By Matt Harper
I was staring at a pair of pocket 7s that were starting to look pretty good since another 7 had turned up on the flop. The problem, however, is that Texas Hold ’Em has never been my game. So instead of using sound reason, I threw my chips in on a ridiculously aggressive bet. I was playing with some old high-school buddies who get together a few nights each winter to play cards and talk hunting.
I was busy concentrating on the cards, hoping I looked like I knew what I was doing, when a friend of mine said, “Hey Matt, you see that 200-incher over on your 80?” It took me a minute to process what he said. I know it sounds kind of paranoid, but normally if someone says they’ve seen a good buck and another asks where they’ve seen him, the normal response is, “Out running in the field.”
We just don’t talk specific until the deer is hanging in the shed. I turned and looked at my buddy, and the look of disbelief and bewilderment in my eyes must have said it all. He said, “Well it's all the talk in town. Haven’t you been seeing a bunch of traffic out that way?”
As a matter of fact, I had seen more activity than normal along the road that borders my 80.
“Yea, he's a great big son-of-a-gun from what I hear, wide and tall,” my friend said. Truthfully, I hadn’t seen the buck, nor had I obtained a trail camera picture of a deer meeting that description. Apparently, the deer had been pushed onto my property during the gun season, and because I don’t gunhunt that farm, he had taken up temporary residence.
The past few years, sportsman have increasingly joined the ranks of landowners as they have searched out and purchased their own property to manage, hunt and enjoy. Of course, buying land is not a cheap endeavor, as land prices have reacted to the demand for recreational property. Where I live in southern Iowa, land prices have gone from as low as $300 per acre 15 years ago to as high as $3,000 per acre today. Therefore, most of us can’t just go out and buy a large piece of property and are forced to look for smaller parcels in the 40- to 120-acre range.
The question is whether you can effectively manage deer on a small property. I have heard options on both extremes of this debate, from folks who say they can keep deer on a 20-acre piece of land to those who say it's impossible to manage deer unless you have thousands of acres. Like most debates that bring about polar differences, I have found that the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
Obviously, the more contiguous land you own or manage, the better your odds are of keeping specific deer on your property. But no matter the size of the property, you will always have borders — even if you own 2,000 acres. Bucks have been reported to travel for several miles during the rut, so even a buck living in the middle of 2,000 acres could possibly leave the property during the rut. This is especially true if your land does not have a diversity of food and cover.
On the other side of the coin, you certainly cannot expect a particular deer to stay on a smaller piece of land for every minute of its entire life. So the goal therefore becomes not to “keep” a buck on your property but rather to create an overall environment on that small property that encourages deer to spend as much time on your property as possible. So for example, you might not be able to keep a buck on your farm 100 percent of the time, but proper management of your land might result in him spending 75 percent of his time there as opposed to 25 percent. The buck I mentioned at the beginning of this article had been pushed onto my 80-acre farm during the previous gun season, and from there, it was my job to create a nice-enough home where he would prefer spending most of his time. To accomplish this, I focused on three major areas: food, cover and human pressure.
We just don’t talk specific until the deer is hanging in the shed. I turned and looked at my buddy, and the look of disbelief and bewilderment in my eyes must have said it all. He said, “Well it's all the talk in town. Haven’t you been seeing a bunch of traffic out that way?”
As a matter of fact, I had seen more activity than normal along the road that borders my 80.
“Yea, he's a great big son-of-a-gun from what I hear, wide and tall,” my friend said. Truthfully, I hadn’t seen the buck, nor had I obtained a trail camera picture of a deer meeting that description. Apparently, the deer had been pushed onto my property during the gun season, and because I don’t gunhunt that farm, he had taken up temporary residence.
The past few years, sportsman have increasingly joined the ranks of landowners as they have searched out and purchased their own property to manage, hunt and enjoy. Of course, buying land is not a cheap endeavor, as land prices have reacted to the demand for recreational property. Where I live in southern Iowa, land prices have gone from as low as $300 per acre 15 years ago to as high as $3,000 per acre today. Therefore, most of us can’t just go out and buy a large piece of property and are forced to look for smaller parcels in the 40- to 120-acre range.
