Land layout

[wisconsinteacher]

Here is my layout of the 80 my wife and I bought. I walked the potential food plots this weekend and mapped them out in yellow. The red trail is the old logging road. I put the dark blue lines in as chainsaw cut trails. The light blue will be the road to the plot made by the dozer. White lines are deer trails. The NE corner is swamp with a creek cutting the corner. The NW corner is mature oaks. The southern 1/2 is aspen cutting that is 13 years old. I really focused on area to set stands by the plots and between them. The plots range from .8-1.2 acres. The ground is flat. My plan is to have the dozer push piles where I don't want the deer to enter the plots. Yellow pins are stands that are in place, purple pins are future stand sites.

If I'm missing something please let me know.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

Where do the deer typically bed and is there a main food source somewhere in the neighborhood? Just trying to get a general idea of where the deer bed and feed along with how you can get to a stand between those areas without spooking any more deer than necessary. Will you be parking at the road on the east of the parcel?

 

[wisconsinteacher]

I can park on the east and north side of the land. From there I can walk the west and south fields. The deer bed near the swamp edge and throughout the property. They mostly feed on the fields to the west and south. They also cross the east road a lot to get to the neighboring land. My land is mostly bedding and daytime browse.

 

[Bassattackr]

You've obviously done your homework and have your entire property covered well. But therein lies my question... where do the deer (mature bucks) go to get away from human activity? It appears the entire 80 is a heavy grid of lines, trails, logging roads and human pressure.

Accessing the more interior stands will burn out the exterior stand you walk nearby to get to that interior stand. Make sense?

I find that as soon as I leave a logging road and step into the "woods", the bucks are on to me and the stand burnout is phenomenally quick. Especially if they bed "throughout the property." Tiny limbs, brush, etc touch your clothing and pick up your scent. Not to mention noise, etc walking thru the woods. They will pattern you extremely quick, like a dog wandering they will follow your "trail" to the base of your tree.

I would first look at where you have clean access and back into your possible stand locations from there. If you're bumping deer going in and out, it's not a good stand site. Good luck!

 

[bwoods11]

My past experience as a land owner on newly purchased property is to not make any major changes or improvements until you have hunted the land for at least a year. Just my amateur feedback. Good luck, looks nice!

 

[wisconsinteacher]

Great points Bassattackr. I would not walk/use ATV on the old logging road other than to work on plots or to do land improvements. My thoughts are to enter and exit from the outside edges and leave the middle alone from Sept-December. So far the deepest stand off the property edge is 150 yards and I plan on only hunting that during peak rut. The rest of the stands are 50-75 yards off the edge.

 

[Tree Spud]

My past experience as a land owner on newly purchased property is to not make any major changes or improvements until you have hunted the land for at least a year. Just my amateur feedback. Good luck, looks nice!

Agree 100% with Bwoods ... if you carry out the plan you have, you will significantly change the property & how the deer relate to it. This amount of time & activity on the property 1st year will most probably negatively impact the bedding and may change travel patterns.

On your size property, noise & wind are your enemies ... at most, I would put up 4 stands on outer perimeter then observe & learn 1st 2 hunting seasons. 2nd season you can adjust stand locations.

Any food plots on your borders will cause neighbors to set-up there. Remember, food plots are not required to kill deer, especially if you have neighboring food sources.

Setting up game cams on likely entry points that keep you from entering too far could help confirm travel and # of deer.

Small properties can be productive, until you burn them out. In most cases, less is more ...

 

[Bassattackr]

On your size property, noise & wind are your enemies ... at most, I would put up 4 stands on outer perimeter then observe & learn 1st 2 hunting seasons.

This is great advice. I've used observation stands before and they work well. A few "safe" sits from a ways off may tell you enough to figure out travel patterns through an area or even a patch of woods.