sanctuary

[diamond hunter]

Ok,Ive got about 35-45 acres in the center of my property.Its been my sanctuary with hinged cut trees in the center for bedding and its thick for the past 6 years.Small bucks galore and does galore constantly pile out of it.Yesterday I saw 16 deer before 10.Ive hunted all sides of this sanctuary over the years and have had plenty of pics of big deer over the years.This year I didn't use trail cameras and have tried to stay away from the place.Question,since I seen unable to kill a mature buck on this farm what do I do,go into my sanctuary after season and put up a couple stands near this bedding and then selectively stay out and then next year slip in there and hunt it? Ive spent a fortune on this property and am tired pf deer watching and shooting does.This year Ive passed on several 8 pointers and other bucks.BTW,This year there was 62 acres of corn on my place and 50 next door and I have several green plots scattered around.Want to kill a small buck or doe?Easiest place in town,want to kill a 130" buck ,keep looking.What to do,go in sanctuary or stay out?

 

[diamond hunter]

Forgot to add,I have control of 354 acres there and farm is in Macon,sumner co.I prob hunt 12-14 hunts per year.including all day sits at times adjacent to sanctuary and bedding.My approach is silent and not passing sanctuary in any way ,2 entrances into hunting spots.

 

[landman]

Ok,Ive got about 35-45 acres in the center of my property.Its been my sanctuary with hinged cut trees in the center for bedding and its thick for the past 6 years.Small bucks galore and does galore constantly pile out of it.Yesterday I saw 16 deer before 10.Ive hunted all sides of this sanctuary over the years and have had plenty of pics of big deer over the years.This year I didn't use trail cameras and have tried to stay away from the place.Question,since I seen unable to kill a mature buck on this farm what do I do,go into my sanctuary after season and put up a couple stands near this bedding and then selectively stay out and then next year slip in there and hunt it? Ive spent a fortune on this property and am tired pf deer watching and shooting does.This year Ive passed on several 8 pointers and other bucks.BTW,This year there was 62 acres of corn on my place and 50 next door and I have several green plots scattered around.Want to kill a small buck or doe?Easiest place in town,want to kill a 130" buck ,keep looking.What to do,go in sanctuary or stay out?

I'd start having the farmer leave 5-10 acres of standing corn in the future

 

[TomBanks]

Ok,Ive got about 35-45 acres in the center of my property.Its been my sanctuary with hinged cut trees in the center for bedding and its thick for the past 6 years.Small bucks galore and does galore constantly pile out of it.Yesterday I saw 16 deer before 10.Ive hunted all sides of this sanctuary over the years and have had plenty of pics of big deer over the years.This year I didn't use trail cameras and have tried to stay away from the place.Question,since I seen unable to kill a mature buck on this farm what do I do,go into my sanctuary after season and put up a couple stands near this bedding and then selectively stay out and then next year slip in there and hunt it? Ive spent a fortune on this property and am tired pf deer watching and shooting does.This year Ive passed on several 8 pointers and other bucks.BTW,This year there was 62 acres of corn on my place and 50 next door and I have several green plots scattered around.Want to kill a small buck or doe?Easiest place in town,want to kill a 130" buck ,keep looking.What to do,go in sanctuary or stay out?

I'd start having the farmer leave 5-10 acres of standing corn in the future

This. That's what I'm doing next year with my new farm as well as about 5 acres of beans.

 

[RobbyW]

Ok,Ive got about 35-45 acres in the center of my property.Its been my sanctuary with hinged cut trees in the center for bedding and its thick for the past 6 years.Small bucks galore and does galore constantly pile out of it.Yesterday I saw 16 deer before 10.Ive hunted all sides of this sanctuary over the years and have had plenty of pics of big deer over the years.This year I didn't use trail cameras and have tried to stay away from the place.Question,since I seen unable to kill a mature buck on this farm what do I do,go into my sanctuary after season and put up a couple stands near this bedding and then selectively stay out and then next year slip in there and hunt it? Ive spent a fortune on this property and am tired pf deer watching and shooting does.This year Ive passed on several 8 pointers and other bucks.BTW,This year there was 62 acres of corn on my place and 50 next door and I have several green plots scattered around.Want to kill a small buck or doe?Easiest place in town,want to kill a 130" buck ,keep looking.What to do,go in sanctuary or stay out?

I'd start having the farmer leave 5-10 acres of standing corn in the future

This. That's what I'm doing next year with my new farm as well as about 5 acres of beans.

Do you pay him extra for this? 3-6k per worth of corn there


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[hunttherut]

Thats a lot to ask of the farmer


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[diamond hunter]

Ok,the deer around me have plenty of food,there is still lots of corn in the fields.Food is my least problem.Again,I saw 16 deer yesterday,all eating cause I hunted the edge of a long cornfield.

 

[chris1976]

Lower your standards or keep waiting. If you have set aside a sanctuary then I would leave it as that. Once you start intruding it is no longer a sanctuary. With that many does a mature deer will eventually slip up. Just have patience and hunt when you can.


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[John3]

I think your sanctuary may be too large. I would probably have 1 that was 1/2 that size or 2 spaced out about 1/4 of that.
Those deer are way too safe and probably never have to leave that area.

 

[Crosshairy]

I think your sanctuary may be too large. I would probably have 1 that was 1/2 that size or 2 spaced out about 1/4 of that.
Those deer are way too safe and probably never have to leave that area.

I tend to agree. That's an awfully big area, but now that it's established, I don't know how easy it would be to adjust the practice - maybe put a couple of stands on half of it, and leave the other half as is?

If it were me, I would have a couple of stands in there that were of a robust enough design that they didn't need much maintenance (think sturdy steel stands) so you could leave the place alone . With 34 acres of thick stuff, you could easily have several spots carved out within it.

