Food plots are worthless for hunting

[BuckSutherland]

Where are you parking and how are you accessing your stands? I can’t imagine getting more then 10 sits in before the deer have your end game figured out.

Park at my father-in laws place. This year access on the north side will be entirely concealed in the woods about 15 feet so nothing on the road can ever see us. As we get towards the field access is already in the woods so nothing can ever see us from the field or swamp edge. Its very easy to slip in and out in the afternoon on the north side. As Bill refereed to before, its difficult to get in the stand in the morning cause they are headed back to bedding. I only do it if I am hunting alone and usually like to sneak to that middle stand on the north side or one of the two south stands. All depends on wind. A lot of times when we wanna go to the south stands we go all the way to the east side and sneak along the back. 90% of the bucks I have ever seen up in that area are all moving in the morning.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

You clearly have food to cover and cover to food movements. The northwest corner seems to be where all trails converge. You mentioned 30,000 pics in the past 4 years. What does the data reveal? When do those pics show that bucks are using your land? Half hour after last shooting light? 1 AM?

I did some math. A 40 acre parcel that's roughly square gives you a 1300 x 1300 ft. box...or roughly 400 yards by 400 yards. From that east access route to the center of your land is only 200 yards, and that is not a lot of berth between you and every deer that's potentially using your land. The way you have your food plots and all of those clover trails then means that the deer can be almost anywhere on that land, in unpredictable circular patterns of movement, at any given point. I think you have created less than perfect potential for numerous deer/hunter negative encounters...another Sturgis thing. So...lack of depth of cover...unpredictable deer movements...high probability of negative encounters...doe factory...etc.

I know it's hard to undo a food plot once you put one in. I'd get rid of the clover trails, allow your old plots to grow in (as you've already done...or maybe turn one into an orchard?), and consider a long narrow food plot that runs roughly diagonally from the southwest corner of your land to the northeast corner...irregular shaped and kind of winding and twisting.

Caveat emptor...I do not think I am God's gift to hunting...I don't watch football...I don't shoot an over and under, but I can see the appeal...I have never shot a pheasant (never even seen one)...and I, two, like pancakes.

 

[hesseu]

I'm with Bill...

Here's the thing...I can completely agree with you that food plots aren't working for you and your situation. To me, that is the last thing in the world of habitat that "needs" to be done. Sort of like icing on the cake.

The way I see it, is you can screen from the road with your current woods a couple of food plots around 40-50 yards off the road. These would be more used as "staging" plots to the food north of you. And, honestly, even with these plots you could / would rarely set up on them for hunting. Maybe early season to whack a doe or 2. Other than that, use the bedding to the south to your advantage. If you do move the plots further north, start making bedding thickets throughout your property as the does will take over the ones closer to the food plots, and the bucks will slip in to the ones further back...or stay to the south on the public. But, make sure you access you stands not going through you property, but by staying out on the east / west boundary of it and slipping into the stands. Basically, catch them coming back to the bedding in the mornings.

 

[BuckSutherland]

This video describes EXACTLY what I saw with our parcel up in northern MN. Everything that he is describing is exactly what I saw with our herd. High stem count on our select cut 40 acres, high stem count on the clear cut federal land to the south, great food source to the north (at least better than 95% of the land around), great bedding. Our 40 is a natural place deer want to be WITHOUT any habitat improvements. There were/are already plenty of deer around.


The second we did the food plots and introduced brand new food sources the does and fawns went nuts for it and ran all the bucks off or turned them nocturnal. There used to be another guy on here that hunted by Ottertail. He had good land and would do all the food plots and stuff too, but yet he would never shoot a deer either. If he was still around I would tell him to quit food plot and screwing around in the woods like I did and he would probably shoot a deer right away. I should have this year and blew it. Some properties really suffer from these plots I think.


My time this year will be spent making the property a place where the bucks like to tinker around and check things out. Gonna cut more shit down to thicken it up, plant more spruce and cage them so they stop getting browsed, more licking branches and mock scrapes to mess around with, and a few perm stands so I dont have to sit in the rain anymore. I really want to plant some of these plots to switch grass now after seeing that in a few places. Our deer would LOVE that stuff.


Things are looking up on the habitat management side. Hopefully the herd population didnt get massacred this winter.

