"Oh, so you plant food plots for deer," said a man I met at the archery range. His comment held overtones of resentment.

It's no secret that creating food plots and other habitat improvement projects to attract deer and other wildlife have become extremely popular among hunting landowners. Just walk the aisles of your local sporting goods store, and you'll note an abundance of products available to those who want to plant food plots.

Some hunters scoff at the idea of sowing plots, but better here to offer some reasons why others go to great lengths and expense to implement food plots.

I am not trying to drive a wedge in the food plot divide. Planting and hunting over food plots is a legal practice in Minnesota. Many state and federal public hunting areas contain wildlife plots. My goal is to point out less-obvious advantages to both the deer and the hunter/landowner by way of plots.

I bought 70 acres of land 20 years ago in central Minnesota. My goal was to develop the acreage for wildlife, especially white-tailed deer, and to that end I have put into action a number of successful projects, including creating food plots, planting trees and excavating ponds.

Although I have spent my entire life in the outdoors, farming for wildlife was new to me at the time. Now, with 20 years of dirt under my fingernails, I more fully understand and appreciate the link between the land and white-tailed deer and other wildlife species.

Sometimes when I rest during arduous tasks such as removing rocks from my plots, I'll wander about my land with no real intentions in mind. I'll study a buck rub, size up the tracks in a freshly made scrape, or look for shed antlers.

One late spring day just after sunset I took a break from digging rocks. I glanced up to see a female cinnamon-colored black bear and her two jet-black cubs staring back at me. I stepped in their direction, and the female woofed at me and ran away while her cubs scrambled up a nearby tree. The two young bears ascended a few feet up the trunk, and then paused. When I moved a bit closer, the little balls of fur sprang from the tree and ran to catch up to mom.

That link to nature was the result of the food plot.

Ultimately, the debate over hunting over a food plot shouldn't be decided by issues of effectiveness, ethics, cost, or what's most acceptable to the hunting and nonhunting public. What is important is the long term health of the white-tail herd and their habitat, an environment that is shared by many other creatures besides deer.

We as hunters and stewards of the land need to remember that.

Bill Marchel is an outdoors writer and photographer. He lives near Brainerd.