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How to hunt a property that is 100% wooded?

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    How to hunt a property that is 100% wooded?

    My folks bought a 106 acre hunting property in northeast Texas back in 2007 that is entirely wooded. The place was selective-cut in 2000, so picture this property as a monoculture of young, brushy woods without much of a canopy. Our biggest trees are only a few feet in diameter. A mix of oak, elm, and ash. Plenty of briars, dewberry vines, and poison ivy. Nearly the whole property looks the same with no edge habitat or pinch points that I have found. It’s a tough place to hunt.

    Though we have harvested a couple of deer (a small 8 pointer and a doe) and a bunch of hogs since 07, most of our hunts yield no deer sightings. I’m sure that a lot of the problem is not an absence of deer but our inability to see much past 20 yards anywhere on the property due to the brush. Dad and I have cleared a couple of walking trails and several tree stand locations along them. We have two feeders set up but have only ever seen hogs at those. Deer sightings have been random, seldom, and very close. Most deer bust us the second they step out into the trail. Hogs are easy. Cut a 10-20 yard shooting lane anywhere, add corn, and wait.

    I’m thinking that we need to clear a 1+ acre opening near the center of the property to serve as a food plot/rifle blind site. An opening like this would allow us to see past 20 yards and hopefully allow the deer an alternative food source and edge habitat. I’m hoping noticeable deer trails would develop and give us a better idea of deer movement on the property. Perhaps a protein feeder and/or a fenced corn feeder inaccessible to hogs would help.

    What says TBH? Is my thinking flawed or spot on? Who has dealt with a property like this before? I’m open to any ideas of how to better manage and hunt this property.

    #2
    A one acre food plot could work. Cut some additional shooting lanes around it to. Have you thought about having a controlled burn done? That could open up some areas and clear underbrush

    Comment


      #3
      As a guy who bought 217 acres of mixed pine and hardwood 10 years ago, I have some thoughts.

      First, don't do anything without some forethought. I own a dozer, backhoe, tractor etc. so I went to work without thinking it through. I now have two foodplot openings that I no longer hunt. One I still plant in the spring, not the fall, and the other not at all. I have since planted some fruit trees in one to salvage that work, and believe me, it takes lots of work to make a decent food plot out of a thicket.

      Study the terrain, and the prevalent wind direction, and figure out how you will access the stands BEFORE you start clearing for a plot. Personally, I prefer long lanes to square plots for rifle hunting. It's much easier to slip into a stand at the end of a 50' wide x 200 yd. long plot than it is a 200'x200' plot. My stands are mostly at the edges of my place and all my lanes look inward. That way, my back is to my neighbor and there is zero chance of my bullet going onto his property and very little chance he complains about me hunting "too close to him". You can still plant these lanes if you lay them out to where they get plenty of sunshine. A 50' x 600' lane is 3/4 ac. A couple of these would give you an acre and a half of plots or you could do four lanes half the size and get the same area.

      There are more ideas, but you get the drift. Good luck !

      Comment


        #4
        Sounds like your property may be used as a bedding area. Because it is a small property IMO I would leave half of it alone as a sanctuary let them live back there and let them feel safe. The other half provide food and water. Build a acre food plot with a rifle blind and on one end have a feeder with hog panel around it and the other have one without (To kill hogs) once the deer start using feeders and food plot find travel corridors from bedding areas to food source. Get as close to the bedding area without getting too close if that makes sense. That is my opinion and good luck!!

        Comment


          #5
          It is a long video, but worth the watch, especially if you hunt woods/East Texas.


          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by Sleepy View Post
            It is a long video, but worth the watch, especially if you hunt woods/East Texas.


            https://youtu.be/gEjY7nAaZj4
            Are you an insurance salesman

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by tmstuk View Post
              Are you an insurance salesman
              Crap!! Lol


              Try this one!


              Comment


                #8
                Personally, I would cut 3-4 1 acre plot areas. Then clear 15-20’ wide trails connecting all of the plots and create your own travel routes/pinch points that way.

                As you know, deer like edges. Long narrow clearings are better than wide open.


