Bedding Or Food?? | FIRST Step On A SMALL Property!!

[@deercamp3479]

In a big woods setting I would say a food plot is way more important than bedding although I agree with what your saying in a small property in a high ag area

[@Buck_Norris]

I like y'all's outlook on this. I hunt Arkansas and noticed that everyone that deer hunts is terrified about cutting down a tree and heaven forbid it's an oak.. I've thickened up my woods and have noticed a significant difference with the deer on my place. For me, bedding was absolutely the top priority since every piece of property around me had closed canopy. I think most people underestimate the amount of browse a deer eats in their diet versus what a food plot produces.

[@Whitetail_Properties]

You nailed it! Glad you are seeing benefits from your improvements! Closed canopy forest offers very little for deer in comparison to thinned forest with herbaceous plants and woody browse on the forest floor! Our video we posted yesterday shows 4 different habitat types and positives/negative on all 4.

[@Buck_Norris]

@@Whitetail_Properties oh I saw the one about the four different types. Before and after photos on different farms are actually what got the wheels turning in my head.

[@Whitetail_Properties]

@@Buck_Norris Yup it's visually helpful to show before and after shots, so we try to include those as much as possible.

[@brandonyoung7760]

I put in a 1/2 acre food plot and put in doe beds right behind it then added buck beds about 150 yards behind the doe beds

[@Whitetail_Properties]

Nice! Hopefully it will help you out this season!

[@jimmyharper6655]

You shouldn't ever expect to "hold" deer on a small property. Their home ranges are simply too large to do that, even if you give them everything they need on your own "back 40". The goal should be to give them what they can't find elsewhere close by, whatever that is -- bedding, security, food, or even water -- so that they want to spend more time on your property than your neighbors. I agree bedding cover is vitally important, but if you have five acres of land to hunt that's surrounded on all sides by private property with thick bedding cover, it makes no sense to give the deer more of it on your small tract. Give them food, or something else limiting on those neighboring properties, instead. That's why "always" doesn't apply to hunting, no matter how well-intentioned the advice.

[@Whitetail_Properties]

You're generalizing the term "hold," when we are using it in this video it's about holding deer during daylight hours better than surrounding farms. Deer have a home range and a core area, we're creating a landscape more conducive for a bucks core area. The core area is where a buck is most likely daylight active and if we provide and create enough resources for the deer on this tract then when they do leave its after dark. We've been quite successful with this management practice on clients properties all over the country.

[@Michael29160]

Glad I found you guys.

[@Whitetail_Properties]

We are too! Happy to have you following along!

[@nathanheine8581]

Both are important. The answer is both.

[@Whitetail_Properties]

Yes, both are important. We were emphasizing that cover/bedding is slightly more important and should be the first thing to focus on.

[@jawmarq21]

Say you have a 10 acre oak hickory woodlot on the edge of 200+acre marsh. I figure my bedding would not be able to compete with the marsh, focus more on providing food? Or still a mixture of both on a smaller scale?

[@Whitetail_Properties]

You could certainly hold deer if you did a bedding cut.

[@michiganmadeoutdoors9699]

My neighbors land holds the deer and the bedding I put in a plot and hunt the funnel points I'm the only one pulling deer every year. Then get bitched at for shooting does after counting 33 in one group. They posted there land and I'm still pulling the deer. They have bedding and water. But a deers gotta eat

[@Landandlegacytube]

We’re it saying don’t have the food too, but the bedding should be the foundation. Then put the food according to where that bedding is

[@RushOutdoors]

Very good point about bedding. You better to create a full line of movement, and your bedding area that you guys showed. It seemed a little to thick they couldn't even move through it they had to go around on edges. But I do get what you are saying, and that is just what it looked like in the video not that it is that way I guess. Good video! What Your neighbors don't have should always be your first step. Just my thoughts.

[@Treeplanter73]

Privacy was #1 on my small property. Conifers on my property line went in first. Then food management. My neighbors don't need to know my goings on.

[@Whitetail_Properties]

There ya go!

[@kevinsalyers690]

Where im at it has plenty of bedding areas, and ditches running through it, so do i need to put food plots in

[@WildWaysOutdoors]

Umm I’ll pass on that, bedding and cover are 2nd for me, deer bed close to food so not sure on this logic, if you think 2 or more bucks are going to bed in that tangled 1 acre mess you’re fooling yourself especially if you don’t have food nearby.

[@jimmyalamo839]

i would like to see bucks bed in trees that are cut down. ive only ever seen them bed in thick canopy cover

[@brettpayton6286]

Gret video. So what do you suggest for 90% open on that 30A. Pretty much only tree are across the ditch on the bottom ( travel corridor) 3 sides of neighbors have most all the timber. Ours just seems like a stopping point in between. Keep up the great work an thank you

[@richardtrowell8812]

Found myself in same situation. Improved it by using a prescribed burn in spring, enhancing the established trails and planting linear strips of a food plot mix along borders. Should have left some of the grass so food plots have some cover and are not in open. Plant trees to increase amount of edge and something to screen food. The burn alone will jumpstart the seeds that are naturally available in the soil. Good luck.

[@Whitetail_Properties]

This is great advice!

[@ryanfarmer5155]

Well a year later, how is that bedding area in the video doing? Did it work, anything you would do differently. Thanks

[@Whitetail_Properties]

The bedding area turned out great! We actually have a follow up video on this site in our TSI playlist!

