At the Ranch - Whitetail: Where to Plant Food Plots

Acquired a large, new piece of property and want to get some food plots in the ground, but don’t know exactly where to begin planting food plots? This summer, one of my good friends was able to purchase 200 acres of land. With so many areas where we can plant food plots, we had to pick where the best places to plant these food plots would be. Below are a few of my top tips in picking where to plant food plots on your property.

One of the first things that you want to look for when choosing where to plant is any type of natural opening that you can easily get to and somewhere you don’t have to do a ton of clearing. Where can you access the property? I like to plant these food plots where you can get easy access. After this you want to think about seclusion because you want areas where you can plant food plots somewhere deer will be visiting them in the daylight. I really like getting some of these food plots tucked away in corners.

Besides natural openings and easy access to these food plots, you also want to see if you can place any food plots by sources like a water source or some oak trees. Deer tend to come into these areas naturally for access to water as well as to feed on acorns. If you plant a food plot next to these types of areas, they will most likely stick around for longer.

Another thing you should ask yourself when picking where to plant food plots is where do you have bedding cover that you know of and where do you have food sources already available? If you know you’ve got an area that’s straight bedding, it would be best to try to stay away from there.

Lastly, it’s great to be planting a couple different kinds of food plots and I’d suggest keeping them spread out. We have six food plots on this property and we’ve got them spread out a little bit to try to hopefully encourage deer movement through them. If you have any areas on your property that have openings with little pinch points, almost like an hourglass shape, these areas are great because they help to funnel deer through them.