Eliminate the ‘sun hogs’

Trim the edges, improve food-plot productivity

If deer, ducks and turkeys could talk, they would quickly thank diligent land managers for preparing tasty buffets — until the hunting season, anyway.

Rich food plots and flooded impoundments full of tasty grains require significant time investments, but the benefits are well worth the effort. Food plots will be commonly established with an end game in mind, but in the real world, issues arise that create a few speed bumps along the way. Land managers should always strive to improve plot productivity where needed.

Most pioneer plot sites become enrolled in production because of their lack of existing land cover or their proximity to known travel or feeding zones. No doubt, it is easier to prepare a new plot in an open area than on a fully wooded site. Food plots can be established almost anywhere; however, some places will just be better than others.

Basically, plants need nutrients, water and sunlight. In most cases, sites can be altered through chemical or physical processes to compensate for deficient resources. Soil chemistry can be altered with amendments, and drainage can be improved to a degree, but plants cannot assimilate energy without adequate sunlight.

Large, spacious food plots rarely have many issues with sunlight across the majority of the cultivated acreage, but most hunting clubs end up with smaller plot-scapes along existing roadways or margins between forest types. Even new plots are routinely fabricated into narrow strips.

While these configurations have benefits, the towering trees adjacent to these plots will monopolize the incoming rays of light. During timber harvesting activities, trees should be removed along these plots to allow additional sunlight to reach the plot surface. While trees along each side of the plot can be taken out, the sun’s trajectory follows a southerly route. Trees along the southern-facing sides of the plot will benefit the most from removal.

Duck impoundments should not be ignored, either. Crops of rice, corn and Japanese millet will directly benefit from additional exposure, and the absence of tall trees adjacent to these impoundments will help bring birds down into shooting range.

Ducks and geese will approach food plots from high in the sky and make their circles before landing within the water. While some ducks will pass under the tree line, most prefer to travel above the tree tops or the highest vegetation.

Reducing the height of trees adjacent to the impoundment will allow anxious hunters the chance to take birds in range before the final approach is made.