Making the most out of a small parcel?

[Lost Archer]

Hey guys first post here, and was hoping you might be of some assistance.

I have just recently purchased 11 acreas, here is Wisconsin, about 30 minutes from my home. It is located right off of a decent sized river that flows to the mississippi.  The bottom half of the acreage is zoned wetlands, while the other half is forestry.  The entire thing is heavy wooded, with oaks, maples, pines etc.  Running through the land towards the river are small creeks, probably at the widest points maybe 2 feet wide.  I have only been inside the woods a few times now but consistently find lots of deer tracks rummaging through the creek bottoms most likely  using it as a water source.

The foilage I am not very good at identifying, around the creeks in some open meadows are some sort of tall grass, that looks like it has seeds growing on the ends of it.  Throughout the rest of the woods there are plants that grow about waste high underneath the tree canopy.  I would imagine a deer could bed down in there and never be seen.  Of course I do not get out in the woods in the summer very often, so everything looks quite a bit different than in the fall after the first frost.

I don't think I have the knowledge of the land to really try anything this season, but after one season of hunting I might have a better understanding about how the deer are moving through the land.

For the future I would like to plant some food plots, put some tree stands up for bow hunting and 2 blinds for gun hunting. But at this point in time I do not feel I know the lay of the land well enough to place anything or try to grow anything.

I guess more than anything I was hoping you all could give me some advice on utilizing such a small acreage successfully. During bow season it will just be myself on the land, but for our 9 day gun season I would love to take my Grandpa up and see if he can take a nice deer off of the land.

Cheers all,

LA

[SlowBowinMO]

I hunt a very similar piece of land a lot.  Tree stands are paramount to minimize your impact.  As small as it is, I would also suggest pretty much leaving it alone until late Oct. early November.  I would place a stand or two near the creek bottom travel routes to play different winds and hunt.

Food plots on this parcel would probably be an exercise in frustration IMO, but with the creek bottoms you might have a natural travel route you can use to your advantage.  Bucks especially will walk right up or through the waterway in my experience.

Congratulations on your purchase, have fun!

[Lost Archer]

I kinda had a feeling a food plot might not make a lot of sense, specially since all around are gigantic corn fields.  Would it make any sense to make some salt lick sites?  I read somewhere that you find an old stump, dig a 6 foot by 2 foot shallow hole (about 6 inches) and poor salt into said hole.  Then you place some of the dirt back over it and the deer will dig in it like a natural salt deposit.

Does this make sense?

[Marvin M.]

Chris,

I don't know much about season dates in Wisconsin so I probably won't be much help as far as that goes.

This time of year the vegetation hides the trails so it's not as easy to identify travel corridors.  Try to find the food sources.  You mentioned Oaks.  Deer love acorns.  If the Oaks are isolated, that makes it easier.  Look for places to set up either on the Oaks or on trails leading to them.

Also, watch for bottle-necks that would force deer to travel in certain areas.  Saddle Ridges, pinch points between the river and cliffs, etc...  Deer are just like us.  They look for the easy way to get from one point to another.  You can even pile brush to nudge them into certain travel corridors.

Early season is when you hunt the food sources.  Once the rut starts, they are more active but still visit the food sources.  Big bucks will try to parallel the normal trials so it is sometimes advantageous to set-up just off the trails, especially downwind, to catch them paralleling and scent checking the trails, looking for does.

Hope this helps.

Marvin

[James Wrenn]

I personally would leave things alone and just hunt it.Maybe pick a couple or three trees for differant winds to use a climber on.Hunt it and adjust stand sights acorrding to what the deer are doing.A place like that can be spoiled easy by doing things to change the deer patterns.Some places need pampering but that sounds like a place that just needs to be hunted and left alone the rest of the time.jmo

[Lost Archer]

Thanks guys for the advice,  I think I will follow what has been said.  I will try to keep my impact on this land minimal.  Obviously I have no real good first hand expierence on this land yet, so going and changing things just does not make sense.

What do you guys recommend for tree stands, store bought or something I build myself?  Since this is my land I can leave the blinds up permently.

Cheers,
LA

[Stone Knife]

I have 27 acres that i own and bow hunt in NY. I would just hunt it the first year and see how it goes. I plant food plots myself manly to feed the does and fawns in the spring and summer. Rarely if ever do i hunt over them. One thing you can do to help out your mast crop is spread a little fertilizer around the drip line of your oaks, this will improve your acorns come fall. And like was stated before deer love acorns.

[Marvin M.]

I'm partial to bought ones myself.  I know that a lot of people build their own, but once they get some weathering on them, I'm afraid of them.  You can get a ladder stand at Dick's Sporting Goods for about $50 that is fifteen feet.  I've got an old (12 years) API climber that I like as well as a Tree Suit.

Remember -- Safety First!

