Food Plot & Property Flow where there is no ag/destination fields

[gjs4]

Here is another question conundrum that has haunted my mind after reading the larger or multiple smaller plots thread....and I was surprised to not see any threads when searching the forum. (I had to miss something!!)

In areas without agriculture, or "destination" locations, how does one create a huntable flow on a parcel? I know it will be bed to feed, feed to feed (and adjacent to bedding during chase phase) but I am wondering for those in the big woods (North Woods, UP, Appalachia, Adirondacks, etc), brush country or swampy terrain, is it simply have plots just inside of the borders and hoping the deer travel between them as a circuit? Is there success with one or couple big plots with smaller, or a feed trial, in between them?

 

[omicron1792]

Here is another question conundrum that has haunted my mind after reading the larger or multiple smaller plots thread....and I was surprised to not see any threads when searching the forum. (I had to miss something!!)

In areas without agriculture, or "destination" locations, how does one create a huntable flow on a parcel? I know it will be bed to feed, feed to feed (and adjacent to bedding during chase phase) but I am wondering for those in the big woods (North Woods, UP, Appalachia, Adirondacks, etc), brush country or swampy terrain, is it simply have plots just inside of the borders and hoping the deer travel between them as a circuit? Is there success with one or couple big plots with smaller, or a feed trial, in between them?

The further I go I think bedding, grasses, cover, forbs is key. Put this in middle, protect it, stay out of it. Pattern deer movement from this and place strategic kill plots between bedding and larger food plots.

 

[BenAllgood]

The reason I like fewer and bigger plots no matter ag or wooded landscape, is you have more defined movement. You know where the deer are heading to. With defined bedding, you know where they are during the day. Then, you connect the dots. If you know where they're going, you can figure out where to intercept them.

 

[omicron1792]

The reason I like fewer and bigger plots no matter ag or wooded landscape, is you have more defined movement. You know where the deer are heading to. With defined bedding, you know where they are during the day. Then, you connect the dots. If you know where they're going, you can figure out where to intercept them.

Perfect

 

[bigboreblr]

My food plots in the adirondacks are mainly where I can put them.

Any plot will be used to a certain extent.

3 little 1/10 to 1/4 acre plots I have are on either side of a hill. Deer I assume bed up there, then come down to eat. Deer tend to be lazy, these plots line up well with ATV trails. These are good morning spots

Another plot where I see deer literally every night is near a swamp edge. After the swamp goes into a stream, the hillside and rocks in the stream are rough. The deer cross once it's ok and come to my plot. The plot is also near lower to ground evergreen cover. Very Very important for adirondack deer. Keep them off the winds, and it's almost 10 degrees warmer inside those thickets.

Many times your just limited with equipment to make a plot anywhere you want. IT takes years to make the cover around it good.

You always alert with your eyes and ears for deer. Deer are always alert or too much so with their noses. They will feel much more comfortable concealing their scent around or in water. I've been told coyote pressure is low in the Adirondacks. Also, NH and Maine folks tell me moose and deer don't like to mingle. If you got prime moose territory, you may have trouble with deer there.

Used to be a rare joy seeing moose on trail cameras. Now it's like every 2 weeks. A very popular moose sighting on a popular dirt road was taken 2 years ago. The moose and her babies were heading right to my food plot alongside the road......... Still plenty of deer, at least for the kind of area.

MY place got logged a ton about 6 or 7 years ago. That helped a ton too. Those guys were starting right around open day of rifle back then.

I used to hunt PA's flintlock season and use public land much more. Swamp edges and any thicker line of cover they like to travel in. Sometime the thicker cover lines up well with stream edges.

Learn the forbs and shrubs in your area. Deer aren't too far away from beech trees or striped maple. Also, when it's cold, the deer are nowhere to be found on the hilltops. They're low.

 

[Telemark]

How big is your property?

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

The reason I like fewer and bigger plots no matter ag or wooded landscape, is you have more defined movement. You know where the deer are heading to. With defined bedding, you know where they are during the day. Then, you connect the dots. If you know where they're going, you can figure out where to intercept them.

Another reason for a big plot(s) as opposed to a handful of smaller ones is your own access. Dodging plots to get in and out of your stands is very counterproductive. That’s one thing I’ve really tried to tighten up about. Give me one 2 acre plot as opposed to 4 .5 acre ones.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

I'm in the big woods of western, MA....and by Maine standards it ain't even that big. No ag. A surplus of cover. It is very hard, if not impossible to get deer to flow in predictable lines of movement. This is why tracking became the preferred choice for big woods hunters. You could sit in a stand for a month in Maine and not see a single deer.

