Originally Posted by Goatkiller
When I say "pressure" I mean stop shooting at the deer.

I may shock someone here.... I'm on the fence about the "human presence" thing. I think I might hold the opposite opinion. I grew up farming so we couldn't worry about running a deer off. And they seemed like they were use to us or at least use to the tractors. Fast forward to today and another State known as Alabama... and my deer don't run from me unless I get within 30-40 yards but again... I am out there ALL the time and I started farming it a few years ago... so they are use to me. I can walk right through the middle of a food plot get in my stand and they don't pay attention to where I've been. Not even a little bit. They are use to smelling where I've been and don't associate me with "danger".... because well... I don't blast them when I see them.

That's how that works. I don't shoot at them. That's the #1. When I first got the place I cleaned all the old does that would lose their mind if they saw or smelled you out of there. We got rid of the trouble makers 1st season.

#2 - Another thing is plot size = 1+ acres minimum. Prefer 2 acres. 1 acre or less food plots are a joke that got played on you. There's been decades of theories that small plots are great. That NEVER worked but made the timber companies more money they gave you 4 each 1/4 acre plots for the price of one good plot. This is why you need to ignore people like Dr. Deer they got truckload of BS ready to sell you.

This is ALL common sense IMO. Show me a 2 acre food plot with low pressure anywhere in Alabama and you will have deer on it soon enough.

#3 - The last pro tip I've got - I like to set the shooting houses back and create a buffer zone of about 10 yards between the shooting house and the edge of the plot. I can hunt my shooting houses MORE than normal because you can get in/out and never spook the deer in the plots. 95% of the places I have hunted aren't setup like this. Maybe kinda/sorta the shooting house is set back BUT the key here is that you really need to create some screening cover.

#3 = one of my key things I think I've done that has tremendously helped.







How did you do #1 without creating pressure? Revolving door? Pressure, I think is defined different for each property.

Last edited by Ryano; 03/13/24 11:38 AM.