saltflyz

I read lots about 250/ 500/ even 1000 acre farms. I also read lots about guys who have access to 10-15 acres to hunt. My question is do any of you own 30-50 acres (give or take) that you actively manage for game?? Just curious...As always thanks for any and all input

mauser06

my buddy had a camp on roughly 55 acres. 1/2 acre pond, creek in and out, some apple trees scattered all over one side, mature oaks and hard woods and also a nice thick creek bottom, wildblueberry fields etc. it was PRIME deer hunting land. only problem was we(or i should say camp owner) couldnt post the land...we COULD but if you do most people dont care or they will burn or vandalis the camp and property..sad but true. we couldnt keep guys off of it. opening day of rifle season and there was atleast 5 guys NOT from our camp and not permitted there. another problem was the back side was an old strip mine that got hunted HARD, the front and left side was the dirt road, and the neighbors owned the right side, which got hunted HARD as well. after the first couple hours all the deer were ran out of the property as well as surrounding properties. between guys tracking deer and chasing them around you had guys going back to camp at 9am, guys walking around etc. the guys in the camp were too lazy to drive it out at the end of the day so that didnt help. it had potential, but theres no way to keep others out and to keep the deer on the property. it was tough hunting but if we could posted the land and kept others off we would been much better off.

heck the tresspassers even took all the fish out of the pond!! road ATVs all over the land etc. fridays when we would pull in there would be guys with their trucks pulled through the yard right down to the pond banks!! couldnt do much about it. noone there to watch the camp all week and security systems didnt work. noone could get there fast enough. it got broken into more then once. most of the time it was kids and just stole booze.

small pieces of land can be gems, but up in the mountains were the camp was meant EVERYONE could use the land....sad..now around here in suburbia i hunt small pieces of land. they get hunted hard too but the bucks feast on corn etc and are pretty smart and can find cover and make it. thats why im bowhunting this year! first crack at them while they arent being chased around!

saltflyz

that sux...I guess the key with any land is what is around it, how accessible is it, and who the neighbors are. Too bad that spot was ruined by yahoos

GMMAT

My favorite tract of land I hunt is only 24 acres. Let me tell you, though.....On one side.....it backs up to MY 3 acres. On the ohter side.....is an 11 acre tract thats owned by an AVID hunter (He travels and hunts BIG, BIG game....and his wife won't let him shoot deer/turkeys on their land ). The back side backs up to 174 acres owned by the parks department.....and they don't allow hunting in there, either.

This little tract has an opening of about 1.5 acres in the middle.....an old homeplace .....and 2 creeks.

It is a GEM. I keep a feeder up...all year...except for turkey season.....and my mineral licks have REALLY been popular, this year.

BEST thing is.....I walk to it.

Jeff

IL-Cornfed

Most of the properties in my area of west central Illinois are smaller tracts in the 40 to 150 acre size. I have been fortunate to "manage" a few of them andeven managed to buy one a few seasons ago. I can honestly say that it is indeed possible to seriously improve the quality and the attractivenss of a small property. The 2 main issues thatI always address firstare harvesting aselected number of Does to improve sex ratios and concentrating on improving the properties nutrition thoughfoodplots and habitat management. In every instance the hunting improvedregardless ofneighbors and their attitudes. Of course, the more you can get neighboring landowners to work with youas a QDM cooperative the results can be amazing! Are their any specific questions you have or any specifics you would like to discuss. It's certainly one of my favorite subjects.

titleist_03

Right now I hunt on a 15 acres tract of woods that adjoins a 40 acre pasture with a few creeks and tree lines running through it. Since beginning to hunt it. I've added 1.5 acres of food plots. Planted 350 oak and persimmon trees and alos plan on planting the rest of the pasture with trees with a small food plot right in the middle. In the botttom of the pasture along the creek I'm going to make as thick as possible for a good bedding area. This will be located right in the middle of the property. I know I won't get much use out of many of the trees but my children will hopefully enjoy it.

bmwalker

I have about 30 acres that I hunt on, it is about half old pasture field that is grown up to about chest high and half hardwoods with some oak trees. It is connected to about fifty acres of woods(with a 1/2 acre pond)that my neighbor owns. I only started to really manage it this year with some food plots and salt licks but no one has hunted it in the last 20 years so I am seeing quite a few deer (mostly does). I am excited to see if I can draw and hold deer to this small piece of land. I will let you know how it goes.

JDH_bowhunter03

MY dads friend owns 80 acres in central WI that we hunt on. We haven't really tried to manage it, don't know where to start. Neighbors..... etc.

Dr Andy

A buddy of mine had the same problem in wisconsin but he fixed it. He met one neighbor (probably one of the ones illegally using the land) befreinded him and then gave him sole permission to hunt on that property. Guess what this guy made sure noone else came on that parcel including his own buddies!Problem solved