yeoman

Dreams do come true.

I was treated with watching perhaps the best typical buck I've seen in the last 30 years Saturday morning. He was a beautiful 14 pointer, 6x6 frame, terriffic symetry with matching forked G2's which will cost him 4-5 inches netting very close to 170 B&C. He ******ed his doe past my stand at 35-40 yds., too far for my recurve. He was shadowed by a buck with an abnormally long, high 5 point antler on one side, the other side broken off at the G2. No slouch himself, a 150+ deer if the other antler was a match. Then there was the 9 pointer, a 140 class that will net low 130's. Second sighting of him.

I'm convinced, having deer hunted for 40 years on some outstanding Maryland farms that this little 15 acres is some kind of special. I've had it for 6 years and am awed by the deer I see there. Last year's best wasan 11 pointer that would net high 140's travelling with the largest bodied, oldest deer (a downhill 8 pointer) I've ever seen, still the dominant of the two, also ******ing a doe in heat.

The secrets are food, cover, limited access and low hunting pressure on the 200 or so surrounding acres, in reverse order. 6 of 15 acres are ag, 1/3 of which I allow to grow up in weeds and grasses each year. I swear the does in heatare drawn more to these fallow sections than the food sources. They are incredibly relaxed standing in throat high weeds and grass. I also limit my intrusion to two easy to access stand locations and stay the heck out of all other cover.

These bucks don't live on my land. They are led there by the estrous does. Most of the posts on this site are food plot related and I think we grossly underestimate the importance of santuary and fallow ground.

Feeling blessed.

USFWC

Glad to see that someone has not been swallowed up by the food plot craze and has analyzed their situation then come up withthe best layout for their property. People are wasting a lot of time and money putting food plots in before they ever think about what the deer are lacking.

yeoman

USF,

I think we turn to food plots because we want to do something which will have animmediateaffect on attracting deer. People in the business of making money from deer, market food plots as the answer. They aren't going to tell you to leave sections of ground fallow and stay the heck out of major portions of your land. There's no money in that. I'd put those two actions ahead of food plots if seeing older deer is your goal.

jhalfhill

I agree. Food plots are only a small part of the big picture to a successful whitetail property. In order to maximize the amount of whitetail per square mile, you need to get yourself some aerial and topo maps and know how the deer currently use the land. From there, add things that will benefit the deer and will draw them to STAY on your land, not just pass through for a nighttime snack.

This can be done several ways. Here, I have noticed that a farm property that was left unfarmed for two years, (The fields grew up into 6' weeds and brush following a year of corn) held herds of deer that season. The deer population of this 150 acres rose from the twenties easily into the sixties, with many of those being mature bucks. There's only 15 acres of woods on this land. I noticed no significant overbrowse because the deer were browsing on the weeds and neighboring crops.

On my property, I am working on acquiring enough land to let some of it grow like this, only to be mowed and replanted with corn every third spring which will be left standing. I also plan on digging a decent sized pond in a depression where water lays most of the summer. Deer WILL frequent a clean water source, and this will be the biggest chance of keeping them in the area. The field adjacent to the pond will be my food plot, near a future apple orchard.

Not one of these things, but a small combo of everything is what will hold deer in your area. Sometimes it may be a difficult and expensive project, which may not be feasible for most land owners. The key thing however, is that deer need a place to hide.

yeoman

I'd add this: one of the worst things a firearm deer hunter can do is go to his stand a week or two before opening day. When you do this, you join 80% of all hunters and, I believe, it is the single biggest tipoff mature bucks get telling them, through their noses, it's time to go underground. Imagine being a mature buck and in travelling your territory you suddenly encounter man-scent where none has been for weeks, months, or maybe since the same time a year ago. You want your woods, stand, field to be one of the few places the buck now travels where nothing has changed. It's tough to do. A lot of the fun is the scouting, prep work, anticipation....but if you behave like the majority, you'll get results to match.