Property management - general questions

[Gordo]

I still need to take a chainsaw to my small 8 acre tract. Maybe pop in a small plot. It's already thick, but a day or two of work, along with a couple years of growth, and it should be prime.

Shit. That was a good two years ago when you dropped out and took a hike with me Jesse. Should be well on its way already. Argh!

I did have old 'asplunda' electric line clearing crew do some work back there. They cleared a line through some thick nasty shit on the back end of my property. Looks like a lawn. I did manage to drag a bunch of the tree tops they took out. Needed some blockage so people couldn't have clear sight down the cut. Hopeing to use that cut to my advantage late season.

 

[Boarhead]

Jesse is on it!
I agree with Chad 3 guys on 100 acres is tough but 5 is way too many.

 

[Gordo]

Would love to if I had one.

Google earth man! Find it. Take a screen shot. Edit it to get rid of exact location. And let her rip

 

[Gordo]

Jesse is on it!
I agree with Chad 3 guys on 100 acres is tough but 5 is way too many.

Very true, but I doubt all 5 are hunting like crazy.

If it was me, you, chad, Jesse, and Clay, and we all had no where else to hunt; the deer would either all be dead(ha, prob not), or they wouldn't think much of the place during day light.

 

[cspot]

Jesse gave you great advice. Sanctuary is probably one of the easiest things you can create and will keep more deer on your property. If it is thick probably the only thing you need to do is stay out of a designated area to give it to them. In almost all areas in Ohio there is plenty of food to provide a healthy deer heard. Genetics are also good in this part of the country. Age is the big key which comes from laying off young deer and having sanctuary for them to hide in.

What are the neighboring properties like? HOw much hunting pressure? Are they thick or mostly agriculture? There are alot of factors that go into what is "best" for your particular property. For example I live in PA and am surrounded by AG. It is of little use for me to planting large food plots when the neighbor has acres of corn and alfalfa. The sanctuary is on my property and all I do is put out a couple small plots for them to nibble on before they head after dark over to the neighbors to eat all night.

 

[jlane]

Another thing i would try to do is,Do recon on the bucks working your property,Age is key.
If you feel you have a mature buck thats not your standard, take him out. (Look back at my post on the one i took this week) 5.5 yr old buck, not what you want breading the does,
Pass on the ones that has potential in a few more years. A 130 class 3.5 yr old will up your quality of bucks, but a 100 in 5.5 yr old will not up your quality.
Does are also a big part of quality, take out some of the older does that you think are not producing twins.
Keep in mind too many old does will keep a lot of bucks off your property until the rut.
Too many deer on a small property will consume all the good food too quick, so heard size also helps.
Personally I would rather have- on our 80 acres- about 10/12 resident does that lives there, you will get other deer coming also, but these resident does will bring the big boys in when the rut rolls around.
One big thing that helped us this year was in late feb. i really poured out the minerals, saw tremindous growth on our 2.5/3.5 year old bucks. It also helps the does to have good healthy fawns.
I also try not to over hunt each
40 acre track, One stand permanant per 40 acres.
Stay away from where you think they are bedding, If you have to go in go in load and noisey, let him know you are there, don;t sneak up on him and spook him. suprise him twice and he will move. Thats why we see deer riding the truck or 4-wheeler.
could keep posting on this but it;s getting too long. Good luck

 

[Gordo]

Very true, but I doubt all 5 are hunting like crazy.

If it was me, you, chad, Jesse, and ***BIGZ***, and we all had no where else to hunt; the deer would either all be dead(ha, prob not), or they wouldn't think much of the place during day light.

Got threads mixed up

 

[BigZ]

Another thing i would try to do is,Do recon on the bucks working your property,Age is key.
If you feel you have a mature buck thats not your standard, take him out. (Look back at my post on the one i took this week) 5.5 yr old buck, not what you want breading the does,
Pass on the ones that has potential in a few more years. A 130 class 3.5 yr old will up your quality of bucks, but a 100 in 5.5 yr old will not up your quality.
Does are also a big part of quality, take out some of the older does that you think are not producing twins.
Keep in mind too many old does will keep a lot of bucks off your property until the rut.
Too many deer on a small property will consume all the good food too quick, so heard size also helps.
Personally I would rather have- on our 80 acres- about 10/12 resident does that lives there, you will get other deer coming also, but these resident does will bring the big boys in when the rut rolls around.
One big thing that helped us this year was in late feb. i really poured out the minerals, saw tremindous growth on our 2.5/3.5 year old bucks. It also helps the does to have good healthy fawns.
I also try not to over hunt each
40 acre track, One stand permanant per 40 acres.
Stay away from where you think they are bedding, If you have to go in go in load and noisey, let him know you are there, don;t sneak up on him and spook him. suprise him twice and he will move. Thats why we see deer riding the truck or 4-wheeler.
could keep posting on this but it;s getting too long. Good luck

