Last year’s season was dismal compared to our previous years. We maintained five awesome food plots with Whitetail Institute seed products, but we weren’t seeing deer during the day. Over the past couple of years home places began to pop up within a couple of miles of the property and neighboring properties were leased to other hunters. Hunting pressure increased to the point that our hunting success decreased.  We continued to hunt as we always had before. We sat in box stands or ladder stands overlooking the food plots. We saw very few deer last year and only harvested two off this property. That’s not good. Something needed to change. 

How do you hunt deer that only present themselves on green fields during the night? This question plagues many hunters all over the country. We collect hundreds, sometimes thousands of pictures of deer at night.  We know they are there, but we can’t get to them. We spend dozens of hours in stand hoping for a glimpse of the beautiful buck we’ve collaged on the refrigerator. Sometimes we get lucky, but that is all it is, luck. We needed a strategy that put us in the position best suited for ambushing these deer as they move during the day. The first question we needed to answer was this: where were they moving from and where were they going?

I made some assumptions based off trail camera pictures and past experiences.  The deer are on the food plots and feeders during the dark hours of night and not during the day, yet they often appear just as it becomes too dark to shoot and they leave right before it is light enough to shoot.  My first assumption was this; the deer are moving to and from the patches at the time of light change.

I needed to determine how they traversed the dense understory of the wooded property. First and foremost in my mind was the need to understand how the terrain influenced the patterns of travel. Topography, vegetation, water and natural and man-made barriers were all considered when planning stand placement. As you locate and map out these points of interest, you may begin to notice natural corridors that are convenient and desirable to deer.  Especially pay attention to areas where deer may bed in thick cover and water sources. Plan to catch deer moving between such places as these. 

One particular food plot is located on the edge of a gentle slope leading down to a draw and a creek drain. On the low end of the plot is a wooded area approximately 200 feet deep to the bottom of the draw. A stand was erected about 90 feet off the food plot in a clump of magnolia trees. This area receives quite a bit of traffic moving to and from the foot plot and the bucks rub their antlers on the magnolias. We have discovered that this stand is most successful in the first and last minutes of light.  Assumption number one promises to be correct. Not only are more deer seen within the cover of the woods, but the larger deer that will not show themselves during the day will move along the edge of the fields while daylight yet prevails.

In an attempt to increase the success of this stand, and to help funnel the deer where we want them to travel, a shallow run was cleared on the low end of the food plot that entices deer to walk along the nice path we made them. It works sometimes too. We also installed a mineral site in the vicinity in another attempt to draw deer to that particular side of the field. There are many ways to attract deer. The important point here is that we worked within the comfortable cover that the deer were already using.

The food plots provide a major role in our management plan, providing massive amounts of protein and mineral containing forage. During certain times of the season they will be exciting stands as well. For several years they provided a constant degree of entertainment and hunting success, but increased pressure has driven the herd to move less openly during the day. The food plots thus became feeding fields primarily rather than hunting fields. My hunting happens in the woods; sometimes in prepared stands and sometimes at locations a little more spontaneous. Maybe your hunting success could use a boost. Consider hunting off the Patch.

By Brent Sawyer

TalkHunting Pro Staffer, Brent "Cobrican" Sawyer, was born into a sporting family.  His first couple years of life were spent on the banks of Lake Arthur and around his grandfather's farm in Jennings, La.  Even when his family moved to the city, they visited the farm often.  Brent's parents and Pawpaw spent as many hours as they could find taking him outside to learn how to care for and survive on the land around him.  They camped and hiked.  They gardened.  Brent joined the Boy Scouts as a Bobcat and continued to be involved through his High School days.  There, he learned many new skills to help him belong out of doors.  Brent and his cousins would often sleep out under the stars with only a blanket.  

