How much of your land do you hunt?
- Thread starter scoot52
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j-bird
Moderator
I hunt roughly 25% of my place but 2/3 is open ag field so it's really screwed up. I still try to leave a few safe areas for the deer and hunt between those areas and the food. Stand access and hunting pressure make a huge difference - and understanding how the deer use your property with hunter access in mind made a big difference. I ALWAYS hunt the wind. I also hunt less but try to hunt smarter. And that has worked well for me.
Bill
Administrator
For me it has been a ridiculously small amount. Sometimes to a fault and I plan on adding some deeper stands for those peak rut Couple of sits every year or two.
I've read for years not to hunt food plots but always ignored that, small plots or pinch points have produced very well for us over the years. I have some pretty strict rules that are sometimes tough to live by for people. My brother and I have sat in camp for days waiting for the wind to turn just right for a bow stand.
No one "with permission" is allowed in the woods after July and we rarely go in after June. Except for 1 rifle stand most of our setups are no more than 30 yards off a plot or a field. We just don't allow scent to enter the timber except to retrieve a deer.
I'm certain my place could be hunted smarter but no pressure, no pressure, no pressure has been working for us.
I've read for years not to hunt food plots but always ignored that, small plots or pinch points have produced very well for us over the years. I have some pretty strict rules that are sometimes tough to live by for people. My brother and I have sat in camp for days waiting for the wind to turn just right for a bow stand.
No one "with permission" is allowed in the woods after July and we rarely go in after June. Except for 1 rifle stand most of our setups are no more than 30 yards off a plot or a field. We just don't allow scent to enter the timber except to retrieve a deer.
I'm certain my place could be hunted smarter but no pressure, no pressure, no pressure has been working for us.
Turkey Creek
5 year old buck +
I hunt a 160 acre parcel in big ag country so 70% of it is in crop ground. However in that remaining 30% I have 3 stands. I do my absolute best not to hunt stands where the wind is not in my favor for the deer behavior I expect to see. I have a 10 acre sanctuary that I do everything possible to stay out of. If I had control of the property I would make some small changes and maybe add 1 or 2 more stands.
The farm pictured is 80 acres and essentially the middle is sanctuary/not hunted and rarely entered except for mushrooming, deer recovery, habitat work in winter, driving tractor to plots/fields on east side via old trail cut through timber, and shed hunting late spring.
A new access trail/road was put in along the south border that I will use for tractor work and other times I need to access the east side but am letting it settle/grow vegetation well before I start using it. That will be nice but as of now I have to go through a good chunk of the thick timber sanctuary to do any plot work and I know that can't be a positive thing. One more year and I think the new road will be useable without damaging it.
The pins mark stands that we used the past couple of seasons. Stands are accessed via the outside edges/trail system. We only hunt stands when the wind would be pushing our scent onto the neighboring property. We hunt the west side stands until the beginning of Nov. and then work ourselves east with the timber stands hunted the second week of Nov. into/through rifle season which ends the Sunday prior to Thanksgiving.
Steve Bartylla wrote up a plan a couple years ago for us and it has been almost fully implemented. We have a high deer density and target rich environment of young bucks and always a couple 3.5's and one older buck show up in the summer. They have always seemed to stick around until they were killed, either across the fence or by us. This year we got the two oldest bucks I had on cam. I believe them to be 4 plus. I am sending in the teeth to deerage.com to see what they come up with. I never tell them what I think prior to them giving me their findings.
A new access trail/road was put in along the south border that I will use for tractor work and other times I need to access the east side but am letting it settle/grow vegetation well before I start using it. That will be nice but as of now I have to go through a good chunk of the thick timber sanctuary to do any plot work and I know that can't be a positive thing. One more year and I think the new road will be useable without damaging it.
The pins mark stands that we used the past couple of seasons. Stands are accessed via the outside edges/trail system. We only hunt stands when the wind would be pushing our scent onto the neighboring property. We hunt the west side stands until the beginning of Nov. and then work ourselves east with the timber stands hunted the second week of Nov. into/through rifle season which ends the Sunday prior to Thanksgiving.
Steve Bartylla wrote up a plan a couple years ago for us and it has been almost fully implemented. We have a high deer density and target rich environment of young bucks and always a couple 3.5's and one older buck show up in the summer. They have always seemed to stick around until they were killed, either across the fence or by us. This year we got the two oldest bucks I had on cam. I believe them to be 4 plus. I am sending in the teeth to deerage.com to see what they come up with. I never tell them what I think prior to them giving me their findings.
Natty Bumppo
5 year old buck +
I hunt a private 150 acre parcel (30 of which I own) and hunt probably 10 or 15% of it. Big woods, no ag, no mast. My stands are located in old abandoned apple orchards and wild apple groves.
Bill
Administrator
Willy,
Nice set up. I see a good spot close to home that you don't have a stand marked. SE of that purple circle is a small clump of trees. Might be a good early stand when the winds are from the SE blowing your stink back to the house.
