How do your plots affect the "Huntability" of your property?

[BenAllgood]

Could it stand on its own without them or does your property require them as a major piece of the puzzle?

 

[4wanderingeyes]

I personally think they hurt my buck hunting. Since I started putting in food plots, I have seen less bucks, but a lot more does. I still get bucks during the rut though. But I feel I am helping the herd some through the fall, winter, and early spring, so that is why I do it. Plus, I am not really a rack hunter. I dont need to have a big rack to consider it a good hunt.

 

[yoderjac]

Could it stand on its own without them or does your property require them as a major piece of the puzzle?

Initially, my place needed and emergency room visit. Folks shot anything with antlers for many years and there were does everywhere. It was a pine farm where half of the pines were young and just beginning to canopy. Deer had been multiplying in previous years with all the food from the clear-cut, but it was drying up fast. We were turning into a food desert as the other half of the pines had a heavy canopy. Deer were so in need of food, as I would see deer in the other end of the plot when I was mowing. They would let me get within about 50 yards before retreating into the pines. By the time I got back to the other end of the field, they were back out.

Both food plots and shooting every doe we saw was key in the early years here. As time has gone on and we have used wildlife friendly timber management practices, native foods abound. Now, the stress period and shortened considerably which is where we primarily target our food plots. I've been converting many of our plots into what I call "wildlife openings". I've started planting soft mast producing trees as part of a permaculture project in them. I start with a clover base, but then let nature take its course. When they grow up enough that I become concerned about woody succession, I mow them again.

We now focus much more on soil health and permaculture and huntability. We finally have a good balance where food plots provide quality food when we have a hole in nature (acorn crop failure, the dead of summer, etc.)

Our goal is to develop the property over time in such a way that if something happened and we could not manage it any longer, it would revert slowly enough from a food and cover perspective as not to shock the herd and allow it to adjust slowly to changing conditions.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[PatinPA]

I see more buck than ever since I've put in plots but I'm not convinced it's due to the plots. I think it's more due to it not getting overhunted by everyone local when the previous owners had it. I have yet to have a shooter buck in front of me in the actual food plots though.

 

[SwampCat]

My plots make all the difference in the world. No ag and no one else plotting. I would go from seeing a deer or two every other hunt to seeing ten or more almost every hunt

 

[SWIFFY]

Theres no easier way to manipulate deer movement than FOOD.

Its still a game though... and theres a right and wrong way to do it. The right food at the right time in the right places hunted the right way, it can almost get too easy.

I have land and plots in MN and WI and it absolutely affects the "huntability" of the farms. Each property just takes time to learn.

 

[SD51555]

Without them, deer sightings would be rare by me. My country is 95% woods and swamp with the rest being buzzed grass hay fields. Food becomes #1 in October. I suppose a person could try aggressive clearcutting as a way to make prime cover and food to stand out, but that'd be very hard to manage as it regrew. Plus, if I can delay the start of winter starvation by 2-4 weeks, that's a good thing too.

 

[Triple C]

Could it stand on its own without them or does your property require them as a major piece of the puzzle?

Could my property stand on it's own without foodplots...Yes. Ample forbs and browse in thinned, well managed timber - pines and hardwoods, along with open fields.

Are food plots a major piece of the puzzle - Absolutely!

Now in our 12th year of managing our property, foodplots are a major mid to late season attraction for deer. And, plenty of them. The changes we have made over the years is increasing the size of our destination plots and eliminating so many micro plots. Big food plots (3 acres or larger), attract multiple doe groups on a daily basis in mid to late season. Wherever the doe groups are, so will be the bucks during pre-rut and rut. I love destination plots. And we keep it simple. Plant grains and brassicas in the fall and never touch it again until the following fall. Solid base of perennial clover in the plots that keep em coming in year round.

In a state with a 3 month long firearms season and a 2 buck limit, the 2.5 yr old's get hammered. Great habitat and good food sources keep em in close and attract the bucks that do survive to an older age structure. Love me some well placed food plots. That said, every property and location stands on it's own.

 

[b116757]

Ag around me and I own the creek bottom with oaks along the banks so I no longer fool with food plots at that property this is a small 35 acres. On another property 640 acres I do plant one smaller kill plot and on that property it’s worth the effort although I’m transitioning that property to a 12 acre fruit and nut tree orchard and this property is getting 150 acres planted in row crops moving forward, starting this year it will be soybeans. So likely moving forward I may abandon my small kill plot on that property. The third and newest place that we close on Tuesday is 150 acres studying satellite photos there’s no row crops fields near this property so I’ll likely food plot the new property for several years at least until whatever deer orchard I plant on this property begins production. This property does have some mature Chinkapin White oaks and a few Red Oaks already we have also found three pawpaw groves. It will take some time to learn deer patterns on this new place. Food plots can be a real boon to some properties but for others not so much really there are a lot of variables that can effect deer utilization it’s definitely not a one size fits all situation. I think you need to evaluate the surround properties and know the strengths of yours.

 

[bigboreblr]

My home with a few acres, day and night difference.

