About J. Wayne Fears

When I answered the phone, it was a call similar to what I have gotten many times. It was a minister who lived in the rural town where I lived. He was a hunter and had the rights to hunt and plant food plots on a 163-acre farm on the edge of town. He and his sons had planted four food plots on the property, and I could hear the desperation in his voice. “You know that food plot down by the creek where my son killed that big 8-point buck week before last, well one of us has hunted that plot every day since and has not seen a deer! We check the trail cameras each day, and deer are coming to the plot every night but not a one during the day. What’s going on?” he almost shouted at me.

Frustration and questions like this are common when food plots are planted for an exact spot to hunt, with the thinking being, the food plot will draw in big bucks on a regular basis and hold them to be shot in the opening. Nothing could be further from the truth. Food plots are an important part of a wildlife management plan, supplying a nutritious food source in addition to the natural habitat. However the hunting strategy should never be that the food plot is a “magnet” that, no matter what the hunter does, will draw and hold big bucks. Food plots can be hunted, but there is a lot more to it than just sitting on a green food plot.

At one point in my career, I was responsible for 500,000 acres of forest land upon which there were 220 hunting clubs. Almost all planted food plots and repeatedly I saw these five mistakes when hunting on or near food plots.

1. Hunting a Food Plot
Day After Day

Well-managed Chinese chestnuts grow fast and may produce nuts by their fourth year.

The most frequent mistake I have seen when hunting on property with food plots is once a big buck is taken on, or near, a food plot, or if a big buck is seen on a trail camera, on or near a food plot, the tendency is to hunt that plot every day expecting to see the buck step out at any moment. It doesn’t take very much hunting activity on one food plot for deer in general, especially older bucks, to pattern the intense human activity and avoid the area except at night.

I once had a commercial hunting lodge with 60 food plots ranging in size from 2 to 15 acres. We had permanent ground blinds on each food plot that gave a view to most of the plot. It didn’t take us long to learn that if our hunters were to have a reasonable chance to see deer and get an opportunity to take a good buck, a food plot couldn’t be hunted more than once every five (or more) days.

Once a hunter has spent part of a day on a food plot, give the plot a break for a week or so.

2. Blind or Stand Placed on Edge of Food Plot

	If hunting a food plot, locate the temporary stand or blind OFF the plot.

The second most common mistake I have seen hunters make, is to hang their tree stand, or place their ground blind, right on the edge of the plot. Granted it gives the hunter a clear view of the field, but it also gives any deer considering entering the plot a good look at this new object on the plot’s edge. The deer go on alert, and any slight movement the hunter makes is easily seen by the deer.

Many deer, especially older bucks, will often ease up to the edge of a food plot just before dark and stand in the brush and shadows, test the wind, and observe the opening and the surroundings before stepping out into the opening. That’s his home, and anything out of the ordinary will cause him to quietly disappear until well after dark.

In my opinion, a stand or blind located off food plots or by deer approaches to the food plot, are far more successful than hunting ON the food plot. Scouting and the use of trail cameras can give important clues as to how, and often when, bucks move through corridors from bedding areas to food plots. Hunting along this route can be more productive than watching a food plot all afternoon.

As I stated earlier, I have used permanent all-weather blinds on food plots and the reaction by deer to these permanent structures has been acceptance after they have been in place a few weeks. However that is not to say that the deer come into the food plot and don’t check out the blind. Where the blind is located, how a blind is constructed, the shooting port concealment, and how the hunter is concealed in the blind, are all important to the success or failure of permanent blinds. The hunter must put himself in the place of the deer and look back at the blind. A white background inside the blind can give away the slightest movement of the hunter to the keen eyesight of a buck 150 yards away. If permanent blinds are to be used, a lot of thought needs to be given to their construction and location or they will not produce satisfactory results.

3. Field Dressing Deer in the Food Plot

Do your photography somewhere other than in the food plot.

It has always amazed me that otherwise savvy hunters who are aware of scent/wind effects on deer and have some appreciation of the predator/deer relationship will shoot a good buck on a food plot and proceed to field dress the deer right there. No sooner than they are out of sight and night falls, coyotes and bobcats move in on the gut pile. That food plot is usually off-limits to deer for many days thereafter. Deer taken on food plots should quickly, and with as little human activity as possible, be removed from the plot and taken to camp, home, or processor to let the food plot return to normal.

Here I should mention, another activity that is often done in food plots that can cause deer to stop using the plot for a time, is photographing a hunter with his trophy buck in the plot. Select another site for photography. Dragging the dead dear around and having several people in the plot for the photography session leaves too much human activity for most deer.

4. Hunting Mornings

For several reasons, it is far better to hunt food plots in the afternoon than in the morning. The chief reason is that food plots, in most areas, are utilized more in the late afternoon and night hours that in the mornings. In the morning, unless chasing a hot doe, bucks are usually feeding in the woods on the way to bedding areas. If you plan to hunt food plots, hunt the woods in the morning and slip into or near the food plot in the afternoon.

A second reason to not hunt a food plot in the morning, is that going into the area before daylight can spook deer that are in the plot feeding, and they will generally not return until after dark that evening – if then.

	Keep human traffic to a minimum in food plots throughout the hunting season.

5. Traffic Near Food Plot

Food plots should not be located adjacent to roads, paths, or trails that are used frequently by hunters going to and from other hunting areas. Hunters walking by or through a food plot on the way to another location will spook the deer that are coming and going from the food plot. They will quickly become nocturnal.

The same thing can be said for going into a food plot frequently to check trail cameras or scout for sign. It doesn’t take a buck long to pattern you and the activity on a food plot. In short, a food plot should have a minimum amount of human activity to be a productive area to hunt.

Remember that a well-managed food plot is a valuable part of the overall habitat on a property. However, don’t plant a plot expecting it to be a buck magnet day after day for hunting. With a lot of thought and planning, food plots can be used as a part of the hunting strategy for a property, but human activity needs to be kept to a minimum on or near food plots for them to be utilized by mature bucks during daylight hours.