Habitat work having negative impact?

[j-bird]

While on stand the other day - I noticed something that has given me cause to consider something.

Has my habitat work been counter productive?

While I was on stand for only the second time of the hunting season the deer activity seemed to specifically avoid my property! I send all sorts of time, money and effort into making a better habitat, but is all this activity actually working against me? Is there a time when a land owner simply needs to walk away from habitat work and let the deer do their thing?

I'm thinking that my continuous activity level is causing deer to use my place either after dark or sparingly.

has anyone else seen this or dealt with this and is it simply a matter of backing off????

 

[cutman]

Too much pressure is always a bad thing, in my mind. If you are pushing them off your property through your habitat improvements, I think they will come back eventually, but maybe not til after deer season.

 

[JDunham]

I have gone through this as well. I try to focus most of my habitat improvements between Xmas and May and then use a low impact approach between Summer and hunting season. This approach has been turning things around on our property. Deer sightings are going back up with this approach and only hunting the fringes. I have seen several times how heavy pressure reduces deer activity during daylight hours.

 

[Native Hunter]

Things I do to help avoid this:

• Work hard in the spring but stop work and intrusions by mid to late summer.
• Don't be out looking for rubs and scrapes. The only ones I ever see are the ones around plots and cameras.
• After work intrusions are over for the year, limit your presence to only checking cameras or open plots. Limit camera locations to more open spots or property boundaries with open areas across the fence. You may get mostly night pictures doing that, but you won't miss seeing what you have on the property.
• Walk the same place all the time so deer will pattern you. Then, change your pattern when you get ready to hunt.
• Never get remotely close to bedding areas.

Deer in my area spook easily and are wary. The ones that aren't get killed illegally and don't live long.

You may also just be in a down cycle that will start back up. Some years are so much better than others. Things are decent here right now, but I long for how much better it was 3 years ago.

Good luck..........

 

[dogghr]

I often think same thing, J. I agree, I limit intrusions to late winter till mid June, then I'm off of land except fields. But as said, deer cycle, and I have that this year. Three bad winters and two with no hard mast has shown itself this year. Luckily good mast this year and excited about next year already. The other I see, is as people see your success, adjacent land pressure increases. No doubt this has affected my land to some degree.
And with dry summer, and temps staying warm, a lot of the corn crops in my area were not harvested till very late. Competition.
In addition, this has been a weird year mostly due to strange and warm weather. Rutting moon is coming up and I see it is about to bust loose. Unfortunately, temps just won't drop down to those numbers that really make deer move. With that said, I'll be hunting hard starting midweek, those deer are ready. Despite warm temps, seen more scrapes than I've seen for a few years. I doubt your efforts are in vain, they are a finicky animal especially in high pressure country. Good luck.

 

[Robertesq1]

Probably in a different vein but I suspect that some of my early tree plantings from trees brought from the chain stores brought diseases to my property.

 

[catscratch]

Probably in a different vein but I suspect that some of my early tree plantings from trees brought from the chain stores brought diseases to my property.

I went to a box store to buy some trees. Every single one of their Keifer pears looked horrible with fireblight! I turned and walked. I've since only bought trees from reputable nurseries that I trust.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

[Fish]

This is my 3rd season since starting an all out habitat program on Little Blue. The rut has so far been very good there. I am seeing deer every trip to the stand and saw 9 just this morning. Thats the most deer ive seen in one sit on that prop by far. One small buck and a two yr old 8 today, but a dandy a couple days ago.
What i am getting at is that the last two years have been tough. Things just werent working. Deer were scarce. But the cover has thickened and the plots are great for the first time.
I work hard Jan-May. After May, i dont do anything outside of the plots.

Good habitat cant help but hold deer. But we do have to get in there and get it done first. Good luck and keep the faith. I'm sure you are doing the right things.

 

[George]

I too stopped intrusions by mid-late summer. 1 camera on the pear tree in the yard.

2 hunts is not a very big set to draw conclusions from.

G

 

[Buckly]

While on stand the other day - I noticed something that has given me cause to consider something.

Has my habitat work been counter productive?

While I was on stand for only the second time of the hunting season the deer activity seemed to specifically avoid my property! I send all sorts of time, money and effort into making a better habitat, but is all this activity actually working against me? Is there a time when a land owner simply needs to walk away from habitat work and let the deer do their thing?

I'm thinking that my continuous activity level is causing deer to use my place either after dark or sparingly.

has anyone else seen this or dealt with this and is it simply a matter of backing off????

I'm not sure what you mean by continuous activity level but I would not be doing any habitat work after Sept. 1
I work my place from Jan to April then that's it. Except for the fall plots in July and Aug. Stands up and everything quite from Sept 1 on. In my opinion habitat work cannot possibly be counter productive but, if you're on the property continuous well then that's a problem.

