Should I still hunt food plots during a heavy mast year?

Yes, but expect lower traffic. Food plots in heavy mast years still pull does and family groups during specific windows — early evening, post-front, late season after acorns clean out — but they don't produce the steady traffic of a mast-failure year. Shift more hunting time into the timber on drop trees.

Food plots remain essential as the late-season insurance that activates once acorns are gone, typically by mid-to-late December. Brassicas in particular peak in nutritional pull AFTER first frost, which often coincides with the end of available mast.

Real strategy in a heavy mast year: hunt mast in October and early November, hunt food plots in late November and December. State mast reports show the year's picture; crop calendar pages show the food-plot timing.

Should I still hunt food plots during a heavy mast year?

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