Mature deer pics from small properties

[pinetag]

We own 49.8 acres that we have owned and been hunting for about the last 10 years. We manage it to attract deer and it is also a funnel area where deer move through, with and without gun pressure. We border two properties that are superb bedding areas on opposing sides of ours. We are the funnel in between the two. We do hold some deer, especially when the pressure starts but I know I can't control much in the way of holding deer to protect them. I try to create the best habitat on our 50 acres, have large sanctuary areas that we stay out of, have two plots that have the best feed in the area and only a few stand locations that are focused on getting into and out of them without the deer knowing we are there. Our gun stand is a shooting house that looks over the plots and a large portion of a funnel deer travel through. Be able to accept the neighbors killing a majority of the good deer you see on your trail cameras. The best bucks we have taken since owning it are pictured below. We have taken a number of doe and smaller bucks. My kids and those of friends have taken their first deer here.
Look at your property and your neighbors and capitalize on your strong points and make the best of your neighbors strengths by creating something that compliments it. As long as you are realistic, small properties are very rewarding and fun to manage and hunt.

Good advice! Y'all have taken some nice, mature deer!

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[snowracerh]

29 acres in west central wi. Killed 4 good bucks in the two years owning and improving the property. Here is the biggest Ive shot. Had three other bigger ones on camera in the daylight

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[j-bird]

I think the potential ANY property has is based on several things and they are ALL the same......the thing is that the larger the property the more influence you have over those factors and the smaller the property is the less control over those you have.

My father has 20 acres in another county that essentially isn't hunted at all. He does no real habitat work. He gets just as nice of bucks on cams on his place as I do.....I own 150 acres (100 of it is corn and bean field) and I do lots of habitat work. I know that isn't a great example.....but it shows how you can still have decent hunting on smaller properties under the right situations and take the proper steps.

The reason I don't hunt his place is that it's roughly an hour drive, and my hunting ground is in my back yard......simply put.....I'm too lazy!

 

[H20fwler]

I've got and eight acre and five miles away thirty acres both in heavy agricultural areas mixed hardwoods.

 

[Rickey]

J-bird,
I only have 22 acres and hunt it more than I should because of laziness. My hunt club is about 1400 acres and a little over an hour away.

 

[John Barnes]

I only own 5 acres, with only about 1.5 set aside for hunting purposes, but my property is surrounded by 200 acres that goes unhunted. I've got a few pics of nice ones, but have yet to get one into range during hunting hours. Working on getting my plot screened, which hopefully will help.

 

[Blizzard Ridge]

I have a very good example of how small properties can produce bigger deer than larger parcels. I see everyone on here talk about how having more land you can control the herd a little better. I do agree with this somewhat. If you are in an area that does not typically produce larger bucks on a consistent basis I could see how owning and controlling a couple thousand acres could influence the deer herd in or on your property to a certain extent. But, If you are in an area that produces good deer and have 20 acres within that good deer region, I believe your chances at taking a good buck would be better than taking a good buck on your controlled 2000 acres. Unless you have high fences around it and pinned some high genetic bucks up within that containment.

I have a 800+ acre farm that I have compete hunting control over and 2 miles north of it I have a 80 acre piece. Which one do you think we had the most success in last season? That is right that 120 acre piece had big mature buck after big mature buck show up on camera everyday. Also, just to know a little about that 80 acre piece, it is the most heavily hunted areas we have farms in. Most of the reason it is hunted heavily around there is because of the quality of buck that run that woods.

As most know I control the hunting on 20,000+ East Central Illinois acres. I run camera's on a big part of it. I can honestly say my best big buck encounters are in patches of timber smaller than 20 acres. Most of them are in fence rows and pieces smaller than 5 acres. When I talk big bucks I am talking big old 6+ yr old bucks or antlered deer that go over that 170" threshold.

I know this can be different in different parts of the country but here in the midwest where you are surrounded by Ag ground and small woodlots are the norm, the big deer hold to those isolated small patches because people don't hunt them or know how to hunt them. It is very hard to convince clients that this is true. They want a stand hung in the deepest gnarliest draw in the middle of a 1000 acre parcel. Meanwhile the clients that listen are knocking down 150"+ bucks sitting in fence rows 100 yards from a major road waving at traffic as it drives by, with big old smiles on their faces because they know what buck they are getting ready to have a shot opportunity on. Meanwhile, the big woods hunter is sitting in his stand happy as well because he just saw 25 deer on that sit and 12 of those were bucks but the problem is if you add of the rack on those 12 bucks it wouldn't add up to one side of the big deer the fence row hunter is getting ready to shoot. You see the big deer have the actual hot doe in the area pinned down in an isolated wood lot while these young bucks are running around like idiots trying to figure out where all the hot doe have gone.

This is just my observation in east central Illinois and I have been hunting this way for 30 years now. This probable doesn't apply to PA and NY big woods hunter's or even to the guys out west but here on this side of Illinois it is the way I will always hunt em. Long story well......long lol yes big deer can be taken from small parcels and possibly more so than in big parcels.

 

[Weasel]

40 acres, NE Ohio. Thousands of acres of corn/bean fields and big woodlots surrounding me. Moderate hunting pressure in the area with some neighbors not hunting or allowing hunting at all. My 40 is 2/3 woods, 1/3 ag fields. Biggest struggle is pressure. We all want to enjoy our property as much as possible but big bucks won't put up with constant human intrusion. You have to at least have an attractive sanctuary that you leave alone 90% of the year.

 

[snowracerh]

Holding a pile of deer on a half acre patch of trees in town. Its fun to watch them every night. Thought you all would enjoy these!

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