For those that do or have hunted smaller acreage, 100 acres or less, what have been the best or most critical hunting tactics yielding favorable results? Let's hear them....

Don’t drive to the blind and keep human presence to a minimum.

I would have no less then two separate hunting locations. That way you can alternate locations and not over hunt just one.

Depends on the property.

I believe driving to the blind often spooks less animals than walking in, depending on the property and human presence in the immediate area.

Honestly a good food and water source is key, along with not overly disturbing a property; ie target shooting during the middle of the day.

Animals can get used to alot, as long as they feel safe.

Keep the feeders going and just be there as often as you can and as long as you can sit. We’re on 2 separate 80 acres +- across the road from each other surrounded by Hwy and FMs and see plenty of deer, including a few nice ones.

1. Put up three cameras ..one per 30 acres or one per 50 acres.
2. Count the deer with a reputable procedure
3. If ya have deer..build two pens..a pen / 50 acres
4. Put up 3 feeders per pen
5. Set up in each pen, fresh water - min. of 20 gallons per pen. for two days.
6. Feed only corn...put out a good amount of corn twice per day in each pen
7. Try to feed 1.5 lb.s corn / deer expected and adjust as necessary.
Set a target density(6.4 acres per deer) 7 bucks and 9 does.
Harvest no more than 2 bucks and 2 does. for 16 deer.
9 does should put out 9 fawns.
Put our scent pads ...minum of 20 per pen.
Adjust everything from here. lol

I have 80 acres out my back door. I have a 3/4 acre food plot spring/summer and fall/winter. My hog proof pen has a corn feeder and a protein feeder in it. I only hunt on a N or NW wind. I drive my golf cart to within 40 yards of my blind and they can’t see it when I park. I get in my blind a good 30 minutes before first light as quietly as possible. My windows open silently and I sit back in the corner. Many times I have had deer in my plots as soon as I could see. I do the normal things on my place, mow, plant, etc. but I get all that done before the season starts. During the season I only go into the woods to retrieve a deer. Most of the time they drop where they are so I don’t have to. I have one camera on my pen, if I collect the card during season I do it mid day. My house is about 275/300 yards away to the SE so they are used to a little noise, but if they get a strong whiff of human scent they haul [censored]. For this reason I usually exit the stand at last light unless the wind is still blowing strong. When the air starts to cool it runs downhill and takes your stink with it. My plot runs downhill so better to give up the last 20 minutes than to let them smell me.

The place I used to own was 28 acres and as txthrophy85 said, food and water is very important. I also had salt and mineral stations set up in several places. During season, I never fired a shot except to take an animal and limited my presence as much as possible. If I had to go do any work, I drove the tractor. The deer were used to me mowing and I could drive within 10 yards of a deer that thought they were hid in a thicket or one of the wind rows that were left over from the bulldozer clearing the middle area of the place.
I very seldom hunted that I didn't see deer each sit.

Do like the people around here do. Shoot every buck you see but do not shoot any does. That way the does will lure more buck in for you to shoot.

If possible walk the perimeter and put game cameras up where you see deer/hog trails. This way after a couple of weeks you'll get an idea of what areas/trials the deer & hogs are typically using and the ones they're not. This can help with the placement of small food plots and your feeders & stands. Keep the feeders going twice a day. It's hard to do much buck management on small tracts unless you have the cooperation of the a joining land owners/hunters. My neighbors and I share pictures and work together on what are shooter bucks and which ones are not. When the rut comes in, we always see bucks we'd never seen on camera. Best of luck this season!

I strongly agree. Do you best to make the tract a safe zone for deer and they will respond by using it for that purpose. Make it an area where does feel comfortable raising their young and bucks will come looking for them once the rut rolls around. Also, my own experience has been what tracking studies have found concerning mature bucks and how they can have small core areas and even smaller preferred bedding areas within them. And this especially true when these small tracts have old farmhouses, barns, corrals, and other structures surrounded by the most unforgiving overgrown thickets. Look for heavily used trails at the edges that serve as escape doors from surrounding properties where downed trees, washouts, or missing strands of barbed wire make it easier for deer to move quickly. Use satellite images to see if cover or gown up fence lines on surrounding properties create funnels or other cover that deer will use as travel routes. In fact, IMO one of the most rewarding aspects of truly hunting deer is using satellite images to locate potential travel routes, putting boots on the ground to confirm what you see, and then taking a nice buck from that very location.

Good luck.

I own a small place in Mason county. I only bowhunt it. Had three shooter bucks last year. Only shot one of them. I guess that could be considered some type of management.

The best thing I've done is to feed protein year round. Stay out of hunting areas for at least a week after filling feeders and put in a fall food plot.

Shoot, I'm on only 15 acres, home place. Oats is the best sure bet here, along with reliable food and water. All small acreage around me, so most the does are damn near tame anyway.

for small acreage and gun hunting, I think a suppressor is a "must have"
AND
keep traffic to a minimum---- fill feeders/check cameras less often and in the middle of the day Noon/1pm (do this on bad hunting days too)

I have a 100 acre lease and entrance in to the stands are key! if you are walking in and wind is blowing your scent over majority of the acreage they will know. Like others said have couple of stands/feeders as not to burn out any. Then you have stands for different wind. If you slip in and out with the good wind they don't know you're there. Don't be driving 4wheelers and shooting during the season.

feed regular and keep the place quiet. try to set up your stand where you have a best way in and out that doesn't disturb any more of the property than necessary. Kind of the same stuff you would do on a larger property with multiple stand locations, your are just treating the whole property as one or however many locations. depending on how big it is might not have option for multiple stand locations. If its going to be a hunting place then then activities there need to be focused on hunting.

although..i live on a small ac place and do the usual keeping of livestock and stuff. that oddly enough doesn't seem to bother deer too much. but target shooting and lots of driving around beyond what's really necessary, etc. will effect the deer. it makes a difference too. at my home place my next door neighbor is a pretty strict bow hunter. his place is bigger than mine. but still just under 50ac. back of his place is very creeky and more secluded. its a bow hunting sanctuary for him. and though his stand site and mind aren't probably but several hundred yards apart....he sees deer that i don't or dont' see regularly.

Set up stands so that you are hunting not on the fenceline but about a 100 yard buffer inward from the fence all the way around the property with either a road or trail and stay completely out of the middle of your property which is a no mans land.
Stay out of that core area at all cost unless to retrieve a deer. No feeders, nothing in that area where you have to disturb or carry in feed. Deer don't want feeders in their core bedding area!
Know your shot placement to anchor a deer for no, or very short tracking job. We have never had to track a deer over the fence in all the years we've hunted our property.
We've done this on 160 acres for the last 15 years and it seems to work pretty well.