Howboutthemdawgs
5 year old buck +
Fools gold? I get the thought process...more attractive your property is the better chance a deer will spend his time there. But is that reality? I’m talking properties under about 350 acres or so.
My scenario, 250 acres. Only I hunt it. I have worked a ton over the last 2 years this January to make it better. Summer and fall plots, expanded plots considerably from year one, tsi work in various areas, eradicating invasives, etc. Property is night and day difference from previous owner. Didn’t shoot a buck last year, didn’t have a shooter on camera so called it year 1 and planned on best days ahead.
Fast forward to this year, had 2 on camera this summer I considered shooters, 140-150” deer. Hung around till about September and early morning October. Both have disappeared. One just got killed on neighbors last week. So far my immediate neighbors have shot 2 160’s, a 150 and a 140. One tract is considerably bigger and one is smaller than mine. Their idea of habitat management is expanding. the corn pile the size of a kiddie pool to an Olympic sized pool. My property has more cover and food per acre than just about any around once the crops are harvest (only one grows crops, one runs cattle, one is just woods). Had one decent buck show up for a bit in mid October, now a regular with my smaller tract neighbor (we have a good relationship and share pics). I’m running 5 cameras and my biggest buck is a 110” 8 point!
So with all that said it seems like so far the habitat work has been a net negative on my hunting if you look at practically, hell I saw way more deer in general last year when the property was still very raw. I will keep doing the work cause I enjoy getting my hands dirty but it seems like if you are expecting big things the juice ain’t worth the squeeze on smaller properties.
My scenario, 250 acres. Only I hunt it. I have worked a ton over the last 2 years this January to make it better. Summer and fall plots, expanded plots considerably from year one, tsi work in various areas, eradicating invasives, etc. Property is night and day difference from previous owner. Didn’t shoot a buck last year, didn’t have a shooter on camera so called it year 1 and planned on best days ahead.
Fast forward to this year, had 2 on camera this summer I considered shooters, 140-150” deer. Hung around till about September and early morning October. Both have disappeared. One just got killed on neighbors last week. So far my immediate neighbors have shot 2 160’s, a 150 and a 140. One tract is considerably bigger and one is smaller than mine. Their idea of habitat management is expanding. the corn pile the size of a kiddie pool to an Olympic sized pool. My property has more cover and food per acre than just about any around once the crops are harvest (only one grows crops, one runs cattle, one is just woods). Had one decent buck show up for a bit in mid October, now a regular with my smaller tract neighbor (we have a good relationship and share pics). I’m running 5 cameras and my biggest buck is a 110” 8 point!
So with all that said it seems like so far the habitat work has been a net negative on my hunting if you look at practically, hell I saw way more deer in general last year when the property was still very raw. I will keep doing the work cause I enjoy getting my hands dirty but it seems like if you are expecting big things the juice ain’t worth the squeeze on smaller properties.