Access to Quality Whitetail Habitat

[LoadedLimbs]

...The first option people come to is public land. On public land, it's been my experience that you're paying in time instead of money to find the good property. You basically find the lowest-pressure spots on the best pieces of land, and accept that you're probably not going to have the success Dr. Sheppard has, but you'll impress the heck out of most of the other guys who are hunting public. This whole thread has mostly been about finding the best place to hunt on public. Once you find the best parcel, you find the lowest pressure spots, and then within those spots you find the right terrain/resource features, you figure out when they're being utilized the hardest, and then you hunt them at that time and hope nobody else is playing your game there. The more spots you devote time to finding, the better your chances of being successful.

...Knocking on doors to gain access to hunting property is, in my mind, for the birds. I sometimes wonder if Eberhart's advice on it isn't akin to my grandfather telling me I wasn't catching fish because I wasn't holding my mouth right, or telling me I could catch a bird if I put salt on its tail. Door-to-door is cold calling, and cold-call sales average a 1-3% success rate in the telemarketer world. People say they got turned down when they knocked on doors. No kidding! Did you knock on 33-100? Getting permission to hunt an area is easier when you're not going in cold. Have a social circle. Go to the family reunion. Go to church. Join a volunteer organization. Heck, go to one of the local saddle hunter getups! Cold calling has a 1-3% success rate, but a call after a referral or after the prospective customer sees and ad and requests a call has a 40% success rate. You tell me.

So, tldr, you need to either put in time, money, or societal value into one side of the equation before you can expect deer to pop out the other side. Figure out what you have the most of, and operate on that.

@Nutterbuster - Thank you for the recommendations and thoughtful reply. Funny how "access to quality whitetail habitat" engenders a philosophical discussion on time, resource allocation, and social skills, but they are in fact essential to gaining that access.

I agree with your sentiments on cold-call door-knocking for permission. Expect to get rejected ... ALOT. Decades ago, in my first few years of hunting with my father, I learned the importance of having an "in" with farmers and other property owners who could grant hunting access to their private property. Usually just getting a mutual acquaintance to do an introduction was a huge help. We would often just request permission for a day's hunt for small game, not for an entire season. After the landowner got to know us, gaining permission again, and for longer time periods, and for deer hunting, was a hundred times easier. My father also taught me the importance of thanking the landowner, offering them some of the harvest, offering to help with the chores (especially when the landowners were farmers), and remembering them at the holidays with a thoughtful card and gift to thank them for the privilege of hunting on their property.

Seems I'm going to have to put those lessons to use again in the present day if I want to gain access to prime, unpressured whitetail habitat.

It's been many, many years since I hunted PRIVATE property that wasn't part of a fish & game club. I'm a member of several local clubs. My clubs don't have too many hunting rules or regulations beyond the state regs and in my experience, they have hunting pressure just as high as public land. Land prices and property taxes in my area are prohibitive ... no way can I afford to buy a piece of land large enough to make a good deer management parcel ... not in my state!

That's why I'm noodling the idea of getting in on some existing deer hunting leases, or offering to start new leases with landowners in my area. I'm also thinking that branching out to hunt midwest whitetails would be a good use of my limited funds, but it's always a trade-off between time and money.

The focus of my time and resources needs to shift if I want to markedly improve my success as a whitetail hunter.

 

[Hunter260]

Good read, I agree with all of it, one more thing that people tend to forget and to me is super important, GENETICS, another reason why certain areas produce a cluster of booners quick and some are zero

I worked with a veterinarian who helped manage several domestic deer herds that sold bucks to high fence operations and every producer said the same thing. Genetics is about 30-40% of antler growth and the rest is nutrition.

All of these farms artificially breed the does and use semen from very very expensive bucks that are giant. I’m talking like over 300” bucks that just look stupid. One thing I did not know about the high fence hunting industry is that deer like this are not the most desirable to hunt. The target range for a buck that people pay to hunt is between 150-190. Any bigger and they have a hard time lying to their golf buddies about killing it on public land I guess.

Anyways to get deer in this range they actually change the deers diet and limit the protein the bucks eat to slow their growth. If these bucks with these crazy genetics stood at a full trough all the time they would score 200 as a 3 and a half year old.

 

[ssramage]

We grew up without a lot of money. If my dad had to pay over $300 for a club, he wasn't doing it. We eventually leased some property but they were budget friendly with lots of friends to spread the cost as well. We'd go full seasons of hunting with only seeing a couple of deer. My dad still has one of those places. It's a nice 50 acre spot, with tons of potential, but he hunts the mess out of it.

