Opinion: Can food plots outdraw corn piles?

[Victor Van Meter]

I have noticed my plots have gotten far fewer deer in them as the neighboring properties begin their corn-palooza. They literally pour tons of corn out from the end of Oct to the beginning of Dec. Just curious what your thoughts are on food plots actually being able to outdraw corn piles? I am going to do my best to clear about 4-5 acres of stumps to try and plant corn myself next year, but it will be a major task both physically and financially, so not sure it will actually happen. Thanks for the input.

VV

 

[homerj]

No way. Unless you have standing corn or beans anyway. Even then, I'm not sure you would outdraw tons of corn piled in the woods.

 

[Catscratch]

I don't think you can plan corn and yield anywhere close (dollar for dollar) what buying bags cost.

To answer your question about drawing deer from the neighbors. I don't know if you can with plots. I have put out corn in the past and what I've found is that they still hit my green plots (wheat and clover) but it's later at night. It seems like they split their time between the two but the corn pile dominates their daylight time movements.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

Another vote for no. Once the baiters start, my deer numbers drop considerably. Then about the first week of December the deer return like clock work. My county shut down baiting for several years, then opened it back up. When it was shut down, it was my best years. They still baited, but not near as much.

 

[Victor Van Meter]

I was afraid that was going to be the consensus. I guess if you can't beat 'em, join 'em or try my hardest to get on them early season before the piles start.

VV

 

[wiscwhip]

Not going to happen and I speak from many past years of experience of trying to out-compete neighbors who baited.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

Baiting wins hands down and it's not even close.

 

[SwampCat]

Foodplots wont keep them from going to corn piles - but all my bucks will hit the clover. I put out some corn in one of my durana/wheat plots to aid my 8 yr old grand daughter in her efforts to kill a deer. This food plot is 2 acre in size. My wife hunts it religiously. She see many deer that feed in the plot, but do not come to the corn. She estimates probably fifty percent never come to the corn pile. My land is almost two miles long. Almost every buck will hit that durana. I think if you have corn, you might have more deer using your place - but you having corn will not keep your bucks from visiting your neighbors corn pile.

 

[cavey]

Pretty tough to beat a feed trough... deer are just one step away from cattle... I would still tend to say that bigger bucks will lay off till dark (give them cover and get in between them and your neighbors corn if you can) , but I have limited experience with baiting via feeders or large piles so that is more of a guess than anything.

A balanced property with less intrusion (apart from some conditioning gained from daily feedings) would be more preferable to me - to many does and fawns while enjoyable to watch is more a headache than a benefit. Those larger numbers hammer the understory wipe out all the browses and eventually the only thing of value to deer on your land is the bait pile. I would rather see less, have a less stressed healthier property and enjoy the full spectrum of land habitat and wildlife management than run a feed yard but that is just me. Your going to spend money in one of many directions depending on the path you choose either by bait or by crops its become the nature of the game (There is the "do nothing" option and just hunt the land; its the cheapest - and you will have more time to hunt which I think is key to killing better bucks). Buying bait and feeding is by far the cheapest option with a fairly big bang - pun intended, for a return... just depends on what you want out of your land in the end. Sometimes the grass is greener on the other side of the fence and sometimes its just a matter of prospective or wants. Most properties and adjoining properties are small enough that the deer do make it around to each others land.. I can see where on large tracks you can pull a high percentage of the neighborhood deer to a tighter local with aggressive large scale (tons of corn) baiting. Good luck on your deerlemma...

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Plant a bean plot then broadcast 500# (or whatever the legal maximum is) into the plot. It will draw the deer in just the same but last longer than piles with less of a risk of disease transmission. This is what I have done in the past (after the season just for inventory reasons) works well. * It is illegal to bait in my area so I didn't have any competition.

 

[SwampCat]

As a side note, deer at my place - especially bucks - are much more likely to eat corn spread over a wide area than from a feeder.

 

[Rit]

Baiting wins hands down and it's not even close.

If you want to see does, fawns, and small bucks yes. You might kill a good one early season but one of my neighbors baits a lot and hunts over it. He usually shoots a 1.5 or 2.5 yr old buck. I think he educates a lot of deer. I tend to notice it effects travel routes a little bit early but after he bumps a few deer off of it they return to my thick cover, food plots, and natural browse.

 

[ksgobbler]

If you want to see does, fawns, and small bucks yes. You might kill a good one early season but one of my neighbors baits a lot and hunts over it. He usually shoots a 1.5 or 2.5 yr old buck. I think he educates a lot of deer. I tend to notice it effects travel routes a little bit early but after he bumps a few deer off of it they return to my thick cover, food plots, and natural browse.

Ive seen much different results. May depend on different areas.

