The first food plot I ever planted was a very small field of corn. I had no equipment; none! I didn’t even know how or where to purchase field corn seed. Fertilizer…no idea? If I recall correctly, I had no idea about herbicides either. But I had witnessed deer pour into corn fields after they were picked by the old two row corn pickers that left about 10% of the crop in the field. These picked corn fields were the best to hunt over come November and the late season. My goal was simply to reproduce this on my grandpa’s farm that was all grass hay.
With only a Troy Built rototiller to work the ground, I set out. I tilled the ground for days and got maybe a half acre worked up. Then, I planted by hand that half acre with seed I got from my uncle who was a produce farmer. On my hands and knees, one seed at a time pushed into the ground. When the seed emerged, it was now time to weed…think giant garden. So, I weeded a half acre of field corn with a 4-tine hand weeder of some sorts, and rototilled in between the rows. I was about 14 years old and was determined to have corn to hunt over come fall! Successful food plotting some 30 years ago was defined by if my corn would grow or not; that’s it.
Today, I can plant that same half acre of corn in about an hour. That’s seeding and fertilizing. It would take less time than that if I didn’t have to turn around all the time with the planter. And, most often my plots today look great. Lush plots of greens and grain plots of corn or soybeans are no longer a challenge. But, that’s really not the most important thing that has changed for me with food plotting. In fact, it’s probably the least important factor in defining success or failure of a food plot—that is how it looks or turned out. The most important, or rather the thing that has made my plots successful today as opposed to 30, or even 10 years ago are their locations and how they are hunted (or not). Sure, I strive for high yielding grain plots, and beautiful lush green plots sometimes, but looks and yields aren’t what make a food plot successful or not. At least not for a hunter!
A highly attractive lush green plot of the best blends or a second to none corn plot in the wrong location or hunted the wrong way will actually make your hunting worse, not better. I see it all the time. I do. A poorly located food plot is bad enough, add in a bad practice of hunting them hard and you have a recipe for disaster as a hunter.
The Wrong Locations and Hunting Methods on Plots
I want to touch just a little about the wrong location and hunting methods using food plots. This is from my own experiences and what I have felt were bad scenarios when attempting to make my hunting better. I want to stress that if you have methods that are working for you, I am not telling you to change what works for you. I used to think my food plotting was working too, because I was judging food plot success solely on how a plot looked or yielded. As a hunter, I have retrained the way I think about habitat improvements and food plotting to assess if they are helping me grow and harvest big deer.
The worst food plot type I ever had was the famed kill plot. This is the plot located way back in timber or thick cover that gets pounded by the local deer herd because it is secluded and located next to thick cover. But, in too many cases it is located in the middle of cover, where it is nearly impossible to get to without bumping deer. Worse yet, because you are in the middle of cover, during the hunt deer are constantly getting down wind of your position and busting you. A third flaw is that these plots are so attractive and so much great food is available, that many deer pour into them and ultimately bust you while on stand. After several hunts on these type plots, the area is burned out. Every doe in the area knows to avoid them during the day…and if they are brave enough to come before dark, they spend the entire time staring up in the tree where you were busted the last time you sat the stand.
The only solution to the kill plot’s flaws of course is to double down on the strategy (I’m being sarcastic now because I’ve done this) so that you have multiple kill plots available so when the deer bust you, you can simply move around. Now, for all you smaller farm hunters out there, you not only bumble one part of your farm to death…you can bumble the whole thing to death. The other option is to create all these kill plots, and don’t hunt them, making them no longer kill plots but feeding stations where the deer no longer have to leave their cover areas until after dark to get great meals. Creating a scenario whereas deer don’t ever leave cover until after dark doesn’t sound like my goal, right? The end result is simply this, you have succeeded in attracting a bunch of deer to an area that is extremely difficult to hunt. Over time, you will force the local deer herd nocturnal, or force them to spend their daytime movements off your farm coming back only at night.
The kill plot is also highly attractive to hunters. Thoughts of giant bucks in secluded plots working scrapes and chasing does is undeniable. But, for most hunters who don’t have thousands of acres or dozens of farms to spread their hunting pressure out over, the secluded deep in cover kill plot is not a great idea. It’s a bad idea. They look great, and can work for large tracts of property, but that’s where it ends.
The same thing goes for the highly attractive destination plot. These are the larger plots of lush greens, like clover, alfalfa, cereal grains, and brassicas and of course corn and soybeans. Locate these plots in an area that you have to access or walk by during your hunts and you will likely make deer activity on them after dark. The more attractive they are the more deer they will draw. Hunting over them or even shooting deer over them will shut them down in a hurry. The problem is once again that you are forcing the deer in your area to avoid your plot during daylight. So, the solution is to double down on creating more and bigger destination plots so that you can rotate your hunting pressure to mitigate the problems with hunting these food plot. The results are similar to over-planting and hunting the kill plots; reduced usage throughout the hunting season forcing deer to use your property at night. Not as big an issue if you have thousands of acres to spread your hunting pressure over or a dozen farms to hunt.
