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Help Support TNDeer:
Food Plots Food plot size, shape, and location
- Thread starter hbg1
- Start date
Bell3wv
Well-Known Member
I've always felt deer and turkey feel more comfortable in narrow plots.
I've read that as well.
yellalinehunter
Well-Known Member
Set plots out like a turkey foot. Add some fruit trees and some oaks out for additional draw
Boll Weevil
Well-Known Member
While critters might feel more comfy in narrow plots, depending on N-S-E-W orientation sunlight may be a concern to think thru. It's an older video but listen to the first few minutes here. Also if you use loading decks they'll really need to be cleaned up and maybe ripped to relieve compaction from running 80k lb trucks and skidders over em for weeks and weeks (or months). It'll be like concrete.
PickettSFHunter
Well-Known Member
I want mine easy to take care of with a tractor. Long and narrow is easy. Regular shapes are easy. Irregular can get harder with more passes over the same ground. I don't really get to consider any of that though because for me, it's just where is there alittle bit of flat ground 
it is best if you can scout out the best soil ahead of time, unless it's all just the same.
it is best if you can scout out the best soil ahead of time, unless it's all just the same.That video is awesome, thanks for sharing. I've tried using loading docks with little success. The compacted debris is just hard to overcome. I even hired a dozer to come in and try to clear the debris.
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
Stay away from rectangle or square if possible.
I like a 45 to 90 deg turn in the plot so bucks can't walk to 5y of the edge of the plot, see everything from one spot, then sneak out without having never come in
I like a 45 to 90 deg turn in the plot so bucks can't walk to 5y of the edge of the plot, see everything from one spot, then sneak out without having never come in
Good valid points by everybody so far. If you have the option I like longer narrower plots pointing east & west with nothing blocking the southern exposure. That'll get you sunlight from dawn til dusk.
You can use some type of tall sorghum to give internal dimension and seclusion. Doesn't have to be 8ft tall Egyptian wheat that blocks sun to parts of the plot. It only has to be 3ft-4ft to block deer vision but not block sunlight.
You can use some type of tall sorghum to give internal dimension and seclusion. Doesn't have to be 8ft tall Egyptian wheat that blocks sun to parts of the plot. It only has to be 3ft-4ft to block deer vision but not block sunlight.
deerhunter10
Well-Known Member
We have all kinds of shapes and sizes. As we like most we fit in food the best we can where we can. But our most productive foodplots far as seeing big deer and having them walk the entire food plots. We have one set up like an hour glass but we leave it grown up around it, but up in the air you can see everything. And where it pinches down is a great bow spot. The other spot that has been good for us is a turkeys foot style leaving the non food plot grown up.
Regardless we have good success with all of our plots because we have them tucked into absolute thick stuff. And leave out food plot ground to let the fields surrounding the foodplots grow up (we bushhog in late January early February) and let everything else grow up.
The biggest thing as mentioned above is the mature deer you need to try to block their view the best you can, easier said then done a lot of times.
Regardless we have good success with all of our plots because we have them tucked into absolute thick stuff. And leave out food plot ground to let the fields surrounding the foodplots grow up (we bushhog in late January early February) and let everything else grow up.
The biggest thing as mentioned above is the mature deer you need to try to block their view the best you can, easier said then done a lot of times.
"You can use some type of tall sorghum to give internal dimension and seclusion. Doesn't have to be 8ft tall Egyptian wheat that blocks sun to parts of the plot. It only has to be 3ft-4ft to block deer vision but not block sunlight."
Can you explain or elaborate on this
Can you explain or elaborate on this
Once these pines are thinned I suspect they will grow thick real fast due to more sunlight which should naturally create the grown up areas around the plot you mentioned. Or do you think I should still leave 5-10ft around the plot for grasses?
Thanks for all the great advice, keep it coming. Nobody has really mentioned the wind. Our prevailing winds tend to be westward. With that in mind do you think I should keep the plots on the east side of the property? Btw the easiest acces is also from the east.
One of my current plots is rectangular and I rarely if ever see a mature buck in it.
yellalinehunter
Well-Known Member
He's meaning to add cover to help the deer feel safer and to not plant something so tall that it shades your plot reducing plant production.
deerhunter10
Well-Known Member
We leave atleast 5ft of grown up stuff around all of our plots. The other thing that we have been playing with the last few years is really paying attention to winds. And trying to hunt where our mature deer can't wind the plots either, that easier said then done as well. It's fun to play with though.
The closer you can get the plots tucked into thickets or make your own thickets those are the best plots we have. We also don't personally have a ton of success with small micro plots but we have a high deer density and I would be willing to bet that's the cause of that, just not enough space for the deer to deer.
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Is your property flat? Contours change winds.
The prevailing winds also leave days of other than prevailing, if you concentrate on one side the deer will simply learn to use the other.
I would be more concerned with how and why the deer travel. Where is bedding vs native food sources, neighbors properties contribution. What about why do you plot? Meat or antlers or pictures.
Locating plots often is delegated by the topography and how unable the plot would be considering weapon, wind, thermals and target animals. Consider that many big mature bucks don't enter food plots, especially in the daylight, are you hunting the plot or the trails to, from and bypassing the plot.
We can all state what our preferences are but without a lot more information it's all speculation.
Lots of folks use Egyptian wheat as food plot screening and inside big open plots to create compartments. I tried it once and it worked but it also stunted some of the growth that was in its shadow once it got tall. It gets around 8ft tall. I tried other grain sorghum next that only got about 4ft tall and it worked the same way to block deer vision but didn't shade out as much other stuff as the EW did.
I have a few of both. Pros and cons to each.
My ridge plots tend to have drier soil but get plenty sun. Also because my ridges are narrow the deer have to come into the plot to see if other deer are in there. I don't hunt my plots but the ridge plots would be easier because the wind blows right across.
My hollow plots have better, deeper, darker, richer soil that stays moist. Getting sun requires cutting more trees but that doubles as doe bedding cover. My biggest gripe is that bucks can cruise well above and easily see into it without ever stepping foot inside. And hunting them would be tricky because of the shifting, swirling winds.
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