Food is Food...
This doe family group (Sally, her daughter Scar and their fawns) bedded down so close to the feeder they would sometimes get to the corn before it stopped spinning. This picture is also almost an hour and a 1/2 prior to dark, when bait piles on the nearby public land wouldn't get hit until right at dark or after. Why?
*The food was never pressured
*The deer could come and go freely without being disturbed by hunting pressure.
*Adequate bedding cover was within 50 yards.
Because these does were bedded so close, the bucks that related to them were bedded not too far behind. IF these does were spooked from this spot...they would have probably been bedding 300 yards away...and the bucks, much further to the point they may have not even related to this particular doe/food movement.
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It is the exact same with food plots! Treat the plots like a sanctuary and both doe and buck movements to that food source will be consistent and dependable. Spook the plot...and that same movement will be more random and inconsistent, to the point of maybe not even including those same bucks that would have otherwise related to a more low-stress movement.
It isn't enough to plant the "perfect" plot.
-Even low quality unpressured food plots trumps pressured, high quality food every time.
-Bait doesn't make deer go nocturnal...its the added human pressure to a single, defined high attractant location that makes them appear nocturnal. Remove the pressure and the deer will feed multiple times during the daylight hours, and will bed very close...on any food, whether that be on public land or private.