Food plots work for you folks

[Mo wannabe]

I put out several food plots in 2013 and didn't have any luck hunting around them ,deer seemed to always know when I was there or not acording to trail cameras . How did u folks do with yours ?

[vixenmaster]

I don't have any, what did you have planted ? Think i will get my friend over to use his tractor this Fall

[Lake shooter]

You didn't say anything about how you were hunting them, so this is all conjecture.

First, don't hunt them in the mornings, you'll be scaring off deer that are already there feeding and educating them! if you desire to morning hunt, try locating some of the better used trails leading back to bedding cover and set up far enough away from the plot that you can get in without spooking the deer that are there, and that's a good distance!

Second, even on afternoon/evening food plot hunts, don't be lazy! Like I said, not being accusatory here, but you gave no information on how you hunt. DON'T ride an ATV or vehicle within a half mile of the plot, and I wouldn't get THAT close! People rationalize that deer don't do this or that and I've heard many say that ATV's and vehicles don't bother them or change their habits. This may be true to a point in farm country during the off season when folks are just going about their business, but NOT when people start showing up at their feeding spots during daylight hours!

Give them just a few bumps during daylight and they really get leery of entering the plots then. Do it with the sound of ATV's or vehicles in the background and believe me, they put 2+2 together even if only instinctively. They are not the dumb critters many folks think!

On the pressure and noise thingy:
I have related this before but it bears repeating here. I used to hunt with my BIL down in Alabama. Everyone there road ATV's or pickups all over hell's creation to get to this plot or that. Years before when there were very few people hunting there except for weekends and I had the whole 320 acres to myself, I regularly saw much daytime deer activity and also slipped up on many deer on the plots at all hours of the day, but, I was walking or riding my mountain bike everywhere.

Fast forward 10 years to more than a few folks being out there during all times of the week and all riding something mechanical. The visible daytime deer activity crashed to the point that you'd swear there was only a deer ever square mile, but the tracks, droppings, rut sign and utilization cages in the plots (you DO have utilization cages I hope?) showed that there were still loads of deer there!

Sorry about the length here, but this is important. On the noise factor. This property was approximately one mile east to west and a half mile north or south with creeks on the west and south boundary. More than a few times I would be hunting on the creek (yes, I walked) at the west boundary (one mile away from the parking spot and garage) and could instantly hear when someone fired up an ATV back at the parking spot, and this was with more than a few ridges and 10's of 1.000's of trees between us!!!!!

Final note on people, habits and rationalization: Einstein once described insanity as "Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result"!!!!! Don't be that person!

[Mo wannabe]

V M we have two places we put out foodplots on. One is up at wappello lake where we own about 40 acres of woods that joins gov land . Up there we put out soybeans , wheat , oats, and clover. The deer eat the soybeans off AT the ground early in the spring soon as they leaved out. The rest the eat normally at night mostly acording to trail cameras . I have 20 acres here at home I've got about the same planted on and again they hit the forager beans hard all summer at nite . We got one shot at the lake and one at the house

[oldnbroken]

Do they ever!!!!
Here is my brassica late summer
Here it is now that the acorns are gone and the freeze and early snow sweetened it up.


Here is what it must have looked like during the snow


Seriously with 30 acres of mostly rock, cedar and steep hillside I've cleared a couple power line cuts and a small knob. Yes they do attract and feed deer, lots of deer according the the game cams, but like stated above you fire up an atv or even slam truck doors and they head for deeper woods till night fall.

IMO the plots are not the best spots to hunt on my place but help bring em in and keep em healthy. I spied this guy this past spring in one of them.

[Lake shooter]

Exactly! Lots of folks who plant plots think that they have a hunting bonanza, and they can be, but not when they are hunted often. Most of the bucks (and even the does) seen taken at food plots on hunting shows are also on huge private ranches or hunting reserves that have 1,000's of acres of land and scads of food plots with limited, paying hunters. This means that the plots aren't hammered and that those guiding and taking care of them keep a low profile and stay out as much as possible. Only then will many deer feel relatively comfortable coming forth in the daylight.

As the previous poster alluded to, well maintained plots planted with desirable deer chow WILL pull more deer into your area, but you're still gonna have to hunt hard and smart to be successful.

[racking up points]

1-Never hunt the AM on a plot. Hunt trails away from it that lead to their beds.
2-Be realistic, it's not like on TV.
3-Never sit directly on the edge, locate stands in wooded cover if possible, 15-100y in the woods.
4-Only go there when the wind is right for your approach, never with wind going into their bedding area.
5-Locate plots in the woods or a clearing, if possible.
6-Plant a variety of seeds.

That all being said, I stopped with food plots this year because I found it too expensive to do properly. Where I hunt, deer numbers are so high that they eat themselves out of house and home, sometimes before you can get plantings established, so large plots are the order but lime and fertilizer and equipment doesn't come cheap . . . and corn does. I didn't notice a decline on the number or quality of deer on my land as a result.