Got a small piece of land and wonder if it could be worth your while to set up a stand or two? Maybe it is clear cut, wooded, maybe it is pasture land. What are the real deal chances that you can kill some worthwhile deer on that little piece of dirt? Is it possible? Can it be productive? The short answer is…. hell yes. The long answer is… a bit more complicated but still totally worth your time. Read on if you are up for the hopefully rewarding challenge.
So, I have about 40 years of whitetail deer hunting experience. Not to blabber on about my credentials, but I hunt private land, hunt clubs, and public land. My home state is South Carolina but I have years of experience hunting all over the lower 49…….not been to Alaska, but hunted my ass off in Hawaii for a number of years. Anyway, I am not a spring chicken when it comes to deer hunting, I’ve seen some things……..man….. So about 4 years ago I came across an opportunity to hunt a 10 acre tract of land that friend had purchased for his two horses. The land had 3 acres of hardwoods (mostly Live and Water Oaks), a small 6 stall barn, a dog kennel, and a quarter acre pond. The remaining 6 acres was cleared to pasture the horses. My buddy only kept his horses there for a few months until his main horse farm was ready, so he came to me with an offer that I could not refuse. Since he was upstate and not local (but for a few times a year), he asked me to look in on his property….post signs, keep riff raff out, just be there sometimes. In exchange for keeping an eye out, I could hunt deer and small game with my kids whenever we wanted. At first, I was not moved by the offer, I mean, I was going to take care of his land regardless, he is my buddy, but at first I dismissed the idea that hunting this “postage stamp” of land would be worthwhile at all….or it surely would not be fun. I mean, I have other places to hunt. What am I going to do with 10 acres of glorified “yard”. But man……..was I wrong, like really wrong.
Ok, let’s get down to business, if you have a small parcel of land to hunt and want to get the most out of it, where do you start? We are going to hit on four things that I have focused on that (I feel) have brought some decent success my way.
The Lay Of Your Land
The first thing that I dug into was the natural features of my particular piece of dirt. The shape, the location, what is around the land, what it lacks, and lastly what its benefits were (to both me and the deer). To begin with the shape, if you don’t have an aerial photo of your land, go and get yourself a subscription to OnX or any map based hunting/land app. OnX works wonders for me, I don’t get paid to say this, but I love it for a few reasons. One, I get a killer view of the land and all the land around me for as far as I care to see. Second, it gives you landowner names and helps you when you inevitably have to knock on a neighbors door or try to reach out to them. Lastly, you can take pictures and add notes to particular areas or specific places (like a tree stand or a rub/scrape). I love this feature in OnX because I can text these notes and pictures to anyone hunting with me (or if I am not there, it is easy for others to know exactly where to go).
So, let me back up a few steps here. Take some time on Amazon and pick up a few trail cameras, I have three inexpensive ones that I put on this particular piece of property. I did not use my cell phone based (fancy cameras), I just used three mini cameras (check this link). I put these cameras up where I saw sign and where I expected deer to be. I bought an inexpensive data card reader/adapter so I can pull the trail cam card and see the pictures right on my Iphone in the field (this is the model I have). Anyway, with your cameras up and you gathering data on where and when the deer are on your land, you can overlay that data with the shape and outline of your land. I promise, this will not take long for you to see the traffic patterns and times when you have the most activity. For instance, my land was shaped like a “T”. The majority of the land was in the top section of the “T”. But after studying the pictures and rearranging cameras I found that almost all of my deer were using the slim 2 acre access lane to get to the back 8 acres. What I found, was that the farm on one side and the hunt club on the other had, over the years, scared the deer into using my little access lane to move safely, get to the pasture area, and then disappear into thick swamp area beyond my property. When I figured this out, I was super excited. By looking at the aerial picture, I could see that my hardwood area was a travel route, my pasture land was an early morning and late evening feeding area, and right behind me was impenetrable thick ass swamp. I knew that if I could hang stands in the right places, I would see deer, lots of them, and often.
Enhance Your Land to Benefit the Deer
So this little section is one of the things I am most proud to write about. We have all heard the old saying “When Life Gives You Lemons….” Yeah yeah….Make Lemonade, whatever…..but hear me out on this. You can’t make your small property act like a 3000-acre hunt club. You can’t “KEEP” deer on your little parcel of land (trust me… the people that think they “keep” deer on their 300 acres are full of shit….deer move….a lot…and often….). You need to find out what the deer like about your property and enhance that, enhance the things that the deer are using, enhance what they want. For me, I could see that they were using the travel corridor, eating, and bedding down in the thick swampy neighboring property. I could see that does were hanging in the field longer than bucks. I could see that this behavior was consistent. So, I tried to enhance the things that made them comfortable, take the things they liked…and make them better. First, I put a feeder on a timer in the pasture about 40 yards from where they cut through the fence to their bedding area. I set the timer for 30 mins before first light, and 30 mins before last light. They quickly found that the feeder was close to their escape route, they could see it from the thick cover to make decisions on weather to come out or not. Lastly, they could feed and be gone into the safety of the swamp in seconds if they felt threatened. Next, I took a chainsaw and removed some of the perimeter trees in the travel corridor. My goal here was to open some sunlight up for the natural wax myrtles and ground cover that surrounded that area. Basically I was trying to make it harder to see into this area from the ground. It took less than a year, but thick bushes grew up on the sides of this area and made this a sanctuary that made the deer feel safe…. they even started to bed in there in the second year and still do from time to time. I can easily hunt this area with ladder stands as I can see down into the area, but you cant see a damn thing when you are on the ground. Lastly, I put some mineral blocks out, and made sure I kept the feeder running all year. During the spring and summer months, I dialed back the amount of corn that would spread, but mostly I kept it consistent.
