At first glance, young pine plantations don’t seem to offer much to a deer hunter because they’re thick, hard to travel through and usually don’t offer deer much in the way of food. These same characteristics, though, can actually make them prime locations for hunting plots if you know what to look for and how to set them up for the best possible results. Let’s discuss some ideas on how to do that.
In this article, we’ll discuss a specific
kind of food plot: small kill plots placed within stands of planted pines. The
idea of planting small kill-plots in thick, remote places such as pine
plantations certainly isn’t new. Hunters have been doing that sort of thing for
a long time, and I’m certainly not suggesting that I invented the idea.
However, it was something that was new to me when I first thought of it. For
me, that happened decades ago as I rode with a landowner through an 800-acre
parcel my friends and I were considering leasing from him. The property had a
few bottoms and agricultural fields, but most of it was planted in pine trees
at various growth stages. As we rode along, I began to notice that the borders
of the pine stands weren’t uniform. They came all the way out to the road in
some places, but in others they tapered back from the road, leaving openings. I
didn’t know much about pine-tree farming at the time (and frankly, I still don’t),
so I assumed that the open areas had just not been planted, and I asked the
landowner why. He said, “We did plant those areas. The pines just didn’t take.”
In other words, the open areas weren’t intentional. They had just happened
because the pines in those particular spots hadn’t survived. That enlightenment
gave me an idea that I resolved to check out for myself. I figured that if the
pines in areas near the road had died and left openings, there might be other
areas farther back in the stands where the same thing had happened. And it
occurred to me that such spots would be prime locations for small kill-plots. I
immediately put my idea into action and ended up killing my biggest buck to
date that same year. Since those early days, I’ve continued to plant highly
effective food plots deep within plantations of standing pines, and I’ve learned
some things by trial and error along the way. Let’s make sure we’re all on the
same page about what we’ll be talking about: planting food plots in small,
remote, natural openings within stands of planted pines for the sole purpose of
killing deer during hunting season. The rest of this article will explore each
part of that definition, although in a different order for ease of explanation.
Natural Openings We’ll start our discussion with the most
important point of all: the openings you are looking for are natural, not
something you create. You should be able to find the openings you need to plant
pine stand kill-plots without having to create them. Never damage or remove trees
without the landowner’s permission.
Within Stands of Planted Pines Small hunting plots can work well in any pine
stand that has reached a height of at least three feet or so — enough height to
provide cover for deer travel. You’ll also be able to spot natural openings in the
stand pretty easily when the stand has reached that height. More mature pine
stands also offer excellent opportunities for small kill plots. The key issue
with them, though, isn’t cover. It’s sunlight. Natural openings that allow
sunlight to reach the ground can exist in virtually any mature stand of planted
pines for several reasons, such as management thinning of the stand, pine
beetles or just the natural shape of the canopy.
Think Small Although every situation is different, the
type of plots we’re discussing should generally be no less than about 1/10 acre
and up to about 1/2 acre. Again, those specific size limits aren’t written in
stone. The most important factors in deciding what size sites to consider in your
specific situation are what I’ll call attraction longevity (how long the forage
you plant will be able withstand the level of browsing pressure you expect and
still keep attracting deer) and intimacy of the site (how safe deer will feel
using the plot during daylight hours).
Attraction Longevity and Minimum Plot
Size To give you a point
of mental comparison, 1/10 acre is 66 feet by 66 feet. Again, that’s just a
starting point for deciding what the minimum should be in your own situation.
Take into account deer density and other factors that might affect how heavily
the forage in the plot is used by deer. In other words, make sure the site is
big enough that the forage you plant will be able to keep attracting deer for
as long as possible during hunting season.
Intimacy and Maximum Plot Size Intimacy is a term I stole from Neil
Dougherty of North Country Whitetails because it’s the best one-word
description I’ve found for the most important factor to consider when locating
and structuring any food plot in which you expect to harvest deer. They must
feel as safe as possible using the plot. That’s a product of multiple factors, including
the availability of adjacent cover and maximum plot size. Given that the plots
we’re talking about are within stands of planted pines, they already satisfy
the cover issue. Keeping plot size at about 1/2 acre or less can help maintain
the site’s intimacy.
To Find Remote Sites, Put Your Boots On To find the best sites, you’re most likely
going to have to search on foot. Although on-line tools such as Flash Earth,
which provides satellite and aerial imagery from Microsoft and Yahoo, and
Google Earth can be time savers when you’re initially looking for good places
to put standard food plots on unfamiliar property, they won’t be of much use in
helping you locate some of the best spots for the type of small kill-plots we’re
talking about in this article. One reason is that some of the aerial photos you’ll
find on the web were taken at an angle instead of straight down so that trees
bordering small openings might block them from the camera’s view.
