OldBuckstalker1187

LOL, some of the biggest deer I EVER seen constantly bed down in hedgerows behind people's houses because they don't feel the hunting pressure like they do out in the "big woods" Some of these hedgerows are no wider than 20 ft. at some places, it is very thick and laden with slash and briars, but they ALWAYS bed there. Don't get discouraged, your 15 acres is fine depending on the set up and lay of the land and how many other hunters are out there on the 15 acres with you. If you are out there by yourself, there is a good chance that you can still get one. It can be even better if the hunting pressure on adjacent lands is heavy enough to push them your way. This could infact create a solitude for them and make them want to stay on your smaller less hunted land atleast for longer time frames. This may not make them want to call it their new home, but who knows, they might just decide that too. If anything, as hunting pressure around you increases and the deer season lingers on, it might be best for you to set up a stand at and interception point between your adjacent lands and your food source. Without me seeing the exact set up, its hard to tell what is the best thing to do. Depending on the way your woods already are and the location of your food source as in relation to your surrounding private lands, you can set up such things as "honey holes" that bring deer in, not just food sources, but "how they get there" This is sometimes just as important as the food source is and in my opinion EVEN MORE IMPORTANT. Because it is more likeley for a hunter to shoot a buck or doe on its way to of from its bedding area than it is to sneak that close to a bedding area without spooking all your deer out anyways. Sometimes finding a good funnel or draw ( or being able to create one ) is more optimal than creating a bedding area. Also look into staging areas, it might be better to see if you can find something ( or make something ) in your area that will be a good staging area and setting up a stand on the inskirts or the outskirts about 40 - 45 yrds away would be a good way to go. There are alot of things that can and could be done depending on the setup already there, but without seeing it for myself it is hard to tell. For the last 16-17 years I have been hunting on private land and have permission from about 6 farmers that own the land. Combined we are talking around 640 acres. For the most part, the acreage is made up of feilds. There is only about 38 or so acres that is actually the hardwoods. There are other small patches here and there, but for the most part, the largest concentraded section of woods is only about 38 acres. For about the first 6 years of me hunting there, I prefered a particular section of wood that was between 2 feilds. It is only about 10 acres in size. Most people that seen this spot said that it was garbage, but what I found was that particular section of woods was a PERFECT funnel for deer to get to a food plot and a nice water hole. I have shot ALOT of deer and ALOT of bucks from about 3 different stands in those woods. 2 bucks had over a 21 1/2 inch inside spread with the larger being 23 1/8th inches to the inside. I have always managed to get my deer every year that I hunted there. It wasn't until the " Ideal" bedding area grew up very thick after about 8 years that I stopped seeing deer in that section of woods. Do you know why? Because deer didn't need to use the woods for cover, they had even more cover in the newly grown up slash and briars than was ever offered to them from the woods. And even better, they now had a place to bed, browse, walk around to facilitate digestion WITHOUT EVER BEING SEEN. This is great for a deer, Not for a hunter. I could hear them moving all day in there, but i could never get a shot off through there if I wanted. So it was basically worthless to me. Even if I snuck in to " jump a buck" from his bed, he was halfway to the other county before I would see him. Because it was so thick, they would hear me and smell me coming before I could even get a good visual. And even if I did see them, it was so thick I could not even raise my gun up in there to shoot them. So to cure this problem, I had to improvise. I started to cut out paths through this thick mess. ( wide paths) I would " induce" deer activity in concentraded locations through the hardwoods by finding trails they would use at night and incorporating them into hollowed out swaths made my a cicle bar mower. This once again encouraged deer to move through the woods, but not as much as I would have liked to. But them about 3 years ago, something "magical happened. The farmer decided to add an extra food plot at the far north/west end of his crop. And this gave me an idea to plant some high fox tail or similar ornimental grasses( that grows to about 2.5 to 3 ft tall) at the very end of the thick bedding area which was also adjacent to the new food plot. What that created was a " perfect" staging area. And since then......OHHHHH let me tell ya the bucks that meander there way on the inside of those hardwoods now, weaving in and out of those bedding areas in an attempt to "bump" some estrous does. And sometimes either early in the morning, or as the dusky light starts to dwindle in late afternoon you will catch a lone buck making its way either to or from that staging area in an attempt to " size up" the estrous does that might be feeding in that nice corner food plot. This is jst an Idea of the things that can be done, it all depends n your set up, and without seeing it its really hard to tell. Dont get discouraged with your small patch of land, it could just turn out to be the perfect honey hole if the right circumstances present themselves. Just remember, I have hunted an area that was over 600 acres for the last 16-17 years....but it was the little patch of woods the size of about 10 acres that nobody wanted to hunt that gave me ATLEAST 2 deer EVERY year. Come to think of it, there is nobody else that hunts the adjacent lands that can say they have taken even 1 deer each year for the last 16-17 years. So to answer your question, dont count yourself out, try to find ways that might encourage those deer to make their way through your set of woods....Good hunting and God Bless!!!