Sunday, June 01, 2008
Food Plot Strategy
Food plots often are little one-acre plantings near where deer bed, and I have a few such plantings on my land. But, when one supports 400-500 deer, such tiny plots don’t last long.
Most of what I plant is in larger plantings. A 50- or 100-acre corn field is big enough to cut some, and leave some, and what is cut can be fed to deer during the winter.
Soy beans are fine for deer but they scoff beans down just about the time they start growing. We plant some winter wheat, and deer love such plantings during hunting season.
Planting food plots specifically for hunting purposes isn’t always possible. Sometimes, it’s necessary to cut down the size of the planting because of the terrain.
A good example of what I try to do is to have open winter wheat fields with one or two strategically placed coops (either elevated or on the ground), and they work. The greater the distances to be watched often requires the use of an elevated coop.
Coops placed near travel routes are great. One favorite spot is a natural funnel between two heavy tag alder thickets. Winter wheat is planted on one side of the funnel, and open rolling hills is on the opposite side of this long and narrow funnel. An elevated ground coop (Execution Knob) is surrounded on two sides by open fields and on two sides by the meandering funnel. A coop is placed on the opposite side near the edge of the field. Both spots produce simply because the tag alders offer cover and a reasonably secure travel route, and there is nearby food and water available.
Another coop is placed at the edge of the corn and near another alder swale. Deer have traveled between the corn and the alders for many years, and this ground blind is a natural. It produces good bucks every year.
One other thing I try to do is position coops along natural travel routes. For instances, on the south side of my property are some rolling hills dotted with thornapple trees, and deer must pass through the thornapples and the heavily wooded ridges to reach the grasslands and open fields below. Pick a spot where two trails merge into one, set up a stand on the downwind side, and be ready for action.
Deer like field corners, especially those with heavy cover and brush. Deer dislike walking through open woods to reach a open food source. They prefer to approach the feeding field through heavy cover, stand back and look for danger before stepping out. Find such a spot, and position an elevated coop or tree stand nearby, and stay out of the area until hunting season arrives.
Creek bottoms are hotspots, and edge cover near old marshes are good. Deer can move along the edges of the marsh grass and heavier edge cover, and if danger threatens, they are only one step from heavy cover. A well placed stand along such travel routes leading to food sources can be exceptionally good.
I have a ground blind near a huckleberry marsh, and deer love this cover. It is thick but narrow, and in one spot, a road crosses through the cover. On the south side, in an open field, is a very productive coop. The deer will filter down through the marsh, each the dirt road, and walk that up the hill and out in front of the coop. It is a very good stand, and although few of my stands are pretty, they are pretty effective.
Look at the cover, and look at the natural travel routes of deer in your area, and then look for places where these travel routes butt up against natural cover. You’ll find that by putting some thought to the topic, it becomes easy to locate stand sites near food sources or along trails leading to those food sites.
One spot that we call the Skyline Set is downhill slightly from a well-used trail leading from heavy cover to the open fields. The deer stop here to look out toward the open fields, and they are silhouetted against the sky. It means uphill shooting at 18 yards, and each year it pays off with nice bucks.
A bit of thought is all it takes. Put yourself in a deer’s place, determine what they need for food sources and how they move through to get there, and you’ve found a hot spot.—The Whitetail Wizard