Buckmasters Magazine

Food plots are all the rage, but they’re not usually the most critical element of a management plan.

Do you follow all of the laws when it comes to hunting and managing your land? There’s one I’ll bet many land managers don’t follow: Liebig’s Law of the Minimum.

Liebig’s Law states that “Growth is controlled not by the total of resources available, but by the scarcest resource (limiting factor).”

Before putting a lot of time and effort into food plots and supplemental feed, you might be better off taking stock of what already exists and what is in shortest supply. Then, by plugging the lowest hole in the bucket, you might find yourself putting less water (effort) in your management bucket.

A lot of folks figure you can put in a food plot or two and be done. If your goal is merely to have a better chance at killing a deer, that might be all you need. But if you’re interested in increasing both the number and size of deer on your property – which will increase your chances of killing bigger, healthier deer – you should step back and look at the big picture.

WATER

To provide a suitable home for wildlife, you need sufficient habitat. Habitat consists of food, water, cover and space. For our purpose, the latter represents the bucket. If you own or lease sufficient acreage, you have the space. If not, you need to go out and get a bucket before you can start to fill it.

Water is often an easy fill. Unless you’re in an arid region, most areas have at least some water in the form of lakes, ponds, rivers or streams. Even temporary water sources can suffice. Deer can get a fair amount of water from the plants they eat, but if your property lacks water, you can always dig a hole and make a pond or tank. Irrigation and wells are other options if you have the financial resources.

Bottom line: If you don’t have sufficient water, your habitat will not provide optimum nutrition. Deer will be nutritionally stressed, and establishing food plots will be challenging. Fill that hole first, then move up the bucket.

COVER

Most folks would focus on food next because it is often perceived as the best remedy. If you build a food plot, it should attract more deer. And it will. But is food really a limiting factor?

If you already have reasonably good habitat, there might be sufficient nutrition. Sure, more is better, but before you exhaust the time, money and effort necessary to build food plots, you might want to look for other, lower holes.

An extreme example might be someone who lives in an agricultural area. Even if you plant something, you’re still competing with crops on adjacent properties. If all or most of your land is in crops, deer might feed on it, but they’ll spend the rest of the day somewhere else.

Think of it in terms of time distribution. Deer spend a few hours feeding in the morning and a few more in the evening. Most of their day, possibly as much as 75 percent, is spent in cover — more if they’re also feeding on natural foods.

There can be advantages to concentrating your hunting time where and when deer are most active, but you could significantly expand that window of opportunity by adding another habitat element to the bucket in the form of cover. In some circumstances, deer spend just as much time traveling to and from feeding areas as they do in them.

There are also some distinct advantages to hunting near bedding areas, not to mention just having them on your property. One is that bedding areas are where deer spend most of their time. They’re fairly sedentary during the middle of the day, although they occasionally get up to stretch or feed a little before lying down again.

How far a deer must travel to reach a concentrated food source can also be a factor. Some deer arise before dark and feed their way slowly toward a food plot or crop field. You might have the best feed in the world, but if the deer don’t get to it before dark, it doesn’t do you much good.

This effect is only increased by hunting pressure, which is another variable to consider. If your neighbors have bedding cover and you don’t, they’re going to kill more deer, including ones you’ve been watching on your trail cameras throughout the pre-season.

And your neighbors aren’t the only ones you’re competing with. Coyotes and other predators are increasingly becoming an important impediment to productivity throughout the whitetail’s range. Provide your deer with sufficient cover to avoid predators and feel safer, and more of them will use it, and more often. Sufficient winter cover and protection from the elements is also a factor, particularly in northern regions.

FOOD

Food is the topmost hole in the bucket, and it usually gets the most attention. Again, you can plant a quick hunting plot and have a good chance to kill a deer on it, but that might not be your best option.

Consider the variables already discussed, think about your overall objectives and look at the big picture.

If you want to hold more and healthier deer on your property, you need to consider not just what they eat during the fall, but also their year-round nutrition needs.

Winter can be the most nutritionally stressful period. Provide sufficient winter nutrition, and you’ll carry more deer through the bad weather. And they’ll stay on your ground.

Late summer, before hunting season, is also a period of nutritional stress. Fawns are nearly grown but are still nursing, placing increased stress on their mothers. A buck’s antlers, also nearly grown, require increased nutrition.

Meanwhile, the herbaceous plants both sexes have been feeding on are maturing and becoming less nutritious. If deer don’t find what they need on your ground, they will visit the neighbor and might just settle in there.

JUXTAPOSITION

There is one more item often not included in the definition of habitat. That’s juxtaposition, or the placement and proximity of each resource. Up to a point, the more different resources you can place in close proximity to one another, the better and more attractive the habitat will be.

If you’re worrying about this, however, you’re better off than 90 percent of the rest of us, and you most likely already have a great place to hunt.

FINALLY

By now you should be getting the picture. Hunting plots are a great way to attract deer, but you’d be better off to think of them more as an attractant and a supplement.

If you want to hold and take more and healthier deer over the long term, you need to address all of their habitat needs and plug the holes in your management bucket by starting at the bottom and working your way up.

Read Recent Articles:

• Balancing Act: Understanding buck-to-doe ratios is not as simple as you might think.

• It Can’t Be You: Five gear issues that affect bow accuracy.