Hunting quality;

[loneranger]

I posted this topic awhile back but got no respense. I am trying it again. I moved out here from North MI. Where the hunting pressure is hard, as well as human disturbance in the forest I hunted. I got used to very timid, nearly nocturnal deer. I paid for a S Dakota hunt, on a cattle ranch just to see if hunting was different in another state. The deer on this ranch were different animals. Large bucks and all deer out much before dark. Even walking right over freshly cut pine boughs, the ranchers cut at noon, getting a tree stand up for me. When I bought 40 acres here in Iowa, the deer were not quite that tame but much less spooky than MI. At first that is. Since I bought it, my one neighbor has let her dogs, run rabbits and the occasional deer on my place. I got a new neighbor this spring that occasionally rides a quad near our property border. With these increased human disturbances I have seen a marked down turn in deer movement before dark. This past season seeing only one 2 1/2 yr old buck in Nov hunting right thru the rut. I read observations on this sight of things I do not see. Tactics that work, that have never worked for me. I know large bucks are on my land. The neighbor spooked one out one evening, driving his quad close to my land, while I was on stand it flew by. I have thick bedding areas, water, and food plots. It is my opinion the quality of hunting is directly pinned to the size of the land you are able to hunt, that has as little human disturbance as possible. Some large tracts might have alot of activity, some small may not, but human intruding makes or breaks the hunting.

 

[gundog870]

it all about location i hunt two private grounds less than 11 acres that have a ton of PY deer move through them. The key ist THROUGH! these timbers do not have what deer need to be supported but everything around them does.

And if you have people on quads and hounds running. your gunna have issues.

 

[bjkpharmd]

You may not have enough ground. How are you getting to the stand(s) and how many. Hunted it in poor wind conditions? Neighbors are going to be a problem just as trespassers are for messing things up. Dogs can mess you up even if they aren't running your place.

 

[loneranger]

You are right. I do have,"Issues", but there is little I can do about them. Have to be neighborly. Can't tell neighbors what to do. You are correct. Size is not so much an issue, but disturbances are. I have bedding, and food, and H2o, and travel corridors,, but human, and dog interaction, means more Nocturnal movement. Especially of older, wiser, animals.

 

[loneranger]

That's the thing. I go to great lengths, to stay out of my prime bed areas, and travel areas all year. Only check for sheds in spring. I hunt on outsides of my land, to leave deer alone. Also out of nesesscity, as the inner core of my land is basically one large ravine. Can't get down into it without winds spooking deer.

 

[BriarwoodBottoms]

I am in a very similar situation with an area that I hunt and one that I have put countless hours of labor, trail cam scouting, and endless game planning tatics. It is a 160 acre farm with 120 to 125 tillable and around 35 huntable. I also have 2.5 acres of standing corn, 1.5 acres standing beans, clover honey hole spots strategically placed, I have planted white pines (1500), cranberry, dogwood, crabapples, and hazelnut all of which were well thought out for bedding and food availability. The property is an old river chanel that holds water the entire year and has excellent bluffs and thick bedding areas. With the plantings gaining some maturity for added security for the property it has helped but where I am going with all of this is that you are 100% right when you say that human distrurbance on or next to your property is thee most limiting factor on consitently holding mature whitetails. I hunted harder this year than any year ever before and found out real fast the affects of people on your property. I think it matters anywhere from 30 to 300 acres. Will I keep busting my tail each year to provide everything a whitetail needs for optimum growth and health......yes but sometimes frustration does not begin to describe what a guy can feel. My only advice or input whatever is to keep doing everything right and it will keep providing you with more and more oppurtunities each year. My deal is that this farm was my grandpa's who has since past and my grandma moved into town. The farm is not going anywhere but they had 12 kids with some kids so needless to say I have had to go above and beyond to educate them and the neighbors. I am sorry for rambling on but I totally understand what you are going through. There will be no better feeling when you harvest your first trophy whitetail of your ground.