In both cases, kill plots and destination plots that are located poorly and hunted, will result in less deer on your property as the hunting season progresses, and less daytime activity as well. These can be very successful methods to hunt big deer if you only hunt a few days a year, or have gobs of land. Most hunters want to hunt as much as they can, and don’t have the acreage to make these plots and hunting methods viable. I can say this because I used to use these methods and saw the results. Even though I was able to kill mature deer on an annual basis, these plots and hunting methods made it harder…not easier! Even when I doubled down.
Food Plotting that Works
So, you’re reading this article that says no more kill plots, and you can’t hunt your big destination plots either. The guy is nuts! Well, maybe? But bear with me a bit. I’m not saying don’t plant food plots. I’m also not saying to never hunt them. Unless your goal is to have great pictures of food plotting to share, success of a plot should be judged on how well it helps you grow the deer you want to grow, and harvest the deer you want to harvest. Their location and how they are hunted have been in my experience (and learning curve) the biggest factors in their success. However, it also gets the least amount of attention.
A great food plot strategy should do several things. First it will allow hunters to keep deer on their property as much as possible so that they can impact the age structure, or grow big deer. It will also provide ways to funnel deer or impact their travel patterns in a way that makes them easier to hunt. And, it does this all while keeping a hunter from putting too much pressure on the local deer herd forcing them off their property or making them nocturnal. This can be accomplished by putting more thought and time into location and hunting methods than by deciding if you should use the Killer Mega T-Raptor Plus HD plot seed sponsored by the best TV hunter, or maybe just some good old-fashioned co-op seed.
The only two food plots I plan to plant from here going forward are the transition food plot and the destination food plot. Both if done correctly will help hunters keep deer on their property and provide ways to hunt and/or impact deer travel patterns making them easier to hunt. I’ve talked about this before, but it seems worth repeating since so many hunters will go into this fall spending all their time and money deciding what seed to plant or what equipment to buy. Thousands of dollars and hours in the field will be spent making their hunting grounds worse, yes worse.
The transition plot is a small plot located between bedding cover and a destination food source. The destination food source can be a food plot you have planted or a preferred food like a great stand of alfalfa on your neighboring property. The key is to locate this plot between the two, in an area you can get to without bumping deer going in, while on stand, and when leaving. Access could be through a cow pasture, or traveling down a creek, maybe even a mowed path through tall grass…something or way to conceal your approach. It also means you can’t be walking upwind of where deer might be bedded. While on stand, plan your scent to blow where it would be near impossible or improbable for deer to get down wind. Maybe it’s the same cow pasture, a large pond, or a drop off in terrain keeping your scent above deer. Plan to have your stand located just off the edge of the transition plot to help keep you concealed from deer in the plot. Exiting the stand is just as critical, make your exit away from deer feeding or bedding depending on if it’s a morning or evening sit.
Locating this plot on the edges of cover, or just inside cover is good. Think fence lines, or property edges between bedding and destination food. Maybe even inside corners. The food plot should be small. Sometimes I like to make mine narrow and a little longer promoting deer to travel them lengthwise. Always plant a green food source like winter rye, clover, even brassicas; however, the goal should be a plot that is not super lush and providing tons of food. Just the opposite. You want this plot to be green but maybe a 4 out of 10. You don’t want deer stopping and eating for long periods of time…just a brief nibble or two, then passing through on their way to bigger and better. A great addition to a transition plot is a fence jump or ditch crossing to help further funnel deer, and a mock scrape. Located and planted correctly, a transition plot will entice deer within bow range to snack and rut, but will also encourage them to leave. You will be able to hunt this set multiple times the whole season without burning it out.
The second plot I will continue to plant is a preferred plot of greens and grains. This is a larger plot, maybe 2-5 acres or so that is located precisely where I want deer to be at quitting time each night. Obviously, this is in an area I don’t need to walk by when exiting my stands in the evening. The green portion can be planted in winter rye, clover, alfalfa, etc. and the grains can be soybeans and/or corn. This plot should be as lush and attractive as you can make it. But, don’t hunt it. Instead it is used to set up the evening feeding pattern that you can exploit at your transition plots, and to hold deer on your property for all season hunting in other areas like funnels, crossings, and bedding area setups. Then, at near the season’s end, I’ll start hunting these plots.
This fall, make locating your food plots your number one priority as a food plotter. Your hunting will get better and you will probably save some time and money. Learn to hunt them smarter and put less pressure on your deer herd. Where you locate a food plot and how you hunt it are infinitely more important than what you plant or how you plant it!