You might have to screen the house off with EW, miscanthus or Sudan. I've found that by screening the house with tall grass deer will happily move in the daylight within 50 yards of it.
Nice set up. I see a good spot close to home that you don't have a stand marked. SE of that purple circle is a small clump of trees. Might be a good early stand when the winds are from the SE blowing your stink back to the house.
You might have to screen the house off with EW, miscanthus or Sudan. I've found that by screening the house with tall grass deer will happily move in the daylight within 50 yards of it.
Bill,
Thanks.
Good eye, I put in a cir switchgrass/bigblue screen last year but it takes a couple years for it to get to where it can do its job. I have a pop up blind just sw of the purple circle there for those occasions when a quick hunt is possible and wind is right. Haven't taken anything there yet but it is just a matter of time. The deer go by at 30 yards as they hug the cover to the east of it and I used my implements to funnel them out into a bow range shot(30 yards). Its going to be an elevated wheelchair accessible blind for disabled vets that fit that descriptor as it will be an easy spot to get into and they will see deer. They deer follow the script well but we just haven't been in the blind when they came by.(We did once but we were tunnel visioned on two fawns and then the big girls comes by much closer at 20 yards and caught us gawking.
I have a tree stand planned for the clump you are talking about as well but would use sparingly as that is now a pinch point made possible by my implement guiding arrangement. The clump of big cedars are at the top of a deep eroded gully and the deer don't cross to the east of them but go west and out and around the machinery. It is almost unfair as far as seeing deer close enough to shoot. It will depend on what the shooter wants to shoot showing up.:)
Thanks.
Good eye, I put in a cir switchgrass/bigblue screen last year but it takes a couple years for it to get to where it can do its job. I have a pop up blind just sw of the purple circle there for those occasions when a quick hunt is possible and wind is right. Haven't taken anything there yet but it is just a matter of time. The deer go by at 30 yards as they hug the cover to the east of it and I used my implements to funnel them out into a bow range shot(30 yards). Its going to be an elevated wheelchair accessible blind for disabled vets that fit that descriptor as it will be an easy spot to get into and they will see deer. They deer follow the script well but we just haven't been in the blind when they came by.(We did once but we were tunnel visioned on two fawns and then the big girls comes by much closer at 20 yards and caught us gawking.
I have a tree stand planned for the clump you are talking about as well but would use sparingly as that is now a pinch point made possible by my implement guiding arrangement. The clump of big cedars are at the top of a deep eroded gully and the deer don't cross to the east of them but go west and out and around the machinery. It is almost unfair as far as seeing deer close enough to shoot. It will depend on what the shooter wants to shoot showing up.:)
Steve Bartylla
5 year old buck +
I'm a very strong believer in getting stands setup in a bunch of spots that I know going in I likely won't hunt. I want them there, though, "just in case" I get intel on a buck in that area and DON'T believe I can kill him from one of the lower impact stands.
On public lands it's a different animal. I have 1 or 2 spots I believe I'm going to kill from and don't setup any more. That said, I ALWAYS find the buck I want to kill on public grounds before I setup, and they really zone in on those areas they feel safe, showing a very high degree of affinity for them. So, it's a 1-2 stands in place, wait for the right conditions, go in and get it done in a sit or two (or fail dismally) scenario.
On managed grounds, I just don't think you can have too many stand options, ASSUMING you can show the discipline not to hunt most of them. to put it in context, between hanging new stands and prepping existing ones, I've done between 100-200 stands a year for quite a while now. At least 75% don't get hunted each season by me or my long term management clients or their hunter buddies/family, maybe as much as 85%, but never anything close to 50% of the stands I prep each year get hunted.
Now, I completely understand that I am not "normal" in a laundry list of ways. It's also a game changer when you get "free" stands each year you want/need them for pro staffing for various companies. I've bought some blinds, but I haven't bough a treestand in somewhere over 25 years now. I get this being my "job" and getting the supplies I need for "free" are big time game changers and put me in a very advantageous position.
That said, there are huge advantages to having a bunch more stands up than you'll ever allow yourself to hunt. It's been many, many, many years since I've hung a stand within deer cover anywhere close to season. So, when cams, observation or sign is telling me that I need to go in after Mr. Big, I always have a stand already prepped mid summer set and ready to roll. All I or the clients have to do is slip in and hunt it. Merely slipping in and hunting is a HUGE advantage over going in during season, scouting, prepping a stand then hunting it. Sure, what I do is a lot more work, but I think it's way more than a fair trade....The catch is that you have to show disciple and not hunt those locations unless you have tangible intel telling you that you have to go in after him in order to get the kill (well, that and for most it's a serious investment in stands and free time getting them all up and then loosened each year).
