It was the last day of Michigan’s archery deer season and my unused deer tag
felt like it was burning a hole in my pocket. Even when the odds are against me
I always keep a positive mental attitude when deer hunting. It was crunch-time
though and I knew full well that my chances for success were remote at best and
dwindling fast. I sat tight in my tree stand well beyond the point of
enjoyment.
Finally the penetrating cold, a sore behind and the lack of deer sightings convinced me to head for home. My house is situated on a small parcel of land and while my back woods are not what I’d consider prime deer hunting, it does hold a decent population of whitetails and the convenience of walking out my back door to hunt is awfully nice at times.
Commitments
precluded an evening hunt, so I slowly still-hunted on the way back to the house
to give myself one last chance at success. I had barely covered about 200 yards
when the sight of a deer moving ahead caught my attention. My growing despair
quickly turned to optimism when I saw antlers. It was a decent buck, not a huge
one, but on the last day of the season, any adult buck would have looked like a
trophy.
The buck scooted past me well out of range on an obvious
search-and-destroy mission for does. I let him proceed on by until he was out of
sight and then raced ahead to try and cut him off. After sprinting the 200 yards
out to the road, I quickly ran up to my driveway huffing and puffing all the
way. I raced past my garage and then cut back to the edge of the swamp where I
hoped the buck would come through. I knew my property like the back of my hand
and I was well aware of a deer trail leading through this natural funnel. I
knelt down and hoped that I’d beat the buck to the spot without spooking
him.
I kept up my vigil kneeling in the tall swamp grass lined with brush
and small trees. With my arrow nocked, I scanned in the direction where I
anticipated that the buck might emerge. Unfortunately, after 15 minutes without
further sighting, my enthusiasm plummeted.
As a last ditch effort, I
pulled out my trusty grunt call and pressed it to my lips. It was a cold, quiet,
bluebird day with very little wind, so my grunts floated out for quite a
distance. After several grunt-calling sequences with no responses, I was ready
to submit to defeat. I was feeling lower than a snake’s belly in a wagon rut
when all of the sudden I heard a gentle swish from behind me. Turning around, my
disappointment instantly melted away as a different and much bigger buck
materialized through the brush. I was a little shocked at this sudden turn of
events and my heart let me know the magnitude of the situation by thumping like
a base drum in my chest.
In preparation for a shot, I slowly pivoted
around and began scanning ahead for a possible shooting lane along the buck's
approach route. When he closed to within 25 yards, he abruptly stopped
quartering towards me behind a thin screening of sumac brush. If he proceeded
ahead, he would pop into the clear at about 10 yards distance. With no cover
separating us at that scant range, he would certainly spot me, ruining any shot
opportunity; so I decided that it was now or never. When he turned broadside to
look over his back trail, I drew back the bow from my kneeling position. There
was a fist-sized hole through the brush that was conveniently lined up with the
center of the buck’s chest. Instead of concentrating on a specific spot on the
deer as an aiming point, I trained my sight pin on the gap in the brush and then
carefully squeezed the trigger on my old reliable mechanical release. At the
shot he whirled and bolted across the marsh with a wide swath of crimson plainly
visible down his side. After 100 yards, he slowed and began to falter; seconds
later the muddy quagmire swallowed him up like a dog inhaling a steak
scrap.
After waiting about an hour, I approached the fallen buck, which
had died right where I had last seen him. The incredibly lethal shot had taken
out both lungs causing him to expire within 10 seconds. That "Backyard Buck's"
beautiful head mount now adorns my office wall. Once again a small place had
produced a filled deer tag and just in the nick of time.
A growing trend
these days in the whitetail woods is hunting on smaller and smaller parcels of
land. Increasingly, larger holdings are being carved up into pint-sized
properties and at a record pace I might add. Urban sprawl and escalating real
estate prices across the country are the main culprits. These days it seems like
everyone wants to buy a parcel of land in the quiet country for a building site
or just to own their own piece of turf.
Over the past decade, I’ve
noticed some drastic changes in the woods on both private and public property:
It’s becoming more crowded and the hunting is being reduced to tighter and
tighter quarters. I really can’t complain too loudly about these developments
though, because in the past decade I’ve experienced the best success of my
entire deer hunting career, which spans over thirty years. My recent success has
been distributed between both private and public land hunting spots. The secret
to my success in these demanding locations is to apply smart “small place”
hunting strategies.
LEARN THE LAND
One major advantage
of deer hunting in a small area is being able to develop an intimate knowledge
of the land. I can safely say that I know every deer trail on the 38 acres that
I call home. The deer’s preferred feeding and bedding areas at different times
of the year are also etched into my mind. In addition, I also know where deer
are likely to travel during daylight hours. Basically, I know the property well
enough to hunt it very effectively.
