Property Management for A Successful Hunting Season
Its opening day deer season, you climb into your stand. You get settled in, and you are looking around soaking in all the beauty of nature, and you are patiently waiting to see movement. Your minutes turn to hours, and your hours turn to days. A month has gone by, and you haven’t filled any tags-why? Maybe your property doesn’t have the essentials it needs. There are three easy and affordable ways to turn your dead land into a sportsman’s paradise before next hunting season.
Food Plots
Like any other animal in this world, deer must eat. If you have deer traveling on and off your property and you have no food source, they will walk right off your property with no interest to come back. To capture whitetails attention, you need to plant a food plot. You can have a significant or small plot; ATV equipment can efficiently manage that. You will want to out your food plot about 100 yards away from bedding areas, and a water source is a plus. When you are hunting, don’t pursue your food plot. Yes, it is possible for a mature buck to be out in your open plot, but your best bet is to hunt in between food sources and bedding areas.
Mineral Sites
Minerals sites are a great management plan and its beneficial to not only the bucks but to does and fawns too! But when we are talking bucks, antler growth isn’t made from minerals but made up of nutrition and age. Minerals CAN help with antler growth, mainly when your minerals contain calcium and phosphorus. When you are choosing minerals, make sure you get the one with the highest quantity of these two minerals. Minerals work best when used year-round but are crucial in the spring/summer when the bucks are growing antlers and depleting their supply. When you are establishing your mineral sights, make sure you put out trail cameras because they are a great way to keep track of what is consuming the minerals and you can even watch your bucks are growing.
Improve Bedding Areas
Deer need to feel safe to bed up on your property. You can do some hinge cutting, but you don’t want to overdo it because deer need to be able to see to feel safe. Deer usually like to have their backs against a log, rock, or fallen tree because it is their way of covering themselves. Once you find a bedding spot or create one you need to make sure that you leave that spot alone, so the deer aren’t feeling pressured. No cameras, no scouting and no interaction at all because deer won’t take much of it before they move off and bed somewhere else. The only exception is late shed hunting and to follow a blood trail, THAT’S IT.
Of course, the personalities and fears of every deer vary, some are more cautious while others are careless. Using these tips will help bring deer onto your land. The time and effort you put into your property now can help you have a priceless hunt later.
Selina Cranford