Thank you. Very helpful. The property is behind the cabin so we use quads to get to our stands. I'm working on an aerial shot labeled up to post. Without thE use of trail cams over the past few years, how can we tell the age of the deer at a glance. With only seeing the deer while hunting I can not say for certain a deer is x yeas old or the same one as last year, etc.

 

[cspot]

Buy a few trail cameras to put out. Especially one over the mineral site as that will let you know what is there. You don't need an expensive camera to put out especially over bait or minerals. Trigger speed isn't important. I bought a cheap one a while back and it works as well as the more expensive one. I don't have any options for delay or anything, but it takes pics.

 

[Bigslam51]

Thank you. Very helpful. The property is behind the cabin so we use quads to get to our stands. I'm working on an aerial shot labeled up to post. Without thE use of trail cams over the past few years, how can we tell the age of the deer at a glance. With only seeing the deer while hunting I can not say for certain a deer is x yeas old or the same one as last year, etc.

If you want to get serious about this you gotta start running a few cams. Take inventory, make a list of the bucks that are on the hit list and the ones that will get a pass. That way everyone is on the same page.

 

[BigZ]

If you want to get serious about this you gotta start running a few cams. Take inventory, make a list of the bucks that are on the hit list and the ones that will get a pass. That way everyone is on the same page.

I have one cam, planning on getting 2 more. Inwas thinking feeders on timers but I like the mineral idea!!!

 

[Bigslam51]

I have one cam, planning on getting 2 more. Inwas thinking feeders on timers but I like the mineral idea!!!

From what I've heard from others is it takes a few years for a mature buck to get comfy with a timed feeder. I know when I put one on our property a couple years ago I never got one pic of a deer at it, so I took it down.

 

[BigZ]

Here's what I've learned so far, I'm going to put out 2 maybe 3 mineral plots on some active deer trails I've noticed. I will need to move 1 stand to get closer to the trails, I've been wanting to move it for over a year now. And watch watch watch. Then make a hit list and a save for later list. How do you store the extra minerals and is there a specific place to put it out? Next to a tree in the open etc?

 

[Big_Holla]

I know many have mentioned the number of people for the amount of acreage and you had replied that no more than 3 at one time, however with the number of stands it sounds like there is a good chance there is a TON of human scent all over the place. All the trails to and from the stands, riding 4 wheelers all around, etc. will put a giant damper on holding great deer. The idea of a sanctuary is a good idea to start. Will be interesting to see a map with all the stand locations plotted on it to observe how you enter/exit the property.

 

[jlane]

Here's what I've learned so far, I'm going to put out 2 maybe 3 mineral plots on some active deer trails I've noticed. I will need to move 1 stand to get closer to the trails, I've been wanting to move it for over a year now. And watch watch watch. Then make a hit list and a save for later list. How do you store the extra minerals and is there a specific place to put it out? Next to a tree in the open etc?

I like any place with deer activity, that holds moisture, perferably at the lower end of a food plot.
As far as ageing a buck, it takes a little experence, Dropped belly,swayed back,old looking big head, Not always but somewhat heavy horns, Look for shoulder to be as tall as hips.
If looking at him notice how he moves, slow delibrite movements. just like us old men, we just don;t have that spunk in our steps anymore.

 

[BigZ]

Ok guys, let me try again since everyone is caught up on the number of stands. There are platform type stands that are 30 years old and aren't usuable. There are also stands that are hung in what is now our sanctuary duento how thick things have gotten. So we have that going for us. There are 2 ways in/out. We may use 4 to 5 stands out of all of those. Others need to be removed or relocated.

 

[Bigslam51]

How's it a sanctuary if you have stands in it?

 

[BigZ]

How's it a sanctuary if you have stands in it?

Because we haven't hunted in that area in 5 plus years.

 

[Bigslam51]

Because we haven't hunted in that area in 5 plus years.

Gotcha

 

[BigZ]

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone to has commented. I know I'm looking long term but I need a starting point and everyone has given suggestions. Again, thank you and keep the suggestions coming!