Thoughts on destination or recruitment plots...

[Drycreek]

IMO it's what they are accustomed to. I've had my 217 acres almost ten years now. The mature deer have grown up on my place and the neighbor's places. I can't keep my place up without being there quite a bit. Mowing, keeping trails clear, checking games cams (although I only do that once a month), and the various phases of food plots are gonna see me there quite often. The thing we don't do is go into the actual woods unnecessarily. A portion of my place (14ac. ) was clearcut in 2011. It is now a jungle of planted pines, saplings of all descriptions, briars, berry vines, honeysuckle, etc. We don't and can't go there, it's that thick. It's on my E line but the neighbor's place is just as thick and no one hunts there. We hog hunt at night and regularly see deer with our night vision. Seldom do they run, even though when we see them, they are already looking at us. The deer are not very scared of my tractor, backhoe, or golf cart. A man walking around is a different ball game however. They seem to know that vehicles or machinery will deal them no harm. I think our scent passing by only puts them on alert. It's when they can smell or see you in one place for a period of time that they will avoid that place for awhile.

What we try to do however, is make ourselves seldom after the fall plots are planted. Hog hunting ends this month......period ! We try to keep our noise to a minimum when at the camphouse, and it's at the front of the place, but one of the best stands is only 250 yards or so from the house. That stand is always good for a doe or a wandering buck each season. In fact the bucks usually cross my road about 50 yards from the house and pops out on the shooting lane/wheat plot in front of this stand. A whitetail is an amazing animal that will adapt and conform to his environment.

 

[Triple C]

I'm in the same camp with you guys that use your property year round. Ain't nowhere on it I don't go cause I like going everywhere on it. That bean field is about 300 yds from the cabin and the main interior road runs right past it. If I'm accessing any part of the farm I drive right by it multiple times each day. When grandkids ride their 4-wheeler they go by it multiple times. Deer don't care. Deer are in it everyday. Maybe back in the remote areas in the wetlands they may not be as accustomed to human activity. Maybe I'm wrong but I just don't think deer pay us that much attention on the farm. They hear and see us too much.

The other 2 plots, hour glass and upper lower / lower lower, that we use in the same manner as the bean field are accessed less often but when I'm there I'm in and around them several times during my stay. The thing that has worked for us from a practical standpoint and in my opinion, improved deer sightings, is the idea of developing a central food source per 80 to 100 acres that provides food and cover as close to year round as we can. We are fortunate to have the terrain that allows us to do this, very gently sloping. I've hunted in dogghr's country...not so easy when the terrain is mountainous with mostly hills and hollers.