After spending a summer creating a one-acre field from a brier thicket that was suitable for a food plot, Dennis thought he would have a great place to hunt just a few hundred yards from his home. He ran soil tests on the new plot, built a permanent all-weather elevated stand in one corner of it, and spent a weekend planting the plot and establishing a mineral lick. He was excited about having a lush food plot close enough to his house that he could get in a couple of hours of deer hunting when he got home from work.

The first sign of trouble happened soon after the clover and winter wheat crop started to come up in fall. Late one night, Dennis woke up to the sound of gun shots near his home. He went out on his front porch to see lights in the direction of his food plot. The next day the signs were obvious – night poachers had spotlighted the food plot from a public road and shot a deer.

The day after deer season opened, Dennis got home early enough to get in a short hunt. He went to the permanent stand he had built and found cigarette butts and two empty beer cans on the floor. Someone was hunting his stand while he was away. The food plot poaching problems grew from there.

Food plots near roads attract poachers as well as deer. If you must have a food plot near a road, post the plot and have it watched often.

Food Plots Attract Poachers

Because food plots attract deer and other game, they also attract poachers. I recently talked with a conservation officer who told me he had just busted a small group of poachers who were studying Google Earth aerial mapping for tracts of land showing food plots in their area. Once they found a property with food plots, they came up with a plan to hunt the plots during the week when most owners or hunting club members were at work.

Stopping food plot poachers takes a number of actions to be effective. Here are a few:

Locate Food Plots Out of Sight

When Dennis established his food plot that summer, he did not think about being near a public road where, once the leaves fell off the trees in fall, poachers using a spot light along the road could see his plot and shine it. Also, being so close to the road, it was quick and easy for poachers to get in and out of the plot. It was a cinch for a poacher who wanted to hunt from Dennis’ stand to have someone drop him off on the side of the road before daylight to slip into the stand.

If possible, do not locate food plots on or near public roads, property lines, utility right-of-ways, or any other point on your property where the public has access. This makes it easy for people to slip in to the plot and hunt it. It also invites them to shoot onto your land from adjoining land when they can see deer feeding on your plot. The old saying, “out of sight, out of mind” applies to food plots; the more interior to your property you can locate your food plots, the better.

	Radians plastic tape is a good short-term signage option and goes up quick and easy.

Make Friends with Your Local C.O.

Having the local conservation officer as a guest on your property is a good way to keep helpcriminal trespassers away. His or her truck being seen on your property sends a strong signal for poachers to find different territory. Also, if local officers know your property, it’s easier for them to enforce trespass and game laws.

Have your conservation officer tell you how best to approach a poacher you catch on your property. This is not the time to become the law. Get enough information to give the investigating officer a good description of the poacher, his or her vehicle, and anything else pertinent to the poaching incident. Leave the investigation and the confronting of the poacher to law enforcement professionals.

Post the Boundaries of Your Property

If you locate your food plots more to the interior of your property and establish a good system of posted signs around the property, there will be no excuse for a poacher when he is caught. This should keep out all but the most determined criminal poacher. Be sure to check state laws and local regulations to see if there are requirements as to size, color, and where the signs need to be located. Don’t let a poacher get away because of a technicality.

It is a lot of work to properly put up signs around your hunting property, and it’s an annual job to check the signs. Knowing this, it is a good idea to put a little more work into the initial posting effort and make it a long-term investment. In order to minimize effort for annual inspections, select signs that will last for years.

Be sure to post at creek crossings and any other avenue of access to your food plots.

A good rule of thumb for selecting signs is to get the best you can afford. Posted signs come in paper, plastic, and aluminum. It has been my experience that the paper signs will not last more than a year, if that long. They look old fast and blow down easily. The heavy duty plastic signs will last longer and I have gotten up to three years of good service, but the sun, wind, and weather takes their toll soon after that.

Aluminum signs, 0.032-gauge or heavier, make excellent long-term boundary marking signs, provided the paint is UV resistant. I use signs that are 0.040-gauge aluminum painted white with black lettering, and many of these signs have been up 10 years and still look as good as the day I hung them. Voss Signs (www.vosssigns.com) offers a good selection of aluminum and heavy duty plastic signs.

The size of the sign is important in that it needs to be large enough to be easily seen at a distance. When you get smaller than 6 x 12 inches, it becomes more difficult for the signs to be seen in thick woods. Within reason, the larger the better, but remember you may have to carry a supply of the signs cross-country when you are hanging them, and weight can be a factor. Also, the larger the aluminum sign, the more expensive it can be.

Often due to expense or time, it is not practical to purchase plastic or metal signs to post property lines. One company, Radians (www.radians.com), has come up with a new plastic tape, pre-printed with a choice of three warnings – No Hunting, No Trespassing, and Posted Private Property. The tape is long lasting, 4.0 mil thick, and is a fade-proof bright yellow with black lettering. It can be easily tied or stapled (use extra-long staples) around trees or poles. It is a good way to quickly mark newly purchased land until you can put up permanent signs. I am using the tape on some of my property and it has been up for 2½ years and is still in good shape.

	Always use aluminum nails to attach signs to trees. Saws can cut through aluminum, but they jump out with steel nails, which will endanger tree cutters. Sawmill workers and tree cutters will thank you.

Here are some tips for putting up your posted signs:

• Use large-headed aluminum nails (for the future safety of loggers and sawmill workers) that are long enough to leave the head at least ½-inch out of the expanding tree.
• Place signs high enough on trees, or post in open areas, so that it is difficult for vandals to reach them easily.
• Place signs close enough so that you can see a sign from the adjoining signs.
• Place signs on live, long living trees. Hardwoods are best.
• Place signs on obvious travel routes such as old roads crossing the boundary, ridge tops, creek bottoms, and gates on private roads.
• Place signs on any trails or roads coming onto the property.
• Clean brush, limbs,and other debris from around signs so they can be seen easily.
• In open areas, use metal posts such as T-posts and attach signs with stainless steel screws.

“No Trespassing” Radians tape outside and inside each of my permanent stands. This eliminates any excuses.

A well-managed food plot is a valuable asset to any hunting property. With proper location and posting, poaching should be a rare occurrence and you should be able to enjoy hunting without having to fight criminal poachers.