically call for 60 to 90 days of growing season before a hard frost for brassica bulbing [4]. If you're not sure which zone you're in, USDA's Plant Hardiness Zone Map is the standard reference [5].

Timing depends on whether you're planting a spring/summer plot (clover, soybeans, alfalfa) or a fall/winter plot (brassicas, cereal grains, blends like 7 Card Stud), and both depend heavily on your first frost date. As a general rule, fall blends go in 45 to 90 days before your area's average first frost, giving brassicas time to bulb and cereal grains time to establish before growth slows. Spring/summer plots go in after your last frost date once soil temps are reliably above 50 degrees F for germination. Here's a rough regional table. These are general windows, not a fixed rule, and your local extension office or state wildlife agency has more precise frost data for your county. | Region | Fall blend planting window | Spring/summer planting window |

When to plant turnips for deer

Plant turnips for deer plots roughly 60 to 90 days before your first expected fall frost, since turnips need that window to bulb up and the tops need time to sweeten with cooler weather. Turnips are a classic brassica component in fall blends because deer often ignore them early, then hammer them hard after the first frost or two. That frost-triggered palatability shift happens because cold converts starches in the plant to sugars, which extension horticulture sources confirm is a real physiological response in brassicas, more than hunter folklore . So if your 7 Card Stud plot has turnips in it and deer aren't touching them in October, that's often normal. Come back after a couple of freezes. Seeding rate matters more than people think. Most turnip blends call for 4 to 6 pounds per acre if planted alone, less in a mixed bag. Too heavy a rate and you get thin, small bulbs competing with each other.

When to plant oats for deer

Oats for deer food plots go in late summer to early fall in most of the whitetail range, generally 6 to 8 weeks before first frost, so they can establish leafy growth before winter dormancy. Oats are a fast-germinating cereal grain and often the first thing to show green in a mixed blend, sometimes within a week of a good rain. Oats are also one of the more cold-tender cereal grains compared to winter wheat or rye, so in far northern zones they may winterkill earlier, while wheat and rye persist and offer late winter/early spring grazing. If a blend is leaning on oats as its main grain, understand that's mostly a fall attraction play, not a plant that reliably carries deer through January in colder zones. Most land-grant extension guidance for cereal grains in food plot settings recommends a modest starter nitrogen application, often in the 20 to 30 lbs/acre actual N range, at planting, with the rest of your fertility program driven by what your specific soil test says about phosphorus, potassium, and lime need. Your soil test lab is the actual authority here, not a blend's bag copy.

What are deer's favorite foods, really?

Deer preference isn't fixed. It shifts by season, region, and what's naturally available, but extension research and browse studies consistently put a handful of things near the top: white clover and other legumes, soybeans, acorns (especially white oak group), and in early fall, standing corn and soft mast. Wildlife biologists have long grouped whitetail foods into preferred, staple, and emergency categories based on nutritional content and seasonal availability, and it's one of the more useful lenses for understanding why deer hit a plot hard one week and ignore it the next . Acorns, when they're dropping, can pull deer off a planted plot entirely for weeks, which frustrates hunters who assume something's wrong with their seed. The honest answer is that no seed bag, blend, or brand ensures deer activity on your ground. Local food availability, hunting pressure, and weather all move the needle more than most people want to admit.

Do deer like honey (or honey-based attractants)?

Deer are drawn to sugar and carbohydrates in general, and there's anecdotal support for deer showing interest in sweet substances, but there's no rigorous wildlife research specifically proving deer preference for honey as such versus other sugar sources like molasses, apples, or corn. Most of what's out there is product marketing rather than peer-reviewed feeding trial data. What's better documented is that deer are drawn to high-sugar browse in general, and that's part of why frost-sweetened brassicas and dropping mast pull deer hard in late fall . If a product claims deer specifically seek out honey over other attractants, treat that as an unverified marketing claim, not established science, and check it against your state's baiting laws before using any scented or edible attractant near a stand, since many states classify sweetened or edible substances placed to attract deer as bait regardless of the ingredient ^[2].

How do you actually plant a bag like 7 Card Stud?

Multi-species blends work best with a prepared seedbed, not a broadcast-and-hope approach, mainly because the seed sizes in the bag vary a lot (tiny clover seed next to bigger grain and brassica seed), so different depths matter for different components. General steps that apply to almost any fall blend: test your soil (a $10 to $20 lab test through your state land-grant extension is the standard route), lime and fertilize according to that test, work up a clean seedbed free of heavy thatch, broadcast the blend, and lightly drag or cultipack to get seed-to-soil contact without burying the small seeds too deep. Clover and brassica seed generally wants no more than a quarter inch of coverage; grain seed can go slightly deeper. Most state extension no-till and conventional-till guides recommend broadcasting into a firm, moist seedbed right before a rain if you can time it, since food plot seed (especially clover and brassica) germinates poorly if it sits dry on the surface for more than a week or two ^[4]. If you're working smaller or awkward-shaped plots, see food plot seed for equipment options that don't require a full-size tractor.

What does a soil test actually tell you before you plant?

A soil test tells you pH, and estimated levels of phosphorus, potassium, and sometimes micronutrients, which together determine how much lime and fertilizer your plot actually needs, regardless of which seed bag you buy. Guessing on lime is probably the single most common and costly mistake in food plot planning. Most land-grant extension recommendations for food plot forages target a pH range of 6.0 to 6.8 for clover and brassica establishment, and note that lime can take several months to fully react in the soil. That's why fall soil sampling for a following spring plot (or summer sampling for fall plots) is standard advice. If your test comes back at pH 5.5, dumping a bag of 7 Card Stud on it without lime is close to wasting the seed. Your soil test lab's recommendation is the actual authority on lime and fertilizer rates for your specific dirt. A blend bag's general guidance, or any article like this one, is not a substitute for that lab report.

