Hunt 365 May 2018-Big or Small Food Plots

This month’s question comes from Mark in northeast Iowa.  He writes “I have 160 acres of mixed timber and farm ground that I hunt.  About 80 acres are open ground with 60 acres of row crops along the road on the east border of the farm, and another 20 acres of alfalfa hay right in the center of the property.  There are plenty of deer in the area and every year we get some really nice bucks on our cameras but very rarely see them hunting.  The deer are spread out all over and there doesn’t seem to be any patterns to their movements at all.  I would like to put in some food plots because once the row crops are harvested it seems like the deer are less and less as the alfalfa freezes.  I can do whatever I want with the tillable ground, right now it is leased out to a farmer.  Should I put in a bunch of small harvest plots or just a couple bigger ones?  I would like to have great archery hunting and late muzzy if I can.  Thank you.”

I called and talked with Mark about his property for a few minutes and he described a very nice farm.  The farm is mostly flat with some rolling hills, but no terrain features that funnel deer per say.  Once the row crops are harvested on the east side of the property, the farmer that rents the property usually fall tills leaving only the alfalfa.  The 20 acres of alfalfa does draw a lot of deer until at least mid-November each year but the deer are very hard to pattern going to this large of a field.  He has stands placed throughout the farm but he is always bumping deer going to the stands or bumping deer off the alfalfa after his evening hunts.

Mark’s case or scenario is not unusual.  Many hunters find themselves each fall with a buck or two they would like to hunt and take, only they can’t quite put themselves in front of their target animal.  I worked with Mark making specific suggestions for him that should help in patterning his deer herd better and creating spots he can ambush deer going to and from food sources, as well as creating other ambush sites like fence jumps and crossings.  This is what we came up with.

The tillable ground to the east Mark will continue to rent out.  This gives him 60 acres of income producing land and acreage he can use to access some stand sites.  The crown jewel of the property that we then wanted to exploit was that 20-acre field in the center of the property.  A 20-acre field, in my opinion, is just too big for a hunting scenario.  The field was mostly rectangular in shape with the field edge being almost 1300 yards in total length.  Deer were entering and exiting the field all over the place making predictability very tough.  Hunting the field was also a challenge because on evening hunts, Mark would bust most of the deer feeding on the alfalfa when he got down from his stand each night.

We decided to reduce the field to about 6 acres in size.  The remaining 14 acres would be planted in warm season grasses with pockets of woody browse.  The warm season grasses along with the pockets of browse would create additional bedding habitat for the local deer herd.  The remaining 6-acre plot would be planted in soybeans or corn or rotated between the two.  My favorite is soybeans because it is more economical to plant and has lower input costs.  So, that’s one larger food plot centrally located on his property.  It was agreed that this plot would not be hunted or traveled through during the entire early archery season.  By doing this, Mark is establishing an evening food source where the deer feel safe and won’t experience any hunting pressure.  This will keep deer on a bed to food, and food to bed pattern pretty much all fall.

The next step, was to create transition food plots located for the hunter’s advantage between normal bedding and feeding routes.  Four of these small plots (about 1/10 to ¼ acre in size) would be created in areas Mark could get to without bumping deer and hunt them with different wind directions.  The idea is to hunt the transition area food plots on morning and evening hunts when the deer are traveling back and forth from the main 6-acre plot and their bedding areas.  In this way, Mark is helping to manipulate where the deer will want to travel and how they can be hunted.  No more bumping deer on the way in and out of stands either.

I’ve used this approach or a variation of it for the past 20 years hunting whitetail on farms that I have some or total control of.  The great thing about this kind of setup is that you…the hunter…gets to decide where the transition plots and main feeding plot are located up front.  The main feeding plot is designed to give the deer their main source of food each and every day…while the transition plots are like the dinner salad bar where the deer stop to eat a bit and bucks scrape and rub and leave rutting sign.  The beauty of it is that in almost all cases, deer will make their way past these transition plots before quitting time in the evening…and not quite getting back to them in the morning making exit and entrance from your stands ideal.  They are by name and how they are used transition plots.

A big mistake I see hunters make all too often is to simply take any available open ground that will grow a food plot and plant one there.  Sometimes, there will be food plots scattered throughout a property with no thought going into how it is affecting deer movement, how will the plot be hunted, how does the hunter get in there and back out.  Simply planting a food plot, big or small, because you have the resources and acreage to do so isn’t always a good idea.  This is especially true with food plots planted in the timber.  You know, those little openings in the timber that would look so good in a lush clover plot!  Be careful!  More times than not, those secluded spots way back in the timber planted in a food plot hurt your chances rather than help them.  I love food plots as much or more than anybody I know, but I’ve learned through mistakes that their location is more important than what is planted in them.

I like to stay off my main food plot until well after the gun seasons.  This keeps the deer on my property on a secure and comfortable bed to feed pattern from season opener in early fall right through the gun seasons.  Then, if I want to, I’ll start hunting this grain food source during the late season when it’s draw power will be at its highest.  A standing soybean or corn field during late December or early January is an awesome place for late archery or muzzleloader season.  And, because deer have been feeding there all fall…with no pressure, my chances of capitalizing on an evening hunt are still very good.  Remember this when planning out your larger plots too if you plan on hunting them later on in the season…how will they be hunted?  How too will you get to these plots and back out without bumping deer.

Coming full circle, when answering Mark’s original question, he should be planting both small transition plots (I also refer to these as interior plots) and one larger main plot.  When planning out the plots, he needs to centrally locate the main plot where he can be assured the deer can feed there without any hunting or human pressure presence throughout the season.  The transition plots need to be located between the bedding and the main plot in areas he chooses to locate them (not necessarily where it’s easy or convenient) and where he can get to them to hunt without bumping deer.  These transition plots will become great places to ambush deer and if set up correctly, it will enable him to hunt these plots all season long without putting excessive pressure on the deer he is hunting.  If the deer he is hunting don’t feel pressured, and there are good bucks in the area, it will only be a matter of time before one of his shooters steps in front of his setup.  Good luck Mark!

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