The difference between a good hunter to a great hunter is a great one understands why deer do what they do. This topic can be complex but I will focus on the basics. The basics alone will be enough to improve your strategy. With a little understanding you can better pick out a travel corridor and place yourself in an optimal position to see bigger deer. Below I will spell out several considerations that need to be explored in order to get the best understanding and in return yield the best results.
First, take an overall look at the landscape surrounding your property. Do you have heavy agriculture, lakes, rivers, swamps, or a mixture? Each terrain poses its own benefits and shortfalls. Deer need three basic things for their survival and by dissecting what you already have you can understand why the deer are on your property. Deer need food, water, and cover. If you are lucky enough to have an adequate balance of all three I am willing to bet that your hunting yields good results. So if you are lacking one or more of those elements, you then know why they leave your property to be shot elsewhere. If you know where they go to acquire the missing element(s) then you have a good idea where their travel corridors are.
So now comes the part that really upsets me. Why do most hunting magazines and shows always stress the introduction of food plots but neglect to shed similar light on the other needs? In my opinion; the reason they tell everyone to put in a food plot is it is the only one of the three elements they can make money from. Improving habitat for cover is the most often neglected and many times the most beneficial. But the magazines and shows ignore it because there is no product to sell. If you have a chainsaw you can do it. The other element they rarely mention is water. A one time rental of a backhoe and you can provide water for the deer. So its the food plot that needs constant reseeding and fertilizing which makes it the constant money pit they make money from. Therefore they stress it the most and only touch on the others.
To better illustrate this lets use the property I hunt for an example. My property consists of a cedar swamp transitioning into agriculture. But the surrounding area is a patchwork quilt of cedar swamps and farm fields. Along with all of that there is a small year around river that snakes through about 80 acres away. So for me it is quite simple. I have cover and food but lacking adequate water on my property. Deer will drink the water in a swamp but will travel for a better source. So I have two choices. I can either create watering holes or exploit the travel corridors to the river. I have limited equipment and found the bedrock to be only a few feet down at the field edge. So a watering hole is going to be difficult but I am going to try putting one in on the edge of the swamp when we have a dry year to get equipment in there. So for now I have really focused on cutting the deer off as they travel. To see how I do this check out my articles on hinge cutting.
So now that you can examine your situation and see what your strengths and weaknesses are, you can focus on improving what you lack. So now if you look at the surrounding area as a whole and find your neighbors to have the same, there is still hope in making yours better. To do this you need to offer one or all of the three elements better than your neighbor has. For better cover you can thicken up the bedding areas and travel corridors through hinge cutting. You can also plant trees and cover but that takes more time to develop. If you choose this route you should check in your area for deals on trees around Arbor Day to save money. For better food you can offer a mineral rich food that the deer don't find elsewhere. The trick on this is go to your local feed mill and inquire on what's popular. Then simply stay away from the most popular seeds. It is also a good idea to buy multiple seeds and not a mixture. This way you can plant them separately and see what grows best and to see what the deer want.
Now to enhance the water in your area there are ways to do it for better results. The more secluded you can make the watering hole the better. Also if you can create more cover surrounding the watering hole you will not only have more deer coming to it, but you will see them using it more during daylight hours. Another trick is to create steep sides all the way around the watering hole except the point you want the deer to enter for a drink. Also if you have a small hole with steep sides all the way around make sure you lay a log into it so small critters can escape if they fall in.
Take a chance and try some of these tactics. But remember to have a game plan before you start making permanent changes. Its is simple to change your property but hard to change it back. Simply formulate a master vision and work towards it one project at a time.
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