Just curious for people in clubs, how does the club manage bow hunting on food plots? We have our food plots set up with entries that allow someone to get into the stand/shooting house without having to walk into the field. It causes minimal foot traffic in food plots.

But, for bow hunters that can’t hunt out of shooting houses, they need climbers or lock ons to hunt the fields. The challenge is that they enter into different areas of the fields and disrupt the way we’ve set up the fields.

I want to be fair and give everyone equal opportunity, but find a happy medium that works. I’m just looking for ideas from others that I can try to incorporate.

Thanks

A bow hunter that takes care of his scent has minimal affect on a food plot to me. Nowadays it’s all the people checking cameras around greenfields and the traffic that goes with it that has more affect on deer.

Totally agree with above

One club i was in we specifically had fields for bow hunting and fields that we couldn't bow hunt that way some of the fields stayed fresh for rifle opener.

Good plan

I always wore 18” rubber boots with my pants tucked for bow hunts. Had several plots with climbers right off the edge and I’d walk right down the middle of the plot to my tree. Never had a problem seeing and killing deer out of those plots.

Preach Brother!

I’ve walked through the middle of a field bow hunting and had deer feed right where I walked and never get spooked. Scent control! We don’t allow checking of cameras unless you sign out to hunt that spot and you must hunt that spot.

Don’t over think it

Thanks for the input. Not trying to overthink it, just trying to get ideas. I do believe that bow hunters (at least good ones) tend to be more careful about scent, etc than most rifle hunters.

We don’t allow personal baiting within 200 yards of food plots which I think keeps a lot of traffic out of the area and all cameras need to be cell service.

That’s great, until all the shooter bucks are on the “gun fields.” I’d be out on that rule.

Pressure and scent control. If your hunters are getting out of the stand and it’s still daylight educating the deer in the plots then your sightings are going to go way down. Once the deer started getting pressure and catch on to what’s going on it will hard to hunt them

Sure glad I'm not in a club anymore. Rules and people don't go well together.

We don’t allow bow hunting on plots at all. Even if you play the wind right it’s hard to get out without clearing the plot. I honestly try to avoid bow hunters all together when looking for members.

We have ladderstands on most fields, at the opposite end of the field of where the shooting house is (if there’s a tree to put one). That way bow hunters can hunt them, but they can still climb a different spot on the field (which I do). You just can’t leave your stand on the edge. The ladder stand also provides a way to hunt the field with a wind that isn’t favorable for the shooting house. Let’s face it, in most clubs, you’re going to have those people that will sit on a good field regardless of the wind. I think a trip across the field after dark or before deer get in there is better than sitting all afternoon hoping they don’t smell you.
One other thing….who actually has shooting house backed off the edge of the field where you can’t be seen or heard getting in and out of it?? I wish ours were, but they aren’t. Most I see are sat on the edge I guess so people can see every inch of the field. 🙄

We don’t do anything specific. It won’t hurt a thing.

I fixed it for you.

Not allowing bowhunting over food plots is idiotic. Why the hell do you plant the food plots early? It's amazing how people justify their own agenda with stupid rules.

The best properties are bow hunting only properties.......

I personally have shooting houses and bow stands around certain fields.
If I’m in a club and I sign out for a “spot” I’ll hunt anyway I want to hunt it. Imo.

We shoot does out of food plots all the time, but they don’t get hunted but a handful of times every season. Makes no difference. A lot of properties simply need pressure management, not dictating what where and when ppl can hunt a property.

Lol I guess that’s why we don’t plant early and that’s why when gun season rolls around the plots are fresh and not pressured. Plenty of options to hunt that doesn’t evolve messing up a mature bucks early season movement on plots using a weapon that won’t cover the entire plot.

We also have 435 acres per member so it’s stupid that we pay what we pay to reduce hunting pressure but we are all like minded and don’t have any drama. The rules are posted before any money swaps hands so everyone knows what to expect. Everyone follows the same rules and if it becomes obvious that someone isn’t a good fit, cant follow rules, or causes drama they are removed. I am well aware that this style of club isn’t for everyone but I’ve been in multiple clubs and the better hunting ones always have rules to reduce pressure. Some people don’t care about quality and just want to enjoy the outdoors how they want to, some just don’t have self control enough to follow any type of rules and some people have never hunted a low pressure property to see the difference it makes. I personally have seen high pressure vs. low pressure on the same property and it’s night and day difference. As long as I have the lease we will never go back to high pressure hunting but there is no wrong or right way to do things. Do it how ever you enjoy. If clubs aren’t for you then lease or buy property and do with it what you want.

CNC I have seen some amazing bow only properties and I have my thoughts on it but I will ask you.

Assuming that what you say is true do you think it’s because

A) The deer have a higher chance of reaching maturity with the limited shot distance so it produces better quality bucks that feel more comfortable .

B) The use of Bow only reduces hunting pressure.

C) It’s site specific and the guys that are willing to take away the advantage of a gun are better at managing pressure than those that are only bow hunting to get a few extra weeks of hunting in before the orange army hits the woods. Most of which didn’t practice and are just planning to climb a tree next to a food plot or feeder.

It’s pretty obvious that everything else equal a property that is bow only will most certainly have more mature bucks simply due to the limitations of the weapon. A mature buck that walks out 100 yards from a gun hunter dies, from a bow hunter it walks on. I also expect the majority of bow hunters pay much more attention to details because their success depends on it. That said I don’t allow bow hunting on my place because I have a high aversion to wounded deer spending hours dying with their guts hanging out. Reading the tracking thread on here further reinforces that decision every time I open it.

I’d be willing to bet there are considerably more wounded deer from guns than archery equipment. 🤷🏼‍♂️ I’d be curious what trackers have to say on that.

Bow hunters do pay more attention to details most gun hunters don’t. Getting a deer inside now range is way harder than getting one inside effective gun range.

I think its because the deer just don’t know they’re being shot at…..The places I’ve seen shoot a lot of deer but yet the deer stand around out in the open like cows and folks shoot mature bucks out of green fields from simple 12 ft ladder stands……Kinda like the one my cousin shot at the other day…..He missed it and it didn’t even know what happened…..He came back in 2 days later and killed it out of the same stand.

It’s A for me. You get the right group of guys together B is not an issue no matter what you use. Bow only allows some deer to make it to the next level. You could take a group of guys that are hell bent on shooting whatever and make it bow only and I bet the age class goes up.

A lot of factors probably go into that. Size of the property and all that. No gun shots on the bow only property but you probably do put pressure bow hunting just because you have to get so close and I don’t know about yall but that leads to getting busted a lot more than gun hunting.

But I feel like during bow season on our property the deer just don’t care. I had does watch me climb at 25 yards the other day. And they watched me climb down too. Now mature bucks won’t do that but even they are more relaxed. A few gun shots and it seems to wise them up a lot.

What things can a club do to improve pressure management?

Get the right ppl and not worry about it. Only hunting on the right wind, when everything is in their favor. Go in and kill a deer when it’s right instead of hunting a plot over and over without the right conditions. Sitting until it’s safe to exit without spooking deer. A club can hunt plots without ever killing a deer and put considerably more pressure on it than a club that kills deer on a plot every time they sit there. It depends on hunt frequency, conditions and how they enter/exit. If you’ve got the right ppl hunting there’s no need for unnecessary rules.