You should begin your process of plot location and design by using overhead maps of topography, satellite, or hybrid variety to plan your forage plot and hunting plots in advance.  Mark the possible areas selected on the map and then physically walk your selections for potential sites to use.  There are two types of plots out there, forage plots and hunting plots, both are distinctly different in design, function and purpose.  Forage food plots are used to provide food for multiple deer year round, usually one acre of food plot will support 4-5 deer per year.  One rule of thumb is about 5-10% of your total acreage should be in food plots. Another rule to consider, if you are located in a winter yard area,  that amount of acreage and late winter food forage should be significantly increased in tonnage capacity due to the extra number of deer that move into this area.  A second rule of thumb about where to locate your hunting plot and your design of a forage plot is never hunt over these forage plots directly, but move back off them several hundred yards to allow passage of deer that you do not intend to harvest.  Hunting plots are smaller in size, strategically located for the hunter’s advantage, and are intended to intercept deer moving into and out of larger forage food plots from bedding areas and returning to bedding areas.

Try to always place your plots of forage or hunting away from neighbor’s property lines and out of line of sight from roads. Ensure easy access for plot maintenance for you but not by other hunters. Scout for area signs of high deer traffic for your forage plot, but look for heavy security and escape cover for hunting plots as bucks will feel safer as it’s only a leap away for them to reach cover if danger approaches. Bucks like small plots next to thick cover but not necessarily next to bedding areas.  It’s difficult to approach stands and your set up next to bedding areas for most hunters without being busted, so keep that in mind. 

Ensure enough sunlight in hours per day will get into the hunting plot for the seed types planted to reach their maximum potential and growth. Be aware of prevailing wind directions during hunting season as they may be different throughout the rest of the year.  Never try and mimic the farmers close to you with the same products like soybeans, alfalfa, and corn in your small hunting plots. Realize you have better food plot seed available to you which are higher in protein and taste specially produced for deer.  One exception is to plant soybeans in your hunting plot later in August as they have not reached mature status yet; this ensures they are young and tender in the first month or two of your bow season.  This tender growth will draw deer to your plot versus the farmer’s more mature beans before the frost kills them in your region. 

Plant a variety of seeds for your deer herd in your plots, plant different annuals for fall hunting plots and perennials for spring and summer in your forage plots; plant two-three varieties in hunting plots next to each other with the best annual for fall draw close to your stand if hunting off edge of plot.  Think sweet food plots for hunting season; some examples are sugar beets, winter greens, pure attraction, peas, and wheat or forage oats before and after a frost.

The size of the hunting plots are variable depending on terrain and needs of the hunter but can be anywhere from 10 yards wide x 25 yards long up to ½ acre in size.  Attempt to never exceed hunting plots width over 40 yards for deer to feel and remain secure; remember that one leap to safety is needed, and especially if you are planning on hunting the plot edge during bow season.  Locate small ridges or high points on your maps as they are excellent sites to establish a hunting plot as bucks like elevation for scent checking the plots and line of sight.  Find points, draws, gullies and saddles on your property and configure how they can be used to select a site for your forage and hunting plots.  Pile unused cleared brush according to your hunting plan to filter deer into plots and place brush around plot edges to create entry openings into a plot next to your stand to further funnel deer you are hunting.  Another hunting plot design often missed, is a corner plot that is placed on the inside corner of an existing agriculture field that the deer usually approach from their bedding area.  This makes a staging area for the deer and a wonderful ambush site for the hunter before deer enter the main agricultural field at dark or after shooting hours.

Position hunting plots about 100-200 yards off the corner of a large food forage plot between bedding areas and the forage feeding plot.  Add a mineral lick between your hunting stand and plot if legal in your state for extra draw.  Putting it outside the plot will prevent you from having to disturb it when it’s time to replant the plot.  Make a “sweet spot” (a newly mowed or heavier fertilized portion) in your hunting plot where you can cover it from your stand or double your chances that a buck will enter that area of the plot first for the best part of the tasty and palatable food source.  You can also plant two or three varieties of annuals in a circular pattern in your hunting plots to maintain a constant draw as food sources change during hunting season.  Consider those varieties that mature early in the season, others that attract after the first frosts as their sugar content increases, and those for added tonnage during late season. 

Plan a water source close to your stand or in your hunting plot as deer often enjoy a drink upon rising from their bedding area or after feeding in your plot.  If an existing water source isn’t available dig a hole and use a small plastic pond container or liner to hold the rain water longer in your plot. A tip here is to place a stick or branch in the pond to allow frogs or other animals to crawl out and not drown in your pond polluting it for your deer herd use.

Some hunters leave a single tree located in their plot to hunt from as deer seem to drift towards that spot as they feed.  I’m not totally convinced of this technique as I feel that it alerts deer to your presence by hunting the tree and leaving scent in the plot for them to detect.  Leaving some small trees, stumps or brush in your plot also gives deer more comfort as they recognize it as cover and if left strategically in place can funnel deer to your stands.

TECHNIQUES FOR SUCCESS

Think of your property and hunting plans as a military exercise where you want to be able to move in and out of areas undetected in order to spring your ambush during hunting season.  Trail cameras can be used to monitor your plots, but I would place them about 100-200 yards away from the plot’s edge before they enter the food plot to see which trails the bucks are using and what time they are arriving.  This should let you gauge time of day to hunt from your stands and whether a morning or evening stand is better.  Most importantly do not collect your camera pictures without going in during mid-day and make your visits infrequent, and use total scent control precautions as to not alert the deer of your presence while collecting pics.

