hunting food plots during rut?

[ruskbuckss]

I was wondering how many of you sit over food plots or ag fields during the rut. We don't have any stands on our plots, but some of the stands you can see the plots. What I have noticed is the food plots are worthless during the rut. It seems that does don't even come out. When we hunt in the woods there are deer everywhere. I will have deer in plots all year during daylight,even mature bucks during gun season, but not during the rut. Have others noticed this too?

 

[phil@thesidehill]

I was wondering how many of you sit over food plots or ag fields during the rut. We don't have any stands on our plots, but some of the stands you can see the plots. What I have noticed is the food plots are worthless during the rut. It seems that does don't even come out. When we hunt in the woods there are deer everywhere. I will have deer in plots all year during daylight,even mature bucks during gun season, but not during the rut. Have others noticed this too?

I don't hunt ag fields during the rut, I currently don't really have access to do so anyway and my property is about 400 yds from the closest Ag field. I have. 1/3 acre "hunting plot" that is tucked into some very good cover. I have 3 bedding areas that the does use year in and year that are as close as 80 yds and as far 200 yds away from my plot. During the rut I have a pretty constant parade of deer filtering through. It also helps that my property in general and my plot are part of a natural travel corridor that the deer have used to travel between bedding and food for a very long time. During the rut, Bucks frequently come to my plot to check for does or following the scent trail of the does that has previously been there.


Sent from 25 ft up a tree

 

[Bill]

Yes I've notice that deer in general are not in the plots as much during the rut. I think the does figure out they will be pestered there. But I still hunt them because bucks will cruse small plots at my place. Their not stopping to eat but they still cruse them.

Two 4.5 year old were taken off my place last year out of the same small plot during the rut. Doesn't hurt that the plot is a transition between a large Native grass field and the timber. But I don't write them off in any case.

 

[ruskbuckss]

Yes I've notice that deer in general are not in the plots as much during the rut. I think the does figure out they will be pestered there. But I still hunt them because bucks will cruse small plots at my place. Their not stopping to eat but they still cruse them.

Two 4.5 year old were taken off my place last year out of the same small plot during the rut. Doesn't hurt that the plot is a transition between a large Native grass field and the timber. But I don't write them off in any case.

That was my thinking too. The does don't like to stand in the middle of a field where the bucks can see them from a long distance. My best stand is on the edge of a swamp where the does like to hide during the rut, but the bucks always check for them in there. It just seems a lot of people hunt field edges during the rut.

 

[MoBuckChaser]

Hunting the plots can work at Buck Chasers place!

 

[yoderjac]

I was wondering how many of you sit over food plots or ag fields during the rut. We don't have any stands on our plots, but some of the stands you can see the plots. What I have noticed is the food plots are worthless during the rut. It seems that does don't even come out. When we hunt in the woods there are deer everywhere. I will have deer in plots all year during daylight,even mature bucks during gun season, but not during the rut. Have others noticed this too?

In my neck of the woods, deer respond to hunting pressure. I've posted some charts on another thread, but our daytime pictures on food plots decline from September through mid-November when dog hunting for deer begins and they then plummet. During our rut, I love to hunt food plots, I just don't hunt directly at the plot or the normal travel roots. I try to find a spot in the woods about 100 yards down wind of the plot. Bucks will parallel these plots wind checking them for hot does.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Satchmo]

My does and fawns never stop using the plots during the rut. Too important a time to pack on the pounds before winter here in the north and no ag land around me. Bucks seem to run the trails around the plots and the swamp edges where those does bed.

 

[chummer]

I will let you know in a month. I set up what I think will be a killer spot. I put a stand 75 yards from a 2 acre plot. The stand is on a high point with the plot behind it. In front is a two tier ridge down to a stream. I figure I have the plot covered as well as two travel corridors. It helps that our entire rut is during riffle season.:mad:
My old plots have heavy mature buck activity at night and very little doe use during the rut.

 

[Tap]

My plots are almost impossible to hunt without educating deer so I seldom hunt them. But I can easily monitor them from my home and I have noticed that I see fewer adult does during the time bucks are really pestering does.
The drop in usage seems to start around the 1st week of November.

 

[j-bird]

I hunt where the does are or are going to be during the rut. That means bedding areas, food sources or the connecting cover between the two. I don't hunt the buck, I hunt what the buck is looking for in most cases. I have never had much luck hunting scrapes and rub lines on my place. I prefer to hunt the connecting cover if possible vs the open plot. Now this has only lead to the harvest of 3 and 4 year old bucks, so that may be part of my issue as well.

 

[gwm]

I hunt my plots during the rut. The does and fawns use the plots quite a bit and the bucks come looking. I have quite a few daylight pics of good bucks on my food plots during that November timeframe.

 

[H20fwler]

If does and fawns are using them I'll sit over them.

 

[swat1018]

I have good luck in my plots, as long as we don't let them know we're there. We have good luck, and will probably have better this year since I've been working at screening them better. Tired of bucks standing in the edge of the timber, looking out, and moving on.

 

[Native Hunter]

My main food plot is in the center of my property, surrounded by cover. Bucks frequently cruise through the plot during the rut, and occasionally grab a few bites on the move. But I think they are just checking for does that have passed through more than anything else. There are exceptions. Last year a 5 year old buck walked out in the middle of a plot at 2 in the afternoon and started eating on about the 5th day of gun season. And this was about 9 days after cameras showed the most daylight activity, so it would have been post peak and winding down at that time. The fact that a human hadn't been near the plot in over 2 weeks probably helped. I was watching from 200 yards away.

Three years ago I killed a monster cruising the plot in the wide open about 45 minutes after daylight on the second day of season.

Other years I've had older deer come out in the plot about 20 minutes before dark during season.

 

[tooln]

The past 2 years my plot stand has been my best.

 

[Mike Bolin]

My biggest "plot" is only 1/4-1/3 of an acre. The majority of my planting is on trails. This property was logged a few years back and I went in and cleared/leveled the skidder trails and planted a mix of white Dutch and ladino clover with a nurse crop of winter rye. I thinned and hinged cut the poplars along the trails to get some sunlight onto the ground. The trails make a U shape running basically northeast to southwest with a 60 yard straight section tailing off to the south from the bottom of the U. The small plot is in the center of the U. I added a waterhole this year on the eastern section of the upper part of the U where water always stood anyway. These trails are only 8' to 10' wide and are probably a total length of 300 yards. Getting a lot of photos, but right now the bucks are only showing at night. I also put in 3 scrapes with licking branches doctored up with Smokey's pre-orbital gland lure. There is a 2 acre plot 250 yards to the north that I planted in a milo/millet mix and it is being used heavily for bedding. We kill at least 4 deer a year off this property and the photos are showing a few nice bucks. That will pick up in late October on thru December once the hunting pressure increases on the surrounding properties.

 

[Jayber]

I hunt my plots during the rut. The does and fawns use the plots quite a bit and the bucks come looking. I have quite a few daylight pics of good bucks on my food plots during that November timeframe.

Me also!