The question is whether you can effectively manage deer on a small property. I have heard options on both extremes of this debate, from folks who say they can keep deer on a 20-acre piece of land to those who say it's impossible to manage deer unless you have thousands of acres. Like most debates that bring about polar differences, I have found that the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
Obviously, the more contiguous land you own or manage, the better your odds are of keeping specific deer on your property. But no matter the size of the property, you will always have borders — even if you own 2,000 acres. Bucks have been reported to travel for several miles during the rut, so even a buck living in the middle of 2,000 acres could possibly leave the property during the rut. This is especially true if your land does not have a diversity of food and cover.
On the other side of the coin, you certainly cannot expect a particular deer to stay on a smaller piece of land for every minute of its entire life. So the goal therefore becomes not to “keep” a buck on your property but rather to create an overall environment on that small property that encourages deer to spend as much time on your property as possible. So for example, you might not be able to keep a buck on your farm 100 percent of the time, but proper management of your land might result in him spending 75 percent of his time there as opposed to 25 percent. The buck I mentioned at the beginning of this article had been pushed onto my 80-acre farm during the previous gun season, and from there, it was my job to create a nice-enough home where he would prefer spending most of his time. To accomplish this, I focused on three major areas: food, cover and human pressure.
COVER
Deer require cover for a multitude of reasons but the three primary functions of cover are bedding, evading predators (including hunters) and protection from the elements. If your property has tons of food but little cover, deer will inevitably leave your farm to bed, or if pressured, will leave your farm to escape danger. Cover can come in many forms from tall switch grass to wooded areas, but the most effective cover areas are some of the nastiest, tangled messes of brush and briers you have seen. If the area is difficult for you to walk through, it is probably a good cover area for deer. I was fortunate when I bought my 80. It was at the end of a 15-year CRP contract, and was thick with red cedars and hedge trees that created a labyrinth of hidden bedding areas and trails. Plus the cedars make great protection from the elements during winter. I simply had to go in with a dozer and clear areas for food plots. However, this process was not done haphazardly. Of course, location and shape of the plots were carefully planned, but I also made sure to keep good cover areas spread out on the entire 80 acres. When trying to keep deer on a smaller property, it's vital to have cover spread evenly throughout the farm to make is easier to hunt without creating too much hunting pressure. If deer only bed in one area and you bust that area, you will likely drive them completely off the farm for at least a period of time. The other consideration was that I left two areas on opposite ends of the property as sanctuaries and did no clearing. They are only four to five acres in size but have been very effective.
If you do not have existing cover on your farm, there are ways to create it. One option is to clear small areas of mature timber to promote primary and secondary growth. In a short period of time, these areas will grow thick understory. The other option is to plant cover areas. This can be expensive and time consuming but also effective. I prefer planting thick growing bushes such as Russian or autumn olives. (In some states, certain bushes may be considered noxious weeds, so make sure to check with your local NRCS office before planting.) Cedars are another good option for cover plantings. All of these grow quickly and result in good cover. Yet another option is to plant tall, warm-season grasses such as switch grass or big bluestem. A combination of tall, native grasses and bush/brush plantings work very well. They should be planted in strips and not necessarily interceded.
HUNTING PRESSURE AND ACCESS
Reduction of hunting pressure is important for keeping a deer in a specific area for any size property but it is paramount when it comes to small properties. Eighty acres is roughly a quarter-mile by a half-mile, so if you continually bump deer when entering or exiting your stands, it is more than likely deer will move to a different property with less pressure, as they have just a short ways to go to leave your farm. Careful planning of food plots, cover areas, sanctuaries and access roads must be considered along with how your stand location relates to the before-mentioned factors. Planning your stand locations so that you can slip in and out with the least likelihood of detection is crucial. Try using dry creek beds, ravines, hedge rows the back side of ridges — anything that can keep you from being easily seen. Having stands for different wind directions is equally important.
FOOD SOURCES
I saved this one for last, because many experts consider it the most important aspect of keeping deer on a smaller property. Although it’s crucial for deer to have cover and not be pressured so they feel comfortable on your property, even if they leave, they will return if you have food sources they desire more than a food source on a neighboring property. Where I live in Iowa, food sources abound, as the state is agriculturally rich. Corn, soybeans, oats and hay fields are everywhere, so the question arises: “How do you get the deer to prefer the food on your property over the field next door?”