Set Your Stands for Patterns & Wind
At this point in the game, you have deer on your land, you have info and data as to what they are doing, and you are ready to fill your freezer. I don’t know where you live, but my particular piece of property was about 300 yards from the intercoastal waterway, like…. you can smell salt water and pluff mud when you are in your stand (anyone not from the lowcountry, I will wait while your google “pluff mud”…..its good/stinky stuff….). Most of you will have prevailing wind that will come from one direction and go to another (not all the time everyday…but more often than not). In your case, study and find your most common wind pattern and direction, set your first stand downwind of your feeder and entrance point. Then set another for the opposite wind. I do this in my travel corridor as well as one more place on my property. The goal here is to have a place to hunt no matter the wind direction. Wind from west? Hunt stand A. Wind from the south, hunt stand B, so on and so on. For anyone coming to the lowcountry to hunt…the damn wind can switch with the freaking tides…so at 3:30 you are perfect…..hightide at 4:00…wind turns….you’re screwed……..Oh…I’m not complaining…we’ve got good oysters and shrimp…so I can deal with this minor inconvenience. I guess my main point here is if you know the deer are coming from one place, to another, and you know relatively what times they are moving…….your stand locations should be obvious.
Don’t be Picky and Don’t be a Dick
Ok Ok, I don’t mean to be harsh here, but I am 100% serious…don’t be a dick. You have 10 acres, the chances of a Boone and Crocket Buck posting up perfectly broadside and dropping dead at 25 yards is slim….not impossible…..but let’s be real. I look at 10 acres as a “beggars can’t be choosers” situation. Now, I have shot a buck on my 10 acre parcel every year. I am super thankful for being able to get some antlers on the wall from this little slice of property. But I don’t believe for one minute that a particular buck will “grow” and be a shooter for me next year. I don’t pretend that I own some vast ranch and I am “raising” quality deer. I use this little property for my kids, my friends, and my family to fill their freezers. We use it to get outside, enjoy some sunrises and sunsets and to have an easy place to hunt. We don’t expect to see monster deer (we are lucky if we do), mostly we just take a buck, a few does, and hammer the rabbits and squirrels. We set our expectations so that we are happy with what we get, not expecting the unlikely. So now that we have addressed the “Picky” part, let’s talk about not being a dick. Let’s face another fact, you’ve got 10 acres (or a small property), you are going to have neighbors. My advice is to make friends. Be nice, leave notes on fences or driveways with your cell number introducing yourself. If you see neighbors or folks around, say hi, give them your number. Chances are, you are going to need these people at some point. They may have owned the property next to you for a hundred years, they may have disliked the last person that owned your property. They may dislike the people on the other side of you. You never know….so be nice. Smile, turn the other cheek if they piss you off…..Most importantly, talk to them, find out what they do, find out what they like. People love to talk. A buddy of mine has 60 acres and made friends with a hippie, tree hugging, farmer next to him. Turns out that deer have been destroying his peach trees and are eating the hell out of his soy beans…….just by being friends and not jumping to conclusions…he was invited to hunt the hippie farm…… and that opened up another 220 acres to him and his family (and freaking prime hunting). So, find out what your neighbors like, bring them some venison, a bottle of bourbon, or a 12 pack of beer. Being friendly goes a long way on a winter night when you need to stomp through their land to find your bleeding deer. Be nice, it gets you places.
Lastly, I would be a jerk myself if I did not mention that safety is a real concern when hunting a small property. Weather you are shooting at deer or squirrels, you know your bullet travels….it travels far….and fast. When hunting a small piece of land, you ALWAYS need to be cognizant of what is behind/beyond your target. You need to know where your bullet can potentially go and be 1000% sure you are safe. Want to piss off your neighbor? Shoot in their direction…once. Rain pellets down on their car…once…..you will have an enemy on your hands and the game warden will be stopping by for a visit. Be safe. I only hunt from stands on my small parcel, bullets go down and into the ground, we don’t shoot level or into other properties.
While I spend a good amount of time on public land, WMA’s, and a smattering of private land, I have grown to love my little “T”, we affectionately call it the “Meat Locker”….. When a friend or a kid wants to get their first deer, it is the perfect spot. When you want to hunt but just have a quick afternoon for a get-away the “Meat Locker” is always ready to produce. We are lucky to have access to any land and we surly don’t take being outdoors for granted. Pay attention to what you have, study your land. Take the great features of your property and make them better. Prepare for what you know, prepare for the wind, prepare for what you know the deer are doing. And lastly, set your expectations low, and don’t be a jerk. Your 10 acres can be secret haven for you and your deer. Good luck.
-C
Thanks for reading.