I have gotten permission to bow hunt in a small area just outside my town in the hill country. I wanted to plant a food plot, but am limited by several things. I like any opinions on what I should plant, and I will try to describe to area as best as I can. I won't be able to use a tractor here, so I plan on just planting a 40x40 yard area and just use a garden tiller to "plow" it. I won't be able to water it, but it is a drainage area, so it should stay moist. I want something that I can plant and will bring in the deer by October. I don't know if there is anything that will meet all of these criteria, but maybe someone can give me some ideas.
Thanks

Don't get your hopes too high....until we start getting rain, bout the only thing you'll grow will be weeds! I'd certainly look around your area first, and see if anything is growing that has been cultivated. Of course, disregard anything that is being irrigated.

What I have done in the past, is get a good seed mixture. Often local feed supply dealers have their own local blends that will do well. I had mixture from RRR FEED in Goldthwaite that did real well all year.

Don't forget to figure out what the ph levels are in the soil and plant when some moisture is present. Otherwise you will be limiting the potential of of your plot. As suggested above, check with local feed stores and/or the county ag extension agent.

Three things on this. One it is the Hill Country it means lots of rocks to deal with. Second because it being the Hill Country means lots of deer. That small of an area is going to mean lots of grazing pressure. Third would be hogs rooting it up if and when it rains. Will there be any cattle on it? If not then what you are looking for is an attractant plot. I would plant oats really heavy, 100#/acre rate and see if the feed store has some purple top turnips and after you plant the oats then over seed around 4-6#/acre rate of them if hogs are really bad I might leave them out. They will give some grazing after the first hard freeze and once deer find them they will be back. See if the store has some clover seed. Madrid or Hubam do well in the Hill Country soils and if there are hogs then I would overseed 10-15#/acre rate of cloverseed instead of turnips on top of the oats and lightly cover it. PH is usually ok in the Hill Country soils. If you do not do a soil test then I would put out a rate of 300#/acre of 13/13/13 fertilizer. Newly tilled soils usually grow a food plot well the first year. If you have cattle then I would only plant oats since it takes grazing pressure and is more drought tolerant. Planting seeds at the highest seeding rates allows for a lot of grazing pressure. If it rains it will do great and if it don't rain it makes no difference how much seed you plant it won't do well. I always plant heavy.

stxranchman knows what he talking about

smart man

thanks for the knowledge

Thanks alot stranchman, I will try that. There aren't any cows and I doubt if there will be many hogs, so I will try the turnips.