The answer is really twofold. First you must choose food sources that are highly attractive for long periods of time, not just for short periods. Second, you need to plant a diverse offering of food sources that will present deer with attractive food sources no matter the time of year. The backbone of my food plot program has always been perennial legumes. The reason for this is that they offer a highly attractive and highly nutritious food source for long periods throughout the year, allowing for a consistent food supply. I have tried just about everything out there, but the two primary perennial legumes I use are Imperial Whitetail Clover and Imperial Alfa-Rack Plus.
The reason is fairly simple: They work the best. Because Imperial Clover contains varieties that have been genetically developed specifically for deer, the characteristics it exhibits give my perennial plots the advantage over neighboring hay fields. For example, Imperial Clover stays vegetative for a long period, meaning that the forage stays highly attractive and nutritious far after the neighbors’ hay fields have matured and therefore are virtually ignored by the local deer.
Alfa-Rack Plus has these same characteristics, as it also contains the clover varieties found in Imperial Clover. It also contains a grazing alfalfa that is heavier-leaved and thinner-stemmed than hay variety alfalfa. I have alfalfa fields all around me, but my Alfa-Rack Plus fields will receive heavier and more consistent usage than my neighbors’ alfalfa fields. I should mention that I also use one other perennial from the Whitetail Institute: Imperial Extreme. Though it is not a legume, the forbs in Extreme are equally attractive and nutrient rich, and they grow well in poorer quality soils that I often find in the cleared cedar areas. Additionally, all the Imperial perennials are bred to be cold tolerant, green up quicker in spring and stay productive longer into late fall than generic varieties, which furthers my ability to keep deer on my property longer.
Food source preferences will change based on the weather and plant maturation. For example, when temperatures drop to freezing, perennials will go dormant which give them the ability to re-grow when soil temperature increase. During this time, deer will migrate to other food sources. To keep deer on my property I make sure to plant various annuals to make sure an attractive food source is available on my farm year round. Two of the plant types I use for this function are small grains (oats, wheat) and brassicas.
I have noticed that when temperatures fall to 20 degrees to 40 degrees and remain there, deer will actively use a small grains mix such as Pure Attraction, which not only has small-grains but also contains brassicas. When temperatures drop consistently below freezing, brassicas become highly attractive. I have used Imperial Winter-Greens as my brassica mix for the past six years and have had tremendous results. I typically like to plant brassicas around late July or early August to allow for enough warm summer days to achieve the desired growth.
Using combinations of perennial and annual plantings such as those described has been without question one of the key elements of keeping deer on my farms. This has been proven by several years of trail camera studies where I have been able to identify deer feeding in the plots daily year after year. Back to the infamous 200-inch deer that was seen in my 80-acre woods. After I left the card game that night, I immediately ramped up my efforts to manage the property to ensure a buck like that would want to spend as much time on my farm as possible. I wasn’t sure he existed but, if he did, I sure as heck wanted him to call my 80 his new home.
I found out that my efforts were paying off when my trail camera captured a ghostly image of a huge buck in early August. My trail camera caught him a couple of more times in late summer, and then I had an encounter with him during my first day in the stand during bow season. He was with a couple of other good bucks, each of which came well within range but would never clear the tangle of brush that was in the only spot I did not cut a shooting lane. I saw him again in early November on the edge of a food plot, but it was too dark to risk a shot.
Finally, on Nov. 12, while hunting a stand situated in a travel area between one of the sanctuaries and a food plot, a doe busted out of sanctuary edge followed closely by Mr. Big. She led him right past my stand, and I let the arrow fly when he was at 12 yards. Two hours later, I was standing over the biggest buck I have harvested to date. The monster buck scored a touch over 188 Pope & Young inches gross.
Although I'm sure he did not spend all his time on my 80, I know I was able to hold him there for more than a year and that he spent most of his time there. Sometimes, the question of whether you can hold a deer on a small property can only be answered in your own mind when you have a-hold of the antlers of the specific monster buck you have been hunting. In case you're wondering, my three 7’s did not carry the day and I was beat by a sneaky flush. As it turned out, however, the loss of the hand was well worth the information that I obtained that night. Even though I was already managing the property to attract and hold deer, I increased my efforts several fold and ended up winning the hand I was playing with an Iowa monster.