Kind of want to say yes at my hunting camp in a managed forest. The deer can be anywhere, plenty of concealment while they have browse evenly distributed almost anywhere.

Spending time improving the property makes me know it better. Kind of a 2 edges sword. I do agree with the earlier post, the does love the food plots, while mature bucks tend to avoid them overall.

The hunting club I am in is in an area where the deer yard up for the winter. Providing early season food attracts a few more doe families, which makes bucks visit more. Each old salty buck wants his own hilltop. I got so many of them on the club........

Where food is everywhere, privacy is more important. I cant food plot at my brother in laws 450 acre parcel, because he's actively farming it. However, i trim the brush around the deer entrances in thick areas, to hnder the neighboring hunters from driving them out of those spots. Place is a bit fustrating, it's about 100 miles from his farm. So, he doesnt want to be bothered with trespassing issues, unles it directly effects his crop.

 

[SwampCat]

Could my property stand on it's own without foodplots...Yes. Ample forbs and browse in thinned, well managed timber - pines and hardwoods, along with open fields.

Are food plots a major piece of the puzzle - Absolutely!

Now in our 12th year of managing our property, foodplots are a major mid to late season attraction for deer. And, plenty of them. The changes we have made over the years is increasing the size of our destination plots and eliminating so many micro plots. Big food plots (3 acres or larger), attract multiple doe groups on a daily basis in mid to late season. Wherever the doe groups are, so will be the bucks during pre-rut and rut. I love destination plots. And we keep it simple. Plant grains and brassicas in the fall and never touch it again until the following fall. Solid base of perennial clover in the plots that keep em coming in year round.

In a state with a 3 month long firearms season and a 2 buck limit, the 2.5 yr old's get hammered. Great habitat and good food sources keep em in close and attract the bucks that do survive to an older age structure. Love me some well placed food plots. That said, every property and location stands on it's own.

Bigger year round food plots (2 acres and larger at my place) are also very important for holding doe groups and keeping the bachelor herds in and around the property. My summer plots are probably more important for my hunting than my fall and winter plots

 

[Derek Reese 29]

I hunt or help on 3 properties and here's a breakdown based on the property:
My house: 9 acres total with 2.75 acre hayfield above (0.5 acre in a good plot last year) and brushy side bank above my house surrounded by ag..I have one 0.5 acre plot above my house (next to the hayfield) and one 0.33 acre plot below the house...the plots definitely made it easier to see deer that were moving back and forth between bedding areas and stopping to grab a bite...saw 6 different bucks out of the lone stand I have, with a definite increase once the rut started...there's not much on my place to hold them besides that little plot and some decent cover...also found 8 scrapes along the top and 2 along the bottom of the upper food plot and the biggest rub I have ever seen in the flesh at the top of it that appeared in early November...would definitely see less deer if my plot was not there...have yet to harvest a deer here, but could have shot a doe on about 2/3 of my hunts.
Friend's place: 100 acres in pillaged forest (previous owner 20+ years ago needed money so he had logged every tree of significant value leaving only soft maple and smaller pine)...several small plots near the cabin at the front of the property and 1 small (less than 0.25 acre) kill plot back in the woods...before the plots (ok and cameras) the owner claimed there were no shooter bucks around...1 year and several food plot plantings later confirmed that this was not true...my friend had not even seen a legal buck (3+ points on a side) in a couple years...we changed the way he hunted it and how the deer moved on and used his place...he had several opportunities at very good bucks last year and killed a few does..I'm convinced the plots held the does closer and his opportunities during the rut came from that...
The farm: 200+ acres of mixed fields and hard woods with several 0.25-0.5 acre plots....again broken record..we see more deer and have definitely shot bigger buck and doe than before we focused on adding and maintaining good plots...we have also gotten a lot smarter about access and also a lot more particular about the bucks we shoot...you could probably shoot a doe on every sit on several of the plots, which comes in handy once the rut starts cranking...we used to see the sporadic "big" buck before the plots...now they are a bit more predictable and I even saw 2 shooters last year in broad daylight in 2 different plots..and that was well before the rut..seems to make all that time behind a spreader worth it...(also my 6 year old niece killed her first deer [a monster 4 point] while sitting with her dad overlooking one of the plots so if there was any question of worth that ended it)...
also on a slightly different note...the turkey hunting has gone nuts since we started adding winter rye to our biggest plots...they LOVE it and the clover with it early in the spring and it seems to glue them in place once the season starts...we killed 3 birds in 4 weekends last year and we definitely have the best spot on the mountain for the youth season (was 2/2 on birds in youth season before my new "little hunter" came along this year and I did not get out for the youth season)..

 

[SD51555]

I'm still trying to develop that late season food pattern, and I'm stuck on why the deer just vanish for two weeks after it snows 3 inches. They eventually come back and blow up all my clover into January, but hunting late November/early December is just a waste of time. A few times I've gotten food to last that long, but the first snow seems to just shut deer movement down completely.

I'm far enough ahead on my browse now, the deer really only use the food plots in October and part of November. The rest of the year I get to fart around with soil health stuff while they much on ash and diamond willow stump sprouts and about 200 other things.

