Creating Amazing Food Plot Funnels

ood plots are planted primarily for two reasons: One, to provide a high-quality food source so the whitetails can maintain their maximum health; and two, to serve as a deer attractant. While these are both important factors in a quality deer management program, hunting strategies should also be considered. It doesn’t do you any good to have the greatest food plots in the world if you can’t kill the deer using them. Moreover, when implementing a quality deer management program, most of us don’t give enough thought to food plot placement. This is why we should plan carefully before planting food plots. As an example, let’s suppose a hunter owns land in a flat region and has a brushy area on his property that is a hot bedding spot for whitetails. Adjacent to it is an open field that offers a low-impact entry to the stand. By planting a food plot near the bedding site, the hunter — if care-

Pasture Deer Bedding Area

ful — will be able to pick off doe, fawn, small bucks, and possibly even a mature buck when they come out into the plot to feed. As productive as the location seems, there are drawbacks. For instance, on an evening hunt, the hunter may be getting out of his stand site while the deer are still in the food plots. Pull this a few times, and the older bucks will instantly avoid this food plot during daylight hours. Even does and fawns will get smart quickly. Let’s further examine this hunter’s property. Map # 1 reveals an inside corner that is within one-half mile of the bedding area. If the food plot is positioned on the east side of the bedding area as shown, in the evening the deer will naturally travel through this inside corner while moving from the bedding site to the plot. The opposite is true of a morning hunt. This allows them to move, yet remain unseen inside the timber. By waiting for the perfect northwest wind, a hunter could go to the inside corner stand early in the afternoon and deer should travel through the inside corner while there is still shooting light. This includes trophy whitetails. And because the wind is so ideal, and the entry isn’t near a feeding region, the hunter can come and go without being noticed. It’s the type of ideal food plot placement we should always strive for.

Hunter Stand Location, Southwest Wind

Food Plot

Hardwood Timber

This finger is a great place to put a food plot since it is hidden from any road. Only one wind direction can be effectively used here, however, so it’s a perfect spot to place a ground blind in the CRP field.

Deer Trails

Plowed Field

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“The Inside Corner” MAP NO. 1 — With a bedding area on one side of an inside corner, and a food plot on the side, the odds are in the hunter’s favor.

WHITETAIL NEWS / Vol. 17, No. 1

www.whitetailinstitute.com

Brad Herndon

By Brad Herndon