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Post by smsmith on Jul 18, 2017 14:27:35 GMT -6
Just to be clear, I'm not saying deer don't benefit in some way from plots. I suppose if a guy takes a section of forested land and then clears 100 acres and begins to "plot" ....annually has alfalfa, clover, winter rye and/or winter wheat, corn, and soybeans somewhere on that acreage....then okay...that guy could say he likely has increased body weights of deer, antler scores of deer (after a few generations), and fawn survival.
Between Bob and I we now have around 10 acres of plots that weren't here (his 40 acres and my 87) before 2012. Within the next 5-10 years a huge increase in soft mast will also occur. Have we increased deer numbers? Not without some help from the DNR, one year of Hunter Choice helped and the neighbors backed off on shooting does. The plots didn't do anything to increase numbers. Have we increased antler scores? Bob has pics showing that there has been impressive bucks running around here long before I showed up. Have we increased fawn survival? Twins are a rarity around here. Usually one mature doe has a set of twins, the rest are singles.
Plotting is a fun hobby that may benefit some critters at certain times of the year. It can certainly manipulate deer patterns in ways that benefit (smart) hunters. It can keep deer on a property longer than a property without plots.
Instances of food plots improving the overall health of the herd, increased antler size, increased numbers of deer, increased body weights, and/or increased fawn survival will require some documentation for me to believe. That's my only point.
If you love doing it...do it.
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Post by sd51555 on Jul 18, 2017 14:43:36 GMT -6
I don't think what I can do will grow booners or increase numbers. The only deer benefit I see is deer being able to hold their weight longer into the start of winter.
Beyond that, only a reduction in deer hunters will bring my numbers up.
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Post by nhmountains on Jul 18, 2017 15:14:41 GMT -6
For my land , I believe the bucks have moved out since we took over and started plotting and the does have moved in. The bucks usually show up in November if we have food for the does.
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Post by jbird on Jul 18, 2017 16:14:57 GMT -6
The ONLY reason I plot is to have that food for the does....so when the time comes the boys come looking for the does as well. I used to be all focused on "year-round nutrition" and to be honest I was an idiot. With all the bean saround me, why should I care if the deer eat neighbors beans in the summer time....they can't shoot them then! I'm sure my plots don't mean squat to the deer in my area since I am surrounded with beans and corn. However once those fields are Harvested the deer still prefer standing crops and that is when my plots come into play. I also over seed my beans and corn as well. I did some "testing" with wheat/rye and PTT and radish a year or two ago in a failed summer plot. My deer are so damn picky I saw little difference. The rye stayed green longer and greened up faster and was twice the height of the wheat come planting time in spring. The deer did seem to prefer the radish over PTT but it still wasn't anything special.....95% of it rotted in the ground. I simply overseed to add diversity to my plot and maybe add something they can't get. I have planted AWP before and the deer liked them OK - but I still had some survive the winter and the deer come spring. I will be broadcasting PTT/radish and wheat/rye typically Aug sometime depending on when I start to see the beans/corn changing. I tend to broadcast what I can get my hands on as the deer don't seem to use it much any ways.
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Post by riggs on Jul 18, 2017 17:45:10 GMT -6
I do it because my Grandpa was a farmer and I have an obsession with the life he lived. He was a hard working man that came from nothing yet gave us all the motivation to take on the world with everything we do. I owe it to him to do this and I love it more than a hobby. I have my Grandpas truck, tractor and equipment so there's nothing that will stop me from doing things on my place and when I'm gone I hope my son carries on. Deer and wildlife recreation is second on the list for me.
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Post by wildfire123 on Jul 18, 2017 18:09:14 GMT -6
I agree that reducing multiple doe tags and having each person shooting there own deer would really help. Each person is responsible for their actions.
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Post by smsmith on Jul 18, 2017 18:15:05 GMT -6
I agree that reducing multiple doe tags and having each person shooting there own deer would really help. Each person is responsible for their actions. I'm expecting a significant increase in hunters having access to multiple doe tags this year. I'd like to hope that with each passing year there is less and less party hunting...but this is MN. My guess is that last year and this year will be the two years of the highest deer population in my area that I'm around to witness.
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Post by Sandbur on Jul 21, 2017 16:48:33 GMT -6
I agree that reducing multiple doe tags and having each person shooting there own deer would really help. Each person is responsible for their actions. I'm expecting a significant increase in hunters having access to multiple doe tags this year. I'd like to hope that with each passing year there is less and less party hunting...but this is MN. My guess is that last year and this year will be the two years of the highest deer population in my area that I'm around to witness. I suspect that will be true for most of the hunters in the state.
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Post by Sandbur on Jul 21, 2017 16:55:41 GMT -6
The ONLY reason I plot is to have that food for the does....so when the time comes the boys come looking for the does as well. I used to be all focused on "year-round nutrition" and to be honest I was an idiot. With all the bean saround me, why should I care if the deer eat neighbors beans in the summer time....they can't shoot them then! I'm sure my plots don't mean squat to the deer in my area since I am surrounded with beans and corn. However once those fields are Harvested the deer still prefer standing crops and that is when my plots come into play. I also over seed my beans and corn as well. I did some "testing" with wheat/rye and PTT and radish a year or two ago in a failed summer plot. My deer are so damn picky I saw little difference. The rye stayed green longer and greened up faster and was twice the height of the wheat come planting time in spring. The deer did seem to prefer the radish over PTT but it still wasn't anything special.....95% of it rotted in the ground. I simply overseed to add diversity to my plot and maybe add something they can't get. I have planted AWP before and the deer liked them OK - but I still had some survive the winter and the deer come spring. I will be broadcasting PTT/radish and wheat/rye typically Aug sometime depending on when I start to see the beans/corn changing. I tend to broadcast what I can get my hands on as the deer don't seem to use it much any ways. I suspect your situation is closer to mine than any one else on this forum.. I am surrounded by beans, corn, alfalfa, and sweet corn. Some years I can add edible beans to the mix. I like the standing corn in foodplots for hunting/rut season and also to feed deer through the winter. Mature does in this area nearly always have twins as opposed to Stu's area. Look at our two pieces of property that are probably 30-40 miles apart and the difference is tremendous. Even to Batmans old land and his new land which are much closer than Stu's.
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