The first year a plot is created is often the best. A perfectly planted plot is 'not so perfect' when it increases the opportunity for deer/human encounters.

In some cases you may not even come close.

However if you spook the deer off of the plot, you will never attain your herd, habitat, or hunting potential. Shattered DreamsĪ food plot can and should be a part of just about every high quality whitetail management effort. On the other hand over 80% of my mature bucks (and many of the oldest/biggest) have been shot within 50 yards of high quality bedding areas. For my own personal stats I have harvested 2 bucks out of my top 25 on a food plot, even though I have had as many as over 30 food plots planted in one year, on the lands that I have hunted. There are better locations to consistently harvest a mature buck. You can fool a mature buck on a food plot, but not all of them. 'Plant it and they will come'? They sure will, but if you pressure the deer that visit your lovely field of green, they will mostly visit after dark. If you set a mouse trap in the open while sitting on your recliner to watch it, you probably won't catch a mouse, and the mice in the area will avoid the trap until after the lights have been turned off. If you set a mouse trap, hide it and leave it alone you will catch a mouse. The attract/repel condition created by most food plots on whitetail parcels, is in many ways the #1 reason that a landowner, hunter or land manager never connects with the true potential of their quality herd or hunting experience. Deer RepellentĪlong with a high level of attraction, comes an equal risk of repulsion. Top 10 Reasons to Never Hunt A Food Plot 1. To find out how to create a high value hunting plot, check out '8 Effective Kill Plot Strategies'.

*There is certainly a time and a place to hunt a food plot, but if I personally do, I need to see a certain set of conditions take place.

Good will hunting plot