How much land do you need?

[cdn1]

Hello, fellow deer hunters. I have 98acres of land to hunt. would 4 hunters be to much for that size of property? 50acres wooded 48acres fields. There is appx. 150acres of woods attached to the west side of the property which is not hunted but has some human intrusion. (wheeler trail)
I am planing to start a small scale management plan, food plots and doe harvet plan. does this sound feasible????

[stormshooter4]

why share?????
  My experience has been...........the more on there, the less there is for me. And I'm talking bigger parcels than that that I hunt. I have access to 2 non working farms each seperated by a field. One is 95% wooded which is mostly regrowth and big ol hemlocks, the other is 70% field and the rest is border woods. In the past with a few on them, my sightings and kill rate were affected. Now there is only 2 of us allowed on and I have filled all but one tag this year. Bow season, a 10 point, gun season, a 6 point and  a doe so far with one more doe tag to go. The 1st week of the season hasn't gone by yet and I'm almost done except for my smokepole season which comes up at the end of the reg season. In the past, I would be out there almost every day and not see a deer or someone else got one that was there when I wasn't.
  I have posted it per the landowners request which has kept others off. Which in turn has made it better for me and safer.

[Goose]

We have 48 acres with 3 people bowhunting it.we have 3 acres of it as field.with very low impact (always playing the wind and taking the right route in and out)im happy with the results.would it be better with just one guy? im sure but i wouldnt wanna hunt without my partners.theres more to it than big antlers. why share ? im glad theirs not more people with that attitude around!

[dtrain56]

depends how much you hunt and how many deer you kill, and what age group bucks you decide to shoot, if you shoot every deer you see then you will pressure the deer heavily, if you only shoot 6 1/2 year old deer then they wont care if you share your property..because you wont be pressuring the deer very much...nor will you kill many
 
also depends on how you hunt, are you driving you atv on the property everyday, going for walks or do you onlt visit a couple times a year???
 
98 acres is plenty of land to grow monster bucks if your neighbors are also practicing QDMA, you need to be more detailed to determine if your plan is a good one or not...
 
do you have security cover??  how many acres of food plots are you planning to plant, etc...etc...
 
 

[JPH]

I think Goose is on the right track. 98 acres is not too small for 4 hunters if they hunt it the right way. Very low impact at all times.

I see one main issue. To me, low impact means never hunting a stand against the wind. Would you have enough stands for all 4 hunters to sit on a given wind? Or would you set up a rotation? Something to think about.

But when you look at all the hard work that it takes to foster habitat, the extra hands would be very helpful.

I guess what I am trying to say is that 4 is not a crowd, if it is the right 4.

[cdn1]

Thank you for the replies, think I have three buddies that have the same
goals as I do. We have all sort of come the full circle as deer hunters. We
have all shot "OK" bucks(110's-140's) and are now looking for the next step mature bucks. We would rather sit in our stand knowing that with the management steps we are about to start on, could eventually earn one or
each of us an opportunity to harvest a 4.5-6.5 year old buck, in time. 
The way we have hunted up to the current season was with a large group of people lots of deer drives sit in the mornings and evenings, most not playing the wind and shooting the first deer they see. One fella shot a buck fawn on opening day and another one on the friday. He figured it was a tough season we only had one deer hanging so he shot the 2nd fawn. It's just not what hunting is about for me anymore. My son will be 12 this coming year and  I want him to have a better experience than that.  
  So my family has 100acres of land in a totally different area it's basically
unworked and we are free to do as we please.
 
  As for the plan it is in the begining stages. I just dropped the soil samples for testing today for three plot locations as a start. 18 acres is
worked by a local farmer he usually plants crops such as corn, soy bean
or winter wheat. I am planing to plant 2   3-5acre plots of perennials and 1  1-1.5acre plot as an annual. We plan to only harvest over one of the food sources. The other stands would be along the travel routes to and from these plots but not on them and only hunted with the best wind. 
 I would like to get the guys to each harvest one doe each and then
try for 1 or 2 truely good bucks between the four of us.
 We are in Ontario Canada and we (cdn's ) are well behind the US in
deer management. The are area is about the same Latitude as the
tip of Michigans thumb area.(base of the Bruce Peninsula) any
ideas or suggestions would really be appreciated. thxs again

[JPH]

I think you have the right attitude and are on the right track. But I do want to offer you a little bit of a warning. If your goal is to shoot 4.5-6.5 yr. old bucks you may be in for a long wait.

Not that it can't happen. It certainly can, but much of that will be beyond your control. 100 acres is far too small to shelter a buck from other hunters for that long.

I do not say this to shoot you down. I only offer it b/c I have learned it the hard way.

Good luck and please keep us posted.

[cdn1]

What age class animal would be a good starting point? As far as I can tell
there isn't alot of hunting pressure around the property. I know that a mature whitetail buck could have a home range as large as 10 sq miles.
that means he may be killed by others. But that is a risk we all face on small tracts. I know that at least we wont intentinally kill fawns to
fill our meat pole. I guess that our goal isn't just to kill an older age class
buck. Its more to provide us all with a quality experience. I still want to
harvest a buck as will my son and hunting partners. I dont want the quest to kill a trophy to over shadow the hunting experience. So any sugestions
as to what kind of buck should/could be harvested in the starting phase of a small scale management(micro management)plan? I know that is a loaded question with many posible answers because of the many unknown variables, just looking for anyone else's thoughts as to what might be
an realistic age class to harvest.
  My son and I did see a dandy of a buck last Saturday on the property,
that was the first time I have walked on the property in over 20 years.
cdn1

[Goose]

If your serious about it and so are the other people hunting with you I would think a 3.5 off of that parcel would be an achievement in my opinion. Getting that older age class in there you will have the possibility of coming across a 4.5 or better. This is not an overnight process its gonna take many years and alot of commitment. Good luck!

[JPH]

ORIGINAL: cdn1

What age class animal would be a good starting point? As far as I can tell
there isn't alot of hunting pressure around the property. I know that a mature whitetail buck could have a home range as large as 10 sq miles.
that means he may be killed by others. But that is a risk we all face on small tracts. I know that at least we wont intentinally kill fawns to
fill our meat pole. I guess that our goal isn't just to kill an older age class
buck. Its more to provide us all with a quality experience. I still want to
harvest a buck as will my son and hunting partners. I dont want the quest to kill a trophy to over shadow the hunting experience. So any sugestions
as to what kind of buck should/could be harvested in the starting phase of a small scale management(micro management)plan? I know that is a loaded question with many posible answers because of the many unknown variables, just looking for anyone else's thoughts as to what might be
an realistic age class to harvest.
My son and I did see a dandy of a buck last Saturday on the property,
that was the first time I have walked on the property in over 20 years.
cdn1

cdn1, I like the way you think. We have a lot in common.

As you said, it's a loaded question. There is nothing wrong with holding out for fully mature bucks, as long as it does not ruin the experience. But most of us still enjoy taking a buck from time to time.

I hunt several parcels, spread over 3 counties and 2 states. The largest is 80 acres. I have chosen to target 3.5's, but I'm also cool with the occaisional 2.5 if the moment is right. But I have also learned that each property is vastly different (even though the region and habitat are the same). One farm routinely produces big 3.5's and I have taken several fully mature deer there, while another farm took me 6 years to kill a 2.5.

Go in with a good attitude and let the reality steer your program. IMO, even taking a young deer on land that you have worked is more rewarding than happening into a mature deer on a 20 man drive.