Taking from Siman's thread, how many of you food plotters have killed mature bucks in your food plots? I see some nice bucks in Fletch's pics. But most of my buck pics are after dark in my food plots. I rarely see mature bucks using my plots during daylight. I try not to hunt in them very often, but still only see maybe 1 or 2 mature bucks in them a season. I have killed a number of does in the plots and they use them well during daylight, but I have not killed a mature buck while hunting directly over my food plots.
While these are not "mature" or "trophy" by many standards here, they're not 1.5yr olds :D 2009 Archery: 2010 (rifle): I missed a similar buck to the 2010 buck as well as piebald 8 that same year in archery
That is a good point John, from personal experience, I feel like I have the first two weekends to kill a buck over food, then wait till winter time. I do see a lot of mature buck activity throughout the day in secluded food plots in the winter. The rutting phases also bring some of the "oldies" out of the woods into the food, but as we all know they aren't looking to fill their stomach around that time of year
I shot this buck in 2011, mere steps from our food plot...he was working his way through some oaks and on into the plot of clover for some pre-darkness food, he never made it to the plot that night :D This buck is a 4 1/2 year old buck we call Hobble. He wounded his back left leg 3 years back and limps on it permanently. This was taken this year during Archery season...he made a couple other appearances around this time frame as well. Another great 8 my dad passed up that was caught some running through our plots during daylight. This buck was on his way to our food plots back in 2009 when I ended the trip mere 40-50 yards from them...I suspect he was heading there:
Oh and I realize that 8 that we passed is only a 3 1/2 and not a stud yet by any means but still nice to see...and that last one from 2009 had barely any teeth yet, estimated at simply 7+ years old. (guessing he had been better in his days)
Not only have i killed mature bucks from food plots but all the pics im getting ready to post came from the same plot and the same tree stand. Im getting ready to try and duplicate what i think makes this such a great spot at another food plot of mine! And this last one is from this year but did not find him till 11 days later so I got no harvest pics!
Shot this guy right while he was munching on some brassica's an hour before dark, on October 8th last fall. He is 3 1/2 which for our area is a year or two older than most of the bucks killed. I kill most of my good bucks in the first week of october. find their food source that they are using before dark and get on emm fast. I hung the stand that i shot him out of at 4:30 in the afternoon and shot him at 6:30. carried everything in and set up quiet, he never knew what hit him!
Those are some great looking bucks. Are you willing to share your thoughts behind what you feel brings success in that particular food plot?
Thanks guys. Simon, yes same tree!! Its got a nice extra wide 22 foot ladder stand in it that stays there year around. The spot has a good tree with good cover. It has 2 plots, biggest one about 3/4 acre and another about 1/4 to 1/3 acre with a strip of trees seperating them that comes to the stand. I will see if i can post an aireal photo of it later. If some of you would like I will start a thread and show pics as i try to transform and duplicate this set up on another plot when I start?
