Buck Food Plot Use During the Hunting Season

[BenAllgood]

The MSU Deer Lab has a movement ecologist who has joined the team. She is analyzing some of the data collected. They are excited to bring new information as they come out with it.

Here's some brief takeaways, but I'd encourage people to watch this episode. They do note that, while the data is preliminary, they have lots more questions they will explore.

Study Area/Info:
-NW of Jackson, MS
-50k acres
-60 gps collared bucks
-positions taken every 15 minutes during hunting season (over a million locations)
-468 food plots
-89 feeders
-915 stands
-knowns= when stands were hunted, weather, wind speed and direction, bedding site




Bucks visited food plots more frequently during the rut and late season than they did earlier, but durations of the visits were longer before and after the rut.




Median acreage size of plots was 1.7 acres, but most of the visits, by far, were in food plots of about 4 acres




After the opening of season, buck visits during legal shooting light, decreased dramatically
There was a spike in activity around noon




Bucks seemed to prefer bedding between 100-200 yards away from the first food plot they visited.




They are currently working on wind analysis in relation to movement and bedding.

 

[yoderjac]

Very cool project!

 

[yoderjac]

I finally found time to watch the entire podcast! Fascinating! Great Post Ben! It is an hour well spent for anyone interested in deer hunting. I'm looking forward to their next report!

 

[gut_pile]

This is great information. Thanks for sharing

 

[Drycreek]

I need to watch that, studies on collared deer are very interesting and educational. Some of what you posted I already knew from personal experience, for example the frequency of visits during the rut, and the visits during the middle of the day. 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM is a great time to see a buck in my hunting area and I seldom get out of the stand before noon. Sometimes, especially during the rut, I sit all day. It’s a long day, but sometimes it’s worth it.

 

[yoderjac]

I need to watch that, studies on collared deer are very interesting and educational. Some of what you posted I already knew from personal experience, for example the frequency of visits during the rut, and the visits during the middle of the day. 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM is a great time to see a buck in my hunting area and I seldom get out of the stand before noon. Sometimes, especially during the rut, I sit all day. It’s a long day, but sometimes it’s worth it.

While the results so far are interesting, you are right that most of it is a confirmation of what we already believe from common sense with hard data. There were a few nuggets in there I found useful. What really impressed me was the dataset. They have an unbelievable data set and they have just begun to slice it. The food plot size was a new nugget for me. I would have assumed bucks would visit smaller more secluded plots more frequently, but my belief there was debunked by the data. They also dropped a nugget that during the rut they don't just make two visits to food plots on average, but two different plots.

The biggest eyeopener was just how close, on average, bucks bed to food plots. While we have always know our approach to food plots was very important, I never realized they were bedded so close. It is tough to walk within 200 yards of a bedded buck without being detected.

The season shift from daytime to nighttime visits due to pressure confirms my camera data, but I only have number of visits. They also have duration data.

I'm really looking forward to more detailed analysis.