Food plots are worthless for hunting

[Bill]

You and I are in the same environment Bill but I think unpressured food is the key. Hunting deer that don’t know they’re being hunted is the key, regardless of whether in the timber or field. Someone earlier said the best odds at a good buck are often to never set foot on the property until 10/31...there’s something too that as well. My mature buck sightings have had a directly inverse relationship with the amount of time I spen on my in the heart property from September through January. I now try to have everything done by Labor Day and then I mostly disappear until I’m ready to start trying to hunt a mature buck somewhere around Halloween.

I used to actually abide by the don’t even hunt until 10/31 rule. It’s a good theory but like this whole thread shows every place is different. I still won’t hunt a morning stand before the pre rut starts but the right afternoon can be a winner. If the wind is right and there is a 15 to 20 degree temp drop in September I’m going to be in a tree. A light bulb went off this fall. Rut hunting sucks! At least at my place. Trail cams show we get more travelers showing in mid October than we do in early November. Going to start keying in on that.

 

[Dukslayr]

I used to actually abide by the don’t even hunt until 10/31 rule. It’s a good theory but like this whole thread shows every place is different. I still won’t hunt a morning stand before the pre rut starts but the right afternoon can be a winner. If the wind is right and there is a 15 to 20 degree temp drop in September I’m going to be in a tree. A light bulb went off this fall. Rut hunting sucks! At least at my place. Trail cams show we get more travelers showing in mid October than we do in early November. Going to start keying in on that.

To add another wrinkle in...each persons options of which days they can hunt are substantially different too. In my dream world I would be at my farm from 9/30-thanksgiving and then again from 12/9-1/10 and only choose the mornings and afternoons that lined up for a high quality sit...reducing intrusion and only hunting high quality conditions. Unfortunately my reality is that I take two weeks of vacation during deer season and have mostly just those days to choose from. Hopefully one day that’ll change. So for me, I take my vacation the end of October/first of November and then the week of rifle season. Even within that I still pick and choose my days/times.

 

[Livesintrees]

I used to actually abide by the don’t even hunt until 10/31 rule. It’s a good theory but like this whole thread shows every place is different. I still won’t hunt a morning stand before the pre rut starts but the right afternoon can be a winner. If the wind is right and there is a 15 to 20 degree temp drop in September I’m going to be in a tree. A light bulb went off this fall. Rut hunting sucks! At least at my place. Trail cams show we get more travelers showing in mid October than we do in early November. Going to start keying in on that.

I’m still waiting for this years rut to heat up! Lol. Wait no lol I’m actually still waiting. I dropped a couple trees behind the house today. By the time I got inside and looked out the window there were 6 does eating the pile of tops I just cut. They know where to accept human scent and where to stay away. Aka if the hit my scent on the property in the season no big deal. I walk the dogs the deer just watch. I shoot my bow and they just watch. Walk into the woods with the dog or the bow and they are gone.

I’m convinced that I could take a bottle of cologne and walk into the woods every day and spray the trail. They may stay clear for a week or two during the day. After that they would return to their normally scheduled program regardless of how much cologne they smell. And it’s the same with hunting. If you sit a plot and never pull the trigger,eventually even with some scent contamination and bumping a deer or two here and there. They will come back every night. They know nothing bad happened and eventually accept it.

 

[EarthySpirit]

Like others have said, every area is different. We have our camp in a non-ag area of mountains. Miles of oak, hickory, maple, tulip poplar, birch, cherry, hemlock and white pine forest. Before we had plots, nice bucks were a rarity. We think the plots have added much needed GOOD nutrition to the whole herd. Our deer are bigger, heavier, healthier & we have more big-racked bucks than before plots. A typical buck used to be 110 to 120 lbs. with a 4 or 6 pt. rack you could span with a #2 pencil. Now we have 8, 9, and 10 pt. bucks of 150 to 180 lbs. and racks of 100" to 140" with 16 to 18" spreads. The plots are a magnet for deer here. Year-round high protein, high mineral food has definitely helped our deer herd. Such good nutrition has helped does and fawning success. And come fall - the more does hanging around, the greater chance of seeing nice bucks cruising through.

We also added more cover. 3 loggings and then planting spruce, balsam fir, witch hazel, serviceberry, hawthorn, ROD and caging stumps has thickened the surrounding areas to our plots. With more thick staging areas, we have better chances of seeing bucks approaching the plots. But like Natty said in his post, having plots lures does = cruising bucks checking in at all hours. From the last week of October on into mid-November, I've seen bucks cruising from first light to noon, with a red-alert period from 8 am to about 10:30 am. I don't know why but that time slot seems to produce regular sightings here.

