4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
“Baiting is no different then a food plot”
I see this question, argument a lot amongst hunters. I use to think it was about the same as well. But after doing food plots for many years, you learn how different it really is.
Those that make a food plot start their prep early spring, planning on what they will plant, and buying the seed. Then we prep the plot, spray, disc, plant, pack, fertilize, and sometimes spray again, and fertilize again, just to feed deer in the spring and summer. Lots of time, money, and equipment needed. All of this, and some plots, we just start over in late summer for a fall crop for the deer, to eat throughout fall and winter months.
Baiters start prepping about a week before season, then drive to a store, buy a bag of corn, then go out to their deer stand and dump the bag of corn. Total time invested, less then an hour, and about $7.50 tied up in it.
Results, most deer leave the food plots, and go out and eat the corn piles.
The obvious, food plotters while their main goal is to attract deer during the hunting season, feed deer for months of the year, if not the entire year. Baiters feed deer until the deer show up on their bait pile in the daylight. Food plotters have hundreds, if not thousands of dollars invested in their food plots, baiters $7.50.
So there are many differences between a food plot, and a pile of corn. Another obvious point I was told recently, is that those who do food plots are just dumb, compared to those who bait, when you can get a better draw when you want it, and for much less time and money, why would you do a food plot? My answer was, because it’s fun!
The reason that brought on this post was, each year I get 100’s of pictures each day from my cameras from food plots, and just hanging out on my land that had some TSI work done, thicker, and available food year around, that is until about a week before bow season starts, then I get a few random pictures.
Sure you could argue acorn drop, but I have lots of oak trees, and I have spent time opening them up to give them room, and they are dropping like crazy right now.
Even the bear are gone right now.
Baiting is illegal in my area, but many do it anyhow. About a 1/4mile across my neighbors land is hundreds of acres of state public land, and if you walk through it now, there is a pile of corn about every 100 yards. But like all the other years, after about a month, the deer will return to the food plots.
I see this question, argument a lot amongst hunters. I use to think it was about the same as well. But after doing food plots for many years, you learn how different it really is.
Those that make a food plot start their prep early spring, planning on what they will plant, and buying the seed. Then we prep the plot, spray, disc, plant, pack, fertilize, and sometimes spray again, and fertilize again, just to feed deer in the spring and summer. Lots of time, money, and equipment needed. All of this, and some plots, we just start over in late summer for a fall crop for the deer, to eat throughout fall and winter months.
Baiters start prepping about a week before season, then drive to a store, buy a bag of corn, then go out to their deer stand and dump the bag of corn. Total time invested, less then an hour, and about $7.50 tied up in it.
Results, most deer leave the food plots, and go out and eat the corn piles.
The obvious, food plotters while their main goal is to attract deer during the hunting season, feed deer for months of the year, if not the entire year. Baiters feed deer until the deer show up on their bait pile in the daylight. Food plotters have hundreds, if not thousands of dollars invested in their food plots, baiters $7.50.
So there are many differences between a food plot, and a pile of corn. Another obvious point I was told recently, is that those who do food plots are just dumb, compared to those who bait, when you can get a better draw when you want it, and for much less time and money, why would you do a food plot? My answer was, because it’s fun!
The reason that brought on this post was, each year I get 100’s of pictures each day from my cameras from food plots, and just hanging out on my land that had some TSI work done, thicker, and available food year around, that is until about a week before bow season starts, then I get a few random pictures.
Sure you could argue acorn drop, but I have lots of oak trees, and I have spent time opening them up to give them room, and they are dropping like crazy right now.
Even the bear are gone right now.
Baiting is illegal in my area, but many do it anyhow. About a 1/4mile across my neighbors land is hundreds of acres of state public land, and if you walk through it now, there is a pile of corn about every 100 yards. But like all the other years, after about a month, the deer will return to the food plots.