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Post by sd51555 on Oct 19, 2021 6:13:53 GMT -6
I've never hunted in a highly competitive neighborhood. I'm talking about the kind of neighborhood where there is a habitat and food plot cold war going on among the neighbors. I'm talking about the neighbor guy that is the pace setter for enormous plot sizes, and can grow enough soybeans to outrun the browse pressure so they last into gun season (cannot be exhausted).
I have a question.
If a person had a neighbor like that, with ten acres of standing corn, or ten plus acres of beans... Would a clover/brassica/rye or wheat plot fail to attract deer? Or how would that affect deer use of a plot like that?
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Post by Freeborn on Oct 19, 2021 6:23:30 GMT -6
I've never hunted in a highly competitive neighborhood. I'm talking about the kind of neighborhood where there is a habitat and food plot cold war going on among the neighbors. I'm talking about the neighbor guy that is the pace setter for enormous plot sizes, and can grow enough soybeans to outrun the browse pressure so they last into gun season (cannot be exhausted). I have a question. If a person had a neighbor like that, with ten acres of standing corn, or ten plus acres of beans... Would a clover/brassica/rye or wheat plot fail to attract deer? Or how would that affect deer use of a plot like that? Your plot would hold the subordinate does and bucks in the neighborhood. Deer may still bed on your property if you have quality bedding but travel to the neighbors for food. But if the neighbor has good bedding and better plots the deer will bed on their property. In my case corn, beans and bedding make for a dominate buck on my property. |
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Post by nhmountains on Oct 19, 2021 6:32:28 GMT -6
It depends on the time of year. During the rut bucks will go where their nose and penis take them to find ladies. Here it may be 2-5 miles or more.
We have an abutter that feeds deer throughout the season and after. He doesn’t hunt but, tries to pull deer onto his property and does. The bucks don’t spend any time on my property until October 15 through December 10th or so. Conversely the guy over the mountain has bucks all summer and most leave in October.
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Post by batman on Oct 19, 2021 6:39:23 GMT -6
Depends upon how you hunt the property, and what the neighbor does. Mature bucks bed for safety. Does and younger deer for convenience. Its very common for guys with large holdings and 10% in high quality plots to have the neighbors killing the biggest bucks. Largely because they hunt it wrong.
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Post by Sandbur on Oct 19, 2021 6:42:22 GMT -6
I've never hunted in a highly competitive neighborhood. I'm talking about the kind of neighborhood where there is a habitat and food plot cold war going on among the neighbors. I'm talking about the neighbor guy that is the pace setter for enormous plot sizes, and can grow enough soybeans to outrun the browse pressure so they last into gun season (cannot be exhausted). I have a question. If a person had a neighbor like that, with ten acres of standing corn, or ten plus acres of beans... Would a clover/brassica/rye or wheat plot fail to attract deer? Or how would that affect deer use of a plot like that? I would be happy with that situation as more Deer would likely survive a bad winter. Some small green plots would be ok, but concentrate on thick cover on your property. You would also need to time your hunt and stay out until that peak time, probably the rut. |
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Post by smsmith on Oct 19, 2021 6:42:27 GMT -6
Another factor is how plots are hunted. Sloppy hunts will push deer off even the best food sources...at least during legal shooting hours.
About every other year there is close to 100 acres of standing corn on the other side of the road from me. I still see plenty of deer (including old nanny does and shooter bucks) using my small clover/brassica/grain plots.
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Post by Freeborn on Oct 19, 2021 6:43:13 GMT -6
It depends on the time of year. During the rut bucks will go where their nose and penis take them to find ladies. Here it may be 2-5 miles or more. We have an abutter that feeds deer throughout the season and after. He doesn’t hunt but, tries to pull deer onto his property and does. The bucks don’t spend any time on my property until October 15 through December 10th or so. Conversely the guy over the mountain has bucks all summer and most leave in October. Its interesting on different properties how bucks behave. My area is a patchwork of woods and ag fields. Its probably 80/20 mostly Ag. Deer are concentrated in my area and we have a high deer population. If you have sufficient does a buck during the rut will return to the same property over and over. They still wander but they return. I killed a 10 point two years ago with a rifle I had watched two weeks earlier during bow season mount a doe for breeding. I guess he liked what he had so he came back. I still believe if you hold the does with bedding and food (summer and particular rut food) you will have bucks during rut hunting. In my case I try and have resident deer that stay on my place until there is no food left which is after rifle season. |
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Post by Catscratch on Oct 19, 2021 6:47:41 GMT -6
I think deer travel a lot and will hit a lot of different places in a week, including the neighbors sub-pare plots.
