Geronimo

Now that's what I'm talking about.....

torridone

Food plots are a part of deer management. Any redneck can throw down a pile of corn and shoot the first dumb fawn that walks up. Hunting food plots are intended to not only draw deer in but to help with their nutrition, growth, and health. I have a food plotwhere I hunt and have never hunted over it, I prefer to be out in the woods not on a field waiting for a deer to get hungry.

StrutNtom

So is supplimental feeding not part of deer management? May I remind you that these feeds can provide (in one dinner) the nutrition that certain food plot plants take pounds to provide?

childers

talk about drama

bawanajim

The easiest way to differentiate between the two ,baiting & food plots is coming up,it will be when the hunting season is over and our world is covered by 18 inches of snow,then throw in the butt cold. Thats when the deer are in my plots all night eating corn,turnips & winter wheat that I PLANTED THIS SUMMER.And I'll bet your bait bucket is doing no more than filling the bird feeder,if that.

tsoc

I don't much care one way or the other.The food plot argument about the effort expended and the expense and the over all benefit to the herd is sound.I am sure the intent was to draw deer,to keep them on the food plot owners property,to grow bigger bucks to provide better nutrition for the entire herd.
I would guess that most food plots are created with the intention and hope of killing deer off of them or in the surrounding land next to them.With proper food plot design the deers entrance in to them and exit from them can be very predictable.Even without design consideration a couple of evenings in an elevated stand with a pair of binoculars or walking inside the edge of the entire food plot should make stand positioning fairly simple.
The benefit of food plots fars exceeds hunting season baiting,but Idon't hold all food plotters to be virtuous.They do it to make their hunting properties better,they draw deer for miles and then the food plotters get angry when other hunters hunt near the edges of their property.
Food plots are in most instances far better for the deer than baiting but they are not without their flaws as it relates to the every day hunter.

Diesel77

I dont think baiting and food plots are the same at all inmost situations. Hunting a bait pile on willing deer is more like an ambush, where hunting a food plot is just that, its hunting a food plot. When deer that are willing to come in during daylight and feed on piles you can easily ambush deer. Where hunting food plots you have to set up where you think they may enter which could be anywhere in that plot which you could hunt for weeks and never get a shot.

BowHuntingFool

I know guys who hunt over bait piles and haven't killed a deer in years! The deer come to the Bait on a daily basis, or should I say a nightly basis! Trail camers show pics of nice bucks and countless Does, but never when he is sitting over it, he hunts a lot! He didn't get his deer this year!

PreacherTony

My thoughts ...... deer are there for us to KILL (not harvest), and eat ...... I am for whatever LEGAL method there is to accomplish that end.

That being said ... I'm with Rob ... food plots and baiting are like night and day IMO .... now before anyone jumps on me, put a farmers field in your equation .....

Planter

Do it anyway you can as long as it's legal. If you can't relive the hunt to yourself and tell the story to others than somethings not right.

If we as a forum put as much time into recruiting new hunters and supporters to our causes as we do hashing out the ethics of legal hunting methods our future would be far brighter.

That being said... A nice little 10ft X 30ft food plot with a late season mix in a sparse area with tough browse and mastworks as slick as a pile of apples..So what!!