For trophy bucks “,small” can be big. If you had 1,000 acres of prime whitetail habitat, you’d need extensive scouting to select a hunting spot. With two acres of suburban woodland, almost any tree is a prime location. This may be an oversimplification, yet many small-to-tiny properties, (even 1/2 acre) can put you on a big buck, especially if your hunting ground is an island of trees or a passage narrowed by homes or geographical barriers.
Exact Spot
I hunt an Indian reservation in South Dakota annually during the rifle season. I’ve become friends with a local guide who enjoys bowhunting and we often talk about his season prior to my arrival. “If I could pick one spot to bowhunt on this property, I’d post at a bottom of a ravine where the fenceline leads from the river,” I told him. “That’s crazy,” he said with a laugh. “That’s exactly where I hunt.”
The size of the property is not nearly as important as the elements that dictate whitetail behavior. Find those key ingredients and you have a honeyhole.
Love Groundhogs
Many prime whitetail locations surround or adjoin cornfields and other agricultural crops. Groundhogs can do major damage to a garden, sweetcorn patch, and reduce the harvest for farmers. As a result, these pesky critters are on the hitlist of many people who own deer habitat and few will turn down a chance to reduce their numbers. Find the owner of the property and ask if you can hunt groundhogs with a small caliber rifle or bow and arrow. Without being devious, this gives you a chance to meet the owner and demonstrate your dependability and trustworthiness. Don’t leave a batch of woodchucks on his front porch, yet check in with your success and thank him for the opportunity. Once you’ve established your self as a responsible outdoorsman, you can ask about hunting deer.
Small Place Success
Micheal Veine lays out a solid plan for hunting small properties in this post from The Whitetail Institute:
Many of today’s hunters are being forced to hunt in smaller areas. The good news is that those tight spots often produce some of the biggest bucks every year.
http://whitetailinstitute.blogspot.com/2012/05/big-bucks-in-small-places.html
