Understanding Whitetails
 

Hello Forum, this is my first post and I’m coming to you with some questions, I own 20 acres of private property, about 16 years ago a beautiful 12 pointer was taken right from the center of this property. Over the last 15 years my family has Hunted this property quite a bit with no success. Over the last two years we have not hunted it very much, are working on making a food plot (planted a 1 acre one but did not come in very well). We put food down for them in the winter and over the summer until we plant the food plot. Now we have a pond on the property, the food plot, and bedding covers. This year I hunted my stand 4 times. Each time seeing a deer which I can say has never happened in my 8 years of hunting this with my father. I saw 2 6 pointers, 1 8 pointer, and what we call a unicorn because he only had one horn. Now we left our cameras up all year and I just check them yesterday. And I have an amazing amount of pictures. Every single deer has horns, and there some very nice 8 pointers in these pictures. Ones we did not get on camera during the season. And a lot of deer we may have. Hard to confirm( if someone has a tip on how to confirm deer with similar racks on camera would be awesome). But now that these deer are here, are they here to stay, did we finally revitalize the land, and if so, can we hunt it again or do we have to continue to hunt it very sporadically still and hunt public land more. Or can we commite to this area and go for the 2 trophies we have on camera now, and how do we keep them there, while plowing and planting this food plot again without pushing them out. Sorry for the long post and any fedback is appreciated. Thank got in advance. Also just wanted to add, have no pictures of these deer alone, every time I see one deer there are multiple and they are together. I bachelor groups I’d imagine, and you have more than one bachelor group on an area of land??

i do not know what surrounds your land--but with only 20 acres you will never keep many deer on site 24/7 with the food you are putting out you are getting a lot of neighborhood der coming around-- get in quick this spring or whenever you plant--do your planting and get out, stay out except for very occasional quick trecks onto property also have stands up now during the winter off season. I believe your bucks most likely will always be transcient for the most part so if and when you have one in sights shoot it ! my 2 cents

There is 200 acres posted across the street from, which 2 people have permission to hunt, none of them being family members, and then everything else around me is posted with a power line that butts up against my property. So get deer in from all over. But I get them on camera almost everyday this time of year. And then it seems most of the bigger bucks stay, but not the biggest as of yet, hoping the food plot changes that. Thank you for your input, also kind of have that mind set, although more towards shooting anything 8 or bigger since there aren’t a lot of hunters I feel I have better odds letting them be. And we can never guarantee they all live, just hoping the right ones due.

There is 200 acres posted across the street from, which 2 people have permission to hunt, none of them being family members, and then everything else around me is posted with a power line that butts up against my property. So get deer in from all over. But I get them on camera almost everyday this time of year. And then it seems most of the bigger bucks stay, but not the biggest as of yet, hoping the food plot changes that. Thank you for your input, also kind of have that mind set, although more towards shooting anything 8 or bigger since there aren’t a lot of hunters I feel I have better odds letting them be. And we can never guarantee they all live, just hoping the right ones due.

If I was in your situation I would ALWAYS hunt and access a property like this very very sparingly! Big bucks go where they are not harassed. Let your property be a sanctuary for these deer. Go in as little as possible to hang/check trail cams and try to do it in the rain. When it comes time to hunt it, only hunt it on days the conditions are perfect. First sits are incredibly valuable. Every time you go on the property you are leaving scent behind, everytime you go in and leave scent you're decreasing your odds of killing a big buck.

i was getting ready to type the same thing....id find a really gnarly part of the property and turn it into a sanctuary where deer feel safe....set up stands and ways to get to them that keeps you out of the sanctuary and would let you hunt different wind setups. Then deer from all around would probably use it when hunting season starts when is really the only time it matters whether your land holds deer or not

Along what others have said, do a Google search for QDMA - Quality Deer Management Association. Lots of information available for turning relatively small plots of land into deer sanctuaries/magnets.