[@lilfear]

you said small 35 acres, what about 3 acres? I am wanting to work with my neighbor that has a feeder and has killed deer in the past...i bought this land 1 year ago...

[@Whitetail_Properties]

On 3 acres you could still implement a small bedding area say 1/4 - 1/2 an acre!

[@jamiestarnes1244]

I’m trying to figure out access on a small 40 acre farm in Laurens South Carolina things have changed for us in the last 8 yrs Do y’all consult

[@LOUGHRIDGE72]

Let's create a Go Fund Me to raise money to buy a mic for Keith.

[@Whitetail_Properties]

He was wearing it one, he just kept brushing it and the audio was no good lol.

[@MD-ii3ry]

You can't hold deer on 10 acres though

[@Whitetail_Properties]

Maybe not "hold" but you could get them to spend a fair amount of time there if you set it up properly.

[@brianstaaf1176]

IMO Bedding isn’t the first step… before starting make sure your access is completed.. think how your going to get to your stands, access around the borders is my advice.. step 2 is food, plan where your creating a food plot.. step 3 bedding, bedding is supposed to relate to your food, you want to ambush the deer going from bedding to your food. You can cut every tree in the woods for bedding if you want, whitetail need food.. the bedding only works if your bedding and food relate to one another!! If this is around strictly ag, your video will be fine..anywhere else good luck. Don’t get me wrong, you will see deer by cutting bedding, but you won’t reach potential until there is food to relate to.

[@Whitetail_Properties]

The cool thing about creating bedding cuts is that if done right and managed correctly they will provide food. Plenty of herbaceous plants and woody browse in bedding cuts. Then you can set up food once bedding is established. Not necessarily a right or wrong order. But having both is key.

[@dylanthrall5657]

You need the food first then the does than the the big bucks

[@wcb5890]

absolutely false.

[@dylanthrall5657]

@@wcb5890 watch whitetail habitat solutions

[@wcb5890]

@@dylanthrall5657 go plant 10sq miles of food plots with zero cover see what happens. I dont need to watch the same old whitetail stuff that has been beat to death for 20+ years. Kinda of weird how I have killed a ton of mature bucks on properties up to 500 acres with ZERO food plots or ag. Or killed bucks out west literally 1+miles from a human introduced food source.

[@dylanthrall5657]

@@wcb5890 they need a daily food source to make sure they use it all the time, you don't need much food plots it could be hard woods reign or bait for the daily food

[@wcb5890]

@@dylanthrall5657 They get up and browse during the day BUT this video is about food plots or bedding. Of course deer need something to eat but when you state you need "food first...." That is false. The #1 waste of money and time I see on deer hunting properties is guys just going out and throwing up a food plot. No cover on their property to hold deer...they then wonder why every mature buck picture is at night...probably because that buck has to travel through zero quality cover to get there. In most of the Whitetails range there is food...large ag fields (or food plots on neighbors property) or just natural feed within easy traveling distance for deer. I would much rather hunt a property big or small that the deer spend more time on in cover/bedding than a property with beautiful food plots but holds zero deer during the day. In my experience across multiple states cover and safety (bedding areas that hold deer) trumps food as far as killing deer. Now could I throw out a pile of corn or plant a food plot by that cover and do well yeah...but no deer would be on that pile or plot without the cover.

[@daniellarsen7944]

What if you have 100 acres of switch grass with no trees that borders a wildlife refuge with tons of heavy cover and thick mature evergreens for bedding areas directly on the other side of the fence?

[@daniellarsen7944]

In southern iowa

[@Whitetail_Properties]

We would say try to diversify the 100 acres of switchgrass.

[@2kwikSRT]

Just throw in the towel and sell it to me

[@weslovell815]

Bedding and browse

[@keithday30]

Food is the most important and number one priority! A Food plot sets up the bedding. Food is what defines all movement and bedding. This video is wrong on many levels

[@rickdiaz4559]

Agree 100%

[@adamredden2007]

Yeah, and if you're on 30 acres, which is what this video is about, and you have 5 acres of bedding, you're going to hold some deer during the day. Not to mention that when you create bedding like they did, you're going to have tons of early successional browse that keeps them in or near the bedding, which is exactly how bucks like it. Nothing about what they said is wrong. Everybody is a gd expert these days. Shew Actually, now that I think about it, your entire premise is wrong. SECURITY is the most important thing during the day, which again is exactly the point of this video. On small acreage they can hang out in the bedding area and browse all day long and go to more desirable food at night.

[@parkergregoire4968]

⁠@@adamredden2007i agree with your comment about security, but from my experience an afternoon feeding area is what decides where deer bed. if there is no nearby food source then simply the deer have no reason to be there as compared to any other property.

[@T91matt]

Where’s your big bucks at bud

[@jameskrow3064]

You have no idea about hunting maybe take up golf you might figure it out

[@Akimikinaak]

Don't let wild rose take over omg what a nightmare

[@ericstevens8744]

Great bedding cover for giant deer

[@mightyminifarm]

You’re not holding any deer on 35 acres. Those deer will roam hundreds of acres.

[@Whitetail_Properties]

Although we don't disagree with you, you'd be surprised how much time deer will spend on a property that has the majority of what they need to survive, regardless of size.

[@justinmahan7860]

35 acres is not not small 😂 i have 1 acre would kill for 35

[@Whitetail_Properties]

35 is relatively small 1 acre is very very small.