Food Plot Conundrum

I've got the nicest food plot I've had in my 8 years of land ownership in SW Young county. A combination of 10-12", oats, chicory, beans and clover covering about 2 acres. Problem is, the deer seem to be hitting it exclusively at night with hundreds of tracks in/around it but no sightings as of yet while I'm out there hunting. Any way to change their evening patterns using this food plot? Anyone else experience this? Haven't had a plot camera yet but thinking of getting one out on it just to see exactly what times they're hitting it.

I'll be keeping an eye on this one as I have a very similar problem.

I don't know how you'd deter them from hitting it at night. Best you can do is cross your fingers and hope for some colder weather. They will definitely move more during the day once we get a cold snap.

You just need a spotlight

Take this with a grain of salt, but I was listening to a podcast the other day where the guy was saying it's a mistake to move on your plot before daylight as you might bump them and decrease the chance of them coming back later in the morning. Maybe this option is worth a shot to change it up on them.

I like this idea QDog !

If the deer are not living on your land around the food plot there is not much you can do. Hunting over food plots on the morning has never worked for me. Evening hunts are the best if you have multiple stands/plots to hunt to not pressure deer with your exit from the blind. The more you bump them the later they will enter in nice weather. These warmer temps we have had are making the deer move later also. Add in the rainfall and excellent weed growth and they do not need to move much.

All or most of the "pros" on hunting shows that hunt in the Midwest and north say they only hunt food plots in the evening because they would run them out in the mornings when they are entering the area.

Good advice here. There were 15 in our plot Saturday morning before sunup and 10 Sunday morning. If I'd tried to get to the stand they'd have vacated post-haste.

I would also advise watching it for activity in the middle of the day, say 10-2. If they can bed close, sometimes they'll come back for a midday snack.

it just needs to get colder...this weekend should be good for deer hunters!

get on mld and hunt it in February.

other than that theres not enough need for them to eat during the day...

If you are doing that why wait till they are all broken up? Hunt in October

too stinking hot in October.

I need to look into the depredation night time exemptions which allow people to deer hunt at night. But then I would have to feed some sort of glow in the dark mineral mix all summer so I could tell which bucks had the good racks while hunting them.

Like others have said:

There's only one rule for hunt food plots in the morning..... Don't.

In the evenings if you can tell where the deer are primarily coming from move away from the plot a few hundred yards and try to intercept them on their way to the plot of theyre not coming till after dark.

I only hunt mine in the afternoons. I road corn around it and they usually start hitting the corn about 5pm and the field from 5:30 to 6pm. Lots of food for the deer this year. Some of my deer will just nibble on the corn then browse in the woods.

Very true! Unless you stuck at level 2

I hunt mine in the morning but only when it's really cold. Most these deer house close though

I hunt mine also but drive to blind in the Ranger and put things inside so that the Ranger will run the deer off. Then road feed openings that I feed everytime I hunt. I see more deer in the mornings than evenings but that is due to me catching deer moving back to bedding cover after feeding at other two plots and feeders while browsing their way to bed.

I almost always see deer in my plot in the mornings, if I get in at least 45 minutes before sunrise. I also walk to my stand as quietly as possible. If I bump deer going in late, I will usually see some return around 9-9:30 am.

Pulled cards 2 days ago and have the most on corn during the nighttime anyway. (feeder is on edge of one plot) Also have considerable activity around 11am-1pm, then again around 5pm to dark.

My upper plot (high ground) is seeing the most late evening traffic, then they move 60 yards to the plot with the feeder. I will have to shred (mow) my feeder plot soon as it is up around 10-12", so probably getting a bit tougher. Top plot is kept down good by the deer as it is only about 1/4 acre maybe.

BTW, even during the couple of real cold snaps we had, I had better late morning activity in the oats/wheat, but much earlier afternoon grazing, pretty much normal.