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Drury outdoors, DNR roung table....great job

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gansomn

New Member
I just purchased a new Drury dvd and in there extras the started a round table discussion with our DNR officials. To my surprise and I hate to say it our guys did not hold back about how they felt about food plots. It really opened my eyes about things I did not even thing obout. I have talked about my position a long time ago about food plots, I think they suck and know a lot of you think there fine.

They talk about how you all with your food plots think your helping but could be doing more harm than you think. Keeping deer in such a tight heard and the strain it puts on them is a bad thing. One official says this, if you all eat at the same place and have plenty to eat you think its great, but if you all have to eat off the same plate would you think its still great if one guy has a cough. The spread of germs has not been concentrated and who knows what could happen. Lots of great topics on it and if I could type better and faster I would keep going.

My point is more of the big boys in the industry need to step up and take a look at what the Drurys are doing. Lee and Tiffany, and the Kiskys and more have not, especially on there money makers, DVDs. Best part of the dvd for me, oh and they do kill some giant deer also. Later
 
If we could just get the deer to give up the licking branches they might have a chance.
 
gansomn said:
I just purchased a new Drury dvd and in there extras the started a round table discussion with our DNR officials. To my surprise and I hate to say it our guys did not hold back about how they felt about food plots. It really opened my eyes about things I did not even thing obout. I have talked about my position a long time ago about food plots, I think they suck and know a lot of you think there fine.

They talk about how you all with your food plots think your helping but could be doing more harm than you think. Keeping deer in such a tight heard and the strain it puts on them is a bad thing. One official says this, if you all eat at the same place and have plenty to eat you think its great, but if you all have to eat off the same plate would you think its still great if one guy has a cough. The spread of germs has not been concentrated and who knows what could happen. Lots of great topics on it and if I could type better and faster I would keep going.

My point is more of the big boys in the industry need to step up and take a look at what the Drurys are doing. Lee and Tiffany, and the Kiskys and more have not, especially on there money makers, DVDs. Best part of the dvd for me, oh and they do kill some giant deer also. Later
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My question is, don't regular ag land fields do the same thing? Yes, they may be able to spread out a little more, but in reality, how many times do you see deer standing way far away from each other, especially late season, they dont, infact they herd up...so it my eye, yes it does make since to a human, but the deer dont seem to care. They only think survival terms, food, shelter, and water....not what the deer next to them is doing.

If your worried that much about disease, which is the natural cycle, then start pinning your deer into solo confinements with 20 ft between them so they can be no where near each other....not to mention ya gotta figure out how to keep bugs away, I mean EHD is largely contributed its spread through biting insects. It's the way of life, I understand the DNR wants disease out, but it reality if the germs want a way to come here, they will mutate and get here....

Simply put, no matter what you do, there will ALWAYS be a way for disease to spread.
 
Few bullet points in response....
-Most folks foodplots are ACRES in size, one acre is around 43,000 square feet. At 5 acres, you're talking about over 200,000 square feet. That's a GIANT area. A typical bait pile for example is 10 square feet maybe?
-Farm fields have some of the same +/-'s to deer health as a food plot, lots of similar things happen as far as feeding, hunting, concentrating.
-I say with all this food, Iowa deer are some of the healthiest in the country. I see far more disease & die off it drought states, low management states, all forested areas, etc.
-Food plots help sustain and keep deer healthy through out winter vs many areas where they starve and experience huge stress issues.
-I see areas even in IA where there is low amounts of food and few food plots + high deer numbers (not everywhere but in some neighborhoods) and I absolutely believe those deer have far more health problems, stress and die off problems.
-Many folks are like me: they plant food plots to keep deer on their farm, keep them healthy, monitor with trail cams and help them through a harsh winter.... I rarely hunt on food plots except the big late season fields I have. Hunting on them is down the line in importance.
-Of all the areas I've seen with plots in IA- I don't think I've heard of a die-off or disease that can be attributed to that. I absolutely could be wrong BUT I haven't heard or seen it. Most I've heard of is: blue tongue, EHD, CWD, TB, etc- some of which don't occur in IA and others occur more frequently in drought years OR by being bit by a fly. CWD & TB seem to be attributed to close deer quarters, maybe why some states have outlawed BAITING (remember, 10 square feet let's say) but I personally don't feel a 1-5 acre food plot is going to leave them in any worse shape than a crop field, a trail, a licking branch, a group of social/contacting critters, etc.

Just my 2 cents BUT interesting debate & thoughts.
 
gansomn said:
I just purchased a new Drury dvd and in there extras the started a round table discussion with our DNR officials. To my surprise and I hate to say it our guys did not hold back about how they felt about food plots. It really opened my eyes about things I did not even thing obout. I have talked about my position a long time ago about food plots, I think they suck and know a lot of you think there fine.

