So as some know I am hunting in suburban northwest Illinois. The past few seasons, me and my buddy have had all of the land on both sides of the road locked up. We have been fortunate enough to have access to nearly all the land, which has worked out great. Recently however, a new neighbor has moved in. I was super excited to meet him, as I generally get along with anyone that hunts. Unfortunately, the guy turned into a total d-bag. He basically yelled at me for hunting the land that I grew up on and have hunted for four seasons now, long before he moved in. Just one of those people that isn't a great guy, even when you try to give them the benefit of the doubt. He ended up shooting a pretty nice 2 year old that I had passed on. I'm genuinely happy for him, as its his first with a bow. He basically established that we aren't on the same side so to speak. Long story short he doesn't like me. So to give you the situation, he is landlocked in spots that we have access to, and he doesn't. He has 5 acres, but keep in mind that is a good chunk for the area. I want to try to keep as many deer on my side of the 'hood as possible. I have about 3.5 acres of field that I can plant. I've only been planting about half of it in past years. So the question is - should I plant more of it? I plant beans surrounded by 6 rows of corn in the one field. Would it be beneficial to plant something else in the other fields in an effort to attract and hold more deer? If so, what should I try? Thanks
Thanks for skimming through what I wrote and surmising that my opinion of the guy is based on the deer. Clearly you cannot read and I would encourage you to withhold any brainless and irrelevant comments in the future. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Food, Cover, Water, Mineral. Cover those items and your property will hold all it can hold. I'm guessing you guys are pretty close to each other. So you're not going to be able to keep Deer you feed and pass on, off of his property. Don't try to stress to much about it, (easier said than done) and do what makes you happy.
To add to that, predator control, like you've done in the past. Make it a safe haven. Start trapping when it's legal. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
I plant a field that is about 3 1/2 acres. Mostly in Soybeans, but have a little bit of Egyptian wheat for some screening. There are pro's and con's to a food plot that size. It absolutely attracts deer, but it's so large that it is difficult to hunt because the deer can enter the plot from several areas and typically can work their way quickly into the middle and be out of bow range. I've contemplated doing things differently, but have generally decided to keep it this way knowing that it's attracting deer like it is and eventually one of my targets will make a mistake.
Mineral block goes along way, if your close though all deer will wander a bit Sent from my iPad using Bowhunting.com Forums
In that situation you should focus on how to make deer spend as many minutes of their day on your property as possible. with small suburban acreage, clearly it will not be possible to keep deer on your property all the time. But if you provide them with all the things they need, they will wander less. In suburbia, escape/bedding cover would be my primary goal. Deer can get food anywhere, and if you are already planting half of a 3 acre field, that's plenty. If I were in that situation. I would pick the half of that field that makes sense for hunting considering wind directions, and let it grow up in thick nasty brush to create more cover...maybe even plant some. If you have a place deer can go to feel safe, you will have the deer.
Food will "predominately" control where the deer spend the brunt of the time during dark...cover and bedding will "predominately" control where they spend the brunt of their time during the day.
Oh and bottomline, accept the fact there is ZERO things you can do, outside a fence, which will stop deer from leaving your property. You merely can make your property the best of everything they need...Security, Food/Water or Water/Food...and in that order.
Food will bring deer in, but cover and bedding is what holds them in an area. if you have 3.5 acres you can plant, how many total acres do you have access/control of? If the deer travel through his 5 acres to get to your food source, planting more is helping him also. if you want to try and keep deer from him, you can try adjusting travel paths so they direct around his land.
