The killing plot...

[dan]

Dan,

Do you think a food plot could be as effective on extremely small properties (say less than 10, or if we're getting specific, 4 acres)? I am considering brushhogging a couple 1/8th or 1/10th acre areas down at the back of my property for a couple of small food plots. I also have walking trails I could sow some no-till plots into.

I have been able to keep deer around through baiting but that has it's pitfalls, mostly in that it turns most deer nocturnal. I was thinking a couple of foodplots would be more effective as it would result in less human intrusions, unlike baiting which you have to go in every week or two to replenish your baitpile (no auto feeder for me).


Regards,
d_rek

Good food plots can make a world of difference. You have to analyze the situation and determine if cover or food is better. The fact that your baiting tells me the answer is food. If thats a main hunting spot, I would get a good cell cam, put it over the plot, and not go near it till kill time, based on intel from the cam.

[d_rek]

Dan,

Do you think a food plot could be as effective on extremely small properties (say less than 10, or if we're getting specific, 4 acres)? I am considering brushhogging a couple 1/8th or 1/10th acre areas down at the back of my property for a couple of small food plots. I also have walking trails I could sow some no-till plots into.

I have been able to keep deer around through baiting but that has it's pitfalls, mostly in that it turns most deer nocturnal. I was thinking a couple of foodplots would be more effective as it would result in less human intrusions, unlike baiting which you have to go in every week or two to replenish your baitpile (no auto feeder for me).


Regards,
d_rek

Good food plots can make a world of difference. You have to analyze the situation and determine if cover or food is better. The fact that your baiting tells me the answer is food. If thats a main hunting spot, I would get a good cell cam, put it over the plot, and not go near it till kill time, based on intel from the cam.

Thanks for the reply. Cover is a non-issue as the back 3 acres of my property is nasty thick woody brush - autumn olive, hawthorn, buckthorn, and a variety of weed grasses - with a couple small stands of immature pines. In the spring and summer it's nearly impossible to walk through. A lot of the adjacent properties have thick woody brush bedding areas too. Food sources are less prevalent with random mast bearing trees in the surrounding properties. The nearest crop fields are 1/4 mile and 3/4 mile away and they rotate between beans and corn. There is heavy pressure on a neighboring property from a hunting family, but they bait heavily starting well before season.

It's more a 'convenient' hunting spot than it is my main spot. It's literally behind my house so it's nice to be able to able to dip back there for a quick hunt, though with the winds we had this year I only hunted it a couple of times until the late season when the wind started cooperating. I do know the deer bed under the pine trees because i've blown them out of there in years past.

I do run a trail camera but it was right underneath my stand and not at a destination, so I just checked it whenever I hunted back there. I'd love to run a cell cam and just stay out of there for the majority of the season.

[d_rek]

Dan,

Do you think a food plot could be as effective on extremely small properties (say less than 10, or if we're getting specific, 4 acres)? I am considering brushhogging a couple 1/8th or 1/10th acre areas down at the back of my property for a couple of small food plots. I also have walking trails I could sow some no-till plots into.

I have been able to keep deer around through baiting but that has it's pitfalls, mostly in that it turns most deer nocturnal. I was thinking a couple of foodplots would be more effective as it would result in less human intrusions, unlike baiting which you have to go in every week or two to replenish your baitpile (no auto feeder for me).


Regards,
d_rek

I'm not Dan, but have hunted my share of those small lots. Seems the best ones were less focused on drawing in numbers of deer with food and more focused on thick nasty cover that never gets intruded on. Seems if u got unpressured cover they will find it. Safety is rare food is every where.

I'd love to have the plot primarily as a spot to take an easy doe either early or late in the season. I don't consider this area to be conducive to growing large bucks, nor do I think that just by putting in a small plot am I going to lure every large buck in the area to it. If the opportunity presented itself to kill a buck and the bucks started using the plot and the adjacent bedding then all the better, but that would be a tertiary goal of mine.

[Hatchetman]

Really tough when they come straight in on you like that.
The worst is when come straight in and they go around the "right" side of the tree if your a right hander. Pretty small area from the time they are broadside till your draw arm is pinned against the tree.


If your deer diagram in the video is accurate...
2" - 4" inches farther back and your Wisconsin buck tag would of been punched that day.
Not to bust your balls , just calling it the way I see it.

[Clink]

just makes me more thankful for the fact that I was able to recover my buck after a less than ideal shot. Even the best fail! Thanks for the video my friend.

[Boogieman1]

Dan,

Do you think a food plot could be as effective on extremely small properties (say less than 10, or if we're getting specific, 4 acres)? I am considering brushhogging a couple 1/8th or 1/10th acre areas down at the back of my property for a couple of small food plots. I also have walking trails I could sow some no-till plots into.