Is a multi-species blend better than planting single species separately?

It depends on your goals, your equipment, and your acreage. Blends save time and reduce the risk of total failure if one species struggles, but they cost more per pound than buying straight clover or straight oats separately, and you lose some control over exact seeding rates per species. If you've got one plot and want low-effort, broad-window attraction, a blend like 7 Card Stud (or similar multi-species bags) makes sense. If you've got multiple plots and want to sequence attraction (early season beans, mid-fall brassica, late-season cereal grain) across different fields, buying components separately and building your own rotation usually gives better control and can be cheaper per acre. For a side-by-side on straight species versus blends and where each makes sense on real acreage, deer for food walks through the tradeoffs in more depth.

What's the bottom line on Evolved Harvest 7 Card Stud?

It's a reasonable multi-species fall/winter blend built on a sound general idea (redundancy across brassica, clover, grain, and legume components), and it should perform similarly to other name-brand multi-species blends when planted on decent soil at the right time of year in your zone. It is not a substitute for a soil test, and it won't fix a plot with a 5.4 pH or heavy shade. It also won't promise deer activity. No seed does. Weather, local mast crops, hunting pressure, and neighboring food sources all move deer more than brand choice does. If you want species selections and rates matched to your actual soil report and your actual zone rather than a general bag recommendation, that's exactly what the Custom Food Plot Plan is built to do, for a flat $99, one time.

Frequently asked questions

Do deer eat sorghum in food plots?

Yes. Deer eat grain sorghum (milo), mostly the dried seed heads in late fall and winter once softer forages are gone. It's used in blends more for drought tolerance, standing cover, and late-season calories than as a preferred summer forage.

Do deer like clover more than other food plot options?

Clover is one of the most consistently preferred whitetail forages, often testing 20 to 30 percent crude protein in vegetative growth according to university extension forage research. It needs pH 6.0 to 6.5 and decent drainage to perform well, so soil prep matters as much as the seed itself.

When should I plant food plots for deer?

Fall blends generally go in 45 to 90 days before your area's average first frost date. Spring/summer plots go in after your last frost once soil temps hit roughly 50 degrees F. Exact windows depend heavily on your USDA hardiness zone and local frost dates.

When is the best time to plant turnips for deer?

Plant turnips 60 to 90 days before your expected first fall frost so bulbs have time to size up. Deer often ignore turnips until after one or two hard frosts convert starches to sugar, making the tops and bulbs noticeably sweeter and more attractive.

When should I plant oats for a deer food plot?

Plant oats 6 to 8 weeks before your first fall frost. Oats germinate fast and green up quickly, but they're more cold-tender than winter wheat or rye, so in northern zones they may winterkill sooner and provide less late-winter forage.

What is a food plot, in simple terms?

A food plot is a planted area of forage crops on hunting land meant to feed and attract deer or other wildlife. Unlike bait piles, a planted, growing crop is legal in nearly every state, though feeding and baiting rules still vary and should be checked with your state wildlife agency.

What do deer like to eat most?

Preference shifts by season and region, but clover, soybeans, acorns (especially white oak), and standing corn consistently rank as top preferred whitetail foods in extension food habit studies. Acorn drops can pull deer completely off planted plots for weeks when mast is heavy.

Do deer like honey or sweet attractants?

Deer are generally drawn to sugar and carbohydrates, but there's no solid wildlife research specifically proving a preference for honey over other sweet sources like molasses or apples. Most honey-based attractant claims are marketing, not peer-reviewed feeding data, and many states treat sweetened attractants as bait under law.

Is Evolved Harvest 7 Card Stud a good blend for a first-time plot?

It's a reasonable multi-species option if your soil is already in decent shape (pH near 6.0 to 6.8) and you're planting in the right fall window for your zone. It won't fix poor soil or replace a soil test, and results depend heavily on local deer density and competing food sources.

How many species are actually in 7 Card Stud?

The name implies seven, typically a mix drawn from brassicas (like turnip or rape), clovers, a cereal grain (oats or wheat), and a legume. Exact percentages vary by production lot, so check the seed tag on your specific bag, which is legally required to list actual species content.

Can I plant a fall blend like this without a soil test?

You can, but you're guessing on lime and fertilizer, which is usually the biggest factor in plot success. A $10 to $20 extension soil test tells you your actual pH and nutrient levels, and lime can take months to fully adjust pH, so testing early matters.

Do I need special equipment to plant a food plot blend?

No. Small plots can be planted with a hand spreader, a rake or drag, and a lawn roller or ATV to firm the seedbed. Larger acreage benefits from a tractor with a disc, cultipacker, and broadcast spreader, but equipment scale should match your actual plot size.

Sources

1. USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, Federal Seed Act: Seed tags are legally required and must list species content, germination, and noxious weeds
2. Oklahoma State University Extension, Grain Sorghum Production Guide (PSS-2145): Deer use grain sorghum heads mainly after dry-down, functioning as a late-season food source
3. University of Minnesota Extension, Harvesting and Storing Home Garden Vegetables: Cold temperatures convert plant starches to sugars, increasing palatability of brassicas after frost
4. Clemson Cooperative Extension, Soil Testing (HGIC 1652): Recommended soil pH range of 6.0 to 6.8 for clover and brassica establishment and starter nitrogen guidance for cereal grains
5. Pennsylvania Game Commission, White-tailed Deer Food Habits and Nutrition: Framework categorizing whitetail foods as preferred, staple, and emergency based on nutrition and seasonal availability