Summer deer food plots: what to plant and when

Last updated 2026-07-25

what is a food plot, exactly

A food plot is a planted area, usually somewhere from a quarter acre to several acres, put in specifically to feed deer and other wildlife rather than for human harvest. Most hunters plant them on farmland, timber openings, or leased ground with the goal of holding deer on the property and giving them better nutrition than what the woods alone provide. Food plots aren't a new idea. Land managers have been planting clover and grain patches for wildlife for decades, and the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service maintains a conservation practice standard for Upland Wildlife Habitat Management (Practice Code 645), which covers plantings that provide food and cover for wildlife species and is used in some state cost-share programs ^[1]. That tells you something: this isn't just a hunting industry invention, it's treated as legitimate habitat work by federal conservation agencies. A summer plot specifically means something planted to feed deer during the growing season, typically May through August depending on where you are. That's different from a fall plot meant to be standing and attractive during hunting season. Summer plots do double duty: they feed does through lactation and bucks through antler growth, and in the case of perennials like clover, they set up fall hunting too. If you're new to plotting in general, it helps to understand the broader category before narrowing to summer strategy. See our overview on food plot whitetail basics for the full picture.

when to plant food plots for deer in summer

3-4	Northern MN, ND, upper Great Lakes	June 1 - June 20
5-6	Midwest, mid-Atlantic, southern New England	May 15 - June 10
7	Mid-South, Virginia, NC Piedmont	May 1 - May 25
8-9	Deep South, Gulf Coast, Florida	April 15 - May 15	Soil moisture matters as much as the calendar. Planting warm-season seed into dry, cracked dirt just wastes seed and money. Wait for a rain in the forecast if you can, or irrigate immediately after planting if you have the ability.

Summer plots go in after your last frost date and once soil temperature is reliably above 65°F, which is the threshold most warm-season legumes and sorghums need for decent germination. In practice that's late April in the Deep South, mid-to-late May in the Midwest and mid-Atlantic, and early-to-mid June in the northern tier and Canadian border states. The honest answer is: check your local frost-free date, not a national calendar. The National Weather Service and NOAA publish average last spring frost dates by station, and your state land-grant extension office almost always has a planting date guide built around that data. Soil temperature is the more reliable trigger than the calendar date itself, since a warm spring or a cold snap can shift things by two or three weeks in either direction. Here's a rough planting window by USDA hardiness zone, but treat it as a starting point, not gospel: | Zone | Approx. region | Summer plot window |

do deer eat sorghum

Yes. Deer readily eat grain sorghum (milo), both the young green forage and the mature grain heads later in the season. Sorghum is popular in summer plot mixes because it tolerates heat and drought far better than corn, which makes it a strong choice for the Southeast, the southern Plains, and anywhere summers run hot and dry. It also has an advantage most hunters don't think about: it stands up through fall and into winter, so a summer-planted sorghum patch can double as a late-season food and cover source. One caution: sorghum-sudangrass hybrids can develop prussic acid (cyanide) risk in young regrowth after a frost or drought stress, which is a bigger concern for livestock than deer, but it's worth knowing if you're grazing cattle on the same ground. For deer-only plots this is rarely an issue since deer browse selectively and aren't confined to a single stressed patch.

do deer eat clover, and do deer like clover

Deer eat clover heavily, and most wildlife biologists rank it among the top preferred forages available to whitetails. Clover is a legume, meaning it fixes nitrogen in the soil and delivers protein levels commonly in the 20-30% range on a dry matter basis during active growth, which matters a lot for lactating does and antler-growing bucks in summer. Do deer like clover? Field observation and forage preference work both say yes, consistently, and clover shows up as a staple recommendation across nearly every state wildlife extension food plot publication. The catch with clover is that it's a perennial, so summer isn't really the planting window for it in most of the country. Clover is normally planted in early spring or late summer/early fall, not mid-summer, because it needs cooler, moister conditions to establish before its root system can handle heat stress. If you already have clover in the ground from a spring or fall planting, that plot becomes your best summer food source with almost no extra work beyond mowing and maybe a mid-summer nitrogen check if it's a mixed stand. If you're planning clover for next season, that's really a fall or early spring project. Our guide on deer food plot seed options breaks down clover varieties and blends in more depth.

