Can you really make a difference?

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richmanbarbeque

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Middle, Tn
I hear all the time from guys that own small properties, "There is nothing I can do, my property is to small".

Although I agree the challenges mount up fast but the questions are, what are you going to do about it? Or, how bad do you want to see a change?

I have owned our little 59 acre plot of land for 4 years. As recent as last night I had a guy ask me if I bought it a few years ago. He said "My dad looked at that place and didn't buy it because it was a mess". He was blown away how it changed in just a short amount of time.

Over 50 hours of dozer work, 600 plus trees planted and the list goes on and on. I have spent countless hours out there, lot's of gas money and more sweat equity than I care to calculate.

BUT,I also seen our place take 6 deer off of it this year with us passing on deer until the very last day of the season. tons of food, tons of cover, tons of browse and tons of enjoyment. I am not posting to brag i'm just asking how bad do you want to see your property improve? Quit complaining and quit procrastinating. It's time to work. Before green how about you plant trees, clear roads, expand food plots, burn areas, lime, hinge cut, cut trash trees and I know I am forgetting a bunch.

After all of this I am going to BSK's place and do some tukey hunting. Anyone else want to come? Ha! :grin:
 
richmanbarbeque said:
After all of this I am going to BSK's place and do some tukey hunting. Anyone else want to come? Ha! :grin:
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Please shoot all those big nasty feathered acorn-eating rats. They make too much noise when I'm trying to deer hunt! ;)
 
Although some hunters expect too much from management on a small parcel (you aren't going to "grow" bucks to maturity on 50 acres), owners-managers of smaller parcels CAN produce noticeable, measureable improvements in hunter experience.

The trick for small-land managers is attracting deer to the property during daylight, during hunting season. The more time a deer spends on a property during daylight during hunting season, the more control the land-owner/manager has on that deer's mortality (whether they live or die). In addition, the more attractive a small parcel is to a target animal (such as an older buck) the more time that animal spends on the small parcel and the more opportunities the land-owner/manager will have to harvest that animal.

Make your small property the most attractive in the area--especially more attractive than your neighbors' properties'--and your parcel can be used by an amazing number of deer, far more than the acreage would suggest. For example, my place is 3/4 of a square mile. Our local pre-hunt deer density is somewhere around 20-25 deer per square mile. With that density, and a sex ratio of 1.2 adult does per adult buck and a fawn recruitment rate of 80%, each square mile should have around 6 to 8 bucks. Because my property is only 3/4 of a square mile, I should have 5 to 6 bucks. Yet from August 1 through the end of deer season, trail-cameras photographed 41 different bucks using my property as some point, 39 of those bucks using the property during deer season, including 19 bucks 2 1/2 or older.
 
What would you say to those people that say, "my property isnt manageable!" For a face to face with Rich or BSK that is the comment I would give simply to get a response. I will 100% admit my comment is based of my lack of knowledge and inexperience of managing property solely for animal harvesting.

You two are obvious light years ahead of me on the topic, so what would you say to someone in my situation of "my property isnt manageable". I base that comment off of these reasons; the 300 acre parcel of land is 90% significant hills and hollows, with the rest being river bottom in Hump Co. Any flat area to harvest food source would be too small, has incredibly rocky soil that is bare because nothing grows on it, or is river bottom that floods constantly from December to summer pool.

My assumption is your recommendations are going to be around funnels, creating thick cover, and other comfort areas within the hills and hollows of the land that would serve as natural attractants for deer. Without making this post as detailed and long as I would like to make it, my goal is to give the hunters on my land the best possible chance to harvest bucks on an annual bases. Large bucks have been killed and scene on a yearly bases in these woods but to this point it has 100% been based off of "right place, right time".

My ultimate goal is to not hunt with my confidence in harvesting or even seeing a shooter buck, being based off being in the right place at the right time. I want to be confident that the deer are using my property due to what it offers. How do I get my property with the limitations noted, to that point?
 
ngpirtle, One thing that I do that some may seem to think is crazy invison what something could look like. Right now is a great time to walk the woods and look for terrain features and suttle changes in the landscape to do whatever you want to do.

I have a spot on my place that is a great bench that I have a plot on. It is very small but I have also taken a pic of the most impressive buck I ever have(not the biggest). While in my stand late season I started to visualize where I would expect a mature deer to come from and go. I noticed along the edge of this area another bench that was perfect for travel while coming off a ridge. They currently turn and either go to the plot or the opposite way down a two trac road. I will change their habit with habitat improvements. The area is about 50% done and I am going to plant some trees in that little after I burn it. I want them to have natural browse and some kind of fruit/nut to help create a different pattern. I promise in a few years once the area is what I want it to be I will kill a mature deer there...might only be a doe but I will get the desired results I want. My point? Once you have a vision for your place that is when you can't start making a change. As far as me knowing more than you? I doubt it, I just have made myself a student and learn, learn, learn. We have so much resources at our finger tips it's crazy. This place is a one of them. www.growingdeer.tv is a great place to watch and learn. We also have some very good books available to read. QDMA website has a forum that is awesome.I have realized I have no excuses not to make my place the best it possibly can.
 
ngpirtle said:
I want to be confident that the deer are using my property due to what it offers. How do I get my property with the limitations noted, to that point?
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First off I would not say that your property isn't manageable. I have 350 acres of similar terrain in Perry County and it is definitely manageable. Instead of food plots you should focus more on maintaining early successional growth. If your property is all mature hardwoods, get some sections logged and put in a firebreak around these locations. Then burn them about every 4 years. Keep them on a rotation so that they are not all at the same stages of growth. This way you will always have optimum food and cover on your property. As Rich said, deer like to hang around the edges. Do some scouting and figure out their travel patterns. Food plots are overrated. They are good to have but are not necessary.

