How do food plots compete with natural mast?
In a heavy mast year, food plots lose. Deer prefer acorns when both are available because acorns are higher-fat and lower-effort. In a mast failure, food plots dominate — deer can't survive on browse alone and pile onto whatever's standing. Food plots are insurance, not a constant pull.
This is why properties with diverse food strategies — timber stands, soft mast trees, food plots in multiple species, standing ag — outperform single-strategy properties year over year. Whatever the mast outcome, something in the rotation produces.
Plan plots that produce in the windows acorns don't: brassicas peaking after first frost, cereal rye providing winter green-up, soft mast trees (persimmon, crabapple) staggered through October. See your state's crop calendar for plot-species planting windows.