Increasing deer density and limiting factors

[bowhunter15]

When web browsing hunting land for sale for fun, I notice the obvious difference in price ranges depending on location. You can get a 20 acre spot for $4000 an acre in a place like Buffalo Co. Or you can buy 700 acres of flat undeveloped big woods with a creek and cabin for $1000 an acre.

Obviously the latter isn't known for high deer numbers or trophy bucks, but could you make it so? We all know you can create bedding cover by logging/planting the right stuff. And we all know you can plant food plots to your hearts desire. Could you, in theory, buy a 600 acre tract of average land for dirt cheap (respectively) and turn it into a whitetail magnet with trophy buck potential in say 5 years time with limited harvesting of does and essentially letting the numbers slowly climb each year?

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[Crazinamatese]

I think so. I think if you put in the work and lay some plots or allow a farmer to grow crops on it or near the property, the deer will come. I have thought about the same thing you are asking a few times. A neighboring land where I grew up had many acres of woods and farm fields. They decided to QDM the land by not hunting it for about 3 years, they created a sanctuary, allowing the deer to move in and get mature. They took some nice deer out of there since. Its something I might try if I had the land to do it.

[gjs4]

Carrying capacity is set for buy what the land can afford...you can build amazing habitat but it will take a long time for deer to become establish and reproducing ...predation and weather......as well as YEAR ROUND found sources play huge roles. Here in wNY we have as high as 30+ per sq mile in areas...and a doe may still drop 3 fawns.....

MOst folks who have th emoney to buy a big piece of ground do not have the know how on how to hunt or build property...and still think that a county will define the quality of hunting....

[matt1336]

The Deer and Deer Hunting magazine crew bought a section of land in Wisconsin that was not known for quality hunting and turned it into a deer hunting Mecca i within 5 or 6 years. They had whole tv series on it a while back. My family has done the same thing on 100 acres in Phillips.....although its far from a deer hunting Mecca, we do see more and bigger bucks. We've owned the land for 8 or9 years now and we're always making improvements.
Food plots and keeping your habitat how you want is expensive and hard work. We have 10k worth of equipment easy. Ferilizer,lime and seed all add up in hurry. It also harder and mor expensive to farm land that hasn't been farmed in yhe past. Any way you cut it hunting ain't cheap if you own land with plots. You can fit a lot of food plots on 600 acres and spend a lot of cash doing it.

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[Crazinamatese]

Good post Matt. Along with that. It can be expensive, but will your efforts yield good results? Now, Im not saying you could never do this, but many landowners who are new to land management make many unrealistic expectations for their deer herd right off the bat. One year of food plots and/or a few mineral licks on the property probably won't do much for your first and second year. It will take, like mentioned, 5 plus years to see some amazing results.

[JML2]

I would go with a larger parcel and work on improving it. A couple things I would want:

-water on the property- pond, creek, or river

-timber that is ready to harvest now or in the next few years. You can put the money into projects or work on paying off the land

-tillable ground- a farmer will pay you to plant crops that will feed your deer or put it into crp and get paid to improve your habitat/hunting

-i would want large properties as neighbors. It would be nice for them to be selective in buck harvest. Even better if no hunting.

-i would want it to be within an hour of home. Once you start doing habitat improvements you will want to be there all the time.

Good luck in whatever you choose.

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[GRUD]

I guess it depends if you want to farm deer or just hunt them. Is a deer really worth that kind if $$$$?. I have thought about buying property and still may sometime as an investment but, if I can go kill PY deer on public why? I know if you want older class deer it would be nice for them to have a sanctuary to grow up but with what that land would cost I could go on an outfitted hunt every year for the rest of my life. Just my •02

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[jlh42581]

One thing you will never change is soil composition. You can throw all kinds of stuff to simulate it but big bucks come from dirt.

[Bucky]

I would go with a larger parcel and work on improving it. A couple things I would want:

-water on the property- pond, creek, or river

-timber that is ready to harvest now or in the next few years. You can put the money into projects or work on paying off the land

-tillable ground- a farmer will pay you to plant crops that will feed your deer or put it into crp and get paid to improve your habitat/hunting

-i would want large properties as neighbors. It would be nice for them to be selective in buck harvest. Even better if no hunting.

-i would want it to be within an hour of home. Once you start doing habitat improvements you will want to be there all the time.

Good luck in whatever you choose.

[ Post made via Android ]

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[Brad]

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I guess it depends if you want to farm deer or just hunt them. Is a deer really worth that kind if $$$$?. I have thought about buying property and still may sometime as an investment but, if I can go kill PY deer on public why? I know if you want older class deer it would be nice for them to have a sanctuary to grow up but with what that land would cost I could go on an outfitted hunt every year for the rest of my life. Just my •02

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[headgear]

If it is a true bigwoods setting with hard winters and lots of predators I think you are going to have some trouble. You will likely draw in a few more deer to your location but I don't think you will see any kind of dramatic population increase. I dont care what you do to the land you can't control winter and wolves and those are going to be your biggest population drivers up north. One bad winter can nearly whipe out the herd and all your work is for nothing. I also talk to a lot of guys who do manage their land and they are starting to wonder if all the foodplots and work they do is nothing more than setting up a buffet for the wolves.

MN went through a similar doe slaughter that a lot of you WI guys have been through, the central and se parts of the state took a hit but alwasy bounce back with good deer numbers, up north it can take years to come back, I have been counting low numbers for 5 years now. You really need 2-3 mild winters in a row to see a big change, we got a nice winter last year but I pray for another.

I do feel the further you move south the odds do start to go up and you can have a lot of success.

Just for an example, I keep in touch with our hunting neighbors up north. Last two seasons 60 meat hungry guys with guns put down less than 10 deer a year. Too many doe tags, winter, and wolves did that and it won't likely be changed by managing a small chunk of land and 700 acres isn't all that big up north.

[headgear]

Just giving this a little more thought, I didn't mean to say you couldn't manage your land and have some nice bucks on it. Its just that the overall population numbers are sometimes beyond your control so you have to take the good with the bad. With a lot of land you should be able to hold some bucks and more importantly protect the younger bucks. Even then I have passed younger bucks in this setting and they end up getting shot close to a mile away the next day or sometimes the on the same day.

[whitetail007]

[quote="jlh42581"]One thing you will never change is soil composition. You can throw all kinds of stuff to simulate it but big bucks come from dirt.[/quote

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