 

[Derek Reese 29]

I'm still trying to develop that late season food pattern, and I'm stuck on why the deer just vanish for two weeks after it snows 3 inches. They eventually come back and blow up all my clover into January, but hunting late November/early December is just a waste of time. A few times I've gotten food to last that long, but the first snow seems to just shut deer movement down completely.

I'm far enough ahead on my browse now, the deer really only use the food plots in October and part of November. The rest of the year I get to fart around with soil health stuff while they much on ash and diamond willow stump sprouts and about 200 other things.

I have the opposite issue...last winter when it snowed anything over 3" (especially the times when it was 10"+)...I had 10-15 deer in my 1/2 acre of brassicas, but the tops lasted into February and March...they also only hit the plot in the middle of the night so the hunting was no bueno...

 

[SD51555]

I'd imagine brassicas could hold them by me, but I don't have enough acreage to make them last that long.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

I'm still trying to develop that late season food pattern, and I'm stuck on why the deer just vanish for two weeks after it snows 3 inches. They eventually come back and blow up all my clover into January, but hunting late November/early December is just a waste of time. A few times I've gotten food to last that long, but the first snow seems to just shut deer movement down completely.

I'm far enough ahead on my browse now, the deer really only use the food plots in October and part of November. The rest of the year I get to fart around with soil health stuff while they much on ash and diamond willow stump sprouts and about 200 other things.

I've noticed similar at my parents place just outside of grand rapids. Brassicas are what has helped extend the use later into the season. We had maybe 20% of the tubes/bulbs left at start of december and they still get hit, but not like late october into the rut and not by mature bucks.

We have 3 seasons now on my parents 170 acres surrounded by USFS and county owned tax forfeit timber ground. We've got the best food (other than the great browse on adjacent timber cuts) around by far and it is a huge deer attractant. That said, i'm starting to believe our food plots HURT our hunting success. The reason i think they have hurt our success is we have made food plots where it was most convenient largely adjacent to existing logging roads through the property and put permanent stands and trail cams overlooking them. We walk right past them on the logging roads to access numerous stand sites. I think that the high level of attraction to them accompanied by the frequent human presence at the stand sites, messing with cameras, and accessing adjacent to them kills adult buck use of the property during daylight hours. My stepdad has put an enormous amount of work into the property to get it to where it is and I struggle with how to discuss it or any property layout changes with him because of that. I find myself frequently hunting public in the area thinking i might have a better chance at mature buck encounters there.

 

[SD51555]

I've noticed similar at my parents place just outside of grand rapids. Brassicas are what has helped extend the use later into the season. We had maybe 20% of the tubes/bulbs left at start of december and they still get hit, but not like late october into the rut and not by mature bucks.

We have 3 seasons now on my parents 170 acres surrounded by USFS and county owned tax forfeit timber ground. We've got the best food (other than the great browse on adjacent timber cuts) around by far and it is a huge deer attractant. That said, i'm starting to believe our food plots HURT our hunting success. The reason i think they have hurt our success is we have made food plots where it was most convenient largely adjacent to existing logging roads through the property and put permanent stands and trail cams overlooking them. We walk right past them on the logging roads to access numerous stand sites. I think that the high level of attraction to them accompanied by the frequent human presence at the stand sites, messing with cameras, and accessing adjacent to them kills adult buck use of the property during daylight hours. My stepdad has put an enormous amount of work into the property to get it to where it is and I struggle with how to discuss it or any property layout changes with him because of that. I find myself frequently hunting public in the area thinking i might have a better chance at mature buck encounters there.

Yeah, that is hard if you can't access the pattern without getting busted. A few years back I pulled all my cams outta the woods. I'll still run one or two in the spring for something to do, but they come out sometime in June.

That type of situation has to be handled with questions and hope the guy discovers the answer on his own.

 

[Hoytvectrix]

We probably had just as many Big deer on our property before we started putting in food plots. The one difference is that now the overall number of bucks and deer have increased in the area. My Dad is getting up there in age and I think we are doing as much work as we are to keep him active and engaged with everything.
In hindsight, we put plots where they were convenient for us - old pasture or ag fields. It's a little too late to change things too much from what we've been doing, and frankly I'm a little concerned it would have an equally negative impact. We are working to improve cover on our access routes and it's having immediate improvements on mature buck sightings. Now we just have to get busy on reducing the herd size.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

Yeah, that is hard if you can't access the pattern without getting busted. A few years back I pulled all my cams outta the woods. I'll still run one or two in the spring for something to do, but they come out sometime in June.

That type of situation has to be handled with questions and hope the guy discovers the answer on his own.

Problem is I don't know that I've got a drastically better solution that wouldn't entail a lot of walking through public or via the lake which are both kind of non-starters or will be soon due to age.

 

[neonomad]

NE Ohio… I can’t for sure say early / mid season but where the benefits become obvious is by early December, and if I was being honest with myself the best time to shoot a buck - assuming it survived - starts in the third week of December. The crops are off and they do get on a good pattern hitting the rye / wheat / brassicas, and corn if I plant it.