Walking through the woods looking for sign, cutting lanes, stand sights and checking cameras... it has to put some sort of an affect on deer movement and how they respond to human scent. How often will you go into the woods for those tasks?
It depends on what I'm doing and where I'm doing it. I have a sanctuary on the farm that I only set foot in once a year to shed hunt and when blood trailing a deer. As far as the "huntable" areas, I do as much of that as possible from righ after season is over until late spring....scouting at that time will not have an effect on deer movements come fall, plus its easier before all the leaves are on. I'm actually cutting lanes and puttin in new food plots right now. i have been on the farm planting trees, cutting trees, buldozing trees, taking soil tests, and all kinds of things every weekend since mid february. After all that is done, I usually stay out except for freshening my mineral sights and checking cameras, which the key to doing that is minimising your intrusion. I place all my cameras and mineral on the fringes of the farm....someplace easy I can drive to in my truck and be gone in less than a minute, deer tolerate vehicle traffic very well...I keep out of the interior of the property from early summer until hunting season....the only exeption to this is when planting my fall food plots, but even then I drive in on a tractor, get it done and drive out, so the intrusion is minimal.
I spend so much time in my woods the deer know me by name. Doesn't seem to affect them. But I have been hunting those properties for quite a while so I know what I can get away with. I think it's more what time of day you are in there than how often.
I'd love to have enough property to be able to leave some of it alone, but we have the land to enjoy and use, so I do just that. I cut wood, ride four wheelers, and hike most of the offseason up till like August. THere's some areas we leave alone, but it's not really by design.
Where I hunt the deer really aren't bothered by humans. I mean if you jump them they run but they will be rite in the same spot tomorrow. This year me and a buddy had to build a bridge over a brook to the hunting area it's about 30 feet across. It took us half the day cutting down small trees and making the bridge walkable. Making a hell of alot of noise for hours. I hunted across there the next day and jumped more deer rite there than anywhere else tag morning. I couldn't believe it!!!
I have some areas of sanctuary that are only entered in the springtime while shed hunting or turkey hunting. After that, off limits until the next spring. If you think that you dont displace mature deer by entering the woods at all times, you are only kidding yourself. The older deer simply want to be left alone and seek out areas that have little to no disturbance.
I would consider a 4.5 year old buck mature and they don't mind me being there. Off course I pamper the crap outta them too
I try to stay out of my hunting areas as much as possible but usually end up driving the fourwheeler straight through them anyway. Most of the time if there are deer there when I drive by, they'll just watch me drive by then go back to doing their thing. Others aren't as friendly and will jog off into the timber, but will be back shorty after I leave. On average I usually just go into hunting areas about once every week just to check cameras. It doesn't seem to affect them any.
The deer around here don't seem bothered by us going into the woods. They are pretty curious, actually. If you jump them they run off, but they sneek back in and watch what you're doing. If we're cutting wood or something there always seem to be several standing off watching. The best attractant I've found so far is for a tractor to be driving around close to where I'm at. I won't hear them coming, but they seem to want to come and watch.
We hunt season, shed hunt a little in late winter. Once March comes around (this year) we've been at the groundhogs three times a week or less. Turkey hunt then back to the groundhogs after until august and then we start squirrel hunting until about a week till the season.
I check my cams about every three weeks throughout the entire year. I don't ever intrude to close to where they bed or other areas where they congregate. In farm country the deer are used to seeing human activity, so unless your intruding into places you shouldn't be, they pretty much ignore you. Blessings.......Pastorjim
x2 I cleared a few lanes at the end of jan past that i not going back in I do use a few cams over mineral sites over summer but i can drive up to them in my truck and change cards hardly even stop and i will change them once a month.
Could be why you consider a 4.5 yr old to be mature. Try that with a 6 to 8 year old buck and he will find a new home where he can be a loner and not get disturbed. Not all deer react the same, but as a general rule, the older they get, the less intrusion they will put up with. Bucks dont live to full maturity (6 or 8) by making a habit of being around people. There's no right or wrong answer, it depends on how you want to utilize your land and how much you have. But, if you want some of the areas oldest bucks to call your farm home, all biologists will tell you that you have to provide them some substantial areas of sanctuary.
Every trip into the woods has to serve a purpose, and if possible as much time spent in there at a time as to minimize the amount of times in there. I know by May it's off limits except to work plots and hang stands (cameras have to be on path to plots or on plots, no walking around allowed). We'll go into the sanctuary areas around our hunting ground (and neighbor's we have permission) in Feb/March/early April to clear paths and bedding areas that have started to choke them out. Just like our beds feel nicer when made, they love just a little trimming and cleaning up of dead branches and such.
We have designated sanctuaries on our ground that are off limits, even during hunting season. These areas hold deer on our property and give them a place of refuge during season. However, none of our ground is considered pressured by any stretch of the imagination and the deer go in and out of the refuge areas daily. We hunt the fringes of it and during the rut, they'll be anywhere.
I don't live in Iowa I hunt 100 acres in SW WI bucks don't get to be 6-8 very often as the are normally dead by 5.5 So for me a mature buck is 4.5 and a trophy to outsmart. So these are the oldest bucks in my area and I don't seem to have any problems hunting them. Maybe I am just lucky :D
i put out my trail cams at my stand sites i go in one a week i go in from 10 am til noon i have got a lot of pics from the afternoon on the day i put cams out the scent dose not seem to bother the deer much
This is gonna be my first year hunting. i chose my spot, threw some buck jam on the ground, and havnt gone back since. ill go in with my brother around august to hang my stand and put some corn out but other then that his rule is not to touch it.
