I've got 15 acres to hunt.. where to start?

I would go ahead and figure out where I was going to put up a stand and then do my trimming of the shooting lanes you may need, it helps if some one is with you to cut while you sit in the stand and tell them what to cut. As far as planting it is starting to get too late to plant, I would wait till spring if you want to feed them year round or early Sept. for a hunting plot next year. I just plant for the fall and put out winter wheat, oats and some clover. Here's a couple of good sites for planting
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Also, the deer aren't hitting the salt as much this time of year. I would put it out in April. and maybe again in June/July I use 50lb. bags of trace mineral from Tractor Supply about $5-6 a bag. Just clear a spot on the ground and pour it out the rain will do the rest.

thanks man.

No problem, hope you get one. I enjoy doing all the work and watching the plot grow and checking the salt lick for activity throught the year. I only got to hunt it once and that was for 2 hours before the storms came opening morning, hopefully I'll be rewarded soon for my time and effort.

The biggest thing is get out there and do it. You'll learn pretty quick.

I believe I'd hunt that from inside the barn, although its hard to tell much from pictures. Drink my coffee in covered comfort in a comfortable chair. On farmland, the deer follow the fencelines and the streams, and they bottleneck on fence crossings. All of which is easy to spot if you go looking for sign.

As a general rule of thumb you plant stuff in the spring and it grows over the summer for harvest in the fall.

Whatever you do, look at the surrounding land for clear impact areas. I usually draw a little diagram, which is strangely comforting to look at when its dawn and there's deer in front of you. The last thing you want to do is torch off a .308 into somebody's goat herd.

Unless you have a compelling reason to go into the woods, like a well defined trail or a big ass acorn patch or something, its not worth it. When the bucks rut they'll out in the open chasing the girls. Most of your big buck shot opportunities will probably be in the open and the shot will come quick. And they'll jump those fences like they aren't even there.

Good point - there is Cattle off of the Southern border.. but not much else around us.

I would go and scout the land right now, go set up a temporary stand and watch where they are coming from. Maybe put out some deer corn and a trail camera?

You lucky guy! That looks like a wonderful deer hunting place. A friend of mine swears the trail cameras is the way to go now days. That good scouting work everyone is talking about should tell you volumes about where to put your stand. My guess is that you're going to have lots of success there. I'm jealous! Good luck.

Why do they call it common sense, when it's so uncommon? TN Sen. Fred Thompson

Originally Posted by Sidewinder

You lucky guy! That looks like a wonderful deer hunting place. A friend of mine swears the trail cameras is the way to go now days. That good scouting work everyone is talking about should tell you volumes about where to put your stand. My guess is that you're going to have lots of success there. I'm jealous! Good luck.

Why do they call it common sense, when it's so uncommon? TN Sen. Fred Thompson

thanks! I actually talked it up so much my DAD is going to go out with me! he hasnt hunted in YEARS so I'm excited about this.

Regarding the trail cameras.. I have NO IDEA about these? Anyone have any good links or resources on these things? They must be crazy expensive.

Originally Posted by sharpshooter01

I would for sure look at it, it looks like a good starting point to me. It looks like it might be hard to watch alot of both field but you could watch part of both with a little trimming. If you can plant a little something in and on both sides of that cut through it will help draw them to that spot instead of just browsing the whole field and I would definatly put out some salt/mineral this spring and get them use to hitting that.

Ok.. well - heres an update. I bought a trailcam and set it up right at that cut-through between the two fields. There were a TON of tracks there! There's rolling water and it seems to be a "highway" for wildlife. Also the high grass in the field toward the North was all broken and matted down all over the place. I didnt linger - set up the camera and got out. I'll check it next week.. hopefully I will get some good pics with date/timestamps so I can tell whats moving where and when.

Here is the plan. About 100 yards to the west of the "cut-through" is a barn and a 14' tall storage trailer. I think that will make a perfect place to sit on top of and glass the entire field, treeline, "cut-through", and western property boundary. Hopefully its high enough so that we wont smell and spook anything either.

What do you think?

Sounds like a good plan. Hunt it when the wind is in your favor and you should be good. Check those field edges for scrapes, there should be some around them now.