The Food Plot
The food plot is unnatural, but very
few things are completely natural today.
A food plot is like many places where we hunt, the land is managed by someone, in some way. Managed land can be public or private, and is
often farm land. Authentic hunting today must include such areas for
most hunters. Public land is usually managed with at least some thought given to the wildlife around. Private land can vary greatly. Farm land can be very beneficial to some species, but deadly for others. There are companies advertising products to grow huge deer with enormous racks. Most likely the biggest affect is that these companies
grow their own bank accounts. Seriously: One should become knowledgeable about the overall impact before planting anything. Be especially careful about any chemicals or fertilizer used.
Check with your state wildlife officials.
They may be willing to come out and study your property at no cost to you. They will at least have some information on what will be the most beneficial for wildlife on your property. Often you only need a light tilling, or a controlled burn of about one-third
of your property in late winter. This stimulates the growth of natural weeds and grasses which deer and other wildlife eat. You may need to clean up some areas, and leave some natural cover
in others. Deer and other wildlife need some cover and safe areas.
They will likely say that is all you need to do.
Read about:
Deer Food & Management
A plot is much like farm land and can be considered a part of authentic hunting.
In some places it may be needed where the deer population is low. When used to improve the deer population and quality, it scores a reasonable hunting effort. While not usually as manipulating as bait or
deer feeders
, plots can be engineered to lead deer to a specific place.
When they are placed to manipulate deer into a kill zone, it becomes less authentic hunting.
Yes, it does take skill and knowledge to do that, but it's as much
farming skill as
Authentic Hunting.
We have many more pages of information.
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