KNOW YOUR NEIGHBORS
It doesn’t
matter if you hunt on private or public property, prudent deer hunters need to
develop an intimate knowledge of the hunting pressure or general human
disturbances in any given hunting area. On small private parcels, lands that
surround yours will typically be pounded by others. Talk to the owners of
adjacent properties and find out who is hunting where. Open communications often
reduces conflicts and also makes deer hunting more enjoyable and successful for
all.
It is a good idea to have an agreement with neighbors before the
season starts concerning recovering wounded deer. My neighbors and I have an
agreement that if one of us hits a deer and it crosses a property line, we must
first call or visit and let the property owner know what's going on before
venturing onto their property. This small courtesy eliminates having to
needlessly investigate a possible trespasser; besides, this policy also
eliminates the temptation to rush the follow-up and often results in a helping
hand.
Public hunting grounds pose a unique challenge when deer hunting.
Often, I actually scout more for the presence of humans than for deer. I simply
will not deer hunt, especially with a bow, in an area that is being actively
hunted by others. In this pursuit, I typically spend countless hours searching
for the right combination of seclusion and available deer. Quite often, I will
concentrate my efforts on a very small chunk of land in the middle of a vast
public forest. I may only have one or two stand setups that are worth hunting
among thousands of acres of land.
HUNT WISELY
On small parcels,
over-hunting and burning-out a stand become a real problem. Even on my 38 acres,
I have erected six different treestands along with several ground stands. I only
hunt a particular stand when the wind is favorable. I will typically hunt my own
land in conjunction with other public and private parcels so the pressure is
spread out as much as possible. If you start noticing a reduction in deer
sightings in an area, then the spot is probably being over-hunted.
Entry
and exit routes to and from stands need special consideration. I plan and clear
those courses carefully so I can access my stands with minimal disturbance to
deer. Even if it takes five times as long to get to a stand, it's better to
avoid bumping deer.
ENHANCE THE LAND
Small parcels of
property can be made into deer utopias by adding a few enhancements. Deer need
quality cover and nutrition to thrive, and they also require a steady water
source to survive. A well-placed food plot or two is one of the best ways to
attract deer to your property. However, if you can provide a nearby bedding
sanctuary along with a constant water source close to a food plot, then the deer
will really take notice. I also like to spice up my property with plenty of
30-06 Plus Protein mineral sites. With proper planning you can attract and hold
deer and also make them very “huntable” in the process.
SUBURBAN HOT SPOTS
I once attended
a party at the home of one of my wife's co-workers. In the past, I had some
discussions with this guy about the subject of guns and hunting. He is not an
anti-hunter, but like the majority of people in this country, he is just a
non-hunter who doesn't understand modern wildlife management practices.
We are both avid gardeners and when I asked our host how his garden was
doing, he said, “Mike, grab your beer and come look at this.” He then showed me
the remnants of his once-beautiful garden. All the strawberries, tomatoes, beans
and other plants were chewed off right down to the roots.
He pointed into
the dirt and said, “Do you recognize those tracks?”
I replied, “Looks
like you've got a deer problem.”
Hinting that I knew the solution to his
problem, he then said, “Those !@#$% deer have ruined my garden and I’ve tried
everything including repellents and even fences, and those !@#$!@#$ are still
coming into my yard.”
I was shocked because I had never heard this
normally soft-spoken guy swear or get bent-out-of-shape before. It’s kind of
funny how a little deer infestation can change a person’s attitude. It only
takes one or two bad encounters and most people are more than ready to have
someone take out some deer.
I’ve had several opportunities presented to
me in urban and even suburban areas where homeowners are being devastated by
hungry deer. It really pays to present your hunting activities in a positive
manner to anybody who will listen at work, church, school, and clubs or
wherever you go. Networking really pays off, especially when deer become
nuisances.
BIGGER IS NOT ALWAYS BETTER
Small
hunting spots are what you make of them. I would rather have eight to ten
isolated, small, hunting areas than one large property to hunt. Typically, the
larger parcel would be composed of the same family group of deer. Hunting
pressure would eventually alter the deer’s travel patterns, degrading the
quality of the hunt after just a short period. Conversely, with many separated
small spots, a prudent hunter can rotate stands and keep things fresh. Each spot
would be composed of a separate deer herd and the deer can be taken by surprise
on each outing.
In my home state of Michigan, I often attend off-season
hunting sports shows like the Deer & Turkey Spectacular. At last year’s
show, antlers coming from the most crowded regions of southern Michigan
dominated the Spectacular’s annual deer contest. This is an area consisting
primarily of many small parcels. It never ceases to amaze me that the majority
of the biggest bucks in my state, some of which are Boone & Crockett
candidates, are taken from this region.
“Big bucks in small places.” Need
I say more?
