Radishes for Deer

I could almost set my watch by the doe and her two fawns as they made their way to my plot every day about the same time. Some days they would already be in my plot feeding when I arrived at my tree stand. Fortunately, my access was almost bulletproof allowing me to make it to the base of my tree and ease up the ladder where I would spend the next few hours enjoying my afternoon sit.

What attracted these same deer from their nearby bedding like clockwork? Radishes. Now personally I am not a fan of eating radishes but my local deer population isn’t quite as picky as me. In fact, they prefer them to other forages that I grow in my plots each year for them. When planted in mid-August stand alone radish plots offer powerful attraction. Almost every year we get shooting opportunities at deer the first few weeks of bow season over radish plots.

As much as I love the fact that deer in my area enjoy eating radishes the real reason we love planting them is because of the soil benefits.  I’ll always have a soft spot for winter rye which I consider to be the G.O.A.T of food plot seeds but if I had to pick a “runner up” it would be radishes.  After that 3^rd place isn’t even close.

My deer hunting journey started with my initial love of deer hunting. That love led me down the road of making habitat improvements and planting food plots. These days I still love all of those things but I am fascinated and almost obsessed with improving the soil where I plant my plots. When it comes to what we can plant to make our soils better it is hard to beat the radish.

Think of radishes as being super remarkable giving back to the soil, the habitat, and future plantings that follow them. Successful regenerative farmers have used them for many years as part of their cover crop programs which easily translates to food plots.

For starters they have a very long taproot, up to 6 feet long, that drills down through the hardpan of your soil breaking up soil compaction. Once thru the hardpan the roots effectively scavenge nitrogen that most plants never have access to. This nitrogen is transported back to the tuber where it is stored and released back into the top layers of the soil when the radish dies and begins to decompose. They literally act like a sponge holding important nutrients and release them over time. Subsequent plantings are then able to take advantage of this “free nitrogen”.  Other materials that become available are phosphorus and calcium. This can equate to almost 100 pounds per acre of available nutrients. Now you can see why cover crop experts value them so much as they can greatly reduce fertilizer inputs. Reduced inputs means more profit for farmers.

As radishes die off they aid greatly in building up organic levels in your soil. The taproot and tubers allow for moisture to gain access to deeper parts of the soil than normal. Radishes also to an excellent job of preventing soil erosion, aid in suppressing weeds, and even help to kill unwanted pests living in your soil

In addition to being great for your soil deer are also great for your deer. They are very high in protein, the tubers are roughly 20% protein and the leafy matter can be between 25-35%, depending on the stage of growth when deer are consuming them. Deer will eat the tubers but they prefer the tops. Radishes also easily digestable plus they provide healthy minerals and vitamins to deer. They can produce up to 5,000 pounds of forage per acre in a stand alone plot when planted at 8-10 pounds per acre. Not to shabby for less than $35 worth of seed.

If you have had problems getting your deer to eat your brassica plantings in the past try adding radishes to your mix. Doing so usually means a good transition from the radishes to the other brassicas especially later in the season. You can also add them to cereal grain mixes at 5 pounds per acre for added diversity to your fall food plots.

I think we can all relate to how satisfying it is to plant a forage that attracts deer and one that they especially like to eat. Radishes definitely fit the bill and they also take it to another level thanks to the tremendous benefits to our soils. If you have never planted them before definitely consider them as they should be definitely be a part of a complete food plot planting system.