Hey y'all. Im new here, and new to hunting. Been outdoors and shooting my whole life. Just never had the opportunity to get seriously into hunting. Well I am starting to have some extra time and resources and am looking to start. My fiances dad has around 90 acres, and theyve hunted there in the past. They havent been hunting it real hard the last few years. Now, its just a big piece of property that everyone goes down and rides the four wheelers and shoots guns and has a good time. The property is mostly cedar, a little bottom area near a creek that has some big oaks and assorted trees. Not a lot of water on the property except right at the edge. I've run across sign, but every time I have gone out I've come up empty handed. I know some if not most of it is my lack of skills, but I also rarely see fresh sign and I have been all over that place. Seems more like a crossing point for animals in the area, they cut across a corner but they dont stick around long. At this point the property has people on it probably every couple months. Is there a way that I can improve the land and see an uptick in animals while still using the land for recreational property? It is split into two parcels, the smaller one is maybe 40 acres and the other is close to 60. The big parcel has a cabin and the trailers and is typically where everyone hangs out. The small piece has a little water, a couple out of commission feeders, and for the most part is left alone. Thoughts? Suggestions? Advice? Thanks all!

If there are deer in the area, all you need is a feeder and a place to sit. Deer like corn.

Where is the property?

I set the feeders up last year, seemed like most of the corn wasnt getting eaten, but failed to get game cameras and put em ip. THE property is in the hamilton area.

Get some feeders going and put out a camera...which direction out of Hamilton?

Also I liked the ghost story, did someone get murdered in the house?

Yeah, I guess my bigger concern is even if I do what I need to do it won't make a difference with all the shenanigans that go on over there. And not that anybody knows of, but who knows!

But that's a good start, get cameras out and see who cones around. It's out towards purmela.

You are in a target rich environment. Hope for the best for you!!!!

if people run thru it w/o permission, you need to talk to the County Sheriff..

Put a feeder up on the smaller parcel that receives little human activity. You don't need to feed a lot of corn at first, just enough to get them coming. Don't be alarmed if there isn't a stampede. It's still early and there's plenty of natural groceries for the deer. As the season progresses you'll likely see more activity coming to corn. When you go out hunting hand toss corn around the area. Good luck.

There's deer around there, just gotta find them!

Good area. Just put out feed and wait.

Paint the border fence posts PURPLE, to indicate that the property is Posted as PRIVATE. Paint mebbe every 3rd/4th post, as long as you can see the last painted post. Be sure to tell the Sheriff that too, to give him an incentive to check the property for trespassers.
Ron

^^^this ...

I think I may have worded my previous posts poorly. We aren't experiencing trespassing, we just use the land to shoot and rip around on the atvs, so it is just fairly loud whenever we are there. With us visiting the property every few months, I wasnt sure if that would have an impact on game in the area. Obviously if I am going up to hunt it will be a small group intent on hunting, but more often than not its a dozen people shooting off a few hundred rounds and trail riding around. Thanks for the tips all!

riding and shooting a few hundred rounds will keep game out of area. I would at least have all activity, riding discontinued on the 40 acre parcel period. Set up feeder and cameras and try to keep visits to that 40 acres to a minimum so deer will find the feeder.

Maybe have a sit down with the others and figure out a plan.
If the others don't have an interest I would still put up the feeder and just deal with the noise.

Yep...good luck!

I have access to hunt an 80 acre place in Lousianna that has a really nice skeet shooting facility. This place gets used a lot for skeet shooting and people running around in four wheelers. Every X-mas we spend a few days there hunting and always kill a few deer. We skeet shoot the evening before our morning hunts and even during the mid day between hunts and still see plenty of deer the next morning. One of the most successful hunting spots is only 150 yards from the skeet shooting range.

At my small lease here in Texas we open fire on the turkey and ducks every year and the deer don't seem to mind. My duck pond is only 100 yards from one of my feeders and I have pics of deer on cam the next day after our duck hunts. At this lease we do try to keep things quite during deer season but sometimes wonder if it even matters.

Like others have said, put out a feeder and a camera and see what you get. You may be surprised at what you see. Also try a spot with hand corn and or a feeder pipe for the deer that are apprehensive of deer feeders.

You might also go during the week. My uncle is retired and goes in the middle of the week to a lease that has adjoining property that is very active on weekends. I have gone and not seen a deer all weekend. He goes on Tuesday or Wednesday and sees plenty of them. It might be worth burning a vacation day or two.

If the noise and commotion are only once every few months, it will only run the deer off once every few months. If they are not hitting the feeders, one of two things could be the issue. 1. they are not in an attractive place for deer. 2. the deer just have other, better food sources currently. Try putting corn piles out in different areas on porperty and put up cameras. If you can find a trail, put the feeder up a few yards off the trail.

I have a 20 acre place that is used for entertainment. Lots of shooting and dove hunting in September. I've not seen the noise bother the deer. I have game cam pictures of the kids standing in the field shooting doves and then a picture of a deer walking through the same area 5 or 10 minutes later. Even the hogs still come in on their normal schedules unless the kids are riding around but they come back out when it quiets down. The only time the pattern changes is the when the acorns fall but you can almost bet the will ll come back in time for winter. During the rut we've had deer run through the camp when we hadn't seen them on any camera or at the feeders. My observations are , if you don't disturb the bedding area and the stuff you have in the feeding area is what they want to eat, you will see deer regardless of noise.

I'll be heading down next month to put up some cameras. Any good tips for criteria on where to set feeders? Basically the land slopes down into a bottom land area, lots of big trees and some dry creek beds. The feeders are currently set up on the outskirts of the tree line, so basically the feeders back up to the trees with the stands up on the hill with an open sight line to them. Not sure what to look for when looking for a good feeder location.

My SIL and I have been dove hunting on our lease and walked back to the truck that was 300-350yds away and two doe were by the truck. I have had other times when shooting did not bother the wildlife. Then some times the simple sight of man puts them in the next county. It can go either way sometimes, but generally the quiter the better or more peacefull setting in the woods.