Then, I'd probably hunt each of them towards the end of the season after my other spots dried up. I'd reserve them for shooting "the one", and let everything else walk.

Some people disagree with me about the purpose of a sanctuary - in my book, it's a temporary designation to be saved in reserve. I've seen plenty of folks use it as a "thou shalt not enter" area, which has its own benefits. I guess if I had a property that was really huge, I could afford to do that, but I've never been in that boat.

 

[cbhunter]

I think your sanctuary may be too large. I would probably have 1 that was 1/2 that size or 2 spaced out about 1/4 of that.
Those deer are way too safe and probably never have to leave that area.

agreed

 

[double browtine]

After the season this year, I would find the main trails leading into the sanctuary from all sides. Then place 4 strategically placed 20 ft tall stands to hunt each wind direction. Juice up these sites with trophy rock, and anything else legal to hunt over.

 

[diamond hunter]

Ok,about placing stands for each wind direction,you talking about wind blowing in or blowing out of the sanctuary,also,are these stands on the edge of the sanctuary or inside the sanctuary 20 yards or so.

 

[Mike Belt]

It's hard to say much about your sanctuary not knowing anything about the land surrounding it and how many acres you have control over. It's sounds thick and that's just what the doctor ordered. You may have too much of it at least in 1 block. You'd be better served if you had that much in 3 sections but I don't suppose you want to start over again. I might reduce the size of what you have. 35 acres of thick stuff that no one enters can reek havoc on deer sightings. Still I would think you'd have seen some mature deer there by now. How much time do you spend hunting and what's the hunting pressure like around you?

 

[diamond hunter]

I hunt prob 12 times a year including some all day sits(maybe 2) and there is hunting on 3 sides of me.350 acres total and the sanctuary isn't that thick in many places,Id say easily 10-15 acres is thick after hinge cutting. You guys have made up my mind,after season I'm going to scout hard in there and hang a couple stands in easy to get to spots.Both next to very thick areas where deer are traveling out.Ill be done in there by Feb and just stay out until rut next year and only do a couple all day hunts.There is a cedar thicket at the top of the hill Ive only been there a couple times in 6 years.Trails litter the area,I guess that's a great place to start and then down towards the thicket where the hinge cuts are.There are several places in there Ive never seen.

 

[landman]

Thats a lot to ask of the farmer


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Well it goes without saying it would effect you rent income
Its not hard usually to work something out with farmers
I actually plant my own

 

[fairchaser]

Since you don't put out cameras, how do you know you aren't hunting a ghost? You need to know what you are hunting and pattern him with cameras. Old school is fine but if you want to kill a mature buck, first you have to have one using the property. Post season I would put a camera in that sanctuary and only go in once and out once. Watch your scent too. During the season I would have cameras outside the sanctuary in several census locations. Make sure you hunt hard during the peak of the rut and target a specific mature buck if possible. Good luck!

 

[double browtine]

Ok,about placing stands for each wind direction,you talking about wind blowing in or blowing out of the sanctuary,also,are these stands on the edge of the sanctuary or inside the sanctuary 20 yards or so.

Without knowing the terrain, it would be difficult to to tell you exactly. Its always best to have the wind in your face, however I would not want to hunt a stand when the wind was blowing from your stand location into the sanctuary. Bucks will most likely check scrapes from down wind. So a specific stand may be ok with a crosswind. During bow season wind is more critica to get a deer in close. If your sanctuary has a deep hollar, or low area, then the deer are most likely to come out of the hollar from a saddle, or maybe the steepest slope. Get an aerial map, plot the main trails coming out of your santuary and hang camera's. Then log the weather(wind, direction, sunny, cloud, etc) along with each day and trail cam pic you get of mature bucks. Then you can maybe figure out a pattern of route he is using. This is good for early and midseason, but during rut it is hard to predict his movement. Main thing is to be scent free as possible, and don't overhunt an area. I would think that your best location would be between the santuary location and the primary food source for the time of year. Lots of big bucks are killed every year in food plots late season, when all the acorns are gone. Just my 2 cents.

 

[diamond hunter]

So it wouldn't hurt to run the cameras I have now on the trails exiting the sanctuary leading to the fields? At least that will tell me I have a shooter in there or not.

 

[tree_ghost]

I think your sanctuary may be too large. I would probably have 1 that was 1/2 that size or 2 spaced out about 1/4 of that.
Those deer are way too safe and probably never have to leave that area.

I tend to agree. That's an awfully big area, but now that it's established, I don't know how easy it would be to adjust the practice - maybe put a couple of stands on half of it, and leave the other half as is?

If it were me, I would have a couple of stands in there that were of a robust enough design that they didn't need much maintenance (think sturdy steel stands) so you could leave the place alone . With 34 acres of thick stuff, you could easily have several spots carved out within it.

Then, I'd probably hunt each of them towards the end of the season after my other spots dried up. I'd reserve them for shooting "the one", and let everything else walk.

Some people disagree with me about the purpose of a sanctuary - in my book, it's a temporary designation to be saved in reserve. I've seen plenty of folks use it as a "thou shalt not enter" area, which has its own benefits. I guess if I had a property that was really huge, I could afford to do that, but I've never been in that boat.

This is phenomenal advice!!!! You have to make a calculated strike in that area given there is a killable buck on your property (I think there is if you say you've had pictures of them in the past). 40 acres believe it or not is MORE than enough property for a mature buck to live in and never be seen by you in daylight! This spot strikes me as a textbook staging area set.


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[ROUGH COUNTRY HUNTER]

The mature bucks are not going to lay in there with those does and small bucks in my experiences.find your points and set up cutting them off from your food source