Small Acarage Hunting

I just picked up 50 acres of land in East Texas. I was looking for some advice on hunting deer on small acreage

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.

awesome ! thank you very much for the info

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

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.

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.

What county in East Texas?

great info thank you. I will definitely set up an area for food plots

Houston County

What would be a good spring food plot to plant? Sandy soil, San Saba County.

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.

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.

You’re welcome and good luck!

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 ...

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.

There’s no secret.

Lots of bait and hunt

Make them want what you have.

And then be there a lot

Put out whole corn where you hunt, they'll find it

Rice bran.

20 acres between Bryan and Waco over the last 8 years or so. Keeping them fed in late winter and early spring then again in summer when no one else is feeding will keep them tight to the area.

This is one of the more mature bucks I caught on camera on my 34 acres in Houston county as I described above.

nice bucks!

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.