 

[Nova]

Our place is in Ottertail county and I have seen exactly the opposite results of you. You can bad mouth food plots all you want, but I bet your deer really wished you had left them some standing corn this last winter!

If you plant a food plot then pressure the crap out of it during the season of course the deer are going to steer clear of it. Same thing would happen if you made a water hole, then sat in the stand right over it every single night.

Food plots are the best thing to happen to our farm and our deer herd ever.

 

[yoderjac]

Our place is in Ottertail county and I have seen exactly the opposite results of you. You can bad mouth food plots all you want, but I bet your deer really wished you had left them some standing corn this last winter!

If you plant a food plot then pressure the crap out of it during the season of course the deer are going to steer clear of it. Same thing would happen if you made a water hole, then sat in the stand right over it every single night.

Food plots are the best thing to happen to our farm and our deer herd ever.

Even though the thread title is intended to stir the pot, this is really not a case of pro or con food plots. That would be like saying Glyphosate is bad because I sprayed it on an non-RR crop and it killed it. Food plots are tools like gly and anything else. When applied properly in situations that call for them they can make a huge positive difference. Used without proper analysis and planning, you can ruin a great hunting location. This is not only true of food plots, but of all the habitat changes we make.

This thread becomes a good warning for folks starting out. You can ruin your soils with a plow, your hunting with an ill-advised food plot, or just about any other habitat project. Step one is analyzing 1,000 acres surrounding the center of your land whether you own it or not. Next is to analyze 3 miles surrounding the same spot. When you have a good handle on what deer currently have and how they relate to the land, you can begin to define a set of objectives and goals related to how you want them to relate to the habitat. From there you can figure out what kinds of habit improvements you have the resources to implement that will help you achieve those goals.

Most folks are much too anxious to do all this planning. They want dirt under their fingernails NOW. Yours truly included when I was getting started. Playing in the dirt can be exciting and rewarding in itself, but may do more harm than good. It is a learning experience most of us go through.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Just plant fall plots and be done with it. I didn't watch the video but have seen it and other in the past. That is the reason I dont plant hardly any perennial plots. Does wont get into a fenced bean plot either and corn is almost worthless until october and later.

 

[Baker]

I just saw the title of this thread and strictly for chuckles post this video--- that I recently also posted in the property tours section. Apologies for the repeat. My original intent for this video was to show some amazing rut activity. Course it did happen to be in a oat field. If there is any point at all it is simply how dramatically different things can be in different places. I have pretty good luck hunting food plots.

I also think this is solid advice
"This thread becomes a good warning for folks starting out. You can ruin your soils with a plow, your hunting with an ill-advised food plot, or just about any other habitat project. Step one is analyzing 1,000 acres surrounding the center of your land whether you own it or not. Next is to analyze 3 miles surrounding the same spot. When you have a good handle on what deer currently have and how they relate to the land, you can begin to define a set of objectives and goals related to how you want them to relate to the habitat. From there you can figure out what kinds of habit improvements you have the resources to implement that will help you achieve those goals."

 

[Rit]

I genuinely like Sturgis and normally what he has to say. One thing I don’t like is the resume on every single video. Almost on every video in the first 30 seconds he runs through his 700 properties 15 state spiel and then names off the states. Again just not a fan of that but I am sure it serves a purpose.

I am conflicted on his doe factory theory for my scenario. There is almost no time of the year my property holds mature bucks. I do know that at the end of October through November I’ll get a dozen on my property though and they aren’t there for the scenery. This past season I had 4-5 mature does almost daily and that brought in all the bucks. I don’t think my property is overcrowed I just don’t think it’s an ideal year round bedding property. The other issue is a lot of food plot seed that is good for soil improvement is also quality deer food. I want to plant summer plots to help aid in mining nutrients for fall plots without fertilizer while improving my soil.

I’d rather have a handful of does in my summer plantings then hope they show up in the fall. At least I know bucks will come looking for them. I could see an issue if you were always bumping deer getting into your stand but I live in the middle of my ground and have great access to my stands.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

It depends on numbers. In a loweish density area in ag land summer plots wont hurt you that much. The farm I hunt is 200 or so acres of beans, corn, and alfalfa with approx. 100 acres of wooded ground. My 1/4 acre of clover/chicory and another 1/2 acre of beans isn't going to have near the tonnage and draw as that 200 acres of ag.