After you put in fire breaks you could always plant rye and wheat.
 
Rich, I just wanted to thank you for all your post on small property management. Although my property is a little larger, four years into owning it I am finally realizing that the best thing I can do is focus on one small section at a time. I have recently broken my property down into many sections and my plan is too focus on taking one section at a time and making it the best wildlife habitat possible. It is easy to get overwhelmed when dealing with a larger property. Anyway, thanks for your posts!
 
ngpirtle said:
What would you say to those people that say, "my property isnt manageable!" For a face to face with Rich or BSK that is the comment I would give simply to get a response. I will 100% admit my comment is based of my lack of knowledge and inexperience of managing property solely for animal harvesting.

You two are obvious light years ahead of me on the topic, so what would you say to someone in my situation of "my property isnt manageable". I base that comment off of these reasons; the 300 acre parcel of land is 90% significant hills and hollows, with the rest being river bottom in Hump Co. Any flat area to harvest food source would be too small, has incredibly rocky soil that is bare because nothing grows on it, or is river bottom that floods constantly from December to summer pool.

My assumption is your recommendations are going to be around funnels, creating thick cover, and other comfort areas within the hills and hollows of the land that would serve as natural attractants for deer. Without making this post as detailed and long as I would like to make it, my goal is to give the hunters on my land the best possible chance to harvest bucks on an annual bases. Large bucks have been killed and scene on a yearly bases in these woods but to this point it has 100% been based off of "right place, right time".

My ultimate goal is to not hunt with my confidence in harvesting or even seeing a shooter buck, being based off being in the right place at the right time. I want to be confident that the deer are using my property due to what it offers. How do I get my property with the limitations noted, to that point?
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ngpirtle,

That size property is VERY manageable, in that you can draw a significant number of deer to the property during deer season. Now none of those deer are going to live full time on your property, but you can influence them to spend a considerable portion of their daylight hours (legal hunting hours) on your property, hence control more of their mortality (whether they live or die). Although it sounds crazy, where deer spend their night-time hours at all times of year, and where they are day or night in winter/spring/summer is immaterial to controlling age structure and density (those things controlled by hunter harvest). The VAST majority of deer mortality is through legal hunting, and if you control more of the time they can be harvested, you control more of their mortality.

The trick for your sized property is providing as much of what deer want during hunting season as possible. Food is important, but deer can and will travel significant distances at night to feed. You need to be concentrating first on sanctuary cover and second on food.

As for hunting success being "at the right place at the right time," nothing will change that. Hunting results is always based on being at the right place at the right time. But wise habitat management--management based on not only producing the habitat deer want/need, but also management designed to produce predictable travel patterns--simply increases your ability to choose the right places at the right times. If you don't believe habitat management can be used to produce more predictable movement patterns, just talk to Richman about some of his experiences!
 
Good posts guys! With any luck I plan to buy a small piece of land in the next 5 years, hopefully! I will be asking for advice from you guys as well!
 
Rich, after you kill all of BSK's turkeys, come out and hunt with me !!! Maybe we can even get ole "Stick'N'String" to come along if he is not babysitting !!! Also, we are going to have to change his screen name .... HE IS TAKING A RIFLE TO ALASKA on our Moose hunt !!!!!!!!! After 10 days of hunting with my longbow, his rifle will be worth more than he knows !!! Haaaaa !
:D
 
Good point Bayou Buck !!! We are blessed with a relatively large peice in Perry Co. It is impossible for me to look at the entire property and what needs improvement without getting a headache!! Thank goodness we got BSK to help with a mangement plan !! I really enjoy the "micro-management" aspect, choosing small areas to work on that have less than desirable aspects. A chainsaw is a beautiful thing !!!! As are fruit trees and pines ....... and Bicolor lespedeeza, and NWS grasses and the site of a campfire in the evening with a cool one in my hand !! HeHeHeeeee !
 
WDS said:
Rich, after you kill all of BSK's turkeys, come out and hunt with me !!! Maybe we can even get ole "Stick'N'String" to come along if he is not babysitting !!! Also, we are going to have to change his screen name .... HE IS TAKING A RIFLE TO ALASKA on our Moose hunt !!!!!!!!! After 10 days of hunting with my longbow, his rifle will be worth more than he knows !!! Haaaaa !
:D
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Longbow? Awesome! That is very cool. I can't wait to see the pics.

Btw, heard your dad put it to the bucks this year. :cool:
 
Great post guys, my little piece has come a long ways, but I need to focus on improving some neglected areas. I have pole timber coming out my ears and I'm gonna have some hard work coming.

I also am going to limit traffic on it next deer season. This past year the back half had almost all the deer movement on it and I want to maximize the whole property and pull some deer to using the front 50.
 
Great post Rich, and to lend credence to what you are saying i remember when i came back home here from georgia in 1997 i did not see any food ploting by anyone anywhere in this entire area and was lamenting about the fact we were so far behind Georgia as a state because local clubs there had been doing it for years and the effects were awesome. Well in the 2000's clubs started popping up everywhere and so did plots. just a small one between properties makes a tremendous difference here in the months of december thru the entire month of March because the browse gets hammered both by wildlife and the weather. I can see tremendous strides in the effects of food plots in my immediate two counties and from the postings here on tn deer it is very evident that Tennessee hunters are now becoming second to none in their efforts to "make a difference". I am impressed by what folks are doing every where. We have close to 40 plots on our 3030 acres. and i can tell you we see a big difference!!! :)
 

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