Stand access is always important, no matter where you hunt. Gene and Barry Wensel have said for years, that un-pressured, un-educated bucks are the best ones to hunt. If folks are always at their camp or working a farm, deer will get used to that activity. It's when there's a CHANGE in that activity that the deer notice something's up. At our place, there's almost no activity all year long in the woods. ATV's ride around the fields, but the woods are basically left alone. But come September, guys start showing up to clear trails, work on tree stands or blinds, ride ATV's in the woods, scout through the woods, etc., and deer activity changes. Daylight sightings change from 4:00 pm-ish in the plots to just before dark - then to after dark. We educate the deer by a sudden change in our year-long patterns.

Couldn't agree more with Bowsnbucks comments here!!

 

[SwampCat]

No row crop around my place - mixed pasture, hardwood upland, bottomland hardwood/swamp in the bottoms. My property borders a paved, state highway and stops 1.5 miles away from any road, down in the river bottoms. The uplands are cattle country. Ranchers are out and about everyday, feeding cows, checking fences - that kind of thing. I am out everday, planting spraying, hunting, fishing, or just riding around. There is a small community in the middle of it all - maybe a dozen pieces of property - five to twenty acres. My north end, along the highway, is the south end of that community. I can hear kids talking while they are waiting for the school bus - from one of our best stands. Typically, the biggest deer in the area is killed by one of these ten acre homeowners off their front porch or out their back window. Most have a corn feeder set up - and sooner or later - they will catch a big buck either sampling the corn or checking for does. I believe their success is related to the amount of time they spend looking out the window and seeing one - it has nothing to do with pressure, wind direction, or moon phase.

My wife is the most successful deer hunter on my place. She hunts one stand. It overlooks a two acre durana/wheat food plot. She goes there morning or evening, doesn't matter if the wind is from the west or the east, raining, hot, cold - doesn't matter. I don't doubt here scent is as strong in that food plot during hunting season as it is in our house. She sees deer almost everytime she hunts. She will see a big one, sooner or later. Every big deer on our place will show in that food plot, during the day time, at some time during hunting season. Her theory is, the more time she spends there, the more likely she is to see one. She kills a nice deer every year - if we have one to kill. Me and my son - we follow the sign - if we start getting pictures of one somewhere, we move in there and start hunting - when the wind and weather is right. We find fresh buck sign - we move in there and start hunting - when the wind and weather is right. We follow the sign - the key word there is "follow" - we hunt the sign, AFTER it has been made. My wife hunts a spot before the sign has been made. She catches them coming in. My son and I are following behind them. We might hunt ten or twenty stands in a year - she hunts one. Of the deer heads on my wall - she has killed three times as many as anyone else.

I am dang fortunate my deer are like they are. I would hate to think I couldnt get on my own property for weeks at a time for fear of ruining my deer season.

 

[Tap]

Like others have said, every area is different. We have our camp in a non-ag area of mountains. Miles of oak, hickory, maple, tulip poplar, birch, cherry, hemlock and white pine forest. Before we had plots, nice bucks were a rarity. We think the plots have added much needed GOOD nutrition to the whole herd. Our deer are bigger, heavier, healthier & we have more big-racked bucks than before plots. A typical buck used to be 110 to 120 lbs. with a 4 or 6 pt. rack you could span with a #2 pencil. Now we have 8, 9, and 10 pt. bucks of 150 to 180 lbs. and racks of 100" to 140" with 16 to 18" spreads. The plots are a magnet for deer here. Year-round high protein, high mineral food has definitely helped our deer herd. Such good nutrition has helped does and fawning success. And come fall - the more does hanging around, the greater chance of seeing nice bucks cruising through.

We also added more cover. 3 loggings and then planting spruce, balsam fir, witch hazel, serviceberry, hawthorn, ROD and caging stumps has thickened the surrounding areas to our plots. With more thick staging areas, we have better chances of seeing bucks approaching the plots. But like Natty said in his post, having plots lures does = cruising bucks checking in at all hours. From the last week of October on into mid-November, I've seen bucks cruising from first light to noon, with a red-alert period from 8 am to about 10:30 am. I don't know why but that time slot seems to produce regular sightings here.