 

[TimberPig]

Human pressure is a weird thing. In some cases it is a big problem and in others it doesnt seem to matter much, I think it is what the deer become used to. For example, my uncle used to live on about 20 acres in Marshall county along the river. It was a rural area where there was about 8-10 houses in a 80 acre area along a highway. He and my cousin killed big bucks there pretty regularly, including a 168", a 172", and a 183". I hunted it the last day of the '02 early ML season and killed a 144", following my cousins 130" class 10 and my uncles 150" 10, all the same week in the same stand. While sitting in the stand that night I thought it was a total joke, I could hear kids screaming, smell garbage burning, and watched my uncle making supper through the kitchen window. This wasnt an urban hunt, it was just a cluster of houses in the country along the river, too bad he moved. I've never seen such a hotspot as that place, and I'm still not sure why it was so good.
Point is, human disturbance isnt always a death sentence to hunting big bucks. Give it another season or two and make it as deer friendly as possible on your side of the fence.

 

[bowmaker]

Lone Ranger
Most of the high yield small acreages, are like some others have said are more traveled through than actually lived in. While you might make your 40 acres as inviting as possible it just isn't enough to hold deer all the time, especially if it consists of one main ravine. Look for places where deer move through your property or where they come onto your land to bed down and place stand accordingly. Deer can have a pretty large home range, especially bucks, and your land is just part of it. Picture it like your house. You live there, eat there and sleep there, but you go to work somewhere else and go shopping else where, and go some where else for entertainment. So will deer, so you need to find a way to contact them when they are home. On a small tract deer will get used to you if you are there much and aren't spooked every time they get a whiff of man scent. I have had one stay bedded in a brush pile while I cut wood with a chainsaw 20 yards away and only spooked when I threw brush on top of it. Don't be worried about scarring them off. Instead get right in there and find where they bed or rest or feed and put in stands this spring and summer and let them adjust to you. Then they won't worry much when they might smell or see you in the fall, and if new deer move in you are already setup to ambush them because they will be drawn to the same areas that the residents are.

Plant apple and pear trees in strategic areas to draw deer to you. I have had deer in my small apple orchard 100 feet from my house often in broad daylight and sometimes even while I was running the lawn mower on the other side of the house. They understand many of our daily routines and I have even seen them calmly munching away while my dog is barking at them from inside the house. Also don't be concerned about cutting paths or approach lanes to your stands because many times the deer will use them because it is the path of least resistance. I regularly mow pathways through my CRP grass and through some thick areas of buck brush and multi-flora to get to my stands and find that deer and coyotes run these paths more than I do.

 

[loneranger]

thanks guys for your advice. I have gotten right in on the travel routes they use to cross my property. and opened up trails for them, etc. But because of the way most of my land slopes down in the middle, the air currents would take my fresh scent right to their noses, if I got too close. I have to stay somewhat on the outsides. Hopefully the deer,,even some decent bucks will get used to my new neighbor disturbances with time. The dogs are a problem though,,running thru bed areas chasing rabbits. I have run them off yelling, but next time I'm down there I'm taking my shot gun and telling the lady if she hears shots, it will be me at her dogs. I won't kill them but singe their fur. Hopefully they will get the message. Nice to know I am not the only one with these neighborhood experiences. I am sure there are many more out there, and who hunt on small acreages too. You are right,, we just have to keep trying. Someday a big ol boy will slip up.

 

[BriarwoodBottoms]

I agree with everyone's opinions and understand that every spot is probably alittle different than the next. Deer definitely adapt to houses, farm equip., people, vehicles, etc. but if you are hunting a small tract that has been next to any one of these disturbances day in and day out deer will grow used to it rather than a so called isolated tract with disturbances every once in a while it will push mature whitetails to become more nocturnal. I really enjoyed reading everyone's thoughts on this matter it hit close to home for me too.