Hunting smaller tracts successfully

By ERIC BRUCE

As it gets harder and harder to find good hunting land these days, many sportsmen are turning to small tracts. Good hunting with quality game populations can be found on small hunting tracts if you know what to look for.

Most of the larger tracts of land are already leased or under restrictive private ownership. Public land is an option, but it can be crowded and competitive. Rather than trying to join an already crowded hunting club, or seeking permission from large landowners, you might want to locate a moderate-sized woodlot.

Extensive tracts of woods are nearly nonexistent near the suburban area of the large city where I live. So I have obtained permission to hunt several small tracts and have found some fine hunting. By "small tracts," I mean 20 to 100 acres. The key is to know what to look for and what is needed to support wildlife.

Survival needs

Whitetail deer need two things to survive -- food and cover. You must look for these two requirements on that promising piece of property along with the usual tracks, trails, rubs, and deer sign.

Most avid whitetail hunters already know the typical food sources. They are mast and browse, such as acorns, honeysuckle, poke berry, blackberry, and so on. Cruise that woodlot looking for these important food sources.

Cover is critical to deer. There is no minimum on the size of the cover. A deer can hide in a very small patch of briers. They spend a good portion of every day laying around in cover and snoozing and chewing their cud. With so many enemies and predators, whitetails have to have thick briers, saplings, and weeds to hide in. If the cover is on that property, you have habitat where deer can find refuge.

Land around you

An important factor in assessing small tracts is the land surrounding it. You may only have 20 acres to hunt, but if quality habitat surrounds it, you could have a buck bonanza. One tract that I have permission to hunt on is only 20 acres, but it is surrounded by hundreds of acres of prime deer woods. Though my stand options are limited, I can sit there and realistically expect some nice bucks to walk on to my property from the surrounding woods.

Assess the lands surrounding your small tract to see if they have the necessary ingredients to house deer. Your small tract may only have a grove of oak trees on it, but if the neighboring land has a thicket for the deer to bed in, it's your land they'll be coming to when the acorns fall.

The 20 acres that I hunt is bordered by a thick cutover. Deer regularly feed and bed in the cutover. But when they travel looking for acorns or other deer (during the rut), they walk up and down a creek that I am sitting by. Last season I saw five bucks from that stand.

There must be a way for the deer to get on and off your land. They won't live their entire lives on 40 acres. They'll travel on and off your tract at various times for different reasons. This is particularly crucial in suburban and developed areas.

If the land has food and cover but is surrounded by shopping centers and subdivisions, it is unlikely deer will be on it. Whitetails are not going to walk through a parking lot or someone's yard to get to a piece of land. They won't expose themselves that way.

Sometimes they may enter and leave under the cover of darkness, but that does the hunter no good. Deer need a travel corridor to get in and out of the land, preferably a thick creek bottom or some type of wooded strip to use as access.

The more easily and safely deer can get on the property, the more likely they'll use it. Having a forested creek, farm, or woodlot that connects your land to another patch of woods is key for the woodlot-hopping whitetail.

When the rut arrives or a food source becomes ripe, deer will be on the move going from one patch of woods to another. If your property is "connected" to other woods by corridors, you're likely to have action.

One tract of land that I've hunted for more than 10 years has provided me with some dynamite deer action, including several nice bucks. While only 30 acres, it has plenty of food and cover and is surrounded by other woods and a thick creek bottom.

However, as development has caught up with the area, the 30-acre tract is becoming an island surrounded by houses and subdivisions. Consequently, I have seen the deer population and big-buck sightings drop over the years. With the land almost cut off, there is no safe way for a buck to get in and out of the property without undue risk.

Neighborly ways

The people who live on the neighboring lands are a factor in the quality of your small property. If they also hunt and shoot everything they see, it could have a detrimental effect on your success. Not only will there be less game, but it may be spooky and gun shy.

If those neighbors have dogs that freely roam the woods, that will negatively impact your property. I've lost count of the times that "pets" have run by my stand, often chasing deer away. While there's little you can do about it other than to chase them off each time, it sure is aggravating. If the adjacent land has a subdivision full of children, they may play in your little hunting place.

While we all may prefer a 1,000-acre piece of hunting property, that isn't realistic for many of us. If you know what to look for and can gain permission to hunt your own little private tract, you can still find the hunting challenges to spice up your season.