How to hunt a property that is 100% wooded?

[Drycreek3189]

Inventorying bucks with trace mineral blocks. This doesn't mean you will actually get a shot at 'em

[TxAg]

Crap!! Lol


Try this one!


https://youtu.be/u8iEOuZhsRc

About half way through it. Man, that's some good info

[GarGuy]

Great job DryCreek and Big pig. i would definately cut the food plots long and close to the edge so you can get in and out without spooking deer.. Also, I would build some pens to hand corn in to keep the hogs out.

[30-30]

Thanks for the great suggestions, y’all.

To answer some of the questions:

I have thought about burning, but without any fire breaks I’m not sure that’s a good idea. Perhaps if we eventually cut enough trails around the place. Burning out some of the brush would certainly make the property more accessible.

The property is bordered to the east by a creek, the north and west by 5 strand barbed wire in good shape, and the south by 3 strand in poor shape. I believe most of the deer would enter and exit the property along the creek to the east. The neighboring properties to the north and west are primarily brushy cattle pasture, and the south and east sides are wooded.

There are two ~1/8 acre ponds on the property and plenty of puddles that stay wet most of the year. There is water in the creek as well.

[unclefish]

Great advice from Drycreek!

[GarGuy]

Thanks for the great suggestions, y’all.

To answer some of the questions:

I have thought about burning, but without any fire breaks I’m not sure that’s a good idea. Perhaps if we eventually cut enough trails around the place. Burning out some of the brush would certainly make the property more accessible.

The property is bordered to the east by a creek, the north and west by 5 strand barbed wire in good shape, and the south by 3 strand in poor shape. I believe most of the deer would enter and exit the property along the creek to the east. The neighboring properties to the north and west are primarily brushy cattle pasture, and the south and east sides are wooded.

There are two ~1/8 acre ponds on the property and plenty of puddles that stay wet most of the year. There is water in the creek as well.

I wouldnt burn it. Your description of the understory is about as ideal for whitetail deer as you can get in east tx.

[SFAbowhunter]

Watch this video with Mark Drury and a new farm he bought last year. Sounds similar to your setup.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK56vMxyqWI

[Capt.Bryan]

I would keep it all a sanctuary and set up a few spots along the perimeter for hunting. At each perimeter stand location hack you 2-3 clearings about a 100 yards long and 15-20' wide. Set up stand locations so you can access from the outside without disturbing the sanctuary. On a small place like this no atv/utv use ( I usually have 15-20 deer at my location and if my neighbor starts his utv up I will not see a single animal.). Only hand corn and corn big like 100-200 pounds per set up so you don't have to corn as often. If hogs are a problem build a large hog panel pen at each set to hand corn in. If you start clearing inward you could likely blow every deer off of that property. Right now if they are bedding there then they know every time you access your trails due to your scent traveling through.

[GarGuy]

I would keep it all a sanctuary and set up a few spots along the perimeter for hunting. At each perimeter stand location hack you 2-3 clearings about a 100 yards long and 15-20' wide. Set up stand locations so you can access from the outside without disturbing the sanctuary. On a small place like this no atv/utv use ( I usually have 15-20 deer at my location and if my neighbor starts his utv up I will not see a single animal.). Only hand corn and corn big like 100-200 pounds per set up so you don't have to corn as often. If hogs are a problem build a large hog panel pen at each set to hand corn in. If you start clearing inward you could likely blow every deer off of that property. Right now if they are bedding there then they know every time you access your trails due to your scent traveling through.

Well said.

[Bumpy]

A good quality chainsaw!

[BolilloLoco]

I would hire a heavy equipment operator and work with them to form a plan. Something like this. I would divide the property into two zones. Feeding (30acres) and Sanctuary (70acres). I would only plan on hunting portions of the feeding area. I would dig two DEEP ponds. One in Sanctuary and one in Feeding zone. I would clear 15-20 acres in the Feeding Zone, leaving fingers of the wooded sanctuary extending into the feeding area. Leave any creek bottoms and/or ditches wooded for 50 yards on either side. This will help form edges and pinch points. Then I would plant food plots EVERYWHERE and set up 3-4 feed stations with corn and protein available. I would clear travel corridors/wind rows/fire breaks throughout the sanctuary making sure to connect the bedding areas to my feeding areas. Stay out of the sanctuary and limit your movement inside the feeding areas. Try to set up hunting blinds as far from the bedding areas as possible. Only hunt when the wind is right. Only pull cards from cameras and fill feeders at mid day. No UTVs. Limit gun fire. Try to use same truck everytime you access the property. Just my .02. Good luck.

[jshouse]

i am not able to read all the responses right now so it may have been said, but i wouldnt put my plot and main hunting site in the middle of the property. you are walking through half of your place just to get in there. i would make it as easily accessible as possible while trying to get away from whatever neighbor i want to get away from. placing it about 30-40 yards into the woods along one of the edges would be best so you arent walking too long/far to get in there.

if you are in the middle of the place you are also making it pretty much impossible to play the wind. i hunt NE texas too and the deer come from everywhere so playing the wind is a crap shoot most of the time anyway, but you can help yourself out a bit by not being right in the middle of everything.

[Drycreek3189]

My 217 acres in Rusk Co. The yellow dots are my property lines.
The red dots are rifle blinds, the white are penned feeders.
The green dots are food plots. The purple dots are bow hunting stands, one blind, one tripod. The brown outline is a 14 acre six year old clearcut.

Only my my friend and I hunt this place. The rifle blind (red dot) just right of the center is almost unhuntable because it's in a creek bottom and the wind is funky. The last two years I've had great luck using an Ozonics in a Dillon 4x6 blind with the wind SE and NEVER more than two windows open. I slide in right to the back of the blind (in cover) with my cart and I'm in the blind with the Ozonics unit running in five minutes or less. It's the only way I can hunt this blind and I save it for perfect wind and the rut. All the other blinds have strict parameters for wind direction and we never push it. This means hunting somewhere you'd rather not sometimes but IMO it's worth it.

I used to run five feeders but that was too many. If I didn't live an hour away, I'd take them all out and just pour corn in the pens, but as I hunt 3 other places it would just be too inconvenient.

[Bumpy]

My 217 acres in Rusk Co. The yellow dots are my property lines.
The red dots are rifle blinds, the white are penned feeders.
The green dots are food plots. The purple dots are bow hunting stands, one blind, one tripod. The brown outline is a 14 acre six year old clearcut.

Only my my friend and I hunt this place. The rifle blind (red dot) just right of the center is almost unhuntable because it's in a creek bottom and the wind is funky. The last two years I've had great luck using an Ozonics in a Dillon 4x6 blind with the wind SE and NEVER more than two windows open. I slide in right to the back of the blind (in cover) with my cart and I'm in the blind with the Ozonics unit running in five minutes or less. It's the only way I can hunt this blind and I save it for perfect wind and the rut. All the other blinds have strict parameters for wind direction and we never push it. This means hunting somewhere you'd rather not sometimes but IMO it's worth it.

I used to run five feeders but that was too many. If I didn't live an hour away, I'd take them all out and just pour corn in the pens, but as I hunt 3 other places it would just be too inconvenient.

An hour away? That is nothing and I'd most defiantly hand corn if I lived that close. I drive that distance to work daily give or take 15 mins.

[Drycreek3189]

An hour away? That is nothing and I'd most defiantly hand corn if I lived that close. I drive that distance to work daily give or take 15 mins.

Yes, and I use to drive 200/250 miles a day when I was working, but I got paid for it. I'm retired now, and with the other places I hunt, I have neither the desire nor the time to hand corn twice a week during deer season.