Kill plot stories

[WTNUT]

Kill Plots - dear to my heart. It has taken me 15 years, but I THINK I have learned SOMETHING about our kill plots. To give you some background, we keep 8-10 percent of my total acreage in foodplots. Out of that, probably 1/4 of the total plot acreage is kill plots. We honestly manage to bowhunt so some of the things we try to avoid would work for gun hunting. What I think I have learned: .75 acres is nearly the perfect size ( smaller makes deer uncomfortable, larger than 1.3 acres makes it too hard to make sure they will be in range when you go to kill); DO NOT HUNT THEM UNTIL OCT. 18-20 TIME FRAME ( we normally get a cold snap in the mid west around then and that will push the most difficult bucks out in the plot before dark); you want those deer to be really comfortable in those plots from June through your first hunt around Oct.18; we prefer clover and rye in those plot; treat your "kill plot" like a sanctuary that you can go to a few times when conditions are perfect to get the job done. If you only hunt those plots a few times a year, they can be amazing. This year between October 18 - 26 we killed three over 170 out of kill plots. The year before we killed two between Oct.18 -21. If I could only hunt five days, it would be around that time frame starting with a cold front and you can have the rut! For the last 5-7 years we have killed 5 mature bucks out of kill plots in October for every one mature buck killed any other time of the year. Kill plots are dear to my heart!!!!

 

[Bill]

WTNUT, no expert here but I like the stadegy.

Rally1148,
How do you access those areas and how often? Just curious.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Kill Plots - dear to my heart. It has taken me 15 years, but I THINK I have learned SOMETHING about our kill plots. To give you some background, we keep 8-10 percent of my total acreage in foodplots. Out of that, probably 1/4 of the total plot acreage is kill plots. We honestly manage to bowhunt so some of the things we try to avoid would work for gun hunting. What I think I have learned: .75 acres is nearly the perfect size ( smaller makes deer uncomfortable, larger than 1.3 acres makes it too hard to make sure they will be in range when you go to kill); DO NOT HUNT THEM UNTIL OCT. 18-20 TIME FRAME ( we normally get a cold snap in the mid west around then and that will push the most difficult bucks out in the plot before dark); you want those deer to be really comfortable in those plots from June through your first hunt around Oct.18; we prefer clover and rye in those plot; treat your "kill plot" like a sanctuary that you can go to a few times when conditions are perfect to get the job done. If you only hunt those plots a few times a year, they can be amazing. This year between October 18 - 26 we killed three over 170 out of kill plots. The year before we killed two between Oct.18 -21. If I could only hunt five days, it would be around that time frame starting with a cold front and you can have the rut! For the last 5-7 years we have killed 5 mature bucks out of kill plots in October for every one mature buck killed any other time of the year. Kill plots are dear to my heart!!!!

Good tips. Thanks for taking the time to respond.

 

[WTNUT]

WTNUT, no expert here but I like the stadegy.

Rally1148,
How do you access those areas and how often? Just curious.

Good questions. All of the plots have good road into them so that tractors or lime trucks can make it in. I do things A LOT DIFFERENT and you may get mad because it sound very simple and it is. In the off season we have more activity on our property than the neighbors. We also have a lot of acreage. However, during hunting season we have the least amount of activity on our place as compared to neighbors. During off season we run a lot of cameras. The ones on kill plots are set in a tree as high as one can reach when standing on and ATV or UTV. They get checked once a week. Someone goes in on an ATV midday drives up to the trees pull the card leaves and never sets foot on ground. The plots also get mowed and sprayed frequently during off season. The deer get use to that activity. When we have the right buck coming to a kill plot BEFORE DARK, a cold front (10 degrees or more colder than it has been) we decide to hunt that plot. If we think it is a super super smart buck we take the hunter in on a tractor midday, drop him or her off and leave. The hunter takes a remote coyote call. If the hunter does not kill by legal shooting light, he sounds off the call which will clear the field of any deer (there are always deer in the plots at dark). After dark, someone comes and picks the hunter up with a UTV. If we don't think a buck is super shy, we will take the hunter to the base of the tree on a UTV. All hunters hunt out of hang on stands that
Have been hung well in advance. NO CLIMBING TREESTANDS. We don't hunt our kill plots more than three times a year.

 

[WTNUT]

When I say we go in to hunt mid-day, I mean mid day. Even though it may not get dark until 7:00 PM that time of year we go in AT NOON. I look at it as "we have waited 365 days for one shot and this is it". Those deer get really really comfortable in those plots and your young does and fawns are probably going to be in those plots BY 1:30 and honestly you want all of the does in that area to have fed out and left well before dark. When they do that a 6.5 year old buck is far more likely to walk into that plot 45 minutes before dark. It is amazing how well it works. If you are itching to hunt early season or shoot does early you need to find another place to do it. THE ONLY DOWN SIDE TO IT IS WE HAVE TO DO OUR DOE MANAGEMENT IN LATE LATE SEASON AND THAT CAN BE TOUGH. Some years we do well with the does, and other years we fall short. But we almost (I emphasize almost ) always do really well on mature bucks in those kill plots.