How to Attract Deer to a Small Property : 3 Simple Steps

[@stevegerber835]

Great tips,thanks. my 5 acre property has a swamp full of water right now, but come October it's bone dry, adding a water hole this year.

[@EpicWhitetailHabitatLLC]

That's awesome! Good luck!

[@Hankxiong]

I have 5 acres in winnebago county. Deer only show up at night. There’s is nothing around me but hundreds of acres of ag land. I get deer on cam just about every other day. There’s no trees or anything on my property or the areas surrounding. How would I attrack deer so that my son can eventually enjoy a hunt? I put a water bucket out and it’s a magnet for the deer but they drink and leave.

[@EpicWhitetailHabitatLLC]

@Hankxiong great question. Sounds like an opportunity with a blank slate to create a little honeypot. Visit my website to send me an email to discuss further, if you'd like.

[@craigwagner327]

Just curious how you would handle this situation: I own a 30 acre woods and there is another 20 acre woods that is connected to mine. The person that owns the 20 acre woods baits and just off my woods on the southside there are some other hunters that put big bait piles out in the field luring the deer off my property Into the field where their bait piles are. I was planning on planting two 1/4 acre plots in the middle of my woods but I heard that bait trumps food plots. Should I be baiting instead(would rather not). Am I just helping my neighbor hunters even more by planting the plots? What would you do in this situation?

[@EpicWhitetailHabitatLLC]

It's a rule of thumb that you should be complimenting your existing property with 5% - 10% of you existing acreage into alternative food sources. I do not mean baiting. Your plots should remain lineal to the outside, if possible, to prevent blowing out half your property to potentially hunt the food plots. But in the grand scheme, what is missing on your property that you feel is important to holding that mature buck on your property? Baiting, although can attract a lot of deer, tends to turn most mature bucks "nocturnal". Does your property contain enough of everything above carrying capacity of the deer who call your property home? What is your hunting pressure? How do you access/exit stand locations? What other activities are you doing on your land besides hunting? Are you doing other activities on your land in Season? Are you hunting your property outside in or inside out? I have neighbors doing the same around my area, but I'm not worried because I'm that property that holds the deer most during daylight hours simply from a pressure standpoint. So many things can be done. But what's the key to tricking the "fenceline sitters"?

[@craigwagner327]

@EpicWhitetailHabitatLLC I have a half acre thicket in middle of woods where the doe bed and was planning on planting the 2 food plots in the middle of woods by the thicket and not hunting right on the food plots. I was going to hunt 75 yards from them and keep the middle a sanctuary

[@VanceVenisonOutdoors]

@@craigwagner327 I have a very similar situation. I recently bought 20 acres in the woods, it's in the south and is basically just a pine forest. My neighbor puts out corn piles and would hunt over them. I did some work, and put in 2 food plots, about 1/2 acre each kind of along the perimeter of the property, leaving the interior for bedding and what have you. It was tough, but finally got some good greenery on the plots. My neighbor used to get plenty of activity on his cameras and the corn. Gradually, over the course of the last year, I started seeing the same deer on mine, and I will tell you, it got to a point where he pulled his cameras out of the woods all together because it had been over 6 weeks since he saw ANY deer on his property. Meanwhile, I had all the same deer on mine all times of the day and night. I say all that so say, as far as I can tell, deer will opt for the best option. If that is a corn pile at the time, then that is what they will choose. But get a good variety of fresh growing groceries and you will be the new hottest spot in the woods. All of this is with mediocre (at best) bedding on my property. I'm working on improving it, but for now, they make use/due with what they have. I am confident once I get the bedding up to par, and don't apply excess pressure, I will be able to keep them on my parcel, as small as it is. Get yourself food plot(s) established that are easy to get to and from without spooking deer and also look for other areas like close to bedding, transition points, etc so you aren't putting excessive pressure on the plots. It's a bit of a process, but it's fun! Good luck and enjoy!!

[@craigwagner327]

@VanceVenisonOutdoors I have a half acre thicket in the middle of my woods and I was going to plant two 1/8th acre food plots out of oats, one on the south side of thicket and one on west side. Planting oats cause they are shade tolerant and was going to plant them right on logging trail. The neighbors bait piles would be about 150 to 200 yards away

[@craigwagner327]

@VanceVenisonOutdoors do you think my plan would be effective or will plots be too close to neighboring bait piles? I wanted to plant the plots by the 1/2 acre thicket, that's where the does bed

[@shanen457]

I have three and a half acres in the middle of ranch land and German shepherds that are trained to keep the deer out of the yard and garden so I have to get my deer as they cross my neighbors pasture. When I asked for permission many years ago, his response was, "Don't shoot my house. Don't shoot my cows and make sure you kill all of them!" 😂The deer eat his hay and that costs him a lot of money.

[@EpicWhitetailHabitatLLC]

I get the same response from my brother on his dairy farm every year! Lol!

[@Sandwichking-hikes]

You can drive deer absolutely crazy by smearing peanut butter body height on tree trunks in front of your stand. It has super powerful odor and taste they cannot resist

[@bucksniper65]

They love Peanut Butter,but it is not legal in states that don't allow baiting

[@itsalexcota]

@@bucksniper65he’s not baiting the deer. He’s feeding the squirrels 😂