I know hunting can be done successfully on small acreage, But what if that acreage was relatively skinny? If all goes as planned this will be the 40 I am hunting this year. It is a 40 acre parcel scattered with Apple trees and water. The far east is mostly overgrown rolling hills and the west is hilly with hardwoods. In fact, the middle of the property has what some may call a small mountain, so its relatively unusable..by me?!?!
Small properties can be real honey holes.....notice i said CAN be..there are a lot of factors that must go into it. First, know that on 40 acres you will not be able to keep deer on the property all the time, their home range is much bigger than that. But you can improve the property to make it a place deer will want to visit frequently. I would start by finding out about the neighbors (do they pressure their woods, are they managing for big bucks, do they shoot everything that moves...etc) this will give you a idea of what you are up against. Then i would look at your property and figure out what you can do to make it more attractive to the local deer than the neighbors patch. Remember there are 4 things a property must provide deer to be a great hunting property....pressure (lack thereof), food, cover, water....in that order....the more of those things you can provide the better it will be. Don't hunt it a lot, which i knower can be hard...but human intrusion is much more noticeable to deer in a small parcel, pick your spots and commit to only hunting when the conditions are right. That will make each sit more productive. Then i would provide highly attractive food source. The first year i would recommend oats or pure attraction (brassica), then frost seed clover the next spring. If you place the food in the interior of the property with bedding cover on the exterior it will Make the deer gravitate towards the center of your farm, away from the neighbors. If there is not any thick cover, you can Make it by planting crp, corn, hinge cutting trees, or piling up brush. Looks like you have water already, those spots can be good during a warm front during the rut...a small plot close to one of those water holes could be killer. Basically try to pack everything a deer would find in his entire home range in a small area. Sent from my C5170 using Tapatalk
I also own 40 acres and the key in my opinion low impact access and exit routes without bumping deer, I hunt the outside borders of my property and try to stay away from inner portion of it. If you could put a food plot on the east end where it is more open and catch deer coming off the west end where I believe you said it was thicker it could be a good setup. Another key with smaller acreage is hunting pressure you put on it. I only hunt my property early during a cold front and only when wind is right. Its paid off great for me the last two years. In my opinion sometime less is more on smaller properties. Scoot
I have been thinking hard about entry/exit routes to and from the stand, Almost thinking about running a 2-track all the way around the perimeter. Also was planning on putting in a food plot almost where thick and thin meet on the southern part of the property.
Access is definitely the most important part of hunting a small parcel. An average stand location with perfect access is better than an awesome stand location with bad access. Keep that in mind when picking spots for foods plots...build the plot and stand around the access, instead of putting in a plot and then trying to figure out how to hunt it Sent from my C5170 using Tapatalk
I hunt a 42 acre spot. It is mostly fields, most of the wood line is property lines. The good part of it is that last year it was a corn field and this year is going to be beans. I seem to get them traveling in between where ever they are going. My best advice is to find where they are coming in and out of the fields. Burn a hunt day and set up where you can see the entire acreage (if possible) and do your best to pattern them. The spot I though would be the worst turned out to be the hot bed off where 5 does come out to feed every afternoon at the same time. The picture I attached is my spot. Maybe it will help you try and see how a small acreage would work for you. The big yellow arrow is where the does come out every afternoon. The little star next to it is where I park my truck. For some reason they pay no attention to my truck and will walk within 5 yards of it. I never used that to my advantage last year but will this year. The red stars are places I've set up at as well as the ones label "Option". Its a tricky piece of land but I get a few deer every year out of it. Hope this helps. I see your picture said Nashville, I'm 20 min north of you in Greenbrier. Edit: My access points are limited to the place I park my truck and where you can see the barn and small field at the south east corner of the property. Its tough to use the wind on those access points but I make it work.
Here is my 40 acres and the only stands I have up are the 3 on the east end and that's the way I can access my property, the west hillside and orange areas are bedding sanctuaries where I stay out of during hunting season, seems to be working good. I have a few scattered waterholes and are magnets during the rut. Scoot
I grew up and still hunt a mere 10 acres.....40 would be amazing Any property can be a honey hole no matter it's size, at times just naturally so, other times it takes a few years and habitat work.... ....access is huge.
So I think access is the only major thing I will have to work on when it comes to stand location. Now let me ask this, How close to a road would you put a plot? (Dirt Road)
All depends on growth....we talking mature woods that has no understory and just canopy choking out floor so no ground cover? Or we talking freshly logged with tons of young growth? Proximity to your access trails and food plots really depends on when the deer are most likely to be there and when you most likely will hunt....also you gotta consider sight blocking between the plot and the road.
I would not let the road factor into it too much unless you are worried about spotlighters. I have a food plot that is about 50 yards from a road and another that is 20 yards from a very active railroad track. It doesn't seem to bother the deer. Put a camera out in the area you are thinking of...if the deer use it in daylight, i would not hesitate. Sent from my C5170 using Tapatalk
Not very much ground cover that I have noticed. Mostly small saplings and downed trees cover the floor. As for sight blocking, I am hoping to put some type of wheat/grass in along the road directly, and also around all the future plots. I am also hoping to put in a bunch of trees along the road for future cover.
Where abouts is that located? I think depending on the area in MI, could be a determining factor for many of the above questions.
Its in the City of Nashville. I hunted property a long time ago in the city of Dowling and am just now getting back out that way to hunt.
