My hunting season success revolves around a few key strategies, the most important being my fall focused food plots. From my experience, food is the best strategy to ensure whitetails are using your property during the hunting season. In fact, as the season progresses my property attracts more deer. If you have never experienced a growing whitetail herd during the fall, listen up, a fall focused plot may be just what you need to experience a great season.

The beauty of a fall focused plot is that temperatures are dropping while moisture levels are increasing. Additionally, you won't experience the weed competition that you will face with a spring planting from cool season grasses and weeds. Finally, fall plots can produce tender quality food sources while surrounding food sources are being harvested or become less attractive because of maturity.

The key to a fall focused food plot is diversity. On half of my plots this year I planted a mixture of winter peas, oats and brassicas. I planted the mix on August 1st and I am located in central Michigan. I planted an even mix of 50# of the peas and oats. I also planted a 5 lb. 1 acre mixture of brassica, kale, rape, turnip, and chicory that I bought from the local co op. Around September 1st I will spread 50-100 lbs. of winter rye depending on the amount of available open soil. The other half of my plot was a spring planted clover-chicory mix. The clover will maintain attraction until November1st. The brassica mix 1/2 plot will be attractive until it is fully consumed. Total consumption of the plot usually happens around the first of the year. The deer then move off to the heavy conifer cover to the west to survive the winter.

The brassica mix will need to be rotated to the other half of the plot every two years. Different planting combinations can be utilized to experience a successful planting. For example, instead of having a perennial plot planted on half the food plot (clover, chicory) I could simply increase my offering of peas and oats and plant 150 lbs. per acre around August 15th. I will always try to plant my brassica blend on August 1st to capture the early August rains.

A fall focused plot will provide maximum attraction when surrounding food sources are dwindling. It is truly amazing to watch more deer show up in daylight throughout the season. If your property does not have a high quality fall focused food plot you are missing out on some of the best hunting opportunities to be found.