I have been able to keep deer around through baiting but that has it's pitfalls, mostly in that it turns most deer nocturnal. I was thinking a couple of foodplots would be more effective as it would result in less human intrusions, unlike baiting which you have to go in every week or two to replenish your baitpile (no auto feeder for me).


Regards,
d_rek

I'm not Dan, but have hunted my share of those small lots. Seems the best ones were less focused on drawing in numbers of deer with food and more focused on thick nasty cover that never gets intruded on. Seems if u got unpressured cover they will find it. Safety is rare food is every where.

I'd love to have the plot primarily as a spot to take an easy doe either early or late in the season. I don't consider this area to be conducive to growing large bucks, nor do I think that just by putting in a small plot am I going to lure every large buck in the area to it. If the opportunity presented itself to kill a buck and the bucks started using the plot and the adjacent bedding then all the better, but that would be a tertiary goal of mine.

Ya I have a bad habit about reading one of these post that reminds me of something I've seen or done. But forget the fact I might be hunting a different type of country. In farm country I'm already surrounded by fields and food it's the cover that I want. Plus I don't have those harsh winters that really get them hittin the plots.

[ghoasthunter]

Great video and info Dan!
I’m curious on the last hunt with the south wind, was it light enough that you counted on the thermals to carry your scent away?

looks like he was just cutting the edge of wind I think he points to bucks bed in film its just too the left of plot real aggressive and good tactic

[ghoasthunter]

Dan,

Do you think a food plot could be as effective on extremely small properties (say less than 10, or if we're getting specific, 4 acres)? I am considering brushhogging a couple 1/8th or 1/10th acre areas down at the back of my property for a couple of small food plots. I also have walking trails I could sow some no-till plots into.

I have been able to keep deer around through baiting but that has it's pitfalls, mostly in that it turns most deer nocturnal. I was thinking a couple of foodplots would be more effective as it would result in less human intrusions, unlike baiting which you have to go in every week or two to replenish your baitpile (no auto feeder for me).


Regards,
d_rek

I'm not Dan, but have hunted my share of those small lots. Seems the best ones were less focused on drawing in numbers of deer with food and more focused on thick nasty cover that never gets intruded on. Seems if u got unpressured cover they will find it. Safety is rare food is every where.

I'd love to have the plot primarily as a spot to take an easy doe either early or late in the season. I don't consider this area to be conducive to growing large bucks, nor do I think that just by putting in a small plot am I going to lure every large buck in the area to it. If the opportunity presented itself to kill a buck and the bucks started using the plot and the adjacent bedding then all the better, but that would be a tertiary goal of mine.

Ya I have a bad habit about reading one of these post that reminds me of something I've seen or done. But forget the fact I might be hunting a different type of country. In farm country I'm already surrounded by fields and food it's the cover that I want. Plus I don't have those harsh winters that really get them hittin the plots.

a plot like that would be set up as a staging area being so close to cover behind him is a bean field same as sitting on a scrape next to bedding area

[ghoasthunter]

Awesome video Dan!

It just goes to show in hunting, you never stop learning! If you bowhunt long enough, the odds are you will wound a deer. It's what we learn from those experiences, that makes us all better hunters! Thanks for another hunting lesson!

The question I have is...All 3 of those hunts seemed to be just off-wind. Was there a reason why you didn't hunt it on more of a cross-wind, or wind in your face? I assume if it's primary bedding, they will be in there no matter what the wind direction is.

The 1st hunt was a west wind. That was the best wind. We had a lot of South winds this year. Te second hunt was predicted a S/W wind which I felt at the time would be a good wind. However, once there, the wind was blowing more south than west. I thought that was a fluke, cause I checked it before going back and it was S/W.
the 3rd hunt was predicted a S/W wind. Again, I checked it before going in. Once at the tree, again it was blowing almost straight south. Obviously, it must be a terrain feature pulling or altering the wind. Most likely the opening below the food plot in combination with the surrounding higher ground channeling the wind that way.
Now I know... Will be looking for Northerly or straight west in the future. Straight west is the best cause the deer tend to come out to my west and circle around the back side of me. North would blow right to them when they get behind me. Ironically though, North is the only wind that allows me to access without passing by the bedding upwind.

do you think that buck would have came out had the wind not been blowing in that direction? how close was the bed he came out of? I'm starting to rethink some of my setups and try cutting that wind like that. seems like they are a little more comfortable to move out of beds I cant close in on with that wind.

[JoeRE]

Dan that video gives me even more respect for you, if that's possible.

Thanks for putting that together. We are all a little better for it.

[dan]

Awesome video Dan!

It just goes to show in hunting, you never stop learning! If you bowhunt long enough, the odds are you will wound a deer. It's what we learn from those experiences, that makes us all better hunters! Thanks for another hunting lesson!