Stand access is always important, no matter where you hunt. Gene and Barry Wensel have said for years, that un-pressured, un-educated bucks are the best ones to hunt. If folks are always at their camp or working a farm, deer will get used to that activity. It's when there's a CHANGE in that activity that the deer notice something's up. At our place, there's almost no activity all year long in the woods. ATV's ride around the fields, but the woods are basically left alone. But come September, guys start showing up to clear trails, work on tree stands or blinds, ride ATV's in the woods, scout through the woods, etc., and deer activity changes. Daylight sightings change from 4:00 pm-ish in the plots to just before dark - then to after dark. We educate the deer by a sudden change in our year-long patterns.

I wish I could give this post two likes.

 

[roymunson]

We've seen a noticable difference in our yearlings from when we started plotting from when we got the property.

We won't kill many big bucks off of food, probably because we are on the land too much. But that's gonna be hard to change as we enjoy being there too much.

That said, hunting the bucks on trails where they utilize the food sources (ie, wind check plots during the rut) is how we have to go about it.

 

[roymunson]

I’m convinced that I could take a bottle of cologne and walk into the woods every day and spray the trail. They may stay clear for a week or two during the day. After that they would return to their normally scheduled program regardless of how much cologne they smell. And it’s the same with hunting. If you sit a plot and never pull the trigger,eventually even with some scent contamination and bumping a deer or two here and there. They will come back every night. They know nothing bad happened and eventually accept it.

I double dog dare you to try this...

 

[SwampCat]

I double dog dare you to try this...

I have no doubt I could do that I my place. I bet I could even get them to come to it if I spread about ten lbs of corn every time I sprayed cologne - I bet in a couple weeks they would start coming when they smelled the cologne.

 

[Tap]

I’m convinced that I could take a bottle of cologne and walk into the woods every day and spray the trail. They may stay clear for a week or two during the day. After that they would return to their normally scheduled program regardless of how much cologne they smell. And it’s the same with hunting. If you sit a plot and never pull the trigger,eventually even with some scent contamination and bumping a deer or two here and there. They will come back every night. They know nothing bad happened and eventually accept it.

Deer are individuals with individual personalities. Some deer tolerate things that another deer won't. 9 out of 10 deer may be able to be conditioned to cologne but that 10th deer may not tolerate it and he may be the one I'm trying to kill.
Can we get away with certain things? Yeah. Will we always get away with those things? Probably not. Low impact is always better.

 

[roymunson]

Low impact is always better.

Low impact would be so much easier, if I didn't completely love being on the land...

 

[SwampCat]

Low impact would be so much easier, if I didn't completely love being on the land...

I live on my land. I would have to stay in my house. And I would have to get my neighbors to stay in their houses. I understand the theory behind keeping a low impact, but deer hunting isnt the only thing I like to do outside. For those low impact folks - do you not plant food plots in the fall? I guess the northern guys plant mid summer? Our bow season opens the last weekend in September. That is also when we start planting food plots

 

[roymunson]

I live on my land. I would have to stay in my house. And I would have to get my neighbors to stay in their houses. I understand the theory behind keeping a low impact, but deer hunting isnt the only thing I like to do outside. For those low impact folks - do you not plant food plots in the fall? I guess the northern guys plant mid summer? Our bow season opens the last weekend in September. That is also when we start planting food plots

We plant most of ours in a big day on the place in early to mid august. but am trying to get to more perennials so we can just keep things mowed and stay off of it.

Most of our plots are easy access and not deep into the property.

That said, mowing lanes first of september, and generally being excited to be there puts more scent and intrusion on it that would be ideal.

 

[yoderjac]

I double dog dare you to try this...

Ok, I can't resist. I know a guy who has literally killed hundreds of deer with a bow and he actually used cologne. He would dip a cotton ball in it and put it 20 yards from his stand. This was for population control in the suburbs where no gun hunting was permitted. Deer would spend the day in the riparian buffers that developers donated back to the county as stream valley parks to reduce the tax base. Back then, these were "no hunting" areas. In the evenings they would come up into the developments and eat the highly fertilized landscaping. Deer were used to people be around.

Basically, the strong smell of the cologne was unusual enough in the wood lot for deer to get curious. They would approach a little cautiously be quickly determine there was no danger. They would then walk right over and sniff the cotton ball which was positioned right in his shooting lane.

This was not the only technique he used, but it accounted for quite a few of his deer.

Deer are amazingly plastic. That is why they are so successful as a species. They can flourish in the suburbs and even in urban areas. The same species survives in the big woods up north, the flat plains of and ag of Kansas, the pine plantations and swamps of the south east, and we could go on and on. Behavior is amazingly different as they adapt to the settings.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Tap]

Low impact would be so much easier, if I didn't completely love being on the land...

