TurkeyStalker

How many acres on average do you guys think it takes to hold deer in a specific wood lot? I have afarm thatI hunt that has corn and soybean fields with three small woodlots on them? The biggest might be 30-40 acres, the smallest being 15 acres.

Guss

Not realy sure what you are asking. Deer dont know were your property starts and ends, they use what ever cover they can find.

If there is food (corn, soybeans) there will be deer, some day.

To me it sounds like enuf land for a few deer. My uncle has a farm that is mostly hay feilds. On the east side of his hand is a section of woods that you can see threw and it holds tuns of deer. They dont need all that much cover.

later

Buck Huntin Girl

The property we hunt has a MAX of 7 acres, not sure how much exactly, but it ain't very big! We have quite a few deer going through it and bedding out in a swampy/grassy area. There used to be a TON of them til they cut 4 wheeler trails through it. The yin yins stay out during hunting season, but deer don't bed in it like they used to. They mostly use it for temporary cover and travelling through. Still, lots of deer around it though. I don't think it takes much, I know of one area where there is about an acre and a half of woods and there are a few deer in it.

bigbuckOO

One place i hunt is probably close to 70 acres i would say. The majority of that, 45 acres or so is a field which alternates from corn to beans. The woods i can see all the way through when the leaves are down like they are now. I see quite a few deer there, but very rarely do i see a good buck. Im still not sure if that is from lack of cover, or if the surrounding properties are shooting the smaller bucks. Directly across the road from where i hunt is a big landscaping business and they own probably 300 acres or so of woods. I think this is where most of the bigger deer are at and they rarely come out of there and across the road where i am at, and why would they? They have every sort of cover and food in there you could think of, plus a couple ponds and a nice creek and no hunting pressure.

IMO, you dont need a big number of acres, as long as you are in a travel route for the deer. Very few of the deer i see actually bed on the property i hunt, they simply move through it on the way to field to eat. I do think your chances are better for mature bucks though if you can find a larger number of acres, either that or find a small patch of acreage that connects into another property that has a lot of acres. One guy i talked with on another site shot a huge 10 point in the county next to mine during bow season, he told me only has permission to 17 acres, but that 17 acres is surrounded like a horseshoe by a woods that is half a mile long and 500-600 yards wide. He was out the first week of shotgun and seen another big 8 pointer "130 class", he ended up just filming it since he had already got the 10 point. He offered to take me and film me shooting that deer but i had already got a small 8 point the day before. He also got a trail cam pic of drop tined 12 point the other night. So, IMO, amount of acres doesnt matter if they are located in the right place, if there not, then you just are going to have hunt really hard.

Pat Curtis

Just like bigbuck said. I hunt an area where deer travel through...it's a perfect ambush site. They almost never bed down on my land..just pass thru it. When they do, I hunt bottlenecks...and it's money every time

buckhunter14

I hunt property that is about 5 acres and the big bucks love it because all the other hunters push them in there... I had 2 big boys come in there this year, although I don't see many deer during bow season, etc. it all pays off when pressure begins.

Buck Huntin Girl

We have a nice 10 pointer wandering around ours as well, about 140-150 class from hubby's estimates, however, we haven't seen him since last week of bow season (only had a few opportunities to go though). He may have been shot by the guy who hunts the neighboring propety, which is about 30 acres of trees. Hubby has shot a nice 8 and a nice 9 out of our area... that was when we had corn around us though. The amount of big bucks in our area DEFINITELY depends on what food sources there are to bring them in IMO.

Pat Curtis

I'll agree BHG. We had beans on our land this year...very few bucks moved thru the area then. As soon as they combined it off, and put wheat on...it was a magnet! Bucks like crazy. I still hope the "Texas deer" I took a pic of in the dark is still alive..and is around for next fall. HUGE 8pt with a small body.

Bob S

You don`t need acres. You need thick, nasty and impenetrable. A half acre of heavy cover will hold deer when the shooting starts if it is thick enough for the deer to feel safe there. Also if no one ever enters it to push them out.

Buck Huntin Girl

We saw our fair share of bucks this year, a couple of nice ones, but I would tend to think they were passing through. There was ONE nice buck that I saw twice in the same corner of beans/woods. I would guess he was bedded in the heavy stuff just inside that corner... I would also guess that he hightailed it outta there as soon as they started combining it and bailing it. I watched many deer eat the beans this year, but the biggest difference in beans and corn is that they have cover when they munch on corn, so they are more apt to stay there and around there. With the beans, they are content to munch on them in passing (from my observations), but the chances of them staying in there long are slim to none due to the vulnerability they feel when half of their bodies are above bean level.

I'm hoping for corn next year, we have a sweet set up if we have corn... three fields surrounding us, one is bordered on 3 sides with woods and thicket, the other two surround the woods completely. If we, by chance, would get 3 fields of corn, we'd be set up for some real wall hangers I can be sure of that. Haven't had corn anywhere for 3 years now.... and not so surprisingly, it's been three years since a wall hanger was shot by hubby!