They talk about how you all with your food plots think your helping but could be doing more harm than you think. Keeping deer in such a tight heard and the strain it puts on them is a bad thing. One official says this, if you all eat at the same place and have plenty to eat you think its great, but if you all have to eat off the same plate would you think its still great if one guy has a cough. The spread of germs has not been concentrated and who knows what could happen. Lots of great topics on it and if I could type better and faster I would keep going.

My point is more of the big boys in the industry need to step up and take a look at what the Drurys are doing. Lee and Tiffany, and the Kiskys and more have not, especially on there money makers, DVDs. Best part of the dvd for me, oh and they do kill some giant deer also. Later
Click to expand...

Both Drury's plant plenty of food plots, but Mark Drury doesn't do supplemental feeding in the winter time. (the way I understood their response at the meeting) Also, when Willy Suchy or whoever from the DNR made the "eating off the same table vs. plate" reference, I believe they were referring to supplemental feeding as well, not referring to food plots, big difference as far as I'm concerned.

Just trying to help clarify :way: I'm sure there will be plenty of responses in this thread haha!
 
Why can't they come up with some sort of condom for the licking branches??? :drink2:

I hardly think deer eating in the same field is the same as people eating off the same plate. If you take away the fields of food plots they will more than likely be planted in corn or soybeans and the deer will still come there to eat. Deer are social animals....they are going to continue to interact with each other. Some things in nature you just cant stop.

I can understand that argument when it comes to mineral licks or piles of corn....not saying I agree with that argument but I can understand why people may see that as harmful. But to ban an entire field of food because deer might eat together???? Seriously????
 
Dream season 14. Is the video. I buy my share of videos so I am part of the problem I guess through my dollars. But its funny to see the obvious comments like the licking the branches. Deer have done this since there have been deer, not the same thing. They touch on the corn people put out this time of the year to get trail cam pics. If the corn rots and starts to get mold it has an impact on other wildlife like song birds and upland game. Terry talks how he has seen on his land that the soil has a different color because of what ever is happening. Intentionally leaving your crops for the deer is not how my farming friends do there job. I cant do justice to what they talked about but it opened my eyes to these guys are starting to think if what they are doing is right or wrong. And the DNR talkes about licking blocks doing harm also and if that is baiting. Pulling it out in the given time before your hunt takes place is that right or wrong. Just a good topic.
 
If you all want to see the entire meeting that was taped go to the Iowa DNR website. It has links to all the videos on YouTube. They cover a wide range of topics. They have some really good discussions.
 
I feel sorry for all of the song birds that eat out of the same bird feeder, all of the coyotes that eat off the same dead deer, and all of the turkeys that are in the same flock and dust in the same spot. Oh ya, what about that bachelor group of bucks that drink out of the same pond? By the sounds of it, the entire animal kingdom may be doomed.
 
bloodhoundhandler said:
I have seen videos of them with actual hand built mineral stations
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Yeah they still do it. I watched these videos on youtube awhile back and I thought this part of the discussion was about Winter Supplemental Feeding not necessarily food plots. Maybe I'm wrong.

This whole discussion deal was a good idea for Drury's I believe but is it going to clear some of the air for non residents? I think its just going to cause more attention to the resource. What I think needs done, other states watch this video and try to change their outlook on gun hunting during the rut! The DNR made a good point about that.
 
Watched the whole discussion, they where talking about deer eating off piles corn being similiar to eating off the "same plate" of your buddy who may or may not have the screaming shatz.

Nothing to do about food plots.
 
BrewCrew said:
What I think needs done, other states watch this video and try to change their outlook on gun hunting during the rut! The DNR made a good point about that.
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X2

I hope a lot of out of staters take that message to heart and start thinking about how to improve their own states deer herd!
 
What would it be like if humans licked each other's noses and mouths, and eachother's backsides? Would we spread germs? I think so. Bad practice. This is what deer do constantly.Way more germy than eating.
 
It would also be great to go drink out of a greek while your hunting and not be effected. They are animals not human. Mother nature will win every time, that was a great statement Mark made. On a Crush video a hunter was talking about there being over a hundred deer in the field. Wow. Natural... probably not but deer do bunch up in the winter. Good reading.
 
m_kat said:
X2

I hope a lot of out of staters take that message to heart and start thinking about how to improve their own states deer herd!
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x3 to brewcrew and you. I wanna see the FIRST state to move their gun season from peak rut to early Dec- that state would be a destination state within 3 years and it would transform overnight from SUCKVILLE to awesome hunting for everyone.
 
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