2024 Land Management Case Study

I made a lot of improvements in 2023 but, as always, I have more in mind for 2024. My hunting got messed up at the beginning of last season as I had a contractor working on my tractor road system, but that project is largely finished and, in any case, I won’t let any work drag into the hunting season again.

One project on my list for the past several seasons is to improve the bedding areas. My impression over the past few years is that my total population of resident deer has plateaued and I’d like to be able to pack more deer onto the land. I have plenty of food from green-up through fall, so maybe I just need more bedding. It may not be that simple, the carrying capacity during the winter may be the limiting factor, but I won’t know unless I try. I have read everything I can find on the subject of improving deer bedding areas, so I hope I won’t be screwing things up. I plan to hinge-cut trees in areas about one acre in size to give side cover and more sun for forage to grow. I will make plenty of exit trails so deer can find a protected spot to bed without feeling trapped.

On the south side of my land, between the Homestead plot and the road, there is a bedding area that gets a lot of action during the rut. From the box blind over by RN2 I have watched does go in and out of the area, as well as bucks cruise through. There are cellar holes from a house and barn in this area and I plan to put a stand in by one of the holes. The cellar hole will keep the deer from getting too close or behind me, and I will make a barrier running from the field that will force cruising bucks to walk within range. This should be a rut stand to get into during the dark and hunt all day.

I have two stands back in the timber on the east side of the large Homestead field. I know that deer move around in both of those areas, but the access is not great. I can improve access to the stand that covers the northeast corner of Homestead by relocating the trail, as well as making the trail easier to walk through where it is in the swamp. It has been a problem because it’s too easy to splash through the water and alert any deer that are bedded nearby - I can fix that.

The problem with the other stand, in the far eastern side of Homestead, is that the approach and exit requires a long bike ride and walk that lets my scent drift right into the bedding areas along the way. I plan to relocate that stand to a large hemlock tree that will provide better cover, and I have a new strategy for getting in and out. I will park at the South Entrance at midday and walk right up to the field and across it to the stand, exiting after dark via a new trail that runs west and south through the bedding area, out to the road below, and walk back along the road to the South Entrance. Chances are I won’t be seen or smelled on the way in, and the new exit trail should hide me from the deer that will have moved from bedding to field just before dark.

In 2023 I shot a doe from the treestand on the west side of the Central plot. That plot is secluded with bedding cover in all directions so it gets a lot of deer traffic. It is not unusual to see a dozen or more deer there at the end of the day, and in 2022 I had a shooter buck feeding for an hour but he didn’t come closer than 50 yards. The problem with that stand is that the deer usually congregate in the middle of the plot, away from any trees. I plan to eliminate the treestand and locate a new Redneck Box Blind in a spot that puts me within range of most of the deer travel. I’m thinking that I may mount the blind on a tower bolted to a trailer so I can move my new blind around as needed.

On the northwest side of Homestead is the RN2 micro-plot next to the tractor road gap and there used to be a trail for deer to walk from RN2 northeast to the gap by the northeast corner of the field. I use the South Fence treestand to hunt the deer movement by that gap. A bunch of large trees blew down across that trail, so it is harder for bucks to circle the field scent-checking it during the rut. I plan to reopen that trail to make the buck movement better, and the downed trees should also improve the area north of Homestead for doe bedding.

The only other major effort planned for 2024 is to work on the deer movement on the east side of the Central plot. The barriers over there are old and no longer effective, so I will redo them with the goal of pushing deer past the Ridge Hang-on stand. I will also extend the barrier south and put up a new treestand that will cover deer walking southeast from Central. Deer bed in various spots on my neighbors’ land to the east and my goal is to catch them going to feed in my food plots.

That’s what I have in the works for this year. Check back in the spring of 2025 to see how I did.

To go back to the previous page, Click Here To Go Back To 2023.