The Art of Hunting Small Parcels of Land
The Art of Hunting Small Parcels of Land
Deer hunting in America is an interesting story. Most hardcore deer enthusiasts have heard the jaw dropping fact that there are currently more whitetail deer in Nrth America than there were when Christopher Colombus set foot in this hemisphere. What’s so surprising about this fact is that our natural habitat where whitetails thrived is in large part totally changed. There is no more glaring example of this than our own state of Iowa where we erased almost all native habitat from our landscape. Yet these supremely resilient animals persist, and although the acres where they can be hunted are far outnumbered by acres that offer little hope of filling a tag, sometimes the smallest, most overlooked pieces of habitat can be an untapped buck killing goldmine. Here’s how to find and hunt them.
Goldmine vs. Barren Wasteland
A common misconception many casual hunters hold onto regarding deer is that they can be found anywhere there is timber. Trees are definitely a major limiting factor for deer habitat in Iowa, but there is more than just the presence of trees that will determine if an area is suitable for deer to choose to bed there. The most important factor that will give a timber stand that home sweet home feel to the local deer herd is the security of the area, and security is determined by substantial bedding cover and separation from regular human intrusion.
Substantial bedding cover looks like a thick understory of waist high vegetation, that would, as the Mississippi State University Deer Lab suggests, completely hide a basketball tossed into the timber. Understory that dense allows a mature old buck to feel invisible, and a mother doe to feel safe leaving her new fawn behind while she’s out browsing for the day. When it comes to avoiding human activity deer will tolerate more than most would expect, but regular disturbances like close proximity firearm target practice, ATV trail riding, and livestock grazing can turn a small patch of timber into a deer ghost town. Once security can be checked off, the next box to fill on the checklist is food.
Choicest Calories
In Iowa, food is the easiest habitat component to come by for deer. The vast majority of Iowa’s surface area is food, so areas where deer have menu options that are more preferable than just corn and soybeans will be more attractive to deer. Of course, it is natural to jump to food plots loaded with forage crops such as clover, oats, sorghum, or brassica mixes, but even better than this are diverse stands of native forbs and legumes. These provide deer with the most complete nutrition they need, and they are quite scarce on the landscape.
Finding a small woodlot that has no history of being cropped, or is surrounded by a diverse CRP planting is a great place to zero in on for the presence of these native forbs. If a hunter has the ability to add food plots to their hunting area, they should strongly consider establishing a native perennial food plot loaded with a diverse mix of native forbs and legumes. This could transform a small property into a honey hole.
Time of Season
One of the advantages of a small hunting property is that it’s most productive time of year can be determined. The primary farm I hunt has about 5-6 acres of huntable timber, and no significant bedding cover with southern exposure. As a result, the farm does not lend itself to providing good late season opportunities, but when the corn is still standing, and the temperatures are mostly above freezing, this farm can be very productive. Understanding this reality has taught me to pour my efforts into hunting October. The more hunts I can log before harvesting the corn the more deer; I will have the opportunity to target.
Getting into the Season
Even with hunting the farm so aggressively in the earliest parts of the season I still have to be smart about how and when I approach the most premium stand locations. I prioritize wind direction, cold fronts, and time in the month when I choose where I will set up. For someone who has a small property that is productive during the rut (most likely because of its ideal doe bedding areas, or its travel funnels that link up other larger bedding areas on neighboring properties), they will need to hunt as much as possible from the few days before Halloween through Thanksgiving.
Properties that hold deer into December and January are a rare gem in Iowa and are typically good to hunt throughout the hunting season. For these properties I would either hunt them on the best days of the season (cold fronts, peak rut, unique wind direction opportunities), or I would put most of my efforts into the late season when deer congregate on such a property. With all of that being said, prioritizing your hunts basing them on the knowledge of what time of the season your small property is best suited for is the most effective way to minimize hunting pressure and maximize opportunities.
General Practices For Small Properties
All hunting properties are different, and this is probably even more true when comparing small properties. But aside from their differences these farms still share the common trait of being small, and hunting all small properties requires the same handful of dos and don’ts. The first such consideration is access and egress to the stand or blind. Finding the right way to sneak into a tiny piece of habitat can be extremely difficult, but not impossible. If I’m on a morning hunt I do my best to avoid being caught in overnight feeding areas. Later when I hit the woods in the afternoon, I choose a spot where I can set up 100-200 yards downwind of a bedding area, along the route to an evening food source.
Both of these approaches help me minimize the risk of bumping into deer on my way to my treestand. The same risk exists when it’s time to leave. My friend Noel Gandy once hunted a buck he named Coon Dog because at the end of one of his hunts, that old buck hung around the base of Noel’s tree for close to an hour after hunting light ended. Noel had to wait until ol’ Coon Dog wandered off out of sight before he could leave the tree so he wouldn’t spook the old trophy buck.
Tree Stand Location
Choosing a tree stand location that allows for a clean getaway when it’s time to end the hunt is just as important as finding a stealthy way in. I like locations that offer thick vegetation or terrain features like creek bottoms, ravines, field terraces, and standing corn. Of course, the cover of darkness always helps as well. Aside from access and egress to and from a stand of blind, the other most significant factor on the productivity of a small hunting property is hunting pressure.
As I mentioned earlier, it’s important to limit the number of hunts on a small farm to the most productive time in the season. This is the most difficult discipline to get right, but having enough self-control to go and spend some time hunting local public land, or gaining some additional hunting permission from other landowners in the area can help spread out the hunting pressure on the small farm and keep it productive for its specific window of the season.
Every deer hunter wishes he had more land to hunt, but many times here in Iowa we have to settle for the small, and often overlooked pieces of habitat. But with the right plan and an optimistic attitude, great value can still be found in these few productive acres. Log the hours scouting, and hunting to learn the farm as best as possible. Then, when the time is right, approach each hunt like a neurosurgeon getting ready to perform surgery: on time, clean, delicate, decisive, and effective. This kind of discipline will help you maximize the harvest potential on your small farm.
by Kent Boucher
September 2024
