A small 8 acre property surrounded by cut corn fields. The property sets in the middle with 400yds of open ground on all four sides. There is a small brushy area about 100yds x 100yds on the west side of the property that deer are bedding in. The landowner kicks then out of there reguarly. There are rubs on smaller trees and the small pines along the field are tore up too. (this is why he wants me hunting). To the north across the field is a 10 acre woods (not his property). So what's the odds I see deer moving in or out of this bedding area during shooting hours ? Will they cross open grond during the day. Season start Sat. and I just got permission to hunt so no real time to pattern. Will they bed down before light and leave after light. He says he see deer on and around the property daily. Thanks
Deer hunting a "land island" ?
- Thread starter kyron4
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wyohome
Member
Is anyone hunting the 10 acre lot?
MCgunner
Member
I hunt 10 acres, but it's situated next to a large ranch. There are other small acreages around, too, that are hunted. The place is swampy in a wet year, not a place where you'd wanna build a house, keeps it wild. I've owned this little chunka paradise for 25 years now and I stopped counting the hogs and deer I've taken off it, but non were trophy racked deer, can tell ya that. Out there, you see it, you shoot it, or someone else will. LOL! Not a trophy hunter's paradise, but then, I don't have money enough to call myself a trophy hunter. Big racks in Texas are proportional to the amount of money you have to spend. for $5,000 you can kill a braggin' buck. I'd rather just take what I can get on my own land, can't eat the horns. I've never shot a doe off that place, seen 'em, just didn't take 'em. There's plenty of bucks. I hunted it for the first 5 years without a feeder cause there's a heavily traveled game trail (actually more than one, but lots of 'em are hog trails) that came off the ranch bedding areas and down to the back of my place. I shot a 7 point old buck and a nice little 8 point off that place in 88, the year I bought it, in the first week of the season! I knew right away I'd spent my money well. 
Out there, due to the brush and tall grass, to see very far at all, one needs a tripod stand to hunt off of. Don't really NEED a feeder, but I keep one out there now as it helps sometimes and it REALLY is a hog magnet. The hogs have gotten thick out there in the last 10 years.
There is a 22 acre plot of land very similar to your set up surrounded by grain fields that a friend of mine is ONE of the heirs to, so I used to dove hunt out there. It held bedding bucks, too. It was so thick out there and got so grown over, I stopped hunting doves. The rattlers were pretty thick in there, too, as I went after a bird one day that fell in there and heard several rattles around me. I high stepped it outta there, figured the bird wasn't worth the risk. I jumped a doe in there one day. I didn't shoot it as at the time, doe was by doe permit only. Now, the county is a 5 deer county. I'm SURE if I'd set a stand up in that corner of the place, was a little clearing, I could have found a buck to shoot. I knew a guy lived across a 50 acre grain field from that place that saw deer feeding dawn and dusk out in the field every afternoon and morning. The deer weren't hunted.
So, you could set up a stand strategically and hunt the place, only way you're going to ever know. 10 acres or even less, if strategically located, will work for me. Feeders help, but Texas allows 'em and most northern states don't, but if you're on a grain field and hunting between feed and bedding areas, you won't need it and a feeder wouldn't likely work in that situation, anyway. Just walk around the place, see where they're coming out to feed, and be there dawn and dusk....what I'd do. A game camera with a clock in it on a heavily traveled trail will tell you a lot, too, is a good scouting tool.
Another story, I worked with a guy that had a long, skinny 3 acres on the fence line of the Aransas NWR between the refuge fence and a corn field. He shot nice deer off that 3 acres every year, no feeder, not even a stand! He'd just sit still by a tree. He got deer every season off that 3 acres.
I'm trying to close on a house up near Sheridan, Texas, great hog and deer hunting up there, large populations of both. The place has 3 acres, long and skinny, 120 feet wide by nearly 1100 feet long, that juts into a large ranch. Back fence there's a clearing in the heavy oak forest and there's a tank on the other side of the fence on the big ranch. I plan to open that clearing a bit so I might hunt doves there. Good dove hunting up there and the tank might bring 'em in, especially if it holds water in a dry year. There is also a sendero for a power line that cuts across the place about 2/3rds the way back. I could literally hunt TWO people on that place the way it's shaped and situated and wooded, though it'll just be me or my buddy if he comes down. Of course, I'll be hunting a feeder there, about the only option. I'm gonna move my hog trap up there, too, as I'll be able to check it every morning and trap even in summer.
Out there, due to the brush and tall grass, to see very far at all, one needs a tripod stand to hunt off of. Don't really NEED a feeder, but I keep one out there now as it helps sometimes and it REALLY is a hog magnet. The hogs have gotten thick out there in the last 10 years.There is a 22 acre plot of land very similar to your set up surrounded by grain fields that a friend of mine is ONE of the heirs to, so I used to dove hunt out there. It held bedding bucks, too. It was so thick out there and got so grown over, I stopped hunting doves. The rattlers were pretty thick in there, too, as I went after a bird one day that fell in there and heard several rattles around me. I high stepped it outta there, figured the bird wasn't worth the risk.
I jumped a doe in there one day. I didn't shoot it as at the time, doe was by doe permit only. Now, the county is a 5 deer county. I'm SURE if I'd set a stand up in that corner of the place, was a little clearing, I could have found a buck to shoot. I knew a guy lived across a 50 acre grain field from that place that saw deer feeding dawn and dusk out in the field every afternoon and morning. The deer weren't hunted.So, you could set up a stand strategically and hunt the place, only way you're going to ever know. 10 acres or even less, if strategically located, will work for me. Feeders help, but Texas allows 'em and most northern states don't, but if you're on a grain field and hunting between feed and bedding areas, you won't need it and a feeder wouldn't likely work in that situation, anyway. Just walk around the place, see where they're coming out to feed, and be there dawn and dusk....what I'd do. A game camera with a clock in it on a heavily traveled trail will tell you a lot, too, is a good scouting tool.
Another story, I worked with a guy that had a long, skinny 3 acres on the fence line of the Aransas NWR between the refuge fence and a corn field. He shot nice deer off that 3 acres every year, no feeder, not even a stand! He'd just sit still by a tree. He got deer every season off that 3 acres.
I'm trying to close on a house up near Sheridan, Texas, great hog and deer hunting up there, large populations of both. The place has 3 acres, long and skinny, 120 feet wide by nearly 1100 feet long, that juts into a large ranch. Back fence there's a clearing in the heavy oak forest and there's a tank on the other side of the fence on the big ranch. I plan to open that clearing a bit so I might hunt doves there. Good dove hunting up there and the tank might bring 'em in, especially if it holds water in a dry year. There is also a sendero for a power line that cuts across the place about 2/3rds the way back. I could literally hunt TWO people on that place the way it's shaped and situated and wooded, though it'll just be me or my buddy if he comes down. Of course, I'll be hunting a feeder there, about the only option. I'm gonna move my hog trap up there, too, as I'll be able to check it every morning and trap even in summer.
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yes, one guy in the woods across the field.
osprey176
Member
If there is hunting pressure close by,your area sounds like a good spot to get in early on opening day and stay all day.Use a tree stand,of course,and pack a lunch.The other hunters may move the deer to your area and give you a shot.Go high,sit still and be quiet.
adelbridge
Member
It sounds like your only option to hunt so why stress about it? I would look for the low spot/drainages leading into and out of the area as game will always use natural cover to travel it. Google maps for areal view. Good luck!!
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