It doesn’t take hundreds of acres of land to kill a big buck, if you know how to find them and what to look for.
Most people will lead you to believe that it takes a large tract of forested land with the right mixture of woodland forage, crops and supplemental food-plot plantings to produce nice bucks.
In a perfect world, every hunter would have such a place to hunt.
Realistically, many hunters just don’t have access to large, private tracts of land with large deer populations. Thankfully, a deer doesn’t respect boundaries and fences. They tend to stay where there is adequate food and enough cover to provide security. On small tracts, it is often difficult to find all of these ingredients on the same piece of property, whether 10 or 100 acres.
On the other hand, it doesn’t take much land to hold a deer. Even a small patch of woods may be hiding a nice buck. If you don’t have the luxury of regular access to large tracts of prime hunting land, don’t despair. Look close to home for those forgotten, small blocks of land that may be tucked away in some very desirable hunting areas when you look at the bigger picture.
First, spend some time looking at aerial photographs and topographic maps. Take note of areas that potentially possess some or all of the ingredients necessary to hold deer. Next, make a trip to your county courthouse and look at the tax maps and land rolls to identify individual tracts that might be of interest. Don’t set foot on anyone’s land without the landowner’s consent. Obviously, some will not want you on their land; respect their wishes. But don’t get discouraged; you may be pleasantly surprised to find land not being used and not being hunted.
Obviously, if you own a small tract of land or have family or friends that own land, explore those areas first. As a last resort, you may be forced to lease a small tract of land if no landowners are willing to let you hunt for free.
Once you have located and obtained permission to hunt a particular piece of property, begin scouting the land and studying the surrounding area. Often, a landowner can tell you where there have been repeated sightings of deer on the property. Take note of food sources, including agricultural crops, acorns, honeysuckle and other tender underbrush around thinned timber or near cutovers. Look for any heavy cover that deer might use for bedding areas. Food sources and bedding areas are the two most-important pieces to the puzzle in determining where to hunt.
Also, it is often very helpful to examine fence lines to see where the deer are crossing. Inevitably, deer will leave behind hair on some of the barbed wire, which can provide valuable clues as to where the deer are entering and leaving the property. Tracks, droppings, hair on fences and visible trails are important clues to routes deer are using between food sources and bedding areas.
On small tracts, it is very rare to have all of the necessary ingredients to sustain a deer population. Deer naturally range over large areas. The average fence does little to restrict movement over their natural range, which knows no boundaries.
When you begin planning your first hunting trip to a particular small tract, recreate in your mind a map of all of the important information gathered by scouting. Your tactics may vary between trips depending on time of year, wind direction or weather conditions. What works early in the season and pre-rut may not pay off in the late season during the rut or when the rut is slowing down.
The two most-important considerations will always be food sources and bedding areas. Regardless of the impacts of the rut, a deer must eat and feel reasonably safe to frequent an area. If there is heavy hunting pressure on adjacent properties, deer may become more nocturnal, and you may be forced to concentrate efforts near bedding areas, hoping for a glimpse of a nice buck in the fleeting moments at dusk. If there is little or no hunting pressure, deer may have grown accustomed to moving freely at various times of day. In that case, hunting oak flats, edges of fields and near other food sources may pay off big.
Don’t forget about the travel routes that are necessary for the deer to move between heavy cover and available food supply. You will most likely end up hunting on or near one of these travel routes. Your stand placement or positioning for a particular hunt will primarily depend on wind direction. Place your stand or sit downwind of the trail or direction from which you think the deer will be coming.
As a general rule, it is good to have the wind in your face. I only break this rule a few times during the rut when using estrus doe scent to attract rutting bucks. Bucks will wind the scent from downwind and will sometimes come in quickly to investigate. If you have placed the scent in front of you and you have the wind blowing in your face, the buck will most likely show up at your back. Along with winding the doe scent, the buck will likely wind you during his approach. When using estrus doe scent during the rut, place the scent in a location crosswind to your position. The buck has the opportunity to wind the scent and make his approach, all in your field of view and in a way that, hopefully, your scent will not be an issue.
Don’t forget about those fence-crossing locations. These can be excellent places for a stand. Maybe you will be lucky enough to be there when that big buck makes his way through that hole in the fence.
Be sure to key on locations where you have found evidence of deer trails entering or leaving heavy cover, including cutovers, cane thickets and even abandoned, grown-up home places.
The next time that you are sitting around, complaining about there being nowhere to hunt, search out those small, forgotten tracts of land tucked away in your area. Do your homework, be patient and don’t be surprised when you see that buck you’ve been searching for jumping the fence in front of you or easing out of the thicket just before dark.
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