I have a area that's about 6 acres on the back of our place by the river. It was covered up in mesquite tress for a good while. A friend asked if he could bulldoze down all the tress and plant some coastal to cut for his cows. I said sure. So he got it all cleared this summer and plowed it under all these big cockle burr type plants that come up when it gets wet back there. So all these little weeds and forbs came up and the deer are every where back there eating them up. Has been great hunting this year. So question, when he puts in the coastal will the deer use that field at all any more? I don't think deer will eat that. Now I wish he would want to plant oats or wheat because they would love that but Ill let him do what is best for him. Just wondered if Im going to lothey are there all the tse this new hunting area. There had never been that many deer back there before now they are every where. Any thoughts on what the coastal may do to the deer?

They will use coastal as a bedding site.

Make them go to the nearest wheat field.

I dont think they really eat coastal itself but there will normally always be something else in there that their long snoots will get to and eat. If it was highly fertilized and a strong attempt to kill weeds then its mostly coastal and not so good. Im no expert though.

Deer are like goats, they prefer browse to grass. That being said, I have several large fields of coastal for cattle grazing. In the fall I overseed and disc the coastal fields with either oats or winter rye for grazing. Works out fine because as the coastal starts to decline, the oats comes on. With proper rainfall, I have oats for the cows and deer love it. If army worms look to be a problem I wait and overseed with rye because it can be seeded a lot later than oats and still germinate. Heck you can toss that stuff on concrete and it will sprout!! In any case, there is grazing that deer will like.

Frio Town is right on. We plant the rye in the fall and it works great to attach the deer.

Coastal may well be good for cattle, but it is pasture death (maybe a teeny harsh) for browsers Can grow so thick it can choke out forbs.

Thanks for the info. It's been such a good field for the deer this year even with nothing planted , I'd hate to lose it. There are no cows he was just going to cut the coastal and bring it to his cows throughout the year. I was just helping him out.Maybe I can see if I can convince him to do some of the things you guys mentioned. A nice big oat field would be best though lol.

Like said before, overseed with ryegrass in the fall....

Sounds like a plan. Appreciate the input

I would not overseed with ryegrass since it matures and seeds out much later than oats. By growing much later into the spring or even into summer it could cut back on coastal hay production. I would overseed with oats since it will mature and seed earlier.

I used to have permission to hunt a costal field that the rancher drilled in wheat and oats for his cows. It was always covered up with does and the fellas came a looking.