Owning Little pieces VS One Big Piece of land?

[Sligh1]

Size could be in any perspective - little could be 40 acres and big could be 200 OR maybe some folks would say little is 200 and big is 2,000 acres- WHATEVER. I guess, let's say little is 10-120 acres. BIG is say 250 or bigger. You could come up with your own example.

My QUESTION- would you rather own a bunch of small pieces all over the place (still relatively close for driving) where you could jump around, move the pressure, hunt different deer OR would you rather have ONE big piece big enough to accomodate you- you could manage the herd to some degree, pass far more deer to maturity, etc. Obviously there's countless ups and downs to both those scenarios and I don't want to throw out my point of view there yet because i'm curious your take. What do you all think, what do you prefer?

 

[JakeWym]

One big chunk for me. It would be nice to actually have a say on the kind of deer that are being harvested. Right now, it is a free for all on the places that I hunt.

 

[stp309]

I would rather have the right "little" tract of land than the "wrong" large tract.

 

[loneranger]

One piece as big as it could get! As I have stated before,I had the opportunity to hunt a 3,ooo acre cattle ranch, and the deer acted as cattle also. Large bucks out strolling around hrs before sundown. Amazing sights! I have 40 now and never knew how much NEIGHBORS, had an effect on hunting. Now if you have good neighbors,,IE,,,that keep their pets home,,,and don't tear up the area with quads,,,but those are my neighbors.In the begining,I had one that trophy hunted and managed his land. Sad he had to move. It's a role of the dice with a neighborhood.

 

[jjohnson]

Big secluded chunk with a big river on three sides of her. No poaching and I could just sit back and let them get big.

A buddy of mine has this very thing this year. Only the river runs on two sides rather than one. Place has never had food on it. We put in 15-20 acres of foodplots (which is only a drop in the bucket on 1000 acres of big bluff country) but you can sit on any one of the plots and see multiple pope and young deer every night. I'm in heaven everytime I take a ride around the place.

I'm afraid to even think of what's all crawling around in there.

 

[Liv4Rut]

I would want either one, however I would want a minimum of 1500 acres for the big tract. Otherwise, I would like to have a bunch of small tracts because it is fun to switch it up and I would think you would have better success.

 

[Thinkin Rut]

With smaller tracts, you are at the mercy of someone else to let the deer grow to their potential.

 

[KSQ2]

small tracts for me, I agree with liv -- it would have to be REALLY big to keep others from killing the young bucks...

 

[nacho2770]

My family owns about 1,000 acres and the majority of it is spread around.

It is nice to be able to limit pressure on any one spot and hunt different deer, but you are at the mercy of your neighbors as far as management and if they are disturbing your hunting or not.

I would love it if the whole 1,000 acres was all together, then I would feel like I would have better control of pressure and what deer are shot.

 

[Iowabowtech]

One big one and a full shed of farm implements.

 

[baggin_bucks]

I like having small pieces to change it up a bit and you have totally different herds. If you get the right small piece it hunts much bigger than what it really is. Not saying I wouldn't want one large tract but it isn't going to happen unless I win the lottery so I stick with my little pieces.

 

[ironwood]

Hunting different herds is a great benifit to smaller pieces. Liv is on the money about the required size to really be able to manage a local herd. The next best thing would be to know there is a intence level of management with the surounding neighbors. I have watched folks from this site work the neighbor systematicly. Owning small in well managed areas is the next best thing to owning your own section or two.

 

[turtlshell]

I really think some of the best places to hunt are on small tracts that somewhat go un-noticed. If small tracts are treated right, they'll draw in big bucks during certain times of the year...kinda depends on how you set it up (late season muzzle w/food plots, early season, bedding area, prime rut, etc)

I agree that neighbors, poaching, pets, etc has the most influence regardless of total acres.

It's hard to grow/see booners when the neighbors roll with the "brown...it's down" theory...or let their pets run wild.

 

[DannyBoy]

One big one and a full shed of farm implements.

Yup, me too!

 

[sureshot]

Any farm with neighbors in the entire section practicing QDM.