In your opinion what makes a food plot ethical while a spin-cast feeder unethical?

[teufelhunden]

In your opinion what makes a food plot ethical while a spin-cast feeder unethical?

[Walt Smith]

I wouldn't call either one unethical,I just don't like it when one group says that food plots aren't the same as baiting. Food plots are utilized for one reason. To draw deer to your property and not your neighbors. Theres a lot of big money corporations behind the equipment and seeds for food plots and on the baiting side theres only the hunter and the farmer. So its pretty easy to see who wants baiting to be outlawed and food plots allowed. I personally don't do either, I get my butt deep into a swamp before daylight and wait there because thats where all the deer head when the firing starts.

[bonnier-admin_2]

Sounds OXYMORON!

[hjohn429]

In my home state you have to remove bait (including feeders) like one or two months before you hunt in that area. So I think the feeders make deer dependent on them, and when you remove them the deer are forced to find a new food source.

[Beekeeper]

Walt,

Food plots are planted as killing fields by quite a few individuals and you are correct that there are more "magic blends" being offered up than you can shake a stick at. At large, deer hunters, like fishermen are a gullible bunch! I will offer my reasons for planting food plots and I hope these will help make a disticntion between baiting and food plots.

The major reason I and many other hunters develop plots is to provide nutrition in a more balanced fashion over the year. The winter and early spring periods are hard times for deer, especially in non agricultural areas. By providing food plots with varied plantings during this time you help bucks recover from the rut and help does with developing fetuses maintain body condition.

By maintaining plots with varied forages (annuals and perennials) a soild base of nutrition is built year round for your deer, healthier deer grow bigger antlers (no matter what, we all appreciate a large set of antlers) and help does produce healthier fawns. Healthy deer also resist disease more effectively.

Food plots also provide for other wildlife including small and nongame species. They do so not only with forages but also by becoming homes to insects that provide food for birds and some small mammals. They produce seed which are also utilized by birds and small mammals. They may also provide additional cover for these same animals.

Deer feeding in food plots are able to maintain a healthy balance of micro flora in thier rumen and gut. This is critical in helping deer continue to digest browse effectively. Heavy supplimentation with high carb sources can skew rumen micro flora to such an extent that deer have difficulty in digeting natural forages and browse, thus decreasing health. Forages also provide balanced nutrition and not just carbs and fats.

Feeding deer at a feeder site places deer at great risk of spreading or contacitng a disease especially diseases like EHD/Blue tongue. The same can be said for food plots which are too small. (A practical size for a food plot is 1/4 acre or larger)

It is also quite an investment in time, effort and money to establish and maintain a quality food plot. There is also a certain amount of knowledge and luck required. Ground must be tilled correctly, soil admendments applied and used correctly.

Proper forage selection is also important and critical to success. Seed must then be planted correctly. Rain fall is needed at the right time (this is where the luck comes in). Management such as top dressing with additional nutrients around the year requires knowledge and effort to keep plots healthy and productive.

Placing a feeder and keeping it filled is not rocket science, but does require some effort and definitely money. It is not dependent on rainfall and management. When it is empty the food source is gone.

Plant a food plot, the gift to wildlife that keeps on giving!

[steve182]

Well said Beekeeper.

[teufelhunden]

Beekeeper have you seen the new food plots-in-a box? The ones that you just roll out on the ground and plant? Kind of takes away every argument except the high starch one.

[MB915]

here are my two cents on the matter. While there is a difference between the two, as beekeeper pointed out very well. If you hunt over the food plot it is no different then baiting. While the food plot does have increased beneifits to multpile species, if you plant it to hunt over it, it is no different from sitting over a feeder. Now if you plant the food plot and dont hunt over it, and really let it be there for the health and nutrition of the deer, then there truly is a difference between the footplot and the feeder.

[muskiemaster]

food plots are actual work to put in and are nutritional to the deer plus they don't depend on that food source like deer can learn to do with a automatic feeder where they learn a schedule of when it sprays food.

[Beekeeper]

Teuf,

The type of "food plot in a bag" stuff you describe are not very good products. First of all, just rolling or throwing seeds onto the ground will not guarantee success. With out adequate soil preperation the forage would not be able to root properly and the site would be short lived. Without adequate fetility the plants would not grow very well and they would not be attractive to deer.

I have clients who try this sort of thing every year and complain when things don't turn out well...