My question is what amount of acreage is necessary in order to see results with management efforts? We have met with all of our surrounding neighbors and made the following agreements hoping we see results in the future (next4 years). The problem is our properties seems to only consist of 250 acres. Our neighbor to the south is an 1160 acre ranch with feeders and a blind every 100 acres. we havent really figured them out yet, or had a chance to meet with them. So can we make a noticeable difference with only 250 acres?

Our management goals

-feed a source of protien year round.
-shoot any predator or hog on sight.
-Never shoot anything less than an 8 pt.
-Make efforts to not shoot anything younger than 4.5

If you're really committed to deer management then you need to incorporate a biologist in your plans. A range survey and deer survey will help point out the strengths and weaknesses of your co-op.

It's going to be tough to manage 250 acres. If you strictly follow the management plan suggested by the biologist then you might get one buck tag and a few doe tags for the 250 acres. Who gets the tags? How will they be divided? Will the others adhere to the program?

Not in my opinion, not enough land. I have a couple sections, lease hunters surround me. It is hard enough to make a difference with a couple of sections of low fence

If you make your property wildlife friendly it will make a difference. When I first got my place, I would see maybe 1 to 2 deer, all does. Now 3 years later it is normal to see 8 to 10 head a day, both bucks and does. I planted 8 food plots, did brush control, fertilized selected oaks and made certain areas off limits to ALL activity from September to January. Dont let the "it's not enough land" mentality keep you from making improvements.

Sounds like our place. 200+ acres surrounded by a 3000 ac & a 7000 ac & another huge place. Feed a good source of protein year round. Provide minerals also (salt blocks, trophy rocks, etc) Take are of the land/foliage as best you can to insure the deer will stick around there. Not disturb as much either. Control the predators but not completely wipe them out. If you take out tons of predators, the deer numbers will climb, the sick wont get taken as fast & could infect healthy, etc.

Even though you cant control where the deer decide to go, you can bring in things that might keep them there more then elsewhere.

We see good numbers of deer we have just been seeing very young deer. Nothing I would consider a shooter at this point. Im vey pleased with our numbers just not the age structure yet. I know it takes time.

The main place I hunt is a 276 acre tract...we are our own neighbors on 2 sides and totals up to a little over 650, but we don't step foot of feed on those places, it's used as a safe haven for deer to travel in without seeing anything to spook them. We always have a few decent bucks to try to shoot every year just by doing the following...

Our management goals

-feed a source of protien year round.
-shoot any predator or hog on sight.
-Never shoot anything less than an 8 pt 5.5yrs old.
-Make efforts to not shoot anything younger than 5.5yrs old.

we need to ramp up the coyote and bobcat killing, but with that comes a lot of commotion on the small place and deer numbers don't seem to be an issue.

May get into feeding protein, but just haven't got around to it yet.

I've done the same as some others. My property is actually relatively large for my area, but small for management purposes (500+/- acres surrounded by many smaller places, most between 5 and 50 acres).

What I do is try to make my place to most attractive to the deer. I have plenty of cover, have planted food plots, have constant water sources, feed year round, and put very little pressure on the deer.

Though this has been a strange year all together, most years I see pretty good results from my efforts. I'm still seeing plenty of deer at my place on most hunts, but almost no mature bucks. Worst year antler-wise I can ever remember.

It will be hard to manage that property but not immpossible. First and most importantly, try to get to know your neighbors. They might be looking to manage their larger acreage in the same way as you. You probably won't have resident bucks that stay solely on your property but you can increase the chances by hunting only in a section of your land. Leave the other area as a sanctuary with as little disturbance as possible. If the neighbor with all those blinds puts too much pressure on the herd, they will seek out an area with less activity.

I also agree with some of the other posts. Don't completely take out the predator population but definately kill all the hogs.

Make your land as appealing as possible. Include water sources if they're not already there, protein feed and maybe a food plot.