At the age of 8 he was given his first BB gun.  At 10 he was allowed to hunt with a shotgun.  The family had a lease where they hunted, predominantly, Speckle-belly geese with the occasional snow or duck.  They also hunted doves and rabbits.  Brent learned how to call specks well enough to hunt on his own in only a short time.  About the time Brent went to college, his grandfather dropped the hunting lease.  Fortunately, North Louisiana offers some great opportunities for hunting on public lands.  He spent many hours duck hunting as well as hunting small game.  In 2000 Brent was invited to his first deer hunt.  Since then he has been fully involved in the deer hunting experience.  He also loves to fish.  Lately he has made more opportunities to fish salt water than freshwater but he enjoys both.

Brent Graduated with a degree in Forest Technology and has used his degree as a basis for hunting and recreation properties management.  He joined Talkhunting.com in 2008 and has attended gatherings in Louisiana and Alabama.  He also works for Breathe Safe Environmental Services as a third party monitor for lead and asbestos abatement.  He loves his job but hopes to be able to one day move exclusively to property management and consulting.

Comments(4):

1. Hunting the Patch

   Awesome Article ! Brent I have the same problem you have described here... We took over a Lease that had only been hunted for Turkey only for the past 6 years... I setup a Shooting House off a green field (not planted in 4 years) worked 4 weeks getting the Plot planted with WTI Clover, Winter Greens and other seed and it was the Best Plot within miles but only night time only Deer I am talking awesome Deer fed there only at night... Never got not one daytime Photo all hunting season... I will try your tips... Thanks

   Thursday, November 04, 2010 Dennis

2. Off the patch.

   I have a similar problem. Most of the deer on my land do not bed on it they are only passing threw to get to the fields to eat, that are on my land and the next land over. I am on 40 acres. The deer very seldom get to the edges until well after dark.Which is on half way threw the property.The bed on an adjoining property more than 1/4 mile back from the field edges.Any suggestions. I have tried some of what you said in the article.

   Saturday, November 06, 2010 Rick

3. Well.....

   My generalized response: (it's hard to give good advice without doing some ground-pounding) Scout! I know cameras cost money and come with their own sets of problems, but they are a good tool to use. In addition to the W.I.S.E software that Denny Chambers wrote about in this issue of the Talkhunting Magazine, a camera or cameras could help you determine travel areas and times. Your first step is to determine travel areas. Look for highways (cross your fingers) if you don't find those, ;) look for trails that appear to be well used and browsed. Finding a trail doesn't tell you when they travel, but at least it tells you where. If you can find crossing paths, this is even better and increases your odds. Also pay careful attention for stand locations. Reference David Culvar's article about stand location for some in depth information pertaining to choosing the right tree. Topography, terrain, and vegetation are important too. If you can map out your property, marking elevation changes, creeks/drains, forage, etc... it becomes easier to formulate a plan before tromping all over your property right before season starts. Improve your Natural Vegetation. Fertilize, decrease competition, plant new trees and shrubs.... (also see Dennis Parker's article on Permanent food sources) There are also plenty of "Attractants" that all work sometimes. I've had great success with the Whitetail Institute of America's Accorn Obsession and Magnet Mix. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

   Sunday, November 07, 2010 Brent

4. WELL Said

   Awesome article Brent!! This article if full of truth. But what I have noticed through out my travles of hunting with allot of different hunters is that "HUNTERS HAVE GOT LAZY" they expect a food plot to just do all the work for them. They don not scout properly non do they put in any work at hanging tree stands. I have seen this more than once a ladder stand off the side of an old road in out in the wide open or a lock on just hanging out there in the wide open view. This may work to fill the freezer with doe's but No mature buck is gona fall for it. You cant be scared to get in the brush and get scratched up a little bit. To get that big buck it requires work and allot of thought. I guess I am just to hardcore but its nice to see and hear that there are other hunters willing to do whatever it takes to get that trophy buck enven if it requires WORK!! Great Job Brent!!

   Tuesday, November 09, 2010 Joey