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Small Acarage Hunting
#7638040
10/21/19 04:48 PM
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Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 8
core
OP
Green Horn
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OP
Green Horn
Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 8 |
I just picked up 50 acres of land in East Texas. I was looking for some advice on hunting deer on small acreage
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Re: Small Acarage Hunting
[Re: core]
#7638130
10/21/19 06:14 PM
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Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 17
Marshal
Light Foot
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Light Foot
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 17 |
That place is "huge" compared to what I hunted on down in Gonzales County. I had 2.67 acres that backed up to a very large ranch. I put a tree stand and a feeder at the far back corner of my place. It was 100 yards from my back door. I would catch all kinds of deer and hogs passing through and they would come over to my feeder at all hours. Had a 10 pointer on my hit list until he was hit on the highway. Finally arrowed a decent 9 pointer in 2017. All that to say make the place as attractive as possible with multiple feeding areas. A small food plot will help. Check out Google Earth to see what it looks like around you. Get to know your neighbors as well and see what they are doing.
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Re: Small Acarage Hunting
[Re: core]
#7638173
10/21/19 07:02 PM
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Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 8
core
OP
Green Horn
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OP
Green Horn
Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 8 |
awesome ! thank you very much for the info
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Re: Small Acarage Hunting
[Re: core]
#7638182
10/21/19 07:04 PM
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Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 1,640
LeonCarr
Pro Tracker
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Pro Tracker
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 1,640 |
Make your 50 acres more attractive to the deer than the surrounding acreage. As mention find out what your neighbors are doing, I can almost guarantee they aren't doing what is outlined below.
Plant between 2.5 and 5 acres of that 50 acres in food plots, both a spring plot and a fall plot. At least one corn feeder and one protein feeder. The deer on the place I hunt (25 Acres, East Texas, multiple deer taken every year) eat 150 pounds of protein pellets a week.
Make your 50 acres like the deer version of Golden Corral and they will come if they are in the vicinity.
Just my .02, LeonCarr
"Whitetail Deer are extinct because of rifles with telescopes mounted on them." - My 11th Grade English Teacher
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Re: Small Acarage Hunting
[Re: core]
#7638185
10/21/19 07:07 PM
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Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 9,907
unclebubba
THF Trophy Hunter
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THF Trophy Hunter
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 9,907 |
Put your feeder as close to the fenceline as possible. Preferably within sight of one of your neighbor's blinds. Then put your blind where you will be shooting directly at the fenceline.
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Re: Small Acarage Hunting
[Re: core]
#7638202
10/21/19 07:23 PM
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Joined: Mar 2019
Posts: 338
RPG1997
Bird Dog
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Bird Dog
Joined: Mar 2019
Posts: 338 |
The key to making small acreage work optimally for deer hunting is to make the property as attractive to deer as possible. You need to find out what is going on on your neighbors' property so then you have a better idea what your situation is and how best to deal with it. Ensure that you are planting anywhere from 5%-10% of the property into food plots, preferably encompassing both spring and fall. Have a feeder designated for corn and one for protein going as well. It is vitally important to feed them year-round so they are on your place as often as possible. If you are leasing the property, try to work out a long term lease agreement with the owner to improve habitat (i.e. cover such as shrubs, tall grasses, and most importantly trees) or if you own the property then just do it yourself. Habitat is one of the most important aspects of a hunting operation. We usually have corn going year-round with protein being emphasized a few months before rut begins so the bucks grow big. Our place is 84 acres in West Texas surrounded by nothing, but barren pasture and cotton fields so we almost always have a good shot at pulling deer in if we follow the plan that I've laid out.
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Re: Small Acarage Hunting
[Re: core]
#7638441
10/21/19 11:31 PM
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Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 5,158
flintknapper
THF Trophy Hunter
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THF Trophy Hunter
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 5,158 |
I just picked up 50 acres of land in East Texas. I was looking for some advice on hunting deer on small acreage What county in East Texas?
Spartans ask not...how many, but where!
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Re: Small Acarage Hunting
[Re: RPG1997]
#7639155
10/22/19 08:06 PM
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Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 8
core
OP
Green Horn
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OP
Green Horn
Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 8 |
great info thank you. I will definitely set up an area for food plots
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Re: Small Acarage Hunting
[Re: flintknapper]
#7639156
10/22/19 08:07 PM
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Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 8
core
OP
Green Horn
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OP
Green Horn
Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 8 |
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Re: Small Acarage Hunting
[Re: core]
#7639165
10/22/19 08:26 PM
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Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 822
activescrape
Tracker
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Tracker
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 822 |
What would be a good spring food plot to plant? Sandy soil, San Saba County.
"It's not dyin' I'm talkin' about Woodrow, it's livin'!"