Alot of the posts on the forum are talking about how deer are'nt moving alot right now because of the large acorn crop. They don't have to travel far for a high protein food source. You can manage the smaller acreage in much the same way. Try and include all the things deer need to survive and they will be more inclined to remain on your side of the fence.

Good Luck.

Anything you do is better than nothing. If you have your neighbors on board, that's always an advantage as long as they can adhere to the objectives ya'll set into place. Be nice if you could meet your neighbors to the south and discuss some of this with them.

Sure, it's not the same as managing a 1000ac place, but I've seen people with 50acres transform land into their own personal "deer haven" and seen results. Cover, water, food plots, minerals, and feeders are all great. If you want to spend the money on protein, have at it, although you probably won't see the results compared to someone managing a larger tract of land.

Have fun with it!

^^^ most important part. If you enjoy it, the work never really seems to be a burden.

We hunt a little over 300 acres, and have seen great results from what we have been doing. When we started we saw a very few doe and fawns, and 1 spike, every year since we have seen great improvement, only been working on it for 3 years now though, so that is how old our deer herd is for the most part, not old enough.

We try to do everything we can to make our place a paradise for deer. Year round corn feeders, protein at free choice feeders 9 months out of the year, spring and fall food plots, dug a tank, put water stattions at the feeders, shred and disk open areas to allow forbs and other natural browse to grow, but the most important thing is selective deer harvest. We do multiple surveys every year, spot light surveys, blind counts, walking line surveys, camera surveys to esitmate our population/density to determine our harvest and buck to doe ratios. We have seen awsome improvements since we started and it just pours fuel on the fire. With small acreage hunting you cant look into your wallet and say hmmm I have 5 tags, lets fill them, you have to work with what your small acreage provides, which wont be a whole lot, especialy at the get go.

matt

I think you can increase the number of deer you see by increasing the desirability of your lease, ie food plots, protien, etc. The quality of bucks you shoot will depend on what your neighbors do. I would suggest finding out what their shooting restrictions are and match them. IMO, no way on that small an acreage to grow bigger deer th an your neighbors have.

We bought 320 acres 3 1/2 years ago. I agree with some of the above posts. Make your place a deer haven. We have 25 acres in wheat, 50 acres of heavy cover that is our "sanctuary". We don't go in there unless it's for maintenance of fences, etc.. We also have 5 tanks for water and one of the most important things we have done is NO 4 WHEELERS during deer season, period. We used 4 wheelers the 1st 2 years and were disappointed with the few deer we were seeing. This year our deer numbers have at least tripled. It also helps when your neighbors ride their 4 wheelers to their stands. Good luck.

On the four wheeler thing me and my dad have one and where thinking when or if we kill something we could use the fourwheeler to drag it halfway out I guess because it wont be able to cross this river but the other part is about a quarter mile and where thinking it would be less work to use the 4wheeler. Would this be a good idea or not?

If you are on the property on a regular basis, like twice a week or weekly and using 4 wheelers for all of your travel the deer become accustomed to them and accept them like the ranchers pickups. Same with the pickups, we lease our grass rights, he drives a diesel, same as my son, the deer ignore both pickups, but let me show up in my gasoline pickup, and the deer will scatter. No one drives a 4 wheeler, so they are not used to them, so we enforce the rule of no 4 wheelers. And I rarely drive my pickup. If we and the guy with the grass lease used 4 wheelers all year, I would continue during deer season.

ok thank you dogcatcher for your help and now that I re read what I typed I dont really know why I asked because I mean the deer is already dead and we probably wont hunt on the land again rest of the day or for another week if the other of us wanted to shoot one

4wheelers, trucks, tractors, etc...deer get used to them. Each deer will react different to them, but most have a buffer they like to keep between them and the vehicles... ours does are about 5yds, younger bucks about 20.....older ones about 150. We aren't on the place we hunt near enough to get them accustomed to them, so vehicle traffic is limited to midday...and when I make the short drive on the place in the morning, lights are off, and truck goes in the barn.