That would have many conditions.What are you planting? What is the PH of the soil? Seed price would be a big thing.Lime to adjust your PH can get costly.But in the long run Plots would provide more tonage.

 

One the one hand a dry spell won't kill the protien pellets, don't have to weed or replant the pellets. It might take many tons of lime if you are planting in the middle of a pine plantation too. Is the soil sandy?

 

Depends on what is legal... here you have to go with the food plot option. I would tend towards that anyways.

 

30 acres food plots.

 

There is way to many variables to even be able to give you an answer.
Questions:
1) Have you planted this area before?
2) How many years are you going to be hunting this land?
3) The questions asked by ohiobowhunter

 

If you like corn talk to a farmer they will plant it and take it off for you. So you would be able to keep the deer there all summer then feed them corn after it is taken off. So you make money off of the deer food.

 

Ok, I have a good figure now on planting the food plots so I'll rephrase the question,

If the cost were the same, which would provide the most benefit to the deer?

 

Did you find out the price? I would be curious to know the difference. I can't answer the question to the benefit of a deer, but I would certainly do the plots if the price were anywhere close. I'm much more of a plot guy than a feeder.

 

If you plant them the right way(lime, fertilizer, herbicide, etc) with beans or corn its about $100/acre doing it yourself. More if you have to rent or have someone else do it. If its clover or something like that (rape, turnips, etc) probably about $80/acre. If you do go the food plot route get the pH test first otherwise you are just wasting your time and money. I personally would do the food plot route because it is less money, maintenance, and intrusion on your land.

Matt

 

If we are talking long term I think food plots are better option. The costs in the beginning might be higher but once you get the plots established it will be much easier and cheaper going fwd

 

Depending on what you would have to spend on getting the soild right would be the determination in what would be cheaper.

Either way I would go with the food plots, the amount of human scent that goes into putting pellets in feeders versus a food plot growing is the deal breaker for me.

 

Well it depends on what your using them for. If your using the plots for hunting or killing plots then go for it. If your using them as a management tool great but i hate to rain on your parade... Food plots and or supplemental feeding will do absolutely nothing as far as helping your herd... Think about it, how much time will a deer spend in a food plot or at a mineral or feeding station? Maybe if he is there a lot 1% of his or her life.. How much will that affect antlers? None at all. As far as food plots go clover produce about the highest amount of protein that any plant can produce and under optimum conditions that comes out to be 15-16%... For a deer to reach full potential he needs 16% of crude protein per day. Thats just not happening. You can do more for your deer herd by creating high protein browse. In other words manage your forests!!! Deer are selective foragers, meaning they eat what they want to. If you have a bunch of plants are higher in protein then your deer herd will benefit a lot more. Manage their bedrooms, not their dinner tables!!! Manage where the deer spend most of their time! Create places for sunlight to hit the ground in the woods and this will help tremendously! Dont get me wrong im not bashing food plots, they are great for certain things, just not growing big deer.

 

Exactly

 

No question plots are more beneficial. And I would think more cost effective cause seed is cheap and fertilizer is the most expensive but cheaper than pellets in the long run especially if you plant clover it can last for years and you just have to mow it.

 

Mobigbucks I agree but I think you may not realize how much deer will rely on the plots. Yes they are selective browsers but deer really need the protein in the summer they switch to high carbs in the winter. And they are picky eaters. I plant 6 different plots on my farm and I will watch the deer browse at one then the other then the other. I have alot of open ground with natural browse but when they really want to ear they go from plot to plot and I know in the fall the % that they eat per day is higher than 1% from my plots.

 

Btw natural browse averages 11% crude protein with plots or plant crops you bump up their protein consumption but mobigbucks is right that reaching 16% is almost impossible unless they are pinned up.