Ok so I was supposed to go out for my first bow season last year and it didn't happen, My son broke his collar bone playing lacrosse so I promised him I would not go without him. I had a really bad itch to go though. It all worked out well though because I feel I was not all the way prepared. So, here is my situation now. I have recently just bought almost 13 acres of land in virginia, 3 acres is cleared in the front towards the road where the house is, the other 10 is wooded with a small creek. How should I set this up? I don't really have any areas in the back where I can grow a food plot and my wife has made it clear that I am FORBIDDEN from harvesting of any animals on the cleared area, that is for the family, and her chickens etc. So what do I do with this wooded area, It is not thick, it is ideally wooded, great visibility through the trees and easy walking. Any suggestions on what I can do to start getting this land ready to attract deer and set it up for hunting this bow season. Also any tips for a first time bow hunter with his son.
I mainly hunt public land, so I do not have much experience in land management. However, because it is your own land and you do not need to worry much about theft, the first step I would say is set up trail cameras to get a solid idea of what caliber deer you have on your property, how many, etc. Scout a lot in the off-season, look for sheds, tracks, beds and any other sign of whitetails. Start looking for good ambush points for your stands, the creek immediately stood out to me from what you mentioned. Other than all of that, shoot a lot, be confident in your equipment and good luck!
One of my properties is my home which is 13 acres 3 of which is yard. IMHO the ONLY way to hunt such a small peice is to hunt edges or a food plot on a edge. Its just too small to hunt effectively
Hunting something that small will be tricky. I would start by getting the big picture from google earth. See how your property fits in with the surrounding land. Based on that try to determine how the deer are using your property and when . Set up a stand for different wind directions and then stay out until time to hunt. Overhunting and letting the deer pattern you, would be my biggest concern.
I'll assume you have never hunted whitetails...Your learning curve with all of the aspects of deer hunting will best come from your time spent in the woods. For instance , a camera will teach nothing about deer sign which is one of your best teachers. You'll waste more time trying to figure how and where they like to travel with cameras as opposed to time spent in the woods.
That creek is the key. That's edge and travel zone and water all rolled into one. If you have oaks in that mature head of woods, any year they produce gives you a decent draw/attractant.
