Food plots top choice for 81 percent surveyed
Southwick Associates reports more than 80 percent of surveyed hunters create and use food plots for land management. Their HunterSurvey.com survey found that food plots were the leading practice by nearly double most other practices. The survey found roughly three out of 10 surveyed hunters are actually involved in managing or attracting wildlife on the land where they hunt. The top five management practices as revealed by the survey: • Food plots 81 percent • Mineral sites 49 percent • Timber management 45 percent • Plant management 42 percent • Feeders 39 percent Other practices measured included: • creating man-made water sources (17 percent) • controlled burns (15 percent) • maintaining water level or flow (11 percent) • other (6 percent) The survey also examined the interaction of hunters around their feeding sites. Of those hunters who do use feeders (where legal) to enhance opportunities, 86 percent monitor those sites with trail cameras, 67 percent of them do so year-round, 33 percent run feeders year-round, and 83 percent hunt over them or near them. “This survey shows that food plots and other means of attracting and holding game in an area or on a particular property are important management tools among a third of today’s hunters,” said Southwick Associates President Rob Southwick. Ben Koerth photo