The question I have is...All 3 of those hunts seemed to be just off-wind. Was there a reason why you didn't hunt it on more of a cross-wind, or wind in your face? I assume if it's primary bedding, they will be in there no matter what the wind direction is.

The 1st hunt was a west wind. That was the best wind. We had a lot of South winds this year. Te second hunt was predicted a S/W wind which I felt at the time would be a good wind. However, once there, the wind was blowing more south than west. I thought that was a fluke, cause I checked it before going back and it was S/W.
the 3rd hunt was predicted a S/W wind. Again, I checked it before going in. Once at the tree, again it was blowing almost straight south. Obviously, it must be a terrain feature pulling or altering the wind. Most likely the opening below the food plot in combination with the surrounding higher ground channeling the wind that way.
Now I know... Will be looking for Northerly or straight west in the future. Straight west is the best cause the deer tend to come out to my west and circle around the back side of me. North would blow right to them when they get behind me. Ironically though, North is the only wind that allows me to access without passing by the bedding upwind.

do you think that buck would have came out had the wind not been blowing in that direction? how close was the bed he came out of? I'm starting to rethink some of my setups and try cutting that wind like that. seems like they are a little more comfortable to move out of beds I cant close in on with that wind.

Yea, I think he would of came out on a different wind. He may have even come out earlier on a North wind, considering on a S/W I had to briefly get up wind of the bedding while accessing the stand. I do agree though that sometimes they take a bit longer "especially in pressure situations" to move into the wind. I am not sure which bed he came out of, its a primary bedding area with a lot of beds. He could of been anywhere from 50 yards away to 150 yards. I know he was bedded there cause Dave was sitting the backside and from our positions we could see the whole perimeter.

[dan]

Dan that video gives me even more respect for you, if that's possible.

Thanks for putting that together. We are all a little better for it.

It would of been real easy to let that video hit the trash bin.

[tgreeno]

Dan that video gives me even more respect for you, if that's possible.

Thanks for putting that together. We are all a little better for it.

It would of been real easy to let that video hit the trash bin.

That's just not your style. And that's why you've earned the the respect & admiration of every guy on this sight!!!

[JoeRE]

Dan that video gives me even more respect for you, if that's possible.

Thanks for putting that together. We are all a little better for it.

It would of been real easy to let that video hit the trash bin.

That's just not your style. And that's why you've earned the the respect & admiration of every guy on this sight!!!

Yea I wonder how unpublished footage is out there of bad shots and unrecovered deer by all the celebs...

Bill Winke is the only one I can think of that has done something similar but he is too stubborn to admit to the camera a mistake was made. He still tries to justify bad decisions on camera which kinda defeats the purpose of publishing a bad shot.

We have all been there. The only variable is if we are man enough to admit it and smart enough to learn something from it. It was a tough shot Dan, and yea in hindsight you would have done something different, but honestly it wasn't that bad of a chance from how you described it! I have taken a few worst shots that that, and they haunt me and I have learned from them. Those split second shot opportunities have got many of us in trouble. There's an incredibly fine line between just enough time and not enough time....

You would have recovered that deer if it was in Iowa....where where landowners cannot deny you the right to follow a blood trail. I still always ask, and they always say yes, cuz they know they can't really say no, funny how different that is from most states where some landowners just see an opportunity to say no and recover a big buck themselves.

[ghoasthunter]

Dan that video gives me even more respect for you, if that's possible.

Thanks for putting that together. We are all a little better for it.

It would of been real easy to let that video hit the trash bin.

That's just not your style. And that's why you've earned the the respect & admiration of every guy on this sight!!!

Yea I wonder how unpublished footage is out there of bad shots and unrecovered deer by all the celebs...

Bill Winke is the only one I can think of that has done something similar but he is too stubborn to admit to the camera a mistake was made. He still tries to justify bad decisions on camera which kinda defeats the purpose of publishing a bad shot.

We have all been there. The only variable is if we are man enough to admit it and smart enough to learn something from it. It was a tough shot Dan, and yea in hindsight you would have done something different, but honestly it wasn't that bad of a chance from how you described it! I have taken a few worst shots that that, and they haunt me and I have learned from them. Those split second shot opportunities have got many of us in trouble. There's an incredibly fine line between just enough time and not enough time....

You would have recovered that deer if it was in Iowa....where where landowners cannot deny you the right to follow a blood trail. I still always ask, and they always say yes, cuz they know they can't really say no, funny how different that is from most states where some landowners just see an opportunity to say no and recover a big buck themselves.

I have a good friend that does camera and editing for a big time hunting company you would be amazed how much footage can not be used not just poor shots but deer that are just not able to make the cuts my buddy does not like it any more than the rest of us but its a job that pays his bills.