Making Bucks Enter Plots During the Rut

[bat man]

I have terrible luck getting older bucks to enter my plots during the rut. Even smaller skinny plots.

The spot pictured is hunted with a west wind from the centered yellow pin. Last weekend I hinge cut some bedding (pink) right next to the plots so bucks almost need to step into the plots to scent check for does.



I want to do something to the plots that will make the bucks comfortable stepping into them mid day (dad rifle hunting) to scent check for does, while doubling as a screen for the bedded does. Rifle stand is 8 foot off the ground and all bedding within 150 yards.

If I just leave a 10 yard buffer in the plot adjacent to the bedding go fallow (golden rod etc) will it be enough or is there something to plant the bucks will walk in and can be seen to have a holes shot through their lungs/heart etc? Maybe RoundUp a 30 inch trail through the fallow area?

 

[Riggsgwp->]

How about planting the entire plot in the spring with rye and soybeans or clover and allow the rye to mature. Then mow shooting lanes late summer. The deer should feel pretty comfortable with the mature rye as cover. Also add rubbing post and water hole if possible.

 

[Freeborn]

I think you need to have a line of movement that goes through the plot. You could plant several rows of high stem count shrubs through the plot and before they mature mow yourself a path for the buck to follow. Once the shrubs mature you will have a permanent line of movement that you could easily trim to keep it suckering. American Plum would work well.

Question, what app are you using for your maps? It looks great!

 

[bat man]

How about planting the entire plot in the spring with rye and soybeans or clover and allow the rye to mature. Then mow shooting lanes late summer. The deer should feel pretty comfortable with the mature rye as cover. Also add rubbing post and water hole if possible.

I like rye going to maturity for turkey hunting, and I really like soybeans where I am. Straight beans around the stand may keep deer away from there till after dark?

 

[bat man]

I think you need to have a line of movement that goes through the plot. You could plant several rows of high stem count shrubs through the plot and before they mature mow yourself a path for the buck to follow. Once the shrubs mature you will have a permanent line of movement that you could easily trim to keep it suckering. American Plum would work well.

Question, what app are you using for your maps? It looks great!

If I can identify a workable pattern with annuals, a shrub line should be a good option.

app is something Bartylla and I are working on to for guys like us to share ideas etc.

 

[Freeborn]

I’m using a mix of crab-apple and plum trees as permanent lines of movement through my NWSG and they are working. The buck I took this year crossed a 40 acre field along a 3 row shrub planting that is over 1000’ long.

Most of the stuff I have read is bucks basically stop eating during the rut so I am not certain how the food plot will help with drawing bucks unless there are does in it.

You know hunting, nothing is certain but just saying.

 

[Riggsgwp->]

Straight beans around the stand may keep deer away from there till after dark?

In the future I will be avoiding monoculture plots. I want all my plots to be palatable and have good yields but I think adding a cover element is the key. I learned this after neglecting some clover plots that got overrun with thistle, they were deer magnets. It's hard for some guys to get past the idea of "pretty" plots.

 

[bat man]

In the future I will be avoiding monoculture plots. It's hard for some guys to get past the idea of "pretty" plots.

Reason I thought fallow is some of my clover plots have had only grass control and the deer love all the broadleaf, but I want more cover to bring them out during the rut. Dad likes seeing deer but really only wants to shoot older bucks.

 

[bat man]

basically stop eating during the rut so I am not certain how the food plot will help with drawing bucks unless there are does in it.
.

I don't want the plot to draw bucks. Girls will do that. The areas in question don't have to be food, I am looking for cover that gets bucks where they can be shot in the plot.

Something in the plot that makes bucks feel hidden while the rifle can take them out.

 

[sandbur]

Brooks-STANDING CORN is the answer. And bucks do eat during the rut. The buck I shot died with an ear of corn in his mouth. Four days later my wife had two bucks eating corn in the plot. Put some beans in a row, or pull out stalks to make a travel lane through the corn. Leave an opening for a small patch of beans or rye. The plot is the one south of my driveway if you remember it.

If I pull corn or mow it to make a travel lane, do it very early so you do not violate baiting laws. I do it when the corn is very short.

 

[sandbur]

I would have several crossing trails between those points and through the corn.
Standing corn next to thick cover is as close to a sure thing for a buck as it gets. And I am talking Mn. rifle season-mainly evening and morning.