 

[Keith Nehrke]

Unfortunately, autumn is when I plant most of my hardwoods using primarily container stock or home-grown in RMs. I try to be done by mid-September, but I'm sure that it affects movement. I figure that's the price to get stuff in that may benefit during my lifetime.

 

[j-bird]

I live on my property so I tend to do lots of small projects nearly every weekend until hunting season nears. From planting trees, to cutting trees, to planting and caring for plots and hanging stands, fighting invasives and the like. I'm a one man show so I have to keep things manageable in their size and scope. We have a low deer population as it is and seeing the deer activity on the other side of the line was just disheartening and caused me to question some things. It's a long season and I'm sure I'll get a chance at a deer - I'm not too worried about that. It just seems like the activity pattern in that area appears to be one of avoidance and it is troubling......last thing I want to do is put all this effort into the land and then be counter-productive in doing so. I also don't want to be the one feeding the deer, while the deer stay on another property and get shot by other hunters in the process - which I am sure is happening to some extent as it is.

Just makes me wonder if all the work is worth it. Maybe I need to cut even my minimum plots back even further and convert most of them to even more cover and then simply leave well enough alone, maybe less really is more.

 

[cutman]

Do you have a sanctuary on your property?

 

[CAS_HNTR]

If you push the doe groups off the property, you may be in for a long season as they are what bring the bucks looking. Unless you have the best food/cover later in the season....then you may be OK.

As stated by others.....to much of a good thing can be a bad thing!

 

[catscratch]

I've found (at my parents place) that if you have enough food and cover you can't run the deer off. They will be there even if it's mostly at night. Even then, they still mess up and show themselves in the daylight once in a while. I also found that all of my families activities forced me to change how I hunt. Deer sightings went way down at first but after I adjusted my hunting I started seeing them again. Maybe they are just using your place differently???

 

[ncstewart]

I have also had the problem of fall planting and the deer stop using my place in daylight or so I thought.
This year I decided to wait on planting and so far have observed the deer are doing this pattern without my influence. My thoughts are now that neighboring pressure is the problem or that there is just a big difference in the summer vs fall patterns of deer.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Fish]

Ive got a couple dozen rootmaker trees to plant, but i will not intrude on the property in the fall to do it. I will hold them over until spring. Thats just my approach.
My trail cam was out in the plot about 50 yards from where i hunted this morning. I couldnt chance switch ing the cards. I am just in and right out come fall.

And too, J-bird, im not sure how much disturbance your deer are used too. On my Home 10, deer are forgiving. They blow and stomp and come back within a day or two. At Little Blue, humans are viewed as the beast.
I focus on the basics. Give the deer cover where they can be left alone. Give them food. And hunt as smart as you can.
Great question for this thread. We have probably all wondered at times.

 

[j-bird]

Do you have a sanctuary on your property?

Three. The biggest issue is that they are fairly small simply because of the overall lack of cover I have.

 

[j-bird]

If you push the doe groups off the property, you may be in for a long season as they are what bring the bucks looking. Unless you have the best food/cover later in the season....then you may be OK.

As stated by others.....to much of a good thing can be a bad thing!

That is typically the plan. I have the food late but I tend to hold a few does as well and then I wait for the rut to bring those bucks to me. For some reason - it just seems that for now even the does are moving just off the property. That is where my frustration is - they seem to be bedding just off the property (beyond my own sanctuary areas) and then move in to feed once it's dark......tough to hunt that way. Even harder to hunt a buck.

 

[j-bird]

Ive got a couple dozen rootmaker trees to plant, but i will not intrude on the property in the fall to do it. I will hold them over until spring. Thats just my approach.
My trail cam was out in the plot about 50 yards from where i hunted this morning. I couldnt chance switch ing the cards. I am just in and right out come fall.

And too, J-bird, im not sure how much disturbance your deer are used too. On my Home 10, deer are forgiving. They blow and stomp and come back within a day or two. At Little Blue, humans are viewed as the beast.
I focus on the basics. Give the deer cover where they can be left alone. Give them food. And hunt as smart as you can.
Great question for this thread. We have probably all wondered at times.

My place is a working grain farm and I am out on my tractor on a regular basis as well. Most of the time they simply stand there and watch. October was full of equipment in the fields and neighbors pulling out the crops. Which is a good thing because it reduces down the food and cover for the deer and makes them easier to hunt. Something just seems "off" this year. That breeding party running back and forth and essentially around that corner of my property just really has me puzzled......if she would have brought them to me I would have gladly relieved her of at least one of her suitors!!!!