when to plant oats for deer

Oats are a cool-season cereal grain, and they're planted in late summer to early fall, not summer itself. Typical windows run late August through mid-September in northern states, and mid-September through October farther south, timed so oats germinate and put on 6-8 inches of growth before the first hard freeze. This one trips people up because 'summer food plots' as a search topic often gets lumped in with 'late summer planting,' which is really the front edge of the fall planting season. If you're planning an oat plot to be ready for October bow season, late July and August is when you should be prepping the ground, spraying weeds, and pulling a soil sample, even though the actual seed doesn't go in until closer to Labor Day. Oats are cold-tolerant to a point but not as hardy as winter wheat or cereal rye, so in colder zones (5 and north) they're often mixed with rye or wheat as insurance against an early hard freeze wiping out a pure oat stand.

when to plant turnips for deer

Turnips are also a cool-season brassica, planted roughly 60-90 days before your first fall frost, which puts most planting windows in July and August, not summer's peak. That timing lines up with 'summer food plot' searches because late July planting genuinely does happen during the summer calendar even though turnips are a fall/winter forage crop by design. Specific dates: mid-July to early August in the northern Midwest and Northeast, late July through mid-August in the transition zone, and August into early September in the Deep South where frost comes later. One real mistake hunters make: planting turnips too early, in June, when heat and weed pressure crush young brassica seedlings before they get established. Wait for that late July window even if it feels late. Turnips also famously go through a flavor change after the first hard frost, when starches convert to sugars and deer use jumps noticeably, which is part of why they're prized as a late-season plot rather than a true summer one.

what's the difference between a summer plot and a fall plot

A summer plot feeds deer during the growing season, roughly May through August, supporting lactating does and antler development in bucks. A fall plot is timed to be highly attractive and often still standing during hunting season, generally September through the end of deer season depending on your state. The species differ because the growing conditions differ. Summer plots use warm-season annuals: soybeans, cowpeas, lablab, grain sorghum, and warm-season clovers if planted early enough in spring to establish before summer heat. Fall plots use cool-season annuals: brassicas (turnips, radishes, rape), cereal grains (oats, wheat, rye), and clover if it's already established from a prior planting. Many serious plotters run both in the same year on different acreage: a soybean or clover field for summer nutrition, and a brassica/cereal grain mix for fall hunting attraction. If your ground is limited to one plot, perennial clover is the closest thing to a plant-once option that covers both seasons reasonably well, since it comes back every spring and stays palatable into fall with a late-summer mow and fertilizer touch-up.

what soil prep matters most for summer plots

Fertility and pH correction matter more than species choice, full stop. A perfectly chosen seed blend planted into acidic, nutrient-poor soil will underperform a basic mix planted into properly limed, fertilized ground. Pull a soil sample before you plant anything. Most land-grant university soil labs charge somewhere between $10 and $20 per sample and turn results around in 1-2 weeks. Your results will tell you exact lime and fertilizer recommendations based on your specific soil chemistry, and that lab is the real authority here, not a general seed bag label. If your soil pH sits below 6.0, which is common on wooded or previously unfarmed ground, lime takes months to fully react with the soil, so ideally you're liming in fall or early spring ahead of a summer planting, not the week before. Warm-season legumes like soybeans and cowpeas also benefit from rhizobium inoculant, a bacterial seed treatment that helps nitrogen fixation. Many seed sources sell pre-inoculated seed, but if you're bagging your own or buying bulk, check the label. Legume inoculation failure is one of the more common and easily avoidable causes of poor plot establishment, and it costs almost nothing to check for before you plant.

