Whitetail Habitat Solutions?

Hunterreed

Twelve Pointer
Same deal here where I hunt, actually live in the middle of the 700 plus acres managed for larger bucks. I couldn't keep 2.5 year old deer safe on thousands of acres they travel farther the older they get. All it takes is a few properties here and there close by where hunters shoot anything and four months to do it every year and best you can hope for is the bucks that wise up quickly enough to go nocturnal. Treat your property like your afraid to set foot on it and take care of the doe groups,the rut brings them bucks through and you get lucky once in a while
 

UltraSlug

Six Pointer
This paticular farm is in Northampton County.
We used to have alot of deer, way to many actually. Now I might see a deer every other trip and when I do its usually 1.5yr old spike or 4 ptrs and not many does at all.
We have the acreage, food plots from ag and cover crops of wheat or oats and some small food plots but have never ever held older bucks even tbough we have passed bucks for probably 20yrs now.

Yeah that would make me wanna give up. Something has to have them suppressed. We have plenty of deer numbers. Especially does. I think we could shoot 10 or so and not even notice that they're gone. But even they still go nocturnal more and more as soon as the first rifle is cracked off.

You're not even catching many deer on camera either??
 

MJ74

Old Mossy Horns
No...granted I have only put out 2 cameras this year.
The other guy that hunts there has practically given up deer hunting there too and only went twice I think and hasnt put out any cameras.
I think Ive been 5 times this year.....last year was about the same too.
 

UltraSlug

Six Pointer
No...granted I have only put out 2 cameras this year.
The other guy that hunts there has practically given up deer hunting there too and only went twice I think and hasnt put out any cameras.
I think Ive been 5 times this year.....last year was about the same too.

Judging by this map your county is pretty dense in deer. I wish yall better luck, next year. Maybe some post season scouting could shed some light on what's going on

Screenshot_20211224-134105_Kindle.jpg
 

MJ74

Old Mossy Horns
Oh at one time we rivaled anywhere in the state as far as number of deer and alot of the county still does but not us.
Not sure what happened except an increase in Bears and a bout of EHD several years ago that took out some deer.
It is what it is, I will probably be done there in a couple of years anyway due to some circumstances out of my control.
 

Packfan

Eight Pointer
I know most on here laugh at the thought of a water hole but I really want to try that this year. I have no water on my place. I think that really will work for me.
A few years ago during a drought, I took the tractor and dug out a loader width hole as deep and as long as I could in a dry/seasonal creek. I hooked up some sections of pvc and hauled some water back in there via a 300gal tote on the truck. Keep in mind this is a corner of an ag field that is also a funnel and is a drainage. Kind of a ideal spot right? The deer stayed on that hole until the rains finally came since that was the only place that they would drink with cover.

Fast forward to this year even when it was at the driest part of the fall, that same hole still had water some water in it and other than our pond in the middle of the pasture, it was the only water source around with cover for a good ways since the wet marsh/swamp that the seasonal creek feeds into had also dried up.

I killed the biggest buck of my life there this fall. I had no history with him. Circumstance? I think not as he was chasing a doe and the does frequented that water hole all the time because they feel comfortable there.

On a side note, I did the exact same thing on the side of a hills and in the middle of a drainage that is in the middle of a food plot on another tract that same year that I dug out the creek. I just basically dammed up a couple of runoffs and made a couple of mini ponds. They keep water in them pretty much year round to this day and they are the only water sources on that tract. The deer drink from them all the time.

I have two more tracts that I plan on doing the same thing to this spring. Both have dry drainages on them and with an hour or two of my time on each one, they can have a dammed up mini pond that should serve me well. The closest water on one place was almost a mile away this fall during the drought and the daytime movement just wasn’t there like normal. I think can 💯 correlate late movement to no water close by.

All things considered, deer need water, and they will travel to find it. If they have it close along with their groceries, they will eat and drink at the same restaurant daily. I don’t think you can go wrong with your idea if you thinking strategically about where you put them.
 
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