Basic Necessities
During our property tours, there are 3 main things we look for during our walk through:
1. Cover: Where do the deer bed? Is there adequate cover to hold deer? Is there a sanctuary area in place?
2. Food & Water: Is there adequate food on the property? Is there a secluded food source? What’s the main source of food the deer are eating? Is there adequate water on the property?
3. Stand Placement: What’s the prevailing wind? What’s the enter/exit strategy?
Here are the notes and improvements we plan to make for this clients for this season.
Cover
-The property sits next to a 2,000+ nature preserve. The preserve offers plenty of bedding opportunity but no readily available food source.
-The Southeast corner has been improved slightly with deciduous and pine tree plantings. It has naturally grown up into a great thicket with the potential to hold multiple doe family groups and bucks.
Suggestions: Leave the approximate 5+ acres to the southeast as a sanctuary. No deer should see, hear, or smell the hunters. Improve upon the current set up accordingly by thinning out some of the over grown brush and add a few hinge cuts to increase natural browse.
Food & Water
-There is currently a .25 acre food plot on there property
-The northwest corner holds a little bit of water from time to time but not consistent throughout the season.
Suggestions: Clear out the area to the north of the current food plot to increase the size from .25 to over 1 acre. Add a travel corridor on the northwest corner to include a small scale food source that tolerates lower sunlight levels. Add buried water tubs near both food sources.
Stand Placement
-All of the current stands are essentially focused around the current improvements made on the southeast corner.
-The only entry to this property is from the northwest corner. Immediately any north or northwest wind hunts should be avoided.
Suggestions: Remove all current stands other than the permanent box blind to accommodate the sanctuary area. Focus new stand locations based on improvements made. Use brush and trees from extending the food plot to create undetected entry and exit to stands focused around the plot. Add Defender Screen around the elevated box blind to break up and seclude the blind.
