Deer tend to funnel into these areas out of habit, and although there may be little sign that directly relates deer movement to these areas, a good hunter will learn to recognize them. This isn’t some mystic second sight, but rather a detailed understanding and recognition of subtle cues that other hunters miss. But finding deer on small acreage requires reading all the sign, even the less obvious stuff, to get in tune with what the deer on your land are doing. Some deer sign is obvious-rubs, scrapes, tracks and deer sightings-and these are the things that we as hunters are trained to recognize. The goal is to set up an environment where deer will continue to act naturally, making them easier to pattern. Food plots and water sources are other valuable “comfort” assets for deer, but these, too, are designed to minimize pressure on the animals by providing food and water with shelter nearby. What’s more, these hunters work to minimize interference on the property. Virtually every successful small-property hunter I know has set aside at least some small sliver of land that they simply don’t hunt a buffer zone that belongs solely to the deer. The idea, then, is to make deer on your property comfortable. Your buck is still there, but you’ll never see him during legal shooting light. You can run deer off your land if you’re putting too much pressure on them during the off-season, but what’s more likely is that the deer simply switched core areas and are moving at night. This notion that hunters “run deer off the property” is oftentimes a fallacy. Studies have shown that white-tailed deer are highly territorial, so the buck you saw in August that dropped out of sight in September won’t be three counties away by October. You don’t have to turn your hunt into a data-driven statistical model of whitetail behavior, but you need the best insight you can get. They’re storing data and pouring over it, looking for trends. Instead, they overlay that information with what they’re learning while scouting with thermals. Successful hunters like McKibben don’t just download a picture of a big buck off their trail camera and show it off to a few select buddies. Why is that? Simple: the best hunters are using that technology to the fullest and, perhaps most importantly, they’re reading between the lines. Online maps offer an aerial view of your property and the properties that surround it.Īll hunters have access to this technology, yet only a handful take really good bucks. You can scout effectively and efficiently with trail cameras, and thermals (where legal) offer a glimpse into whitetail behavior at night. When used correctly, they offer you a glimpse inside the whitetail’s world that no previous generation could have imagined and, when used correctly, this technology can be a real benefit. High-tech trail cameras and handheld thermals are more than trendy tools that keep hunters preoccupied during the off-season. Here are five tips that will help you score big on small plots of land. But that doesn’t mean they’re unkillable-if you know what you’re doing. Old bucks on small parcels are wary and they’ve evolved to thrive in the face of intense hunting pressure. So, what is it that sets McKibben and other successful small-acreage hunters apart from the rest of the crowd? What are they doing differently than everyone else? Simple: they’re adapting to the conditions and developing new plans of action. Though he’s only been hunting just over a decade, McKibben has managed to take really large bucks on properties where other hunters would strike out. Increasing human populations and urban sprawl has forced hunters to be more adept at hunting bucks on ever-shrinking chunks of property, and the best small acreage hunter I know is Chad McKibben.
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