 

[bueller]

Best plot I've ever had for daytime activity was standing rye planted the previous fall with red clover underneath. Overseeded brassicas in there during the spring. Clover and brassicas provided the food while the standing rye provided the cover.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

i really like the idea of fallow edges or parts of the plot left fallow for defining lines of movement. Its cheap, easy, and effective....especially if you have golden rod. the only draw back to the golden rod is that once you get some snow...it starts to lay flat. But if you added some shrubs that would help as well. I have had good luck with mowing trails in golden rod. the does will gravitate to the mowed trails immediately....and once they start smelling right the bucks will be bird dogging on those same trails....add some shrubs that provide licking branches where you want them to be and a bird dogging buck has a reason to stop and pose for the rifle scope.

 

[bat man]

Brooks-STANDING CORN is the answer.

I would not be able to see into the corn, so it would defeat the purpose. The corn I planted and efenced this year was not the draw I thought it would be, unless you are a bluejay. 100's of those. I am back to beans next year as my overwinter food for sure.

 

[BJE80]

I know you want bucks to enter your plot but I've found you are just better off hunting downwind of your plot. It just seems to work much better for me because getting the deer your want to kill out in the open during daylight is very tough.

 

[bat man]

I know you want bucks to enter your plot but I've found you are just better off hunting downwind of your plot. It just seems to work much better for me because getting the deer your want to kill out in the open during daylight is very tough.

Why am I better off hunting downwind of the plot if I can get the bucks into the plot?

West wind blows back to the cabin which is a deer free zone. Setting up down wind of the plot is always a higher impact sit. Access is not as good, and it is much easier for the deer to get downwind.

If I can get the does into the hinged areas next to the plot, and give the bucks a 'secure' way to cruise and check the spots where the does bed, why would they not scent check the hinges.

I think the best deer plans find ways to manipulate deer movement and tilting the odds in your favor.. Setting up downwind of the plot is a bad option on this piece.

 

[shawnv]

Where I've seen what you want happen is under three different scenarios:

1) The edge of the plot was so thick the buck could not see into it.
2) The woods had blocking that pinched the buck into the plot to cut around it to scent check.
3) There was a "safe" crossing zone. If you plant the West and North finger in native grasses/wildflowers (still providing a food source) I think you'll see bucks crossing here or standing there scanning the plot.

 

[BJE80]

Why am I better off hunting downwind of the plot if I can get the bucks into the plot?

West wind blows back to the cabin which is a deer free zone. Setting up down wind of the plot is always a higher impact sit. Access is not as good, and it is much easier for the deer to get downwind.

If I can get the does into the hinged areas next to the plot, and give the bucks a 'secure' way to cruise and check the spots where the does bed, why would they not scent check the hinges.

I think the best deer plans find ways to manipulate deer movement and tilting the odds in your favor.. Setting up downwind of the plot is a bad option on this piece.

Valid. Mine was just a general observation.

 

[MNAaron]

I have terrible luck getting older bucks to enter my plots during the rut. Even smaller skinny plots.

The spot pictured is hunted with a west wind from the centered yellow pin. Last weekend I hinge cut some bedding (pink) right next to the plots so bucks almost need to step into the plots to scent check for does.

View attachment 3407

I want to do something to the plots that will make the bucks comfortable stepping into them mid day (dad rifle hunting) to scent check for does, while doubling as a screen for the bedded does. Rifle stand is 8 foot off the ground and all bedding within 150 yards.

If I just leave a 10 yard buffer in the plot adjacent to the bedding go fallow (golden rod etc) will it be enough or is there something to plant the bucks will walk in and can be seen to have a holes shot through their lungs/heart etc? Maybe RoundUp a 30 inch trail through the fallow area?

Brooks
I am not for sure if I am following your train of thought but here is what is working for us on small plots in the woods. We have thick cover all the way up to the edges (sapling poplars, weeds, high vertical growth) and then we have bedding areas on either side so they the deer want to take the most direct route and that is to cross the small plot located in heavy cover. These are small plots no wider than 15-20 yards.

With your building location where it is I would be shocked if you get a mature buck in the plot midday. I am guessing those building are abandoned and that you have thick cover between the plot and the building site which would help.

Creating a buck trail (sidewalk) on the down wind side through thick cover with some strategic shooting lanes would be the best. The really big bucks I find never really want to step out in the open.

 

[bat man]

Creating a buck trail (sidewalk) on the down wind side through thick cover with some strategic shooting lanes would be the best. The really big bucks I find never really want to step out in the open.

Dad wants them in the open. A plan is starting to trickle into my ear. Great resource to bounce ideas - thank you for what has popped so far.