CAREFUL BUCK MANAGEMENT PRODUCES BETTER BUCKS QUICKLY

Drury's Planting Regiment

EDITOR'S NOTE: In three years, Mark Drury, founder of M.A.D. Calls, a division of Outland Sports in Neosho, Missouri, and active member of Mossy Oak's Pro Hunt Team and video producer, went from having few if any deer on his 2,100 acres of land, to producing 150-point-class Boone and Crockett bucks. His amazing story demonstrates what quality wildlife management can do for a deer herd when sportsmen willingly invest the time and money to produce better bucks. In 2001, Mark and his brother Terry harvested five bucks that scored 150 points or better from property almost completely devoid of deer three years earlier. Can you accomplish this feat on the lands you have to hunt? Let's see what the Drurys did to the land to produce trophy bucks.

After the first year's planting, Mark Drury changed his regimen and began to plant soybeans and corn instead of soybeans and milo. "Of the 60 acres I plant, I'll have 15 acres in corn and 30 acres in soybeans," Drury explains. "I plant soybeans so heavily because they are high in protein, and you easily can see the deer out in the soybeans in the fall of the year. I also plant BioLogic Clover, and in the fall of the year, I plant BioLogic's Fall Attractant. I want to make sure that I have plenty of green-growing plants, not only in the spring and summer, but especially in the fall and winter. I also plant winter wheat and a type of oats -- that's extremely palatable to deer. I like to plant a variety of different types of food in each one of my food plots."

Herein lies a critical key to food-plot management and producing big bucks quickly -- at no time during the year does Drury have only one crop in any of his food plots. He always has several crops available in his food plots throughout the year and rotates his crops in the food plots at different times. So, not only do the deer have highly-nutritious food in the food plots, they have a variety of foods. Making several plantings in a single food plot is a lot more trouble and requires much more effort. But the benefit to the deer and the hunters, according to Drury, is worth the extra effort.

To learn more about M.A.D. Calls, call (800) 922-9034 or visit www.outlandsports.com. For information about Drury Outdoors' Videos, call (800) 990-9351, or visit www.druryoutdoors.com.

TOMORROW: THE FIRST AND SECOND 150-POINT BUCKS