what are deer's favorite foods overall

Deer preference shifts by season and region, but across most whitetail range, acorns, soybeans, clover, and standing corn consistently rank as top-preferred foods when available. Agricultural crops in general tend to outcompete native browse in preference studies simply because of higher digestibility and sugar/protein content. In food plot specific terms, soybeans and cowpeas are heavily preferred in summer, clover is preferred nearly year-round where it's available, and brassicas and cereal grains take over as fall favorites, especially after a frost sweetens them. Acorns, when there's a good mast year, can pull deer off planted plots entirely. That's a frustration a lot of hunters run into in October when a bumper white oak crop makes their food plot look empty. Regional and study-specific preference rankings vary, and there isn't one single national study ranking every food source, so take any 'top 10 deer foods' list, including this one, as a general guide rather than a precise ranked order for your specific property.

do deer like honey

There's no real evidence deer are drawn to plain honey as a food source or attractant, and it's not a food plot input at all. This question likely comes from confusion with 'honeysuckle,' which deer do browse readily, or from mineral lick and attractant products that sometimes use sweet syrups or molasses-based scents. If you're seeing 'honey' in searches related to deer attractants, it's worth checking your state's baiting and feeding regulations before using any syrup, molasses, or sugar-based product in the field. Baiting rules vary enormously by state: some states prohibit hunting over any supplemental feed, others allow it outside a certain distance from a stand, and some restrict it only during specific seasons. Check your state wildlife agency's current regulations directly since these rules change year to year and enforcement differs by state. Food plots themselves are almost universally legal (they're a planted crop, not bait), but poured attractants and mineral/feed piles are a different legal category in many states.

should you plant a summer plot if you only have one shot at it this year

If you can only plant once this year and you're deciding between summer and fall, plant for fall hunting season unless you have a specific nutritional goal like helping a struggling herd through drought or lactation stress. Most hunters' actual goal is having deer on the property and visible during archery and gun season, and cool-season fall plots (brassicas, cereal grains, or clover established in late summer) do that job more directly than a pure summer plot that may be browsed down and gone by October. That said, if your real objective is herd health and antler growth support rather than hunting-season attraction, a summer soybean or cowpea plot genuinely does more for a deer's body condition during the most nutritionally demanding months of the year. A lot of hunters split the difference: plant a perennial clover field in spring, let it run through summer as a food source, then top-dress it with fertilizer in August so it's still productive and attractive going into archery season. That single planting effort covers both jobs reasonably well without needing two separate plot dates.

how big should a summer food plot be

There's no single correct size, but a common starting range for a single-species summer plot on a small property is a quarter acre to one acre, scaled up if you have more open ground and want it to hold up under grazing pressure through the whole summer. Smaller plots (under a quarter acre) in areas with high deer density often get grazed down to nothing by mid-summer before they can produce real tonnage, especially with browse-sensitive species like soybeans in the seedling stage. If deer density on your property is high, either fence a portion of the plot temporarily to let it establish, or plant a larger total acreage so grazing pressure spreads out. State wildlife agency deer density estimates (many are published as deer per square mile by county or management unit) can give you a rough sense of pressure to expect, though these numbers are estimates, not precise counts.

where a custom plan and species selection tool actually help

Picking species is only half the job. Matching those species to your specific soil test numbers, your zone's planting windows, and how much acreage you actually have is where most DIY plots go sideways, usually from planting the right seed at the wrong time or skipping the lime application their soil test called for. If you want a plan built around your specific ZIP code, acreage, and soil test results rather than a generic seed bag recommendation, PlotSeason's $99 one-time Custom Food Plot Plan walks through species selection and a planting calendar tailored to your situation. It's general planning guidance built from extension data and your inputs, not a substitute for your soil lab's specific lime and fertilizer recommendations, which remain the real authority on your dirt. Whatever route you take, cross-reference your plan against your own deer food plots research and your state extension's variety trial data before you buy seed in bulk.

Frequently asked questions

Do deer eat sorghum?

Yes, deer eat both the green forage and mature grain heads of sorghum. It's a strong choice for hot, dry summer plots because it tolerates drought better than corn. Grain sorghum also stands into fall and winter, giving you a food source that carries past the summer growing season into hunting season.

Do deer eat clover, and do deer like clover?

