Hi guys i am new to this forum and looking for some advice. I have started hunting a 14 acre plot of land which i own. This year was the first year i got back into hunting since 2002. Back then the property always had trophy buck on it but they always seemed to be transient usually passing through during the rut. We border a private club that has several hundreds of acres and an very good deer management program. What would you guys recommend doing to draw more deer into our property? I have set up trail cameras to start tracking what deer are on this property and right now it seems like they only appear after sunset. Thanks
First, welcome to the forum. For the best responses please let us know a few things. What state are you in. What's your land look like Map? What's the land around you contain. After those are established we can hook you up with lots of answers, some might even be right Generally speaking though with that small of a parcel I would cut a plot into it and hunt the edge with the best primary wind. And hinge cut the rest to make it a bedding wonderland. Good luck and please stick around at least long enough to piss of Sota or Fletch
Basically what you wanna try to do is “borrow” a few deer from your neighbor. You know your land outlay obviously. Me personally, I’d start by systematically placing food sources near you neighbors to draw or “borrow” animals. Now you have them just crossing over property line. Next you want the next systematic placed feeding source further inland of your property. Next systematic move is to draw them to the furthest area and best “bedding” habitat. There you really load up on feeding sources. Food plots, protein, corn, beets the whole smorgasbord. This eventually will lay habitat to the doe population. Once they pull up residency, are able to walk your systematic food sources, they will forget about your neighbors because they recognize the pressure and dead bodies. It takes a few years to really develop a pattern but nature adapts to best habitat first. Don’t forget water. Water is a holding sources too. Best if possible to develop water source close to bedding area. Pond digging or underground pipes that flow water into the pond drainage etc. You have to think it out strategically because your area is small. Good luck. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thanks Fix and Mikey, I will work on getting a map. The property is in Central PA, My property consists of a dirt road that us and the gun club utilize. It borders the North of our property and then our property consists of two hollows. In the southern most hollow we have a creek running through and it is extremely thick going through there. We have an area that gets a decent amount of sunlight at the top of the hollow and this is where i have seen many of the monster bucks in the early 2000's. There is an additional 22 acres that is owned by someone else i am working on buying. That area is a low lying swamp and it seems most of these deer are coming from that swamp and passing through our property on the way to the gun clubs fields. Right now I have 6 different shooter buck that are making appearances on my game cams. One is a monster but they show up well after sunset and vanish by 5am.
Yup sounds like a typical transient property. Look at huntstand app it's free and perfect for a look. If you are set on hunting in the property and not just the edge (pulling them out), then might consider cutting a path then planting a barrier like switch grass or corn so you can get into the middle with out bumping the entire block.
Some good advice already given. I have hunted properties that really only produce during the chase and seeking phases of the rut. This is possibly the same. Making a great trail through the property will turn it into a highway for deer traffic during the rut if done well. Fill the trail with mock scrapes early in the Fall and you will do even better. Monitor with cameras and stay out of it until the time is right.
Figure out how the herd is "stacking", in other words doe bedding then buck bedding. They don't bed together unless ruting, where buck are herding around hot doe. I learned this years ago. I planted perennial and late season brassica. This had doe and fawn on my place most of season. Never saw mature buck until the chase-rutting . Then one year I planted a bunch of soy and cow peas. The buck moved in and the doe dissapeared. No buck during hunting. They followed the doe to their new food source and their bedding near that source.. If you want plots you should find out what the club is planting and give them something different. If you want a trail make it no more than small tractor wide and line it in browse brush. You didn't mention browse on your place. What trees , what brush, what ground browse/weeds. Mast trees and brush?. Deer like bedding that gives thermal cover, easy food as in natural browse, a water source. Ideas: Know your trees and what deer eat and if you hing what will grow shoots. 1. eastern hophorn Deer love the droups in the fall and if you turkey hunt a stellar tree. If hinged correctly late winter they sprout. 2. Any young maple cut off at waist high late winter will sprout. If hinged hip high will continue to grow This done in late winter will force nutrients into dormant buds in spring from roots. In summer such cuts, the tree has already had it's flow from roots and they die quicker. I have maples I cut off and hinged 10 years ago still sending out new growth from late winter cuts. 3. learn your plants and what deer love. Grey dogwood brush, honey sucks bushes, sumac, managing the wild grapes Virginia creeper and even poison ivy and certain wild rose. Brambles, they hold their leaves green and long past frost and freezes have browned out all else 4. Plant fast mast trees over plots on small areas. Chestnuts in full sun, hazel nuts as a bush, if no wild Semi dwarf late apples. Or find and transplant wild apple seedlings. So there are some ideas. Now my only recommendation for you on this small property. If your on a budget spend your money on only one thing right now....cellar cam or a few. Set them in the only safe areas you know you'd use to access to hunt. Then stay out one year as far as any improvements. After gaining the info the cams give you make your plan and start immediately after the season ends and finish well before season starts. In the mean time you'll have a bigger budget to work with and a much better plan to start with. Making it more enjoyable. IMO