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Re: Small Acarage Hunting
[Re: core]
#7639414
10/23/19 12:57 AM
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Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 5,158
flintknapper
THF Trophy Hunter
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THF Trophy Hunter
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 5,158 |
A lot of really nice bucks come out of Houston county each year. I have over 400 acres I can hunt...but take most of our deer off of not more than 30 acres of it. Owing to terrain features, cover, etc....a natural 'funnel' exists. No reason your smaller acreage can't work for you if you are careful to not pressure it too greatly.
Last edited by flintknapper; 10/23/19 12:57 AM.
Spartans ask not...how many, but where!
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Re: Small Acarage Hunting
[Re: core]
#7639484
10/23/19 01:54 AM
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Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 17
TrophySites
Light Foot
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Light Foot
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 17 |
You've got the basics covered - make bucks want to be on your spot more than anywhere else. As others mentioned, the most necessary element are top-tier food plots (I like alfalfa best) that keep the doe cycling through year-round.
For big bucks that's not usually enough, as they don't get big by visiting food plots or feeders, at least not during hunting hours. But this is where the small acreage hunter can carve out an advantage.
I tend to go with the "be the quietest spot" rule when working small or crowded areas. Park and walk as much as possible, carry a bow or pellet gun for varmints instead of a .22, and only ever pull the trigger on a trophy. Big bucks like to live in quiet areas, and if your spot is the quietest area around you, then they'll move right in.
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Re: Small Acarage Hunting
[Re: core]
#7639821
10/23/19 02:36 PM
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Joined: Mar 2019
Posts: 338
RPG1997
Bird Dog
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Bird Dog
Joined: Mar 2019
Posts: 338 |
You’re welcome and good luck!
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Re: Small Acarage Hunting
[Re: core]
#7639843
10/23/19 02:51 PM
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Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 12,861
PMK
THF Celebrity
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THF Celebrity
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 12,861 |
just put in a small high fenced pen in the middle of the small acreage with food and water, slap a hot doe or two in it ...
"everyone that lives dies but not everyone who dies lived..."
~PMK~
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Re: Small Acarage Hunting
[Re: core]
#7640357
10/24/19 12:02 AM
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Joined: Oct 2018
Posts: 1,180
Ringtail
Pro Tracker
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Pro Tracker
Joined: Oct 2018
Posts: 1,180 |
I own 34 acres in Houston County also and this will be my first deer season on it. The National Forest is around us so to entice the deer to my land I planted a small feed plot and have three feeders set up. I also have a 10 to 15 thick brushed acre area between two creeks that I don't enter to provide a kind of sanctuary for the deer. I have identified where they come out of that part of the land and the neighboring National Forest and set up a game camera. At my feeders, I have had mostly smaller bucks only along with does, hogs and on occasional bobcat or coyote, but in the last two weeks I have caught photos of two mature bucks exiting the "sanctuary", though not at feeders. Every type of wildlife that is in that locale seems to travel that same way.
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Re: Small Acarage Hunting
[Re: core]
#7640402
10/24/19 12:47 AM
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Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 11,658
GusWayne
THF Celebrity
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THF Celebrity
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 11,658 |
There’s no secret.
Lots of bait and hunt
Make them want what you have.
And then be there a lot
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Re: Small Acarage Hunting
[Re: core]
#7640482
10/24/19 02:06 AM
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Joined: Mar 2019
Posts: 19,125
TCM3
THF Celebrity
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THF Celebrity
Joined: Mar 2019
Posts: 19,125 |
Put out whole corn where you hunt, they'll find it
Last edited by TCM3; 10/24/19 02:07 AM.
Do not forget to entertain strangers, For by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels Hebrews 13:2 (R-TX)
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Re: Small Acarage Hunting
[Re: core]
#7641304
10/25/19 12:22 AM
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 8,323
Dave Davidson
THF Trophy Hunter
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THF Trophy Hunter
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 8,323 |
Without a sense of urgency, nothing ever happens.
Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley, Rancher Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
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Re: Small Acarage Hunting
[Re: core]
#7641633
10/25/19 12:53 PM
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Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 9,185
hook_n_line
THF Trophy Hunter
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THF Trophy Hunter
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 9,185 |
Sometimes it's hard being me! But somebody has to do it.
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Re: Small Acarage Hunting
[Re: core]
#7642080
10/25/19 06:45 PM
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Joined: Oct 2018
Posts: 1,180
Ringtail
Pro Tracker
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Pro Tracker
Joined: Oct 2018
Posts: 1,180 |
This is one of the more mature bucks I caught on camera on my 34 acres in Houston county as I described above.
Last edited by Ringtail; 10/25/19 06:46 PM.
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Re: Small Acarage Hunting
[Re: core]
#7643103
10/26/19 10:46 PM
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Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 8
core
OP
Green Horn
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OP
Green Horn
Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 8 |
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Re: Small Acarage Hunting
[Re: core]
#7646070
10/29/19 06:49 PM
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Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 73
spanish13
Outdoorsman
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Outdoorsman
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 73 |
I just bought 12 acres in south Texas and have the same question. The property already has nice deer and it pretty much just brush but wanted to make it more enticing.
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