Points are attractive to deer as they can enter a plot under safety cover longer.  Deer usually like to enter a point on the inside corner of a point, or even enter a plot in that area of the inside corner to walk along the points edge which provides them cover.  Set your stands up on either inside corner of a point depending on wind direction during the time you are hunting the plot.  Draws, saddles, and gully’s are great approach routes to a hunting plot for deer and tree stands placed between the bedding areas and heads of the draws and gullies are usually very productive.  Place your tree stands depending on the saddle size towards the top of the saddle side based on wind directions and background behind you.  Place your tree stand within shooting distance of the trick below if a fence is placed around the hunting plot for protection to allow plant growth before allowing deer to feed.  To allow deer easy entry into the plot when mature, tie down the top two strands of the fence in a V shape creating a saddle (as deer can jump easily into the plot but hogs cannot for entry) or tie up bottom strands pulled up in reverse V shape for entry under fence if hogs are not in your area.

Set up more than one stand site on a hunting plot based on primary and secondary wind directions and to allow rotation of stands to avoid deer patterning you.  Definitely make certain of undetectable entry and exit routes to your stands as to not spook deer already in the plot or when you climb down to leave.  Do not hunt a plot if wind direction is wrong at any time.  Prepare your stand sites and cut minimal shooting lanes when you make the plots or months before season after a plot was established to allow deer to accustom themselves to the changes.  Stay away from your hunting plot until it’s the right time to hunt them.  The first time a stand is hunted when conditions are right is the most productive and after that deer began to pattern your entry and exit routes without extreme scent precautions.

You can even plant the trails leaving or entering the hunting plot with No-Plow or similar annuals to assist in funneling the deer past your stands as they graze towards your hunting plot.  Close off trails where you cannot place hunting stands on with brush, tree trunks etc. to divert deer to trails that lead past your stands.  Generally hunt runways that approach or parallel the hunting plot about 100-200 yards off the plot so you can leave in the evenings and not chase out any deer that have entered the plot.  Look for the staging areas off the plot that bucks use, as often you will find several rubs in that area or even beds as the bucks may often hold back their final approach until dark before entering the plot.  Remember you need to stalk these hunting plots often needing to take 45-60 minutes to get into position without making noise or think of it as still-hunting the last 150 yards to your stand.

Hunt hourglass and dogleg designed plots in the middle area; L, S, U, V shaped and winding trail plots on turns set up for prevailing winds that time of year.  Insure that bucks cannot see the entire plot in one glance; this causes them to approach longer and enter the plot or parallel it downwind to scent check the plot for does or danger.  Another trick is to strip a hunting plot crosswind with corn 4-6 rows wide or tall sorghum, sunflowers, or millet so a buck cannot see the entire plot at once and must travel in or outside of it checking each section to see all of it.  Think of placing or making licking branches and mock scrapes when the time is right on these inside turns from the plot edge and place your stand parallel or crosswind to these items about 50-75 yards below the inside turn depending on cover.  Bucks will stay in the cover to scent or use their eyes to check these plots for does and place your stand looking down into the cover for your shot.  Another hint is to make a cover funnel parallel to your plot edge with a chainsaw or dozer below these inside turns to funnel your bucks into bow range. This means that your stand will be placed on the outside of these funnels furthest from the inside turn.  In these man-made funnels you can even make mock rubs on the trees in both directions on the faint parallel trail that bucks use to scent the plot to somewhat relax a buck’s hyper acuity into thinking this is a safe normal buck trail.

If your after bigger bucks than the average 1.5 year old buck harvested yearly, move your tree stand back from your hunting plot 200-300 yards and as close to the bedding area as possible without spooking the more mature bucks.  I’ve found over my hunting career that if a mature buck has left and no longer in the bachelor phase of buck groupings during early bow season, the larger mature bucks will often be 30-60 minutes behind the younger bucks.  He will use the younger bucks and the does entering your hunting plot as a vanguard security force checking the area he plans to move through.  Most of these bigger animals are taken just before shooting light and/or hunting time evaporates, and a hunter must use extreme caution when existing mature buck stands as he’ll catch you climbing down and become totally nocturnal then.             

 “Happiness is food plotting.”

By Brad Gordon

Brad “Hawghunter65” Gordon began at the tender age of eight years old with a .22, rabbit and squirrel hunting with his father on their family farm.  He was lucky enough to add pheasants and finally deer to his list of quarries during his teenage years of life.  In his fifties, he also began turkey hunting after Michigan began a exchange program of Canadian geese for wild eastern turkeys from Alabama.   Brad’s passion in hunting is equally divided between trophy mature bucks and big boss gobblers that roam his current hunting grounds.  He is married with five grown children and 5 grandchildren.  His hobbies besides hunting are fishing for bluegills, growing food plots, and the game of golf.

Comments(5):

1. Some awesome tips! Almost a how to on deer success! Thanks

   Saturday, May 07, 2011 Robert

2. Very useful article

   Thank you an useful article with a lot of information to think about

   Sunday, May 08, 2011 clyde

3. food plot design and tactics

   Great article! Excellant tips and stratagies. Thanks!

   Monday, May 09, 2011 Scott

4. Great article and information! Thanks for the tips!

   Tuesday, May 10, 2011 Anthony

5. Food Plot Considerations

   Great read Brad... I am trying something a little different this spring... I have a Tennis court size Plot in a Plot... More details by this September

   Wednesday, May 11, 2011 Dennis