Learn how to build a thriving and successful hunting food plot using Outreach Outdoors strategy.

Chances are you've sat in a deer stand and thought to yourself, "If I just had a food plot, the hunting here would be amazing." And for good reason: food plots are like deer magnets.  

Once I put the following plans into action, my farm became a magnet too.  Every deer I've shot on my farm has been on my food plot.  On my small 40 acres, I find at least 15 sheds on just the three-acre food plot. My CAMBUSH-covered trail camera consistently shows images of bucks grazing on sweet turnips and clover. 

Four years ago, I didn't know anything about how to build a thriving food plot. How do you even start? Where do you go for information?  I searched the internet, and I researched numerous sites before stumbling upon Paul Knox at www.outreachoutdoors.com.  Paul's site was exactly what I had been looking for. I read his materials, looked at his photographs, and followed his plan.  It worked! That fall I harvested a “big eight” with my bow, right in the middle of the food plot.  

Paul's strategy centers on crop rotation, which is a modified version of what farmers did in the 1930's and 1940's.  The goal is to utilize crops that produce the maximum amount of forage and build your soil at the same time.  This methodology has the ability to eliminate the need for synthetic fertilizer because the crops used in the rotation complement one another.  With Paul's plan, you can provide food for your deer herd 365 days a year, maximize the amount of food available and reduce your spending on costly inputs.

Paul outlines detailed steps to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your property through aerial maps.  He gives specific websites that can give you this information and then walks you through the process.  Based on this information, you determine where to plant the food plot and which crops to plant.  The typical rotation involves half of the food plot in turnips, rape and radish, and the other half in cereal rye, oats, forage peas, radish and clover.  I buy my seed at a local turf management company, but most co-ops will have these seeds in supply.  To say I've been happy with the results of Paul's program would be an understatement.  It works, and I encourage anyone to check out www.outreachoutdoors.com to learn about improving your habitat.  It's the best resource I've found on the subject, hands down.

What food plot strategies have you found successful? Do you have any tips or tricks to share with the rest of us? Comment below to get a conversation going, we'd love to discuss!

We keep our website up to date, and Shawn posts new blogs often. Be sure to like us on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/cambushcamo or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cambushcamo so you can stay up to date with CAMBUSH.

Shawn has written some other informative blog posts. To read more, click on the images below. To learn more about CAMBUSH, be sure to look at the menu navigation at the top of the page, under Features and About Us.