Deer Food Plots
Potential Association deer hunter applicants sometimes ask about the Association's efforts at developing deer habitat most notably food plots, their size, number and composition believing deer hunting is always better over a food plot than on natural or existing deer habitat.
This Association does not develop any deer habitat enhancement such as food plots and those that have planted deer plots fully understand why this is so. All of our deer hunting is on wild game and natural deer habitat and in this case our deer habitat has plentiful food sources so much so it becomes a limited concern. Our best deer hunting is in the 45% to 50% agricultural land use region.
Pictured is a clover alfalfa mixed food plot at one acre in size, a deer habitat enhancement - or so we thought. It took two seasons to develop the rich carpet of succulent growth and 3 to 5 cuttings a summer to maintain it from flowering and sustaining the 5 to 10 inch height to ensure its deer attracting capability throughout the year. It was reseeded with 50 pounds of seed in spring and again in the fall to maintain its coverage. The seed average cost was $1.20/pound for one year or a $120 plus the cost of time and equipment. An experiment on one of this Association's staff's personal farm. Turned out great for turkey hunting and did nothing for deer habitat, especially during the deer season.
The same food plot as pictured above later that winter during the firearms deer season when we would like the greatest productivity and what we have is a field of nothing as the clover/alfalfa mix all went dormant and did not withstand the seasonal weather change.
The costs of developing and sustaining even a one acre deer food plot should be evident and if the Association were to develop a 100 such acres that would be an additional $12,000, not counting transportation, equipment costs and hourly wages. It is far more cost effective to lease the right kind of deer habitat rather than attempt to create it with food plots.
What we offer is first hand experience with the land and the productive deer habitat that naturally exists rather than an organization that seeks to impress with appearances.
Dustin at 18, harvested this trophy deer.
This deer was harvested off of natural habitat as were all the whitetails on this website.
Agriculture Deer Hunting
Framers do much to supply deer with food sources throughout the year. This is an alfalfa field of over 50 acres surrounded by a wooded creek bottom with water. The picture comes from the first half of archery deer season. The three necessary elements of food, water and cover in one tight area providing the needs for more than just a few deer through the entire winter.
Big woods deer hunters find the abundance of food in the central mid-west a new experience and a reversal of the deer habitat they frequently find in their home state in the northern, eastern and south east United States. The deer habitat in those regions consists of large wood forests with limited food sources. The reverse exists in Kansas, Missouri and Iowa and demonstrates to us the precedence order for trophy whitetail deer habitat is first food then cover.
The Common Deer Food Plot
A winter wheat field that can be found repeated many times over in Iowa, Missouri and Kansas.
Winter wheat remains green and is the must succulent to deer food available during the entire deer season. This field at 210 acres and runs long a number of wooded drainages and small wood patches within a rather large watershed well known for its trophy whitetail deer. Unlike in a big woods state where a 1/2 acre deer food plot concentrates the deer pattern, in the central midwest our large agricultural land use region diffuses the deer pattern that is based on food.