Kyle, congrats on your previous successes and thanks for your support! As a fellow Wisconsinite I understand the frustrations that go along with tremendous fluctuations in local deer herd numbers across the state. Not sure where you are at exactly, but I see a lot more deer in SE WI than in N WI, and for some obvious reasons…food, predators, and hunter numbers. We could talk all day about WI deer management, but I’ll choose to save that for another day. Your first question was how you should go about planting the large (4 acre) ag field. My answer would be to experiment. Since the property is surrounded by ag, I would expect little over browsing during the early fall. Thus, I love the thought of providing a smorgasbord of quality forage types in your food plots. The majority should still be planted with grains because my guess is the surrounding farmers till the fields after harvest. Try out a pattern like this: 2 acres of corn, 1 acre of soybeans, ½ acre Broadside (great mixture of brassicas, winter wheat and soybeans made by Eagle Seed), and ½ acre of clover. This will be a great way to view what the deer are preferring to eat during different times of the year. Monitor from an observation stand or time lapse mode on trail cams and hunt based upon what you are seeing. Your second question may be a tough hurdle. From your description it sounds as though the deer numbers are low in your area and the factory farm shoots every doe they can. Tough scenario to deal with because you can’t really blame the farmers for using their ag tags because the crop is their moneymaker. Also, shooting at them with rifles will turn them nocturnal. Maybe you could ask if you would be able to fill their ag tags with the use of a bow before season? Could be a win win. You get to hunt and the deer get shot at less, and eventually learn it is safe to feed during the day again. I hope these suggestions help. Hunt safe!

— Andrew Gall, GrowingDeer.tv