JEFF HUNT May is not too late to get your summer food plots in the ground, but if you wait until June to plant warm-season greenery, it’s going serve as more of a late-summer and early-fall food source.

By the first week of May, the danger of a killer frost is improbable, and any planned summer food plots should be well underway. Unfortunately, many part-time land managers/hunters do not sow the first seed until May. Preparing, planting, and maintaining food plots usually is not most hunters’ primary occupation. April also falls in the middle of the spring turkey season in North Carolina and South Carolina. Broadcasting seed throughout a freshly-tilled food plot after a spending a morning chasing a gobbler may not sit well with your local game warden during the afternoon hunt.

For whatever reason, many summer food plots just do not get planted when they should during April. Even though April is more ideal for most summer food-plot plantings, early May falls within the planting window for cranking out most warm-season food plots. Single crop or seed mixes containing corn, soybean, peanut, and clover should be planted no later than May 20 to be effective as a summer food source for deer and other wildlife. Chufa, milo, peas, and joint vetch can be planted as late as June and July, but they will serve as more of a late-summer and early-fall food source. Later plantings tend to struggle with aggressive weed species.