Limiting pressure in food plots for deer
Limiting pressure in food plots for deer
Food plots for deer are important in the success of an overall management plan, and many make the mistake of hunting them too much. Any deer habitat plan that includes food plots for deer takes time to develop. We often say 5 years is a realistic time frame for a piece to achieve its potential once the initial round of improvements are complete. Point is when you spend too much time hunting the food plots, your deer herd can sense the activity, and it limits the potential of the whole project. Why, you may ask, so here we go.
Limiting pressure in food plots for deer
You read it time and time again in the magazines because it is true. If you want to score on a big buck, you have to hunt him where he feels safe and unpressured. 1/2 mile off the road may get you there on public grounds, but that should not apply to my private piece correct? Wrong. Constant intrusion on your entire piece of ground will force a mature buck to set up shop somewhere else. Yes he will come during the rut to check your abundant doe herd, but he will not live there.
Do the necessary work on your piece and then stay out. Check the cameras enough to find out who is home, and if they are killable (daylight pics), and don’t hunt them until everything is right. If he is only there at 2 am only, stay out. If it is 10 degrees above normal temps, stay out. Only dive in when you have a 50/50 chance of killing that target animal, and you will be hunting relaxed animals that you have an above average chance of seeing and killing during daylight.
Limiting pressure in food plots for deer
“But I want to sit a stand and see what he animals are doing”
If that is you goal grab the camera and rip it up. But realize every sit on your piece is noticed by some of the deer. Maybe not until midnight when they cross your trail, or sniff the bush you rubbed up against, but they feel it.
Do it enough times and they vanish (meaning move only at night). Limit your pressure to when the deer are vulnerable, and then move in for the kill. You will see more deer each sit, and your piece will reap the long term rewards of the additional mature buck activity associated with limited human intrusion.