Field edge stands are a completely different animal in my eyes. So long as I cut odors as if I were going hunting, wait for late morning to go in and keep my disturbances to a minimum, I have no issue hanging those types of stands during season and hunting them immediately, without worrying about boggering things up.
back to the original ?, Willy's drawing is a very good example of how much of a property I typically hunt each year. I want the option of going in after them, but probably 3 out of every 4 years on average, I don't need to hunt any more of the ground than that. I've consistently found that training deer that they are safe on your ground and to move more freely on that ground during daylight is every bit as big or even a bigger advantage than having stands already set and ready in every good-great location on a property, "just in case" they're needed.
On public lands it's a different animal. I have 1 or 2 spots I believe I'm going to kill from and don't setup any more. That said, I ALWAYS find the buck I want to kill on public grounds before I setup, and they really zone in on those areas they feel safe, showing a very high degree of affinity for them. So, it's a 1-2 stands in place, wait for the right conditions, go in and get it done in a sit or two (or fail dismally) scenario.
On managed grounds, I just don't think you can have too many stand options, ASSUMING you can show the discipline not to hunt most of them. to put it in context, between hanging new stands and prepping existing ones, I've done between 100-200 stands a year for quite a while now. At least 75% don't get hunted each season by me or my long term management clients or their hunter buddies/family, maybe as much as 85%, but never anything close to 50% of the stands I prep each year get hunted.
Now, I completely understand that I am not "normal" in a laundry list of ways. It's also a game changer when you get "free" stands each year you want/need them for pro staffing for various companies. I've bought some blinds, but I haven't bough a treestand in somewhere over 25 years now. I get this being my "job" and getting the supplies I need for "free" are big time game changers and put me in a very advantageous position.
That said, there are huge advantages to having a bunch more stands up than you'll ever allow yourself to hunt. It's been many, many, many years since I've hung a stand within deer cover anywhere close to season. So, when cams, observation or sign is telling me that I need to go in after Mr. Big, I always have a stand already prepped mid summer set and ready to roll. All I or the clients have to do is slip in and hunt it. Merely slipping in and hunting is a HUGE advantage over going in during season, scouting, prepping a stand then hunting it. Sure, what I do is a lot more work, but I think it's way more than a fair trade....The catch is that you have to show disciple and not hunt those locations unless you have tangible intel telling you that you have to go in after him in order to get the kill (well, that and for most it's a serious investment in stands and free time getting them all up and then loosened each year).
Field edge stands are a completely different animal in my eyes. So long as I cut odors as if I were going hunting, wait for late morning to go in and keep my disturbances to a minimum, I have no issue hanging those types of stands during season and hunting them immediately, without worrying about boggering things up.
back to the original ?, Willy's drawing is a very good example of how much of a property I typically hunt each year. I want the option of going in after them, but probably 3 out of every 4 years on average, I don't need to hunt any more of the ground than that. I've consistently found that training deer that they are safe on your ground and to move more freely on that ground during daylight is every bit as big or even a bigger advantage than having stands already set and ready in every good-great location on a property, "just in case" they're needed.
Steve Bartylla
5 year old buck +
I should point out one more thing....Look at Willy's drawing again. Notice how all the stands on his south end work for N winds...That allows him, his sweetheart of a wife and their friends to use their south line for access only on N wind days, blowing their odors into the neighboring farm fields.
Edge access & hunting the edges can be truly great things, but you also need to be concerned about wind direction when accessing/departing as much as when hunting. Strive to setup your grounds so that odors are blowing into the neighbors or dead areas of your ground when laying out stand setups. It doesn't happen by accident. you need to formulate a plan for getting both the wind direction for the stands and access/departure to work together. I'm not saying that I absolutely never break that guideline, but I better have a dang good reason to and then that stand isn't likely to get hunted often at all, unless a buck is ripe for the taking at that specific location.
Edge access & hunting the edges can be truly great things, but you also need to be concerned about wind direction when accessing/departing as much as when hunting. Strive to setup your grounds so that odors are blowing into the neighbors or dead areas of your ground when laying out stand setups. It doesn't happen by accident. you need to formulate a plan for getting both the wind direction for the stands and access/departure to work together. I'm not saying that I absolutely never break that guideline, but I better have a dang good reason to and then that stand isn't likely to get hunted often at all, unless a buck is ripe for the taking at that specific location.
shawnv
5 year old buck +
On the public ground I hunt I like to have 6-10 possible set ups based on bucks around that given year, hunting pressure and the time I have to hunt. My public land set ups tend to be where other hunters are not and often adjacent to heavy cover with a long walk. These sets have been good for 1-2 sits a year if I hunt them at all. Really it only takes one careless hunter to wreck a year's worth of off season prep on public so I like to give myself as many options as possible. On my private ground I try to only have human intrusion on a very small portion of it because it is a small woods. I do have multiple points I can sit without making them high risk though.
shawnv
5 year old buck +
One question I ask myself is if I have an awesome NW wind stand for example is it worth creating a stand on the property for a different wind if it degrades what I already. Sometimes I think the better choice it to keep 1-2 awesome stands on the property and go hunt elsewhere the other days.
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