I knew that if I wanted something different, I needed access to different properties. So when I was in college, I ponied up and paid for access to a good club. I started killing deer consistently. I think got access to a large, mostly undeveloped, golf course neighborhood where my inlaws lived. I hunted it for 2 seasons before they sold their house and would see hundreds of deer. I killed my biggest buck to date there.

Fast forward to now, I live in an area of the state not known for big deer, but have lucked into some good spots. Buck opportunities aren't as frequent, but we have fun with plentiful deer.

You can't hunt what's not there. If you want to play the game, you've got to be in the stadium.

 

[Nutterbuster]

You can't hunt what's not there. If you want to play the game, you've got to be in the stadium.

Somebody put that on a t shirt.

 

[gettingstarted]

That's great write up. Thank you

 

[mschultz373]

Yeah this def has me thinking about the areas I hunt. It also makes it make sense why so much effort in my area yields so little result...

It is the age old question: hunt less often, further away on better habitat - or hunt harder close by and grind it out? In a way, they probably even out in terms of effort and time at the end of it.

 

[BuckeyeBowman]

I think your post is great. My family has a thousand acre farm in Missouri with pond and a creek running through it. It’s a corn and soybean farm and has tons of deer. The only negative is that we only have small patches of hardwoods , kinda like islands or patches of standing timber and timber along the fence rows. Still see and harvest many deer. We are all about filling the freezer than killing a big buck. I grew up in Illinois until I joined the military at 18 and left, we knew a lot of people that owed farms and had permission to hunt. Harvesting a deer there was no problem every year either. Now I live in Ohio and have access to only public, still an awesome deer state but my numbers of getting a deer have dropped. Like the op said it’s all about what the land can provide for the game we pursue but we all should put our due time in and scout and have boots on the ground.

 

[kidneystones_3000]

Yes. I like gear, and the nature of this site is admittedly gear-focused. Saddles are gear. But sometimes I smell "all gear, no idea" on here.

For those who think I'm joking, here's my coffee pot

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That list starts pretty macro, and the nitty-gritty we like to obsess over is way down at the bottom. My experience working retail was that the guys with deeper pocket books only had better trophy pics on their phone if they had a nice club or lease to go with that Ravin crossbow and the Sitka jacket.

If you read between the lines, Eberhart isn't pounding the local WMA. He's using that charm and brain to social-engineer his way onto some pretty nice properties, and he's hunting some TYPES of public (hint, hint) that don't get the same kind of pressure. Womack isn't sleeping in his truck just because he likes it. The D'acquistos pay pretty money for their property. Infalt lives in friggin Wisconsin...

All different ways to get access to quality whitetail habitat.

I know exactly where Dan Infalt lives because I live near him. Dan Infalt is legit public than hunter . He hunts approximately 80 % All big popular public land bowhuntets learned from him Andy May Zach Ferenbaugh Jared sheffler and others.

I do agree with your premise that killing multiple Boone and Crockett bucks is 90% a rich man's game with a few exceptions. You don't have to be a great hunter to kill multiple Boone Crockett bucks, but you have to be a good shot. Bowhunting is a hobby not a sport for example football every one has to play by the same rules and the same amount of time. Every player plays on the same size field . Hunting is totally opposite of that .

 

[Nutterbuster]

I know exactly where Dan Infalt lives because I live near him. Dan Infalt is legit public than hunter . He hunts approximately 80 % All big popular public land bowhuntets learned from him Andy May Zach Ferenbaugh Jared sheffler and others.

I do agree with your premise that killing multiple Boone and Crockett bucks is 90% a rich man's game with a few exceptions. You don't have to be a great hunter to kill multiple Boone Crockett bucks, but you have to be a good shot. Bowhunting is a hobby not a sport for example football every one has to play by the same rules and the same amount of time. Every player plays on the same size field . Hunting is totally opposite of that .

I'm sure Dan's The Man. But he lives in a one-buck, destination whitetail state where Northern Woodlands subspecies prowl Big Ag. A big part of his success is environmental. Move him to Florida and see how many public land booners he shoots. He'd do better than average, which means he'd mostly shoot 100-130" deer. Impressive, but it doesn't sell treestands.

I don't mean that a certain way. No sour grapes in my cornucopia. What I try to encourage people to realize is that there are levers to pull that matter. Wanna be in a movie? Helps to live in California. Wanna do country music? Move to Nashville. Wanna shoot big deer? Move your hunting efforts to where big deer live. Maybe that's a different section of your local public, or maybe that's a whole new chunk of public 2 hours away, or maybe it's a rutcation to a better state. But all of those things matter more than the doo-dads Pradco is selling.

