Why Hunters Shouldn’t Plant & Hunt Food Plots

In an interesting take on food plots, Jeff Sturgis talks about some unproductive things that can be caused by food plots. The first one he discusses seems to be what we are experiencing on my main hunting property: Reducing the buck age structure on your property.

In other words, by planting food plots and hunting them, you create pressure that’s certainly felt by mature bucks, which become uncomfortable within 200-400 yards of the food plots, thus moving farther and farther away from the areas you’re hunting. And I can’t say this is our problem, but we have definitely been seeing fewer and fewer mature bucks on our property, which contains many food plots — most of which are hunted on a regular basis.

There’s also the fact that regularly hunting food plots will cause a herd to become largely nocturnal — at least the more mature, more desirable deer.

He says you should only plant food plots if you never spook the deer off of the plots. In his words, “Those food plots should be just as important as your innermost bedding areas and they should be included within your sanctuary.”

The bottom line is that, for hunting, the most important/valuable thing on hunting property is an unpressured food source. And if you make your food plots into sanctuaries, he says you will be the herd influencer in your area — and that is most certainly a good thing.

Enjoy.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.