I saw this mentioned on a local forum I read and found it to be interesting...to the point that I've been thinking about it a lot lately. The poster said they had lost access to their hunting property and now had a place to hunt. The more I thought about it I realized I'm kind of in the same boat now. I had access to a property owned by my f-i-l's buddy, and while it was only a little over ten acres with about three of that being wooded, it had a big ag field on one side and thicker areas that provided bedding, etc. It had two ponds and some consistent producing white oaks. Even being a smaller size I definitely would call it a hunting property based on the layout of the property and the properties around it. Add to that the fact that I can't recall a time there that I didn't see deer, not always in bow range, but I was seeing deer just about every sit. Now I am hunting my grandma's three acres, only about half of which is wooded and it is merely a pass through area with no consistent movement that I can pick up on trail cams. Even though this is where I took my first buck last year, I consider this a place to hunt as it doesn't offer consistent deer sightings. I also have access to about a ninety acre property that is about eighty percent hay fields with the rest being woods. I see plenty of deer signs (scrapes and rubs), but I've yet to find a location that provides consistent deer sightings, I've yet to see a deer in bow range. I'm on the fence about this being a hunting property or just a place to hunt, but based on running a couple of trail cams I know there is at least one decent buck that hangs around the property regularly. Anyone else have the issue of having a place to hunt, but not a hunting property?
Have you been on the larger property lately? Scrapes and rubs should be showing up now so that may help you decided if it is worth the effort. Also if there are big hay bails in the field you may have to look into using them for cover to hunt deer along the edge of the timber.
I had a "Place to Hunt" for the past 3 years on a old tree farm. Seemed like it was full of doe and fawn but not much buck sign. I considered it a place to hunt as well but definitely not hunting property. Now my family just got 40 acres of rolling hills and hardwoods with ponds all over, thats hunting property!
