Planning to hunt smaller properties this fall? Here's a look at how to hunt small acreage for deer this season.... Read more... The post How to Hunt Small Acreage for Deer appeared first on Bowhunting.com. Continue reading...
Didn’t know about this, glad it was posted. I hunt a “small” 43 acre bean field with very little woods to hunt. All the timber is across the property lines. Perhaps I can get some info from you about what I’ve missed, I feel like I know my 43acres well, but outside of that, I can’t scout.
What you describe is going to be tough to expound upon. I've grown up hunting and managing properties to various degrees (full reign to cut/clear/grow to cannot even hang a stand and just hunt it...) for sizes from 2.5 acres up to 70-ish is the only one over 23 acres. My specialty is designing habitat plans for a landowner hoping to maximize the deer usage on their property despite its size. However, whether you have full reign or just have hunting rights, the #1 thing is to always keep goals and expectations realistic. By nature smaller properties are impacted increasingly more by sloppy hunting spot selections, ignorance of wind direction, intrusion timings and entrance/exit routes that merely serve as education to the deer your trying to hunt. All that said though one can truly do amazing things on small properties, even in high pressured states (not your meccas of deer hunting like Iowa or Kansas and such) with numerous neighbors hunting as well...shoot the property I grew up on hunting I know for a fact most opening days of firearms season there is over 10 hunters all within 500 yards of that 9 acre parcel. I also though have experience just sharing thoughts on how I would hunt or attack a property I only can hunt...often times the most pivotal decisions for hunting small properties are mastering entrance/exit routes because poor ones on a small scale don't give you a second chance at those bucks we undoubtedly all want or are pursuing.
Makes sense, I only have hunting rights, the farmer has reign over what to plant; the first 2 years it was corn and has been beans for 5 years. Many of the spots I used to hunt fall in with sloppy areas and terrible entry/exit routes; I can only access the property from the East, no entry/exit routes N,S,W. I since have found better ways to place stand locations and entry routes that will at least minimize the impact, such as entering through the creek bed and that required me to take some time to move rocks and make crossing spots so I'm not slipping into the creek. You may not have said much, but it has confirmed a lot of things I doubted myself over. I'll check out your site and read through that stuff. Thanks man!