 

[DDC]

Below is a link to an article that I found interesting. I have land that butts up to public and therefore receives lots of baiting. My 3 acres of standing soybeans each year really helps negate the baiting effect and I can tell you I planted other crops such as rye, oats, brassicas and clover and none of them drew and had the sustained drawing power of the soybeans. That and easy and cost effective to grow.
http://www.fullpotentialoutdoors.com/home/articles/soybean-food-plots/

 

[Victor Van Meter]

Below is a link to an article that I found interesting. I have land that butts up to public and therefore receives lots of baiting. My 3 acres of standing soybeans each year really helps negate the baiting effect and I can tell you I planted other crops such as rye, oats, brassicas and clover and none of them drew and had the sustained drawing power of the soybeans. That and easy and cost effective to grow.
http://www.fullpotentialoutdoors.com/home/articles/soybean-food-plots/

I do plan to plant about 3 acres of forage soybeans next year, hopefully that helps. Thanks for the article.

VV

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

If you want to see does, fawns, and small bucks yes. You might kill a good one early season but one of my neighbors baits a lot and hunts over it. He usually shoots a 1.5 or 2.5 yr old buck. I think he educates a lot of deer. I tend to notice it effects travel routes a little bit early but after he bumps a few deer off of it they return to my thick cover, food plots, and natural browse.

My Wisconsin neighbor had a foolproof access to his bait pile, so he could bait daily and never spook deer. It drew in does and fawns until the rut, then the mature bucks came to visit those does and that's when he killed them. He never hunted until he had daylight pics of a big buck and then he sat the stand and killed the old bucks. This guy had several hundred acres of good ground and his best spot was 20 yards from his mailbox where he could bait every day.

Baiting absolutely destroys natural deer movement too, so I hate it. I wish it was banned everywhere in Wisconsin, but unfortunately it is not.

 

[Skelly]

My Wisconsin neighbor had a foolproof access to his bait pile, so he could bait daily and never spook deer. It drew in does and fawns until the rut, then the mature bucks came to visit those does and that's when he killed them. He never hunted until he had daylight pics of a big buck and then he sat the stand and killed the old bucks. This guy had several hundred acres of good ground and his best spot was 20 yards from his mailbox where he could bait every day.

Baiting absolutely destroys natural deer movement too, so I hate it. I wish it was banned everywhere in Wisconsin, but unfortunately it is not.

Seems like we all have our irritating battles.

For us it’s “if it’s brown it’s down” dog hunt clubs.

When you let a 1.5 year old little 6 pointer walk today he’s full of buck shot tomorrow.

 

[wiscwhip]

My Wisconsin neighbor had a foolproof access to his bait pile, so he could bait daily and never spook deer. It drew in does and fawns until the rut, then the mature bucks came to visit those does and that's when he killed them. He never hunted until he had daylight pics of a big buck and then he sat the stand and killed the old bucks. This guy had several hundred acres of good ground and his best spot was 20 yards from his mailbox where he could bait every day.

Baiting absolutely destroys natural deer movement too, so I hate it. I wish it was banned everywhere in Wisconsin, but unfortunately it is not.

I found it didn't matter whether there was a baiting ban in affect or not, guys still did it, they just got better at hiding it from the DNR flyover planes. Instead of just dumping large piles in the middle of an opening, they would dump them in smaller, more discreet piles under the canopy of a group of large conifers that would hide them even after leaf fall.

 

[yoderjac]

I have noticed my plots have gotten far fewer deer in them as the neighboring properties begin their corn-palooza. They literally pour tons of corn out from the end of Oct to the beginning of Dec. Just curious what your thoughts are on food plots actually being able to outdraw corn piles? I am going to do my best to clear about 4-5 acres of stumps to try and plant corn myself next year, but it will be a major task both physically and financially, so not sure it will actually happen. Thanks for the input.

VV

Anything can outdraw anything. It really depends on conditions, timing, and location. Weeds can outdraw soybeans. Hunting pressure is typically more important than the food source. I'll take an old weedy clover field that has no hunting pressure over a highly attractive crop with high pressure any day.

Another consideration is your ethical lines. Personally I won't hunt deer over bait (it is not legal here but many do it), but you need to draw your own lines. In many areas, corn fields can make deer harder to hunt. It is an example of food in cover. Where corn is king, deer can simply bed in large corn fields and eat their fill.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[4wanderingeyes]

I found it didn't matter whether there was a baiting ban in affect or not, guys still did it, they just got better at hiding it from the DNR flyover planes. Instead of just dumping large piles in the middle of an opening, they would dump them in smaller, more discreet piles under the canopy of a group of large conifers that would hide them even after leaf fall.

In my county they did make baiting illegal for a few years, then reopened it. I have a lot of state land also in my county, and a quite a bit just 1/2 mile a way. I know baiting was still happening when it was illegal, but it really was noticeable as far as deer patterns. My food plots were a big draw during the season when it was illegal, now my food plots are a big draw all year until September through December 1st, then its like you ran them off. I average about 100 pictures a day until September, then it drops to like 15 per day, then November it drops to about 5 per day, then December it is back up to 50 per day. I dont bait, and I am in the same situation as the OP, knowing if I bait, I will keep some of the deer on my land and have a better chance then not baiting. I just havent made that step, and not sure I want to. But I havent ruled it out. Deer will stay on my land until the snow is to deep, then they move on. But if it is a year with less then a foot of snow on the ground, they stay on my land all winter. Then when we get more then a foot, they tend to move on. I assume to the ag field about a half mile a way.