[madness522]

Another thing that might help is to get an arial view of you property.  Google earth is a good place to start.  The quality of their pics is decent enough to help you identify what the deer may be using your land for.  It might be just a pass thru to or from the bedding area.  An overhead shot will also help you figure out the best place to locate your stands.  Setting up your stands to play the wind has already been mentioned and most excellent advise.  But I would hang the stands now and then not go back until you plan to hunt.  Let you visit cool off and the deer will have forgotten you were there by opening day.

[Jason Lester]

I hunt a place that is about 12 acres. I used to have access to the neigboring 24 but I lost that when the property sold last year. (They hunt it pretty good.) On the other side is another 12 but only the back 6-7 is huntable. I need to get permission there too but the property I hunt is how they get to the other peice anyway.

I have several places I hunt on the property depending on the weather. This is my parents property and they have a house there as well so I realy have less than 12 acres to hunt. I try to walk around on it as little as possible but my parents are there all the time (probably actually helps me during season scent wise. because they are used to smelling humans.)

Anyway like others said. Scout it a little and figure out where to put stands, quickest in and out, stuff like that and then do alot of looking while your out there sitting on the stand this fall. I've hunted this property for years and have a pretty good idea where they will be and when. The more you hunt it the more you'll learn about it. Just don't over hunt it.

[bentpole]

Last winter if there was any snow on the ground after the season ended would have been a great time to do some scouting. If your parcel is surrounded by standing corn your land will be a hot spot once they cut that corn.I would sneak around after a rain before the season opens and check for heavy tracks around the creeks.Also oaks are pretty easy to identify if they  are dropping any acorns deer will eat them some time during the day.I wouldn't be surprised if there were some does that dropped fawns on your parcel.All good info given here. Try to find the quickest in and out like Jason said.Wear rubber boots and walk the creeks if possible to cover your scent.Move slow and watch for deer bedded down when you do decide to do some scouting.

[Brian Halbleib]

Contact your local DNR office and ask for contact info for the local wildlife biologist and/or the local forestry guy. They will be happy to give you advice about improving the property for wildlife/habitat. I own property in Ohio and the wildlife bilogist has come out to my property and gave me property-specific ideas. It's a great resource and is free.

A lot of folks think that managing small properties is a waste of time. That thinking just doesn't make any sense to me. Any time you make any piece of real estate more attractive, and beneficial, to wildlife, you'll get a lot more out of your property. Yes, of course you cannot implement any type of QDM on any successful scale but you can make the deer passing through stop a little longer.

If you are surrounded by giant corn fields, put in a couple quarter or half acre food plots with clover or alfalfa. Anything that is different from what the deer can get locally might be enough to make them visit more often. There's a lot of inexpensive, no plow blends on the market that only require hand tools to get going. And they can be put in small places that are already open or semi-open. A couple bags of lime and fertilizer can quickly fix any soil problems.

Don't short change yourself or be bothered by comments from folks who have massive plots of land. You should be proud of your 11 acres and feel free to experiment with some habitat improvements. It's a great feeling knowing that you will ALWAYS have a place to hunt no matter what happens to any other "spots" you may have access to.

-Brian
 www.bowyersjournal.com

[Marvin M.]

Here in KY, the Fish and Wildlife will actually reimburse you for improving a plot if it is at least 10 acres.  Have to make an application and they come out to look at it, but you can get reimbursed for food plots and nest boxes.

[Minuteman]

I'm gonna go with Brian here,you can improve the property to benefit the deer with a little work. Corn by itself is what ya call a one month wonder. Theres reasonable nutrition there for about a month then its just cover or useless to the deer.Its pretty low in protien (8%)compared to clover or many of the seed blends you can buy nowadays(Clover can be near 30%).
  Now if you can plant some veggies that'll ripen late in the year; some kinda turnip maybe or one of the late season food blends designed to peak late in the year, Brassicas pops into my head , you may have more does travelin' by your stand on a food plot and more does means more meat and more shots at bucks trailin those does during the rut.
 Nothing wrong with seeing how the deer use the area first before you go making changes to it though. I'd POST IT HEAVILY if it were mine, first thing.
 Have fun on it is the main thing.

[Drew]

Don't forget other wildlife too can benefit from small food plots like turkeys and pheasants.  Pheasant's forever have people that can help you set up food plots too, just look up a local chapter.

Congrats and enjoy the property!!

[wapiti792]

Personally I would use that piece of ground as ambush central. If it was a travel route/funnel look to it leave it be. Hang some stands and get outa there until its cruise time for the bucks(Late Oct on).

I have a similar piece of property that has a little drainage on it with corn on both sides. 11 acres total. I NEVER go there without the right wind and use it to ambush bucks that are using the funnel to either scent check does or run does out of the fields to better breeding cover. My last 2 came from that little funnel (see avatar), and it is holy ground for me.

I have bigger pieces to hunt but none better. You can have 1100 acres and not have a good funnel or travel route. Sounds like you are onto something! I'd say food plots might draw a few bucks to check does late in the year but you aren't going to really be feeding any residents of your property. I'd find some good oaks and call it a day. You can always add a food plot later. IMO terrain and ambush sites are the key to small tracts and food for those critters is just gravy on the taters(; Good luck!