Blacktail Deer Food Plot Preparation and Scouting

Keys are in the bottom right for scale.

Pre-season scouting and preparation is essential, this gives hunters the ability to locate and find deer concentrations without disturbing their normal patterns.  My favorite activity is to look for rubs.  Finding large rubs in high concentrations is my ultimate goal.  This rub on the left is a perfect example of what I am looking for, a large rub on a 7-9" tree.  In fact I have a pretty good idea of which buck made this rub and he's aprox. 6 years old and was a 4 point last year.  When all the brush and trees have dropped their leaves and when the breeding season is over that's the perfect time to go look for rubs.  Rubs are very misleading though you may find one or two rubs and think great I should hunt this area.  Not so, many bucks rub along the boundaries of their breeding area and they will be no where near that area during the rut.  People also think that once they find a rub that they should put a stand near by to watch for the buck to come back.  That is also a bad idea, most rubs are made at night.  Rubs tell you what bucks are in the area, what path he traveled to make the rub and antler configuration.

Another activity I perform in the spring is prepare my food plot and cut brush.  I don't use fancy equipment and don't plant large acres of crops.  In the picture below I have planted some fruit trees and broken up the ground with a shovel.  I planted a biologic blend of seeds and latter on added some food attractant to get the deer accustomed to regular food drops.  To be honest I haven't had much success hunting over this plot but will continue to cultivate and plant in order to maintain a healthy herd of deer.