If your planting plots over an acre of clover and beans in the cover that may be a different story.

 

[SwampCat]

I just hope new, inexperienced, hopeful, habitat managers dont accept his word as gospel. What he is saying is far from the truth across most areas of the south.

 

[Nova]

I just hope new, inexperienced, hopeful, habitat managers dont accept his word as gospel. What he is saying is far from the truth across most areas of the south.

Very very true, you definitely need to filter what he is saying. I am starting to believe less and less of it as I watch his videos.

 

[EarthySpirit]

Very very true, you definitely need to filter what he is saying. I am starting to believe less and less of it as I watch his videos.

Sometime he seems to say things for shock value. There seems to be truth in some of the things he says, but seems to say them in such an absolute way that he obscures his really message. If you can get past his ego, he has lots of good to share as you filter through the exaggerated or ego-drive statements. I've learned a lot from him.

 

[SwampCat]

I don't know Sturgis - so this is not directed at him - just a general statement, but some of the so called wildlife "experts" I have been around get to a point where they think they know a lot more than what they do - thinking they can apply what they have learned to every piece of property without even seeing it. I have two pieces of property, eight miles apart, in the same river valley - that manage nothing alike. I have a degree in Wildlife Management, worked in natural resource fields for 34 years, managed my own property for fifteen years - and some days I think I know less about it than I did five years ago.

 

[yoderjac]

I don't know Sturgis - so this is not directed at him - just a general statement, but some of the so called wildlife "experts" I have been around get to a point where they think they know a lot more than what they do - thinking they can apply what they have learned to every piece of property without even seeing it. I have two pieces of property, eight miles apart, in the same river valley - that manage nothing alike. I have a degree in Wildlife Management, worked in natural resource fields for 34 years, managed my own property for fifteen years - and some days I think I know less about it than I did five years ago.

Even beyond wildlife management, I find the older and more experienced I get, the more I realize how little I know!

 

[EarthySpirit]

Even beyond wildlife management, I find the older and more experienced I get, the more I realize how little I know!

Ditto!!

 

[TreeDaddy]

I just hope new, inexperienced, hopeful, habitat managers dont accept his word as gospel. What he is saying is far from the truth across most areas of the south.

Further, even accepted gospel in one region may be heresy in another.........

bill

 

[TreeDaddy]

Sometime he seems to say things for shock value. There seems to be truth in some of the things he says, but seems to say them in such an absolute way that he obscures his really message. If you can get past his ego, he has lots of good to share as you filter through the exaggerated or ego-drive statements. I've learned a lot from him.

The further along I get in this addiction, the less I believe in absolutes.......

bill

 

[IkemanTx]

I just hope new, inexperienced, hopeful, habitat managers dont accept his word as gospel. What he is saying is far from the truth across most areas of the south.

Totally true.
Our average deer densities in my county range from 2.5-5 dpsm..... and the family property sits in the lowest density area of the county.

I have had a corn feeder out since the first week of January and still haven’t gotten a SINGLE picture of a deer out of 4,500+ pics of birds, squirrels, raccoons, crows, mice, roadrunners, coyotes, and bobcats. A doe factory is exactly what I need. I have seen a few deer (one NICE buck) within 4-5 miles of the place, but so far, not one on the place itself.
I figure a good summer plot will give at least some reason for them to show up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Natty Bumppo]

I don't know Sturgis - so this is not directed at him - just a general statement, but some of the so called wildlife "experts" I have been around get to a point where they think they know a lot more than what they do - thinking they can apply what they have learned to every piece of property without even seeing it. I have two pieces of property, eight miles apart, in the same river valley - that manage nothing alike. I have a degree in Wildlife Management, worked in natural resource fields for 34 years, managed my own property for fifteen years - and some days I think I know less about it than I did five years ago.

Agree 100%. With respect to Sturgis, I have all his books and I value his experience and his knowledge. With that said, as a Northeast hunter I must take everything he writes and says with a huge grain of salt. A lot of it is too formulaic for big woods hunting. I take what lessons I can use and apply from him, but discard half of it as pure bunk.

And as far as the guys whose egos are so big that they offer "virtual consultations" based on topos and satellite pictures without setting foot on a property...pure hubris.