Thread: Peanuts for deer nutrition... and small game habitat..

Over the last decade or so a fellow has been leasing out our open fields to plant cash crops(soy beans, corn, wheat, etc) well when he plants corn, we have some of the most amazing dove shoots and always have well nourished deer.

This year is the first time the man has planted Peanuts, acre after acre of dang peanuts... I thought to myself the deer won't like them as much as the soy beans or corn, but I was wrong.. I think the deer like them just as much. I'm counting anywhere from 15 to 30 deer during our evening rides.. My son saw his 1st deer this week up close as they were startled and cut across the road in front of the atv's.

Do any of you plant peanuts for deer? if so... did they have alot of weight and fat when harvested?
And has anyone had any real success keeping quail and rabbit populations up on their place?

Current day



Another doe that is used to our traffic



Lou following me to the creek


No evening ride is complete without stopping to catch a feeshy.. We try to wet a line every single day... Her words are usually, 'daddy, when are we going back to gulf shores'

nanny that appears to have just dropped?



I think some of these deer just don't care about me any more...

I can't do crops like peanuts or chufas---the %&*# feral hogs root them up. I planted iron and clay peas last year but the deer ate them as soon as they emerged. Looks like you have some of the same deer that hang around my camp, looking for handouts.

Looks like you are going to have a good outdoor partner for the next few years, until the hormones kick in and you become a stupid embarrassment.

Deer love em and so do the doves! Some of the best shoots I've been on have been over picked peanut fields.

I have good numbers of quail at the moment, more raccoons than i want, and a few deer that are regulars when i put out corn for them. I only have 10 acres, part of it is covered by a pond and my orchard takes up several more acres. I have trees planted for bedding cover but they're still small at this point. The Oklahoma clay is tough soil to grow trees in. I do have a strip of cleared ground that should have a food plot, but being from michigan i have no idea what plants to grow in clay for a fall plot. Im considering clover mixed with wheat/buckwheat.

I hunt a friends farm land. He plants peanuts every year but rotates fields after 2 years. The deer numbers triple when he plants peanuts on the land that I hunt. He gets a permit every year to shoot the deer that damage his crops during the summer. The deer eat the vines until the peanuts start maturing, then they start digging them up. As jhl said, a picked peanut field is great for shooting doves too.

As for quail management, I have an adjoining neighbor with 350 acres and every spring he sets a series of racoon and possum traps for a few weeks. The idea is to reduce their numbers during the critical brood period. He knows the predator populations will quickly recover but is merely trying to create a window for the quail to have reduced mortality till the young get a bit bigger. He’s been doing it for four years now and it’s actually had an impact. I hear a LOT more quail calling than I used to.

My stand is right on our border and from that stand I’ve seen all manner of good game. Turkey, quail, coyote, bobcat, and believe it or not, otters.

We also manage for deer,...
I’d post a pic but this site doesn’t take pictures. I’ve tried to “resize” but for some reason it’s never the right size. Sure wish there was a auto sizing feature that would funnel any chosen pictures into the size needed.

Originally Posted by SteveH

As for quail management, I have an adjoining neighbor with 350 acres and every spring he sets a series of racoon and possum traps for a few weeks. The idea is to reduce their numbers during the critical brood period. He knows the predator populations will quickly recover but is merely trying to create a window for the quail to have reduced mortality till the young get a bit bigger. He’s been doing it for four years now and it’s actually had an impact. I hear a LOT more quail calling than I used to.

My stand is right on our border and from that stand I’ve seen all manner of good game. Turkey, quail, coyote, bobcat, and believe it or not, otters.

We also manage for deer,...
I’d post a pic but this site doesn’t take pictures. I’ve tried to “resize” but for some reason it’s never the right size. Sure wish there was a auto sizing feature that would funnel any chosen pictures into the size needed.

I considered trapping the raccoons, but Oklahoma doesn't allow the average home owner to deal with them. Here (unfortunately), since they're fur bearers I could trap them during the fall/winter (with a license) or I could pay a state certified individual to come in and do what I should be able to do for myself right now.

I'm not a Monsanto hater but........The availability of cheap non selective herbicides have made it easy to keep overgrown fence rows (prime quail habitat) clean. The small patchwork farms with lots of edges, fallow fields and leftover grain are now pretty scarce. The migration to urban centers and non agrarian employment has led to small tracts being sold off to a single owner that plants a single crop with little grain waste, overgrown fence rows and field edges OR permanent pasture OR thick planted pines that soon shade out anything edible for quail. The CRP program in the 80's in my area consisted of planting a pure stand of fungus free fescue which is terrible wildlife habitat. Development has taken it's toll as has the protection of raptors. Coyotes moved in some time here in the early 80's when the deer population exploded. With the stigma of wearing fur there are few trappers to keep skunk, coyote and racoon numbers in check.

I'm finishing up moving and downsizing and just dug out 4 or 5 buckets of traps from the back of my shed. I miss the days you could sell coons on the fur market. Now you see them smashed on the roads, trapped in dumpsters and scattering trash when its set out for pick up. They raid nests for the eggs of every game bird and waterfowl. Muskrats die out from disease brought on by overcrowding. Coyotes are as thick as rabbits use to be here. I'm still not sure why the animal rights techno zombies feel this is a good thing.
I kept my traps though, maybe someday the world and common sense will realign.