Hey Grant, I have recently started watching your videos on youtube and have found them very helpful with deer management. I thought I would ask you for your thoughts on how I could better manage deer on my property. I hunt on a very small piece of land in central east Alabama, just shy of 100 acres, and do to intense hunting pressure from the neighbors the deer population is very week. The property has two agricultural fields one small 5 acre field that is surrounded by hardwoods and another larger one (about 10 acres) that has hardwoods on one side and connects to a neighboring field on the other. Between the fields is a large bottom area covered in hardwoods and a creek that runs through it. The history of this property is not that great with only a couple nice 8 pointers that have been harvested in over a decade. The main reason I think there is such a lack of deer in this area is because the neighboring property owners hunt with dogs relentlessly while I enjoy stand hunting. In fact the majority of the times I have seen deer here is when a dog has run them by my stand. I was wondering if you had any advice on how to keep deer on my property. I get good pictures of nice bucks during the summer but they disappear when the season starts up. I do my best to keep food plots in the fields but we lease them out to local farmers so I usually can\’t get plots planted until early fall. Lucky for me he decided to plant peanuts this year. But is there anything you would suggest that I do to keep deer on my property and away from the neighbors dogs? Thanks for any advice you can give.
Cade,
I always consider where the best food, cover, and water are on the property where I hunt and on neighboring properties.
The ag fields, especially when they are planted in soybeans or peanuts should attract deer. This is especially true if there aren’t ag fields with these crops on neighboring properties.
Unfortunately most deer have a home range larger than 80 acres. No matter what you do I suspect most of the deer will have a range that includes at least a portion of a neighboring property and may be using some of the food, cover, and water resources there. It will be difficult to keep hunting dogs from crossing the property border and dogs can certainly cause deer to alter their normal patterns/behaviors. If you attract deer the dogs will certain smell the deer and venture onto the property where you hunt.
Sorry – but I don’t have a good answer for you! You may have to find another place to hunt if the situation isn’t tolerable.
grant