                - I don’t chase dreams, I HUNT goals

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by 30-30 View Post
                  My folks bought a 106 acre hunting property in northeast Texas back in 2007 that is entirely wooded. The place was selective-cut in 2000, so picture this property as a monoculture of young, brushy woods without much of a canopy. Our biggest trees are only a few feet in diameter. A mix of oak, elm, and ash. Plenty of briars, dewberry vines, and poison ivy. Nearly the whole property looks the same with no edge habitat or pinch points that I have found. It’s a tough place to hunt.

                  Though we have harvested a couple of deer (a small 8 pointer and a doe) and a bunch of hogs since 07, most of our hunts yield no deer sightings. I’m sure that a lot of the problem is not an absence of deer but our inability to see much past 20 yards anywhere on the property due to the brush. Dad and I have cleared a couple of walking trails and several tree stand locations along them. We have two feeders set up but have only ever seen hogs at those. Deer sightings have been random, seldom, and very close. Most deer bust us the second they step out into the trail. Hogs are easy. Cut a 10-20 yard shooting lane anywhere, add corn, and wait.

                  I’m thinking that we need to clear a 1+ acre opening near the center of the property to serve as a food plot/rifle blind site. An opening like this would allow us to see past 20 yards and hopefully allow the deer an alternative food source and edge habitat. I’m hoping noticeable deer trails would develop and give us a better idea of deer movement on the property. Perhaps a protein feeder and/or a fenced corn feeder inaccessible to hogs would help.

                  What says TBH? Is my thinking flawed or spot on? Who has dealt with a property like this before? I’m open to any ideas of how to better manage and hunt this property.
                  Check out Grant Woods(Growing deer Tv) and the things he does on his property. He has a place in S Missouri that he has turned into a deer haven. A lot of good info and techniques that work very well.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Tagged. Cool thread

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Is it fenced? Any water source?

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Definitely leave a sanctuary area. In the thickest natural bedding area.
                        I would also agree on longer openings
                        Maybe at v shaped with one pointed south and one northeast.
                        I would also encourage an opening of 1-2 acres.
                        Deer love them at night. Shredded each fall and fertilized.
                        No rifle or pistol practice in the fall or winter. No cruising on Atv or utv day or night.
                        Salt and minerals. Maybe water station if none or only one on the place.
                        Year round corn in two spots inside pig panels.
                        Put pvc on Feeder legs to eliminate squirrels and coons.
                        No waste of corn. Less maintenance.

                        This comes from 45 years of a 60 acre and a 260 acre tract.

                        BP

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Another thing is, what is around your place (neighbors-pasture, timber,thick undergrowth, other pressure). Try and figure out where the deer will be coming from and develop your hunting area(s) accordingly. Like mentioned above, it might take a while to fine tune 'the' spot. Deer are like most wild animals in that they need safe places and a food source. If you can provide that you will be on your way.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Something that some folks overlook. If you only have a small property to hunt, all the deer are not gonna stay on your place. Sanctuaries are fine, but depending on what your neighbor's land looks like, may not be needed. Hence, the advice in my first post to think it through before you start clearing out food plots. I have a neighbor on the east that doesn't hunt and her place is thick, but there is no food except browse. Her deer feed on me lots of the time. Same thing on 200+ acres to the south. They have thicker cover, but I have the groceries. This situation promotes deer movement, and that's what makes deer vulnerable, movement.
                            Look at an aerial of the whole area, say 500/600 acres with your place being the middle. See what their land looks like compared to yours. Have food available that they don't. Have it available year round. Well drained soil can have spring and fall plots, moisture holding soils can have perennial clovers. Look at creeks, draws, ridges, etc. to figure out generally how deer might use them to access your plots.

                            If you have cameras, they need to be out now. Trace mineral blocks, (the hard glassy kind, not the kind that melt with a couple rains) will draw deer from now until velvet peel. You can buy them for $15 from a feed store. I guarantee you can inventory your deer with them.

                            The suggestions above concerning trails cleaned out are good. Deer aren't as lazy as humans maybe, but close. They will wander down cleared trails (that you made) to come to the dinner table. If you bowhunt, pick a place that you can access without blowing deer out, put some corn down on the trail, and sharpen your skinning knife !
                            Last edited by Drycreek3189; 02-18-2018, 01:12 PM.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Deer on a trail that I cleared (barely wide enough to get a tractor through) about an hour after I shot a doe. The camera is about 4 yd in front of my bow blind.
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