The Most Overlooked Food Plot Tool (After a Soil Test)

Every successful food plot starts with a soil test.

A soil test tells you if your pH, fertility, or nutrient levels are limiting growth. Without one, you're simply guessing.

But once the seed is planted, there's another tool I believe every food plot owner should have. An exclusion cage! 

It won't tell you what's in your soil, but it may tell you exactly why your food plot looks the way it does.

Build One in Five Minutes

My setup is simple:

• One 6-foot T-post
• A section of 14-gauge welded wire fencing
• Form it into roughly a 3- to 5-foot-diameter circle
• Secure it to the T-post with zip ties or wire

That's it.

It takes just a few minutes to build, lasts for years, and may become one of the most valuable evaluation tools on your property.

What Does It Tell You?

An exclusion cage answers one simple question:

Is my food plot failing to grow, or are the deer simply eating it?

Without one, it's easy to assume:

• You didn't get enough rain
• You planted too lightly
• Something went wrong

Sometimes that's true.

Most times, it isn't.

I've seen food plots that looked nearly wiped out while the forage inside the exclusion cage was knee-high. Even during one of the worst droughts in nearly 100 years, the difference inside and outside the cage was remarkable.

The plot wasn't failing.

The deer were simply consuming it as fast as it could grow.

Don't Confuse Heavy Browse With Failure

One of the biggest mistakes I see is judging a food plot by its height.

A short food plot isn't always a bad food plot.

If the plants inside the cage are thriving while the rest of the plot is constantly browsed, your food plot may actually be doing exactly what you wanted it to do.

It's feeding deer.

If I had a nickel for every time I've heard someone say, "My cameras don't show that many deer," I'd probably be retired.

Trail cameras only capture a fraction of what's actually happening in your food plot. They don't tell you how many deer are visiting throughout the day, how long they're feeding, or how much forage they're consuming. A food plot can experience tremendous browse pressure without hundreds of trail camera photos to prove it.

Without an exclusion cage, those two situations can look almost identical.

The exclusion cage helps determine whether you need to:

• Increase your seeding rate
• Increase your total food plot acreage
• Increase doe harvest
• Or all of the above

It can also tell you it's time to improve the habitat surrounding your food plots. One of the best ways to do that is by creating more natural browse and cover in the timber.

A chainsaw can be one of your best habitat tools.

Put One Out Every Time You Plant

Install an exclusion cage when you plant your food plot, not after you think something went wrong.

It takes only a few minutes to build, costs very little, and provides information you simply can't get any other way.

After a soil test, I believe it's one of the most overlooked tools in food plotting.

So next time you plant a plot, consider using an exclusion fence - we believe you will be happy with the decision.