How to attract deer from neighbour’s acreage
 

Since you didn't list your state, it's hard to know what's legal or not in your area. Maybe go talk to the other neighbor across the road and see what he's doing. If he's been there for a long time, he can probably tell you a lot of the area history and what works and what doesn't.

I'd think of what Deer need to thrive, food, shelter, water, minerals. Minerals may be a good bet, Deer will travel long distances for the right minerals. Water is also a good one, depending on local availability.

One of my better success stories is planting American Plum on the sunny edges of the woods. Once it gets going it takes off, replants itself from the roots. More a bush than a tree and eventually turns into good cover as well as a food source. The starts (small plants) are fairly inexpensive.

Jerusalem Artichoke (Tumbulator) was also a success for me once established it spreads out over the years and the Deer use it for cover as well as forage. It grows over six feet tall. Vetch is another plant Deer like to browse and easy to grow once established, it can be hard to get started. The Jerusalem Artichoke seeds are cheap, the best results are from planting the root bulb,/tuber which I was shocked to find pretty darned expensive $7-$10 a pound. If I didn't have a bad back I could make some decent money digging up and selling the tubers from my plot. Easy to grow, drought-tolerant, Blue Corn fertilizer lightly spread every other year.

Putting out some mineral plots will likely draw some Deer onto your property, IMO it is better to put them in low moist/wet areas. But a stock tank with water also works. Certain minerals are necessary for Deer, part of the reason their noses are so good, they can detect these necessary minerals at a great distance.

People often overlook cover when trying to lure Deer in. They prefer bushes they can bed in and under. Tall weeds also work. Typically a Deer will have a few places it likes to bed down in. Someplace hard to sneak up on, shade, windbreak, and a back escape route. They will wander and forage then return to the same bed in daylight.

In my state most of your suggestions would be illegal
.

its NOT magic, to have deer WANT to be on your land, they need better food, cover and safety than what is else where!


your going to have a hard time IMO< to MAKE 15 acres into a great place deer want to be, and the main reason is this, its small, and once you start to hunt it, deer will tend to want to move off, to places they can feel less pressured!
it doesn't take much walking about on 15 acres for you to cove most of that land, and as such, that means deer will also know your about and again, they prefer less disturbance
so, what this means is for you to MAKE deer want to stay on your acres over others , is this land must appeal to them more than others!

its not impossible with your land, but its NOT going to be easy either and its most likely going to cost you $$ to make it better/
IMO< the first thing I would suggest is talking to your local forester. there a wealth of great info on suggestions on what you can do to make your land more appealing to wildlife!
maybe you can do some selective timbering to help rid yourself of some standing timber with value(meaning some $$ in your pocket) and then help you build a better landscape and natural food source on your land
timbering tends to help create better bedding cover down the road some, or with tree tops left
timbering larding area's can be made into food plots pretty easy, or, at least help get them in place.

before you go and TRY to plant anything or spend any money, I again would talk to your forester , and get info, about your soil (soil conservation office for this info too)
planting a LOT of things that deer like can help, but it again will NOT be cheap, and many times not a FAST fix either
think long term, and not immediate results!

as they build it and they will come, applies here!
but also keep in mind safety issue's with shooting too, as again, 15 acres AIN"T that large !

and if your doing a LOT of scouting on your land, YOU might be why the deer are else where, PRESSURE
as again, odds are any where on 15 acres your standing, a deer can smell , see or hear you!
more your outside , less likely they will want to be there!

Stop doing this would be a great start.

............I’ve tried leaving vanilla extract all over the place; used a garden sprayer to spray apple juice everywhere. I’ve left oats and molasses, and apples, carrots, and jars of peanut butter, yet no luck.................

You are placing unnatural scent everywhere.

My father had a salt lick right next to the cabin. We often had visitors right outside the kitchen window.

Not real smart and a real good way to attract a bear to break into your cabin. By the way, they rarely go out the same hole they made to go in!

HAHA< this made me laugh!

BUT I have to say this, some times they do

I had a young male bear here once jump thru the top screen on a shed door
about 4+ ft off the ground,
inside shed I had some bags of bird seeds
I caught the bear in the shed, he looked at me, quickly grabbed a 40 lb bag of seeds in his mouth and JUMPED out the door with the bag in its mouth
was a cheesy aluminum storm door, I am sure he could have push thru if needed, but that sucker jumped out bag in mouth like a deer over a fence!
BUT when he landed, he dropped the bag and ran off!!
looked back at me like DARN IT!! ALMOST had it!

it cost me like 2 bucks for a new screen, and to be honest was worth the costs to watch it happen LOL
it was rather funny to see a bear carrying a big bag of seeds in its mouth jumping thru a screen door window! HAHA!

never had him come back or any other damage here from a bear in almost 40 yrs here

I have food plots that seem to keep em happy enough to leave my other things alone I guess! LOL

even my gas grill has never ever once been touched by a bear here and I have LOTS of bears here, I tell my local wardens(I am close to a few)
I have well behaved bears, I don;t bother them, they don;t bother my things!, and you can laugh at me, as there about often enough I do talk to them at times and the plots are there's MY stuff is MINE!
I am sure some would say I have a few screws loose maybe, but again, 40 yrs and no damage, seems to be working for me?

I have seen cabins where bears broke in, usually through a door completely wrecked the place in every room, ate any food thy found and defecated all over the floors and the beds and when they decided to leave, they crashed through a window. You mentioned your grill, that is another favorite target because it smells so good to them. Many of these places were places where the owners fed bears when they were in camp and the bears showed up, When the bears showed up and the owners were not there they simply helped themselves and it was not pretty.