Got a one acre patch of sugar beets planted last evening, first time I've tried them, got seed for free. A little late, but hopefully we will get some timely rains so I can get a crop.

Anyone have experience with sugar beets as a food plot?

in my limited experience the deer walked right over them to get to the standing soybeans in the late season.

I hope your plot turns out well!!!

The beets are right beside a three acre plot of beans. Will add some turnips in a month or two.

Sugar beets are used a lot in Michigan for baiting. The deer eat the bulbs which grow under ground and need to be dug up to use. Not sure if the deer will dig them up and wont be able once the ground is froze. If you dig them up then it would be considered baiting. Hope they work out for you. h.h.

Assume those beets grow about like a turnip where 1/4 to 1/3 of the bulb protrudes above ground level. On turnips, deer bite the tops off the bulbs and paw them out as well after the ground freezes, but yes there is some of it that they can't get to.

I've had great success with turnips, but it took a couple seasons to get the deer trained.

They sure are. I have a friend who has told me stories of hunting around a beet pulp dump up in Michigan.

Herds of deer flock them nightly.

So the question is............ are you using beets to supplement deer forage ............OR are you using it for bait?


Baiting deer is still not legal in Indiana!


Guys you have to be specific............LOL.

I'm tired of people who are "baiting" deer, do you really need a food source for KILLING deer?


The "hunt" has left............ now it is "killing"


One piece at a time we erode our hunting hereitage........

Hmmmm Joe. Welcome to the dark side! I agree..

In many ways it's a sign of the times. So much of the outdoor heritage, as with many other activities, is being lost, or maybe reshaped is a better word. Technology changed the historical hunting heritage so much in the last 10 to 15 years that its hard to image that the change can continue as dramatically in the future. The future generations will continue to expect easier solutions, not only as to how they manage their daily lives or how they communicate but also in regard to how they hunt, fish or trap. The continued redefinition of so many things, including hunting, is often very painful for the older generations, the generation that many of us find ourselves in today. The hunting heritage as defined by so many of the older hunters has likely been lost for a long, long time and will continue to be even further diminished in the future. But it's ok because we have to believe in the youth and trust them to protect the resource, even if they redefine what hunting is and how it's done.

Was it really hunting back in "our heritage" when they pretty much made them extinct that's seems like "killing" to me as well. I am not sure that they waited around on a big buck to "manage the herd" I thought they killed back then to eat I guess that's what I thought heritage was. I mean let's not beat around the bush it is "baiting" for deer if you go out and plant a food plot on your property why else did you put it there and then hang a stand.

Wow...opinions always get really strong on this site!

Simple question about others experience with sugar beets gets totally hijacked to say food sources in general are screwing up the "heritage" of the sport.....

I'll answer thr question posed....I have never planted sugar beets, let alone ANY other food source (or bait to some) since i do not own property, so i cannot speak to it. Sorry Steiny

To me the #1 issue is this....is he breaking any law planting this? ? NO! So let him manage his property the way he chooses to under the law, and everyone else manage theirs how they choose.

I think someone was just having a bad day........

Food plots are no different than hunting around an acorn tree dropping acorns in a woods or corn field edges or a trail leading to and from bedding grounds to some kind of food.

I plant food plots to feed deer and to hunt/kill over and don't feel the need to apologise to anyone. If and when the IDNR says its illegal then I will cease to do so. h.h.

Never tried beets due to the long 90-100 day season needed to grow them. Will be curious how they work out for you. I'd assume that like turnips, they're a late-season winter food source type crop, rather than an Oct/Nov hunting plot. Not palatable until after several extended hard freezes?

It was a joke notice the "LOL"

I tried them several years ago and the deer eat the tops off before they could grow a bulb, all before it ever had a frost!

Yes, exactly

Now hunting over a dump truck load of beet pulp and corn dropped 20 yards in front of a deer stand as some do in Michigan...this is not sporting in my book.

Marquette, MI