Ever since I've started managing my property by planting food plots and being a little more picky about what I shoot and staying out as much as possible, I have literally seen less deer and nothing cares about my food plot, I have oates, winter peas and clover. The deer are just not interested in those foods anytime of year. I'm hunting now and had a doe come out and put her nose to the ground then walked back in and then had 2 more walk the edge of the plot and not eat anything. Has anyone ever had this happen?
property management?
- Thread starter deer hunter 21
- Start date
Hot and acorns falling. Deer changing patterns off the green plots.
Do you have exclusion cages? Run cameras? How much land? Close to Big Ag? How long have you been managing?
PillsburyDoughboy
Well-Known Member
Deer can be the picky eaters.
Gotta remember. EVERYTHING is green right now so greens are not really what they are after. Persimmons are usually the first to fall and usually what the deer go after as they find the, extremely tasty. Think of persimmons as the light being on at Krispy Kream Donut. Next will be the assorted nuts that start to fall about now. Remember the white oaks and red oaks only really fall once a year and only for a short period of time. Again it might be like comparing it to Pumpkin spice Latte and Pumpkin spice Beer only being available to us once a year. If your into that sort of thing. :bash: :smash:
Also you could be over pressuring your spots. If your hunting a small parcel and your hunting it every weekend the deer are going to pattern you pretty soon. I would try and divide your property into sections of a b and c. Hunt a one week. Hunt b next week and leave c open till late season. I've started doing this the last few years and seeing greater success.
Gotta remember. EVERYTHING is green right now so greens are not really what they are after. Persimmons are usually the first to fall and usually what the deer go after as they find the, extremely tasty. Think of persimmons as the light being on at Krispy Kream Donut. Next will be the assorted nuts that start to fall about now. Remember the white oaks and red oaks only really fall once a year and only for a short period of time. Again it might be like comparing it to Pumpkin spice Latte and Pumpkin spice Beer only being available to us once a year. If your into that sort of thing. :bash: :smash:
Also you could be over pressuring your spots. If your hunting a small parcel and your hunting it every weekend the deer are going to pattern you pretty soon. I would try and divide your property into sections of a b and c. Hunt a one week. Hunt b next week and leave c open till late season. I've started doing this the last few years and seeing greater success.
PillsburyDoughboy
Well-Known Member
Forgot to add.
What could have changed on the properties connecting to you that have changed the deer behavior?
Could a neighbors farm been a prime bedding ground with thigh heavy cover and recently cleaned up and is now a primary feeding area? Or vice versa? A primary feeding ground get grown up and covered up and now the deer are using it for bedding and cover?
Any changes around you can severely impact your own property,
My own property is going through a bit of a change but it's really a change for the better.
A connecting property had a cedar thicket of 100 acres completely stripped last year. It's since been cleared and planted.
My farm consists mostly of heavy timber with two small 5 acre and 8 acre fields, the other connecting property is a cattle farm, the deer use to use the Cedar thicket as bedding ground and would constantly be passing through my property on the way to the cattle farm and mill around on my acorns, Now they use the fringes of my property for bedding and still,work between the connecting properties for primary feeding, so I have the best of all the worlds.
What could have changed on the properties connecting to you that have changed the deer behavior?
Could a neighbors farm been a prime bedding ground with thigh heavy cover and recently cleaned up and is now a primary feeding area? Or vice versa? A primary feeding ground get grown up and covered up and now the deer are using it for bedding and cover?
Any changes around you can severely impact your own property,
My own property is going through a bit of a change but it's really a change for the better.
A connecting property had a cedar thicket of 100 acres completely stripped last year. It's since been cleared and planted.
My farm consists mostly of heavy timber with two small 5 acre and 8 acre fields, the other connecting property is a cattle farm, the deer use to use the Cedar thicket as bedding ground and would constantly be passing through my property on the way to the cattle farm and mill around on my acorns, Now they use the fringes of my property for bedding and still,work between the connecting properties for primary feeding, so I have the best of all the worlds.
My property is 250ac with only about 45ac in woods,I been managing for about 8 years and my property or the neighboring property hasn't changed. there is some corn still standing on part of the farm and I'm sure that's hurting me but Im pretty sure my property is just a pass through because I have cameras out and I always seem to have the same 1 1/2 year olds bucks year in and out but I always get a couple of velvet pics of a really nice deer every year and I will only get it once and of course I will have some new buck pics in November and usually at night. This year in August I got pics of a really nice 11 point with a kicker but he has only been by my camera that day. That happens every year with a big buck, kind of a way to let me know they are around and that 1 pic every year keeps me excited all year. I'm currently running 3 cameras.