Food Plots — Forage Selection As mentioned, the type of plot locations we’re
talking about will often be remote and difficult or impossible to access with
tillage equipment. Also, you’ll want the forage you select for such sites to be
highly attractive and able to sustain attraction throughout as much of the hunting
season as possible. The Whitetail Institute has developed three forage products
specifically to meet those requirements: Imperial Whitetail No-Plow, BowStand
and Secret Spot. BowStand and Secret Spot come in 4-pound bags that plant up to
1/10 acre, and Secret Spot XL comes in a 10-pound bag that plants up to 1/4
acre. If you have more than one or two small plots to plant, also consider
No-Plow, which comes in a 1/2 acre (9 pounds) bags and larger. All three are
specifically designed to be planted with minimal ground tillage, and they are
exceptionally attractive, fast-growing, browse-tolerant annuals that are
specifically designed to draw deer and hold deer during both the early and late
hunting seasons. I can attest to the fact that they work exceptionally well in
my small pine stand plots. For example, remember I said that I’d gotten the
idea to plant small, remote pine plots decades ago? That year, I did some research
and put together my own no-till seed mix to use in those sites, and through the
years, I tweaked it until I had the best mix I could make. Years later, I tried
No-Plow for the first time in a couple of my pine plots, and I found that it
noticeably outperformed my own mix in attraction, production and longevity.
That was my first experience with Whitetail Institute forage products, and
although I can’t say that it was the only reason I later went to work for
Whitetail Institute, I can say that my own experience as a user of Whitetail
Institute forage products impressed me enough to consider putting my own reputation
on the line as their representative.
Planting — Seedbed Preparation As mentioned, No-Plow, BowStand and Secret
Spot can be planted with minimal ground preparation. To make sure your seeds
make it all the way into contact with the soil, remove as much of the existing grass
and weeds from the seedbed as possible with a string trimmer, hand tiller, a
Roundup-type glyphosate herbicide and in some cases even just a hand rake. If
you elect to use a glyphosate herbicide for grass and weed removal, you must
make absolutely certain that it doesn’t come into contact with the trees or any
of their roots which might be exposed. To make sure that doesn’t happen, follow
all label directions, including spraying on a calm day to avoid spray drift. I
also take the precaution of completely covering seedling pines, and covering
the root area and bases of older pines, with visqueen or plastic trash bags
before I spray to make absolutely certain no herbicide gets on any part of the trees.
That’s a quick, simple, inexpensive step that adds an additional measure of
protection for the pines.
Killing Deer During Hunting Season Plot Shapes and Stand Setup: Because you’ll be planting areas where the pines
have been naturally compromised, or where more sunlight reaches the ground than
elsewhere due to gaps in the canopy, the shape of your plots will already be
set out for you. They’ll generally be roughly rectangular or irregular
(something other than rectangular). Rectangular plots usually occur when
specific rows of trees have been compromised. The long sides of the rectangle
will run the length of the rows where the trees are missing or spindly, and the
short sides will span the width of the adjacent row spaces. I generally hunt my
rectangular pine plots from ground blinds placed within cover at both ends of
the plot. That allows me to hunt the site in a wider variety of wind
directions. Irregular openings are those in which compromised trees lie in a patch
(for instance a few trees in one row, more in the next row and a few in a
third), or where a gap in the canopy of a more mature stand allows more
sunlight to reach the ground. If the opening’s shape isn’t too irregular, I
also hunt these from ground blinds. If cover surrounding the plot site is tall
enough, I also sometimes use tripod stands instead of ground blinds and, again,
I put at least two in cover at opposing edges of the plot so that I can hunt
the stand in a variety of wind conditions.
When to Hunt the Plots: All day. One of the real benefits of little kill-plots
in stands of planted pines is that there often seems to be no discernable peak
or lull in deer usage during daylight. Deer can show up at any time. I believe
there are two reasons that’s the case. One is that deer feel so safe using
small, pine-stand plots that are set up and hunted correctly. The second is the
close proximity of such plots to where deer are bedded. And that leads me to my
final important tip.
Second Most Important Understanding I’ve already mentioned the first most important understanding, which concerns the safety of the landowner’s trees: Never damage or kill any trees without the landowner’s permission. The next most important understanding relates to your odds of success: At all stages of the process we’ve covered (from your initial site search to actually hunting your pine-stand kill-plots), everything that you do should be governed by the understanding that during hunting season, you’ll be trying to do the unthinkable — kill deer in the middle of a likely bedding area. That’s why it’s so critical to make sure you have quiet, concealed travel access to each plot from multiple directions based on wind direction, remove as little natural cover as possible around the plot and along your travel routes and shooting lanes, and be obsessed about controlling human noise and scent. Hopefully this article has provided you with information you can use to your advantage in finding spots for your own pine-stand kill-plots, planting and hunting them. They can be deadly food plot setups.