I didn't say that low impact is a requirement. What I meant was, all things being equal, low impact is better than high level disturbance. And even more specifically, high impact may effect only a small percentage of deer that are conditioned to us. But there are always the minority that won't tolerate unusual human presence.

 

[bwoods11]

I have had really good luck hunting near food plots. It depends on the property. In one case we border 480 acres of incredible cover that has no food. Many deer feed on our farm as we plant 4-5 acres of plots.
In years that I leave a comfortable amount of beans and corn, I have deer hitting it hard in December. I think plots are very necessary and would actually prefer more acres of food. Each situation is different.

This is Minnesota.

 

[Rit]

I live in the middle of my property. All of the activities that go with raising a family take place 365 days of the year. We have big parties, bond fires, we have a garden, chickens, dogs, cats, kids play on our tennis court that is within 50 yards of a known doe bedding area (and the access for my best stand), we have a swingset that is within 15 yards of a doe travel area, and we routinely walk up and down the driveway. Plus I can’t stay out of the woods no matter how much I try.

That’s a lot of intrusion. I can’t say for sure if it impacts my hunting or not. The does, yearlings, and fawns at times seem to prefer to bed closer to our house. Maybe it’s a predator deterrent or maybe they just like to keep tabs on us.

Sometimes when I mow the lawn I have does watch from less than 25 yards away. Deer feed in our yard constantly. But those same deer turn inside out if they catch me in a tree or scent me close to a food plot. I do walk my woods and food plots a lot. I have never seen a mature buck up close to the house though. They travel lanes I’ve cut that get closer to the yard but that is in thick brush.

 

[roymunson]

I didn't say that low impact is a requirement. What I meant was, all things being equal, low impact is better than high level disturbance. And even more specifically, high impact may effect only a small percentage of deer that are conditioned to us. But there are always the minority that won't tolerate unusual human presence.

Oh I agree completely. I'm just saying, and many here would probably agree, im willing to risk slightly worse deer hunting in order to enjoy the property more (I don't live there)

Maybe the key is to have MORE land and just stay in 1 part of the farm... LOL... Like that'd happen.


Foodplots are great to use as terrain and hunt big bucks off of them, or kill does on them... That's been my experience.

 

[Catscratch]

I'm a little of an odd duck here. I plant plots in my yard, shoot guns off the deck constantly, drive go-karts, burn trash, play ball, fish, work cattle, have parties, and do habitat work constantly. I'm on the land a lot, but I refuse to hunt my plots. I see mature bucks in the yard on a regular basis and they pretty much ignore my goofing around the house and yard. I go to great lengths to keep my hunting secret to them though and tend to hunt "almost foolproof" stands as close to a mile away from the plots as I can. I have a decent track record of being satisfied with my hunting outcomes so my methods are good for me.

I've hunted plots before and the outcome were always the same; the regular bucks became nocturnal. My first sit of the year was always my best sit of the year and sightings waned every hunt after that (based on using the same stands on the same plots). To each there own and I'm hopeful that whatever plan you use keeps you happy.

 

[Livesintrees]

Jeff sturgis ( probably spelled wrong) from WHS has a video that I could not agree more with. And basically what he says and explains is the differences in his opinion (which I know to be true where I hunt) of a property that is “outside/in” vs “inside out”. And by that he means do deer spend time off your property and then at dark travel to it. Or do they spend daylight hours on your land and then after dark leave the property. I don’t remember the title of the video but I can say that after I watched it, it made me re-evaluate places I’d hunted in the past and why I’m slowly setting my place up the way I am. I will read multiple books and watch countless videos. Some of it is water under the bridge, but every now and again a lightbulb goes off in my head and something clicks.

I want deer on my property. More importantly I want them in the most defined places at specific times of the day as possible. And I want them staying there until after dark. I don’t care if every neighbor around knows about “ole mossy horns” on their cameras. As long as it’s not during legal shooting time.

The buck I killed this year a guy a dozen houses down knew about. Said he would get hundreds of pics of him but all at night. Just couldn’t get him in any daylight even during the offseason. Where’s I have somewhere around 9k pictures of the deer during the day. Why? Bc the buck bedded where I wanted him to. That happened to be a high ridge that overlooked the neighbors property/bait pile. That deer watched every move he made. And moved freely throughout my land until well after dark when he would feed on the guys bait. It’s all in the small details