Deer eat clover heavily and generally prefer it when it's available, ranking it among the top forages in most wildlife food plot programs. Clover offers 20-30% protein during active growth, which supports lactating does and antler-growing bucks. It's a perennial though, so it's typically planted in spring or fall, not mid-summer.

When should you plant food plots for deer?

Timing depends on species and zone. Warm-season summer plots (soybeans, cowpeas, sorghum) go in after soil hits 65°F, roughly April in the Deep South through June in the northern tier. Cool-season fall plots (brassicas, oats, clover) go in 60-90 days before your area's first killing frost, usually July through September.

When do you plant turnips for deer?

Plant turnips 60 to 90 days before your area's first killing frost. That's typically mid-July to early August in northern regions and August into early September farther south. Planting earlier, in June heat, usually leads to weed pressure and poor seedling survival.

When do you plant oats for deer?

Oats are planted late summer to early fall, roughly late August through September in northern states and mid-September through October farther south. This gives oats time to establish 6-8 inches of growth before a hard freeze. They're a cool-season grain, not a true summer planting despite the late-summer timing.

What is a food plot?

A food plot is a planted area, usually a fraction of an acre up to several acres, established specifically to feed deer or other wildlife. The USDA recognizes wildlife food plots under its Upland Wildlife Habitat Management conservation practice standard (Code 645) in some state cost-share programs, treating them as legitimate habitat improvement, more than a hunting tool.

What are deer's favorite foods?

Preference shifts by season, but acorns, soybeans, clover, and standing corn rank consistently high across most whitetail range when available. Clover is preferred nearly year-round where it grows. Acorns during a strong mast year can pull deer away from planted plots entirely, which frustrates a lot of hunters in good acorn years.

Do deer like honey?

There's no real evidence deer seek out plain honey as a food source. This question often stems from confusion with honeysuckle, which deer do browse, or sweet syrup-based attractant products. Check your state's baiting and feeding regulations before using any sugar or molasses-based attractant, since rules vary widely by state.

Can you plant a summer food plot and a fall food plot in the same field?

Yes, if you have enough acreage or time it right. A common approach is planting perennial clover in spring, letting it feed deer through summer, then fertilizing it again in August so it's still productive going into fall archery season. Otherwise, rotate warm-season summer annuals with cool-season fall annuals in separate plots.

Do I need a soil test before planting a summer food plot?

Yes, and it matters more than seed selection. Most land-grant soil labs charge $10-20 per sample with results in 1-2 weeks, giving you exact lime and fertilizer recommendations for your soil chemistry. Planting good seed into unamended, acidic soil is one of the most common reasons DIY plots underperform.

How big should a summer deer food plot be?

A quarter acre to one acre works for most single-species summer plots on smaller properties, though high deer density areas may need larger acreage or temporary fencing to let seedlings establish before grazing pressure sets in. There's no universal correct size; it depends on your local deer density and available open ground.

Are food plots legal, or does planting one count as baiting?

Food plots (planted crops in the ground) are legal in essentially every state and are not classified as baiting. Baiting rules apply to poured or piled supplemental feed like corn, mineral licks, or syrup-based attractants, and those regulations vary significantly by state. Always check your state wildlife agency's current rules before using any non-planted attractant.

Sources

1. USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Conservation Practice Standard 645: Upland Wildlife Habitat Management: wildlife food plots recognized under a federal conservation practice code
2. USDA Web Soil Survey and soil temperature guidance for warm-season legume establishment: soil temperature thresholds used for warm-season forage planting timing
3. National Weather Service, Average Last Spring Freeze/Frost Date Climatology: average last spring frost dates published by NOAA/NWS station data used to time plantings
4. Oklahoma State University Extension, PSS-2129: Food Plots for Deer: grain sorghum recommended as a drought-tolerant warm-season wildlife food plot species and brassica planting windows relative to first frost
5. USDA NRCS, Rhizobium Inoculation of Legume Seed, Plant Materials Technical Note: legume inoculation with rhizobium bacteria supports nitrogen fixation and establishment success