hi guys im new to the forum so i hope i did everythng right. i have 18 acres of land near the city that i constanly see signs of deer like tracks and stuff but never see the deer. the land was logged but never cleared so its really thick. im not sure if they ' re just coming in there at night to bed or what. is there any thing i can do to hold them in there? it also hold water pretty badly.

Water is one of the main draws for deer; especially if it's the closest source around. Also, what you describe sounds like an excellent bedding area.

If you don't want to invest money on trail cameras, you can get trail timers. The string timers tell you which way the animal went at what time.(the first one anyway) The multi-event timers tell you what times the animals went by. They're much less money than cameras, but can at least tell you something about travel times.

Another thing to do is scout, one-time, find your ambush points and only hunt it when the wind is in your favor. Other than that, don't go traipsing around unnecessarily or you'll just push deer off that small parcel.

iSnipe

FYI, deer bed during the day. The low light and night is their active periods. When assessing a potential spot I go through the following:
Where are they eating/Drinking
Where are they bedding
What are there travel patterns
Perdominant area winds and what wind does to their patterns
Ambush sites based on movements and wind direction

#1 is sign which you say you have found. Now you'll need to find game trails, travel routes, etc as these will answer #1 and #2 on my above list. Once you have determined sources and bed you need to setup in transition(meaning they leave food for bed or vice vs and your set up inbetween). Of course factor in how wind direction relates to these movements. Tread carefully in the bedding area, this is the deers safety net/home and pressure here isn't a good thing.

sounds like a bedding are for sure-perfect spot for a trail camera if you have one. Tread lightly in here or you will push them right outta there. Sounds like a morning only hunting spot to me. Wait for them to come back to bed in the a.m.

yeah i know it needs to stay peacefull in there but the land is in louisiana so its very hard to keep trespassers out. by the thanks skeeter i did not know they bed in the daytime