 

[kidneystones_3000]

I'm sure Dan's The Man. But he lives in a one-buck, destination whitetail state where Northern Woodlands subspecies prowl Big Ag. A big part of his success is environmental. Move him to Florida and see how many public land booners he shoots. He'd do better than average, which means he'd mostly shoot 100-130" deer. Impressive, but it doesn't sell treestands.

I don't mean that a certain way. No sour grapes in my cornucopia. What I try to encourage people to realize is that there are levers to pull that matter. Wanna be in a movie? Helps to live in California. Wanna do country music? Move to Nashville. Wanna shoot big deer? Move your hunting efforts to where big deer live. Maybe that's a different section of your local public, or maybe that's a whole new chunk of public 2 hours away, or maybe it's a rutcation to a better state. But all of those things matter more than the doo-dads Pradco is selling.

It appears to me me you're preaching to the choir. I believe 90% of what you said in your statement. That's what I said when I was talking about my football analogy. You're a 100% correct when you said have to hunt where Boone and Crockett bucks are.

You can be the greatest bowhunter ever and your never going to kill the same amount Boone Crockett bucks in Iowa than you would in Florida. Let break it down even further. Hypothetical lets pretend you have a young son. His chance of becoming a NFL or A MLB is approximately .006 that is less than 1%. your son would Have better chance of becoming a NFL player than shooting a Boone and Crockett buck with a bow. Here's another fact 80% of Boone and Crockett bucks are killed on private land.

Iowa (350,000 dee hunters)is the best state for Boone and Crockett bucks because it has the richest soil in the world and the hunting pressure is really low. It's that simple, and the reason why I know this is because I talked to a wildlife Biologist from Iowa.

Here's where we disagree Wisconsin is has a lot of hunting pressure 778,111 dèer hunters It's very similar to Michigan (586,323 deer hunters ) and Pennsylvania(663,000 deer hunters). Buffalo county is the greatest county Boone and Crockett county ever but good luck finding public land or getting permission to hunt on private land. We have some counties on west side of the state that are very good. plus we have alot of public land Wisconsin. "Our 600,000 Gun deer hunters equal the size of the world's eighth largest army". The reason why Wisconsin produces larger antlers is because it's rich soil.

I know exactly where Dan Infalt killed some his biggest bucks and his hunting spots. The public land he was hunting had a lot of pressure. Trust me you're not going to see any big popular bowhunters making vacation plans to hunt in the marsshes or swamps where Dan Infalt hunts. He does hunt in the western part of Wisconsin which is a little bit easier.

I never consider Dan INFALT to be the best public land Bowhunter ever, but I do consider him one of the best teachers ever for bowhunting. I watched his DVDS plus a lot of popular public land bowhunters stated they learned a lot from his knowledge.

Most of the popular public land bowhunters rarely go bowhunting Wisconsin
and for good reason it has a lot of hunting pressure. Overall Wisconsin is good whitetail state but it still has alot of hunting pressure it's diffently not easy like Iowa.

 

[mschultz373]

I'm sure Dan's The Man. But he lives in a one-buck, destination whitetail state where Northern Woodlands subspecies prowl Big Ag. A big part of his success is environmental. Move him to Florida and see how many public land booners he shoots. He'd do better than average, which means he'd mostly shoot 100-130" deer. Impressive, but it doesn't sell treestands.

I don't mean that a certain way. No sour grapes in my cornucopia. What I try to encourage people to realize is that there are levers to pull that matter. Wanna be in a movie? Helps to live in California. Wanna do country music? Move to Nashville. Wanna shoot big deer? Move your hunting efforts to where big deer live. Maybe that's a different section of your local public, or maybe that's a whole new chunk of public 2 hours away, or maybe it's a rutcation to a better state. But all of those things matter more than the doo-dads Pradco is selling.

i have no doubt that Infalt or Eberhardt could (probably) kill the oldest deer alive on the public lands near me with a week's time.

 

[kidneystones_3000]

i have no doubt that Infalt or Eberhardt could (probably) kill the oldest deer alive on the public lands near me with a week's time.

I have a lot of respect For Jon Eberhard I have his book bowhunting Pressured deer . Also own his DVDS as well . I follow him on YouTube . Here is my philosophy you can learn alot from different hunters. Jon Eberhardt focuses on scrapes Dan Infalt focus on buck bedding and Andy May is focuses on efficiency and being well rounded. For example Andy May can do still hunting tree saddle hunting. He hunts with decoys hunts bedding areas and scrapes and a wide variety of different habitats.