Interesting you bring this up. I may have created this exact scenario for myself. Been helping and advising the guy north of me on some plots. Now he has a plot that is several times bigger than what I've got and in better cover.
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Post by smsmith on Oct 19, 2021 6:52:00 GMT -6
I think deer travel a lot and will hit a lot of different places in a week, including the neighbors sub-pare plots. Interesting you bring this up. I may have created this exact scenario for myself. Been helping and advising the guy north of me on some plots. Now he has a plot that is several times bigger than what I've got and in better cover. I help one directly adjacent neighbor put in his plots. My theory has always been more food more deer more chances of a buck getting big. That said, deer movement between our places is a constant. Any deer on his place will almost certainly spend some time on mine and vice versa. I wouldn't do this with/for my north neighbor as the deer movement/patterns aren't as mutually beneficial. If the north neighbors started plotting big time it wouldn't hurt my feelings though. Again, more food more deer.... |
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Post by Sandbur on Oct 19, 2021 6:52:10 GMT -6
Most of the corn is gone around me, except for some foodplots and strips left for wildlife.
Exception is 240 acres of corn that is kitty corner from my land. There could be lots of deer in there.
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Post by Foggy on Oct 19, 2021 7:06:50 GMT -6
Corn was a bust in my hood this summer due to the drought. No irrigation around here. Most of it had no ears and was chopped. The beans looked real sad until the rains came.......and now they look quite good. I have a neighbor to the south with over 200 acres of beans. I betcha those willl be combined by the time rifle season rolls around.......at which point I may have the only food plots in miles around. Still.....while I see allot of deer.....I dont see any big bucks on my cameras yet.
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Post by Catscratch on Oct 19, 2021 7:07:45 GMT -6
I think deer travel a lot and will hit a lot of different places in a week, including the neighbors sub-pare plots. Interesting you bring this up. I may have created this exact scenario for myself. Been helping and advising the guy north of me on some plots. Now he has a plot that is several times bigger than what I've got and in better cover. I help one directly adjacent neighbor put in his plots. My theory has always been more food more deer more chances of a buck getting big. That said, deer movement between our places is a constant. Any deer on his place will almost certainly spend some time on mine and vice versa. I wouldn't do this with/for my north neighbor as the deer movement/patterns aren't as mutually beneficial. If the north neighbors started plotting big time it wouldn't hurt my feelings though. Again, more food more deer.... Good on you for helping a neighbor! I'm curious to see what this turns into for us. He puts out huge feeder of corn and I don't. We share trailcam pics and our deer traditionally don't cross the line much. I see no reason why they wouldn't, but it is what it is. Of course I had an old buck (I had 3 years of history with) get shot on his place last year so who knows. |
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Post by Freeborn on Oct 19, 2021 8:05:02 GMT -6
Depends upon how you hunt the property, and what the neighbor does. Mature bucks bed for safety. Does and younger deer for convenience. Its very common for guys with large holdings and 10% in high quality plots to have the neighbors killing the biggest bucks. Largely because they hunt it wrong. I think this is key as well as how you use your property during the year that affects if a mature buck will stay on your property. Each of us has different goals, some hunt to put venison on the table, some hunt to have the family together and some hunt for mature bucks. Each requires a different approach to food plots, property usage and hunting tactics. |
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Post by Bwoods11 on Oct 19, 2021 8:32:30 GMT -6
Last year I had more good food that my neighbor in Iowa and we reaped the benefits. This year he went to the extreme and planted alfalfa, corn, sorghum and clover mix. Right now he has more deer and bucks on his. That will all change during the rut, we have the good bedding areas.
He will have a good chance to knock down a good buck in October, matter of fact he nearly scored on one this past weekend. I don't see his plots as a negative, the deer have all they can eat!
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Post by benmnwi on Oct 19, 2021 13:06:07 GMT -6
If the deer can safely get to a standing soybean field that is really tough to beat (corn and brassicas are good as well, but I've found beans to be #1). The bulk of the action seems to be in these undisturbed feeding areas, but deer do spill out into neighboring areas then the bucks start chasing.
If you can position your clover plot between a decent bedding area and the neighbor's awesome food that could work really well. Or if the neighbor has the best food maybe it would make more sense to spend time creating the least disturbed bedding area in the neighborhood.
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