At my place, deer can literally move, bed, feed, and wander at random. I have small little 1/4 acre plots. They do help with my overall enjoyment of deer hunting in that I see more deer during bow season. But they have not been game-changing in terms of my success rate. I still get more deer by tracking than I do by sitting.

When I first began plotting 15 years ago I bought all the Sturgis books and quickly learned that 95% of the content doesn't apply or isn't practical to big woods situations. In fact, if anybody wants them shoot me a PM. You can have them...got the first 3 volumes. I'll even pay shipping.

 

[TreeDaddy]

I'm in the big woods of western, MA....and by Maine standards it ain't even that big. No ag. A surplus of cover. It is very hard, if not impossible to get deer to flow in predictable lines of movement. This is why tracking became the preferred choice for big woods hunters. You could sit in a stand for a month in Maine and not see a single deer.

At my place, deer can literally move, bed, feed, and wander at random. I have small little 1/4 acre plots. They do help with my overall enjoyment of deer hunting in that I see more deer during bow season. But they have not been game-changing in terms of my success rate. I still get more deer by tracking than I do by sitting.

When I first began plotting 15 years ago I bought all the Sturgis books and quickly learned that 95% of the content doesn't apply or isn't practical to big woods situations. In fact, if anybody wants them shoot me a PM. You can have them...got the first 3 volumes. I'll even pay shipping.

Interesting

I left the first volume on the dash inside my locked truck

Somebody broke in and left me the other 2

bill

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Interesting

I left the first volume on the dash inside my locked truck

Somebody broke in and left me the other 2

bill

LOL! That's funny Bill.

 

[gjs4]

Its funny with regard to those books. I have reread them all (isnt there 4 with the weather one; green, red, brown, blue...who knows, or cares? Turds as mentioned) a few times and they confuse the heck out of me. Steve Bs book was the best. He also never really elaborated on his UP setup beyond he made it grow where it wasn't supposed to and the deer pounded it. Jeff has some gems and some contradictions.

Thinking Natty is on to something and there is a reason almost all of us habitat guys love ag country. With specific regard to my experience (and will say my property was water deprived with drought, plots less than stellar for the same reason but also had feeders out). The main portion of the place is stupid thick (like too thick) but they oved randomly. That goes back to some earlier points on further defining bedding (and travel paths). I am sure the fact every around there is closed canopy oak ridges with the most epic acorn drop of the century didnt help. either.

 

[gjs4]

current- very clean version- just showing established plots....feeders, failed attempts, deer and people trails not shown (but all people access is wind appropriate and from the exterior).

 

[Telemark]

This was a generic ask, but I do have a 75 in a non ag, oak laden hill country, area that fits the hypothetical example description nicely

Gotcha. I find food plots and fruit trees bring a lot more activity to my hunting spot. I am trying to put in about 2-3 acres of food, focusing on late season food and browse, as well as fruit trees with diverse drop times. The food is mostly pushed up to the north end of the property, which is bordered by a large lake. All the wildlife relates to the local apple trees when they are dropping. We don't have a lot of white oaks, but I put in a out a 10th of an acre of clover near some red oaks, and it seems to be a relatively good draw in November/December.

I'm surrounded by private property, so tracking is not practical.

 

[bigboreblr]

What are those trails we see there. Yours and your neighbors to the west. Right of ways? How open or brushy are they.

IT would be good to describe your niehgbors parcels and their activity on them. Whose got dogs / animals. How often they're out n about on their land.

Far as flow. The deer have traffic patterns unless it's significantly changed by human use, or major land changes like significant logging, etc....

I have made trails to plots, and then make parallel trails. Lightly cut a small meandering path for the bucks. In a year or two you start seeing use on the little paths. Promote prefered browse along the trails. Even make little bits of clover, or mini plots along the the way. Make little seclusion pockets alongside your food plots. Deer can stick in or near there and be comfortable closer to the end of the day. Make ways to get you in there unnoticed too. I usually have a small blind near corners leading to treestands. If there's deer there, I can stay there ihidden and have a shooting rest. Sometimes its formal. Usually a 2x4 shooting rail with branches tied to it. Sometimes I cut firewood and use that as a ground blind. Probably 1/3 ro a 1/4 of the deer i have hearvested over the years has been walking to my spot, or they're already in my spot and Im on the ground.

Any foodplot should have 2 treestands and maybe 2 of those ground blinds leading to them. I have a 100x200 yard bedding area on the farmland spot I hunt. I got 2 blinds ad 2 stand depending on the wind. And depending on the status of neighboring farmand. Who's got what crop, who harvested, or what area got hunting pressure.