I would like be well rounded like Andy May. For the record I followed Jon Eberhard before he was popular I should of put him on my list as well. I can't remember everything

 

[BTaylor]

i have no doubt that Infalt or Eberhardt could (probably) kill the oldest deer alive on the public lands near me with a week's time.

I would put a pretty substantial wager down that they would not. That in no way is meant to be a knock on either of those guys at all, both are without question accomplished bowhunters. Fact is the first hunt in a new place is a low odds endeavor, period. Nevermind the fact that what you are hunting is significantly different than most bowhunters will ever be exposed too and compounding that with it being on public. They might see or even have an opportunity on a buck, but a top end deer? The odds are massively against it happening pretty much regardless of who we are talking about from the midwest.

 

[mschultz373]

Okay knock off the "within a week's time". I just mean to say, those dudes know how to read the woods and figure out set ups well. Main point being I think they could do what they do in the Midwest wherever else.

but it's all hypothetical and a moot point because what i've learned is that we actually don't have any deer in Louisiana during the day; they are beamed down in the night by some benevolent extra-terrestrials to roam and leave sign, but then beamed back up before daylight.

 

[kidneystones_3000]

I would put a pretty substantial wager down that they would not. That in no way is meant to be a knock on either of those guys at all, both are without question accomplished bowhunters. Fact is the first hunt in a new place is a low odds endeavor, period. Nevermind the fact that what you are hunting is significantly different than most bowhunters will ever be exposed too and compounding that with it being on public. They might see or even have an opportunity on a buck, but a top end deer? The odds are massively against it happening pretty much regardless of who we are talking about from the midwest.

I don't know if you are familiar with Jared Scheffler from whitetails Adrenaline but he a very popular public land bowhunter who kills Boone and crockett bucks with a traditional long bow . He born and raised in Wisconsin and In his videos he hunts primarily in Iowa and Kansas. He lived in the northwestern part of the state. So being born and raised in Wisconsin Jared Scheffler filmed the Majority of hunts in you guest it Iowa Nebraska and Kansas. I remember watching hunting DVDs , magazines, the outdoor channel back in 80s 90s the most popular states where Iowa and Kansas.

 

[LAKY]

i have no doubt that Infalt or Eberhardt could (probably) kill the oldest deer alive on the public lands near me with a week's time.

They would retire from hunting if they hunted the places you do. They can drive around and see deer where they are in these "high pressure" areas. Do you see deer daily when driving around your hunting areas?

 

[gcr0003]

They would retire from hunting if they hunted the places you do. They can drive around and see deer where they are in these "high pressure" areas. Do you see deer daily when driving around your hunting areas?

Heck naw, if you see deer while glassing a field in Alabama odds are that it’s got the CWD LOL. They just do not step out in the fields…

It’s shocking just going up to TN, but also I’ve seen it up in PA and NY too. Tons of deer in fields, and often nice ones in broad daylight in season and out.

 

[mschultz373]

yall are making me feel better for not knocking one down yet this season, so thank you.

you only see deer along roads at night in the late season when all the food dries up and they go for the ditch and levee grasses. i actually did "glass" like 8 deer on a levee last week just before sunset.

 

[BTaylor]

yall are making me feel better for not knocking one down yet this season, so thank you.

you only see deer along roads at night in the late season when all the food dries up and they go for the ditch and levee grasses. i actually did "glass" like 8 deer on a levee last week just before sunset.

Have you gone and picked a tree where they were coming out? Assuming you can hunt there.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

Yeah, I can verify that you won't see deer out in fields in daylight around here with any regularity. You can sometimes see them on the sides of interstates late evenings, (or mangled on the side of it) but it is invariably in areas you can't hunt. Generally, you can get a glimpse of does in the medians at night in certain areas.

I'm always amazed when I watch one of Dan Infalt's videos where he is out gassing fields and spotting mature bucks. I think it is legal to shine at night too up there. You will get put under the jail shining in MS at night.

As far as dropping Dan Infalt of John Eberhart or _______________________(fill in the blank) successful Northern or Midwestern hunter off in the South and expecting them to hit the ground and make it happen on a mature buck in a week, I kinda doubt it. That's not a knock on them, they are both phenomenal hunters, but on most public land down here actually finding A deer, any type of deer in a couple of days is a success. On public land we have very low deer density, they get pressured mercilessly since everybody and their mama hunts, and the deer are baited heavily on adjacent private land.

I've heard Dan Infalt state several times in his videos about one of the public land challenges he has done that if he had a few more days to figure it out he would be on deer. His take was that he was just starting to figure the area out in a week by the time it was over. In one video he returned to the same area the next year and it was like starting over from scratch since the food, cover, pressure was different from the year before.