While roughly three out of 10 surveyed hunters are actually involved in managing or attracting wildlife on the land where they hunt, of those who do, more than 80 percent of their efforts are spent on creating food plots. In fact, the HunterSurvey.com survey conducted by Southwick Associates found that food plots were the leading practice by nearly double most other practices.

Following are the top five management practices as revealed by the survey:
• Food plots 81 percent
• Mineral sites 49 percent
• Timber management 45 percent
• Plant management 42 percent
• Feeders 39 percent

Other practices measured included creating man-made water sources (17 percent), controlled burns (15 percent), maintaining water level or flow (11 percent) and other (6 percent).

The survey also examined the interaction of hunters around their feeding sites. Of those hunters who do use feeders (where legal) to enhance opportunities, 86 percent monitor those sites with trail cameras, 67 percent of them do so year-round, 33 percent run feeders year-round, and 83 percent hunt over them or near them.

“This survey shows that food plots and other means of attracting and holding game in an area or on a particular property are important management tools among a third of today’s hunters,” says Rob Southwick, president of Southwick Associates, which designs and conducts the surveys at HunterSurvey.com, ShooterSurvey.com and AnglerSurvey.com.

To help continually improve, protect and advance hunting, shooting and other outdoor recreation, all sportsmen and sportswomen are encouraged to participate in the bi-monthly surveys at HunterSurvey.com, ShooterSurvey.com and/or AnglerSurvey.com. Every other month, participants who complete the surveys are entered into a drawing for one of five $100 gift certificates to the sporting goods retailer of their choice.

Southwick Associates is a market research and economics firm, specializing in the hunting, shooting, sportfishing, and outdoor recreation markets. For more than 25 years, Southwick Associates has established a proven record for delivering comprehensive insights and statistics assisting business and strategic decisions across the entire outdoor industry; from government agencies, industry associations and non-profit organizations, to affiliated businesses and manufacturers. Aside from custom market research, Southwick Associates also provides syndicated participation, media consumption and equipment purchase tracking studies utilizing their proprietary sportsmen panels.

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