Learn the current flow and work on making it your advantage. Some parcels are good morning spots, good afternoon spots, Some of us are late season only. Sometimes just staying out of a spot until it's ready is a good path. Even if it means not hunting a parcel at all for a bit. Learning local public land or trying to get access to other parcels should still be on your list of things to do. Line crew could be doing work during hunting season, neighbors could be logging or other activity.

AG has it's ups and down. Trespassing is a larger problem. Patterns change wildly once a crops is harvested in an area. Other animals changing patterns can effect deer. Where I hunt there's a Canadian geese flyway. Think all the racket a commotion they make after a corn or even more so a bean field is harvested. Awesome early bow season place though. Not much wooded spots to hunt where I go. A few years they're harvesting open day of rifle. Or they have problems with their corn dryer like this year and they're in there for almost 3 weeks of prime hunting season.

 

[gjs4]

What are those trails we see there. Yours and your neighbors to the west. Right of ways? How open or brushy are they.

IT would be good to describe your niehgbors parcels and their activity on them. Whose got dogs / animals. How often they're out n about on their land.

AG has it's ups and down. Trespassing is a larger problem. Patterns change wildly once a crops is harvested in an area. Other animals changing patterns can effect deer. Where I hunt there's a Canadian geese flyway. Think all the racket a commotion they make after a corn or even more so a bean field is harvested. Awesome early bow season place though. Not much wooded spots to hunt where I go. A few years they're harvesting open day of rifle. Or they have problems with their corn dryer like this year and they're in there for almost 3 weeks of prime hunting season.

I don't want to hijack my own thread with this but do appreciate all of the great sharing with your approaches and takes buddy. Thank you so much.

The SSW to NE bisect is an roadway. Only used to fill deer feeders (every 6 weeks) and to plant plots. The other two sw-ne are mowed gas ROWs. They're hilly in topography but have no cover.

Neighbor to the west- an old overgrown Christmas tree farm. To the north and east- closed canopy, wide open, mature oak woods (also hilly topo). The neighbor to the east has dogs in the yard, as well as horses and is out daily, the others are intermittent during hunting seasons, usually using an atv for access. No roaming dogs. No trespassing noted. Coyotes and bobcats are present. I would assume all neighbors run corn feeders for deer at some point.

This was year one and it sucked- could be from drought and ehd last yr, but it wasnt from pressure. Last year had better bucks with zero added food...this year had these plots and feeders. Never seemed or felt improved. I hunted it a few times, some early am movement in the north and south woods, some predictable plot presence in the pms Cams didnt add much intel.

There is no ag for at least a mile in any direction. That's why started the thread and struggle with "what is a destination...if there is no destination?", or how the heck do i food plot for this having the only food plots for a mile in ay direction.

 

[BenAllgood]

Can you open and plant that backwards C area in the middle foodplot?

 

[gjs4]

Can you open and plant that backwards C area in the middle foodplot?

I can! Planned to hire my mulcher guy for two days this year......that could be one of them

 

[BenAllgood]

I can! Planned to hire my mulcher guy for two days this year......that could be one of them

Can you access that east edge of that plot from the east boundary? If so, I'd put one stand there and another on its SW corner. That gives you spots for several wind directions without blowing out your property. I'd be tempted to let the north plot fallow after that to turn into bedding. You could have about 4 acres of destination food in one spot and dedicated bedding in another.

 

[gjs4]

Can you access that east edge of that plot from the east boundary? If so, I'd put one stand there and another on its SW corner. That gives you spots for several wind directions without blowing out your property. I'd be tempted to let the north plot fallow after that to turn into bedding. You could have about 4 acres of destination food in one spot and dedicated bedding in another.

I can access from the east, 9whci is my primary) south and west. I have a stand on the east, the SW corner doesn't offer much for good stand trees.

This gets to your bedding and single plot suggestion....which is the big question in my mind. Is one 4ac plot enough food for an area where agriculture and food plots don't exist? My mind felt the more food, the bigger the draw. Perhaps that logic is flawed or i am valuing the quantity beyond the flow.

 

[BenAllgood]

I can access from the east, 9whci is my primary) south and west. I have a stand on the east, the SW corner doesn't offer much for good stand trees.

This gets to your bedding and single plot suggestion....which is the big question in my mind. Is one 4ac plot enough food for an area where agriculture and food plots don't exist? My mind felt the more food, the bigger the draw. Perhaps that logic is flawed or i am valuing the quantity beyond the flow.

I think it's enough depending on deer density and what's planted. Secure bedding and secure food go hand in hand. You can make preferred bedding in areas that have an abundance of good cover. These are just what I think though. We over complicate things too. I know I have a bad habit of that.