Hunter 257W
Well-Known Member
Sounds like my situation. You say that only 45 acres of your 250 total is in woods. What about the surrounding area? Is there a lot of available cover generally speaking in the area? My farm is 235 acres with about 60 acres of woods and very little cover in the surrounding farms. As a result there just isn't the expected Unit L deer population in the area. I have planted a lot of food plots for the past 7 or 8 years but never, ever see bunches of deer eating in them. In fact, the vast majority of the time I don't see any deer at all in my food plots. Even when driving by at night and letting the headlights sweep across the plots. One of which is 4 acres of Whitetail Institute "Alfa Rack". I still do not understand that......I can see the deer being reluctant to come to relatively open fields in the daylight but why they would still be so skittish at night is beyond me.
One suggestion that did make a difference for me is to plant a food plot that is tall enough that it doubles as cover to make the deer more at ease on your land. Whitetail Institute "Power Plant" has worked great for me in the past. One year in particular I planted strips of this, mixed with corn, in a 20 acre field near my shooting house. The rest of the 20 acres - between the Power Plant strips - I left untouched and it grew up in weeds. That 20 acres of 5 to 6 foot tall thicket did make a real improvement in deer sightings that year as deer felt a lot safer crossing that part of the farm. Currently I am also creating a tree plot, with planted oaks and fruit trees surrounded by wild trees. Cover is my main weak point and sounds like it may be your also.
One suggestion that did make a difference for me is to plant a food plot that is tall enough that it doubles as cover to make the deer more at ease on your land. Whitetail Institute "Power Plant" has worked great for me in the past. One year in particular I planted strips of this, mixed with corn, in a 20 acre field near my shooting house. The rest of the 20 acres - between the Power Plant strips - I left untouched and it grew up in weeds. That 20 acres of 5 to 6 foot tall thicket did make a real improvement in deer sightings that year as deer felt a lot safer crossing that part of the farm. Currently I am also creating a tree plot, with planted oaks and fruit trees surrounded by wild trees. Cover is my main weak point and sounds like it may be your also.
Boll Weevil
Well-Known Member
I don't really have anything to add but have been watching this thread as it's an interesting phenomenon...never really heard of this happening. Is it possible that in those 8 years there has been a significant reduction in localized population? Maybe the deer aren't on your place but they aren't on anyone else's either?
treefarmer
Well-Known Member
After the first heavy frost kills the weeds the deer will come to your plots, especially in a year without acorns.
PillsburyDoughboy
Well-Known Member
IF you are keeping your fields bush hogged may I suggest leaving rows of your fields grown up. Cut it in strips every two years. Its not as pretty that way but what it does is provide cover for the deer . Deer will feel more comfortable stepping out in the open areas when they have cover to duck back into. Plus having some grown up vegetation gives deer some vital/optional nutritional elements that the open exposed areas do not provide.deer hunter 21":1ejej7ji said:
I sort of dis coved this by accident many years back. I got on a budget one year and could not afford to have my fields completely cut so the guy that does my bush hogging suggested I cut just 5 foot sections and skip a 5 foot sections in turn only doing about half the field. Saved me half the money. What I found was deer were coming out and grazing more because they had the cover to do so. So they cut in and out of the thickets . I watch them all the time. You just have to pick your shots. Ive seen way more deer and bigger deer in the fields than I ever have.
PillsburyDoughboy
Well-Known Member
I tend to agree with this. This is why I prefer to recommend planting winter wheat over clover or some other form of greens. There is plenty of "greens' growing during the archery season and the deer are concentrating more on acrons and nuts during that time. Greens really come in during the dead of winter when everything is brown and dying off. Deer are having to work for their food sources then. A healthy good size crop of winter wheat can go a long way at feeding some deer.treefarmer":1kqclp7n said:
landman
Well-Known Member
too many times planting the whole field hurts more than helps
one of my 7 acres plots now has about 3 acres open the rest is bush hogged every 2 years and hunted only after MZ opens
since starting that 4 years ago, 1 buck a year with a 141" average, this will be the 4 th year as I bush hogged the weeds out of
the clover yesterday afternoon deer would just stand up and slowly move off
I do still after clover in the weeds and switchgrass too
one of my 7 acres plots now has about 3 acres open the rest is bush hogged every 2 years and hunted only after MZ opens
since starting that 4 years ago, 1 buck a year with a 141" average, this will be the 4 th year as I bush hogged the weeds out of
the clover yesterday afternoon deer would just stand up and slowly move off
I do still after clover in the weeds and switchgrass too
Winchester
Well-Known Member
ACORNS very likely the problem for you right now!
MickThompson
Well-Known Member
Winchester":1ekwdsee said:
Lack of cover is your problem. Mature deer are much more concerned about staying alive than they are about what they put in their tummy. Once the crops are harvested, there's no food left, and less than no cover in the fields. Deer don't last long in the wide open.
PillsburyDoughboy
Well-Known Member
This picture is not all that great but it might show you what I'm talking about by cutting rows. Cut some 10 ft sections clear and leave some 5ft or 10ft sections thicket.
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My open ground is all row cropped and my neighbor has about an 8 acre field that has been growing up for probably 10 years and it's so thick you can't walk through it, but I stay out and away from it cause I assume what's there is bedding in that field.
