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The stand overlooked a plot split between Antler King’s Trophy Clover and Honey Hole products. It’s always been one of the hottest stands on this particular piece of ground, so I wasn’t shocked to see my Reconyx held photos of the buck I was after.

My stand sit was as close to a disaster as it could be. Despite my squeaky stand, two flocks of turkeys, a bobcat and my own personal dose of mistakes, somehow a “hot” doe kept coming back each time something new spooked her off. With the food being too good to resist, she was seemingly un-spookable. And the same lovestruck buck followed her in each time. That is, until my Mathews sent a Rage Xtreme-tipped Easton into flight.

Most food plot users can, after witnessing for themselves the benefits, fully understand the difference a thriving food plot can make. When laid out and hunted correctly, food plots can produce thrilling hunts, often when odds are stacked against the hunter.

The most inaccurate misconception when it comes to food plots is that they’re too expensive for the average hunter to plant and maintain. In reality, food plots don’t have to cost an arm and a leg. In fact, on the four acres of food plot on which I arrowed this buck, name-brand seed was used, but it still was put in for under $200. As a cherry on top, the method used to install this plot offers benefits to the soil, and the planting requires nothing more than a backpack sprayer and hand seeder. Here’s how to pull off food plots on the cheap.

UNDERSTANDING SOIL CONTACT AND THATCH

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Before trying to explain the steps involved in implementing a budget food plot, we must understand seed-to-soil contact. At the most basic level, if seeds don’t come into direct contact with the soil, the germination rate suffers. Food plotters will benefit greatly from understanding the potential problem of poor contact and working to avoid it.

Balancing maximum germination rates and the seedlings’ ability to survive is why plantings come with recommended planting depths. On exposed dirt, the top dries out much faster than the subsurface. So getting the seeds deeper into the dirt, within reason, typically increases germinating moisture.