Sanctuaries on Small Property

June 17, 2008

CREATING SANCTUARIES ON SMALL PROPERTIES

Although most hunters think that a lot of land is needed to create a place for deer to hide and feel secure, that’s not the case. The fact is, only very small tracts of good cover are required to create a sanctuary that deer and other wildlife will use to escape from hunting pressure. The key is to plan these areas wisely in order for them to be useful to deer. In order to attract and hold deer on small tracts of land that are 175 acres or less, you must create habitat that deer want to both feed and bed down in and most importantly don’t want to leave often.

Few properties are suited for Quality Deer Management (QDM) programs. I speak from experience, since my farm is only 200 acres. I was worried that 200 acres would not be enough to create and maintain a workable QDM plan. So, I kept looking and found a 500-acre farm in Steuben County, New York that I was considering. Steuben County is one of the best counties in New York for quality and quality when it comes to deer. The problem for me was the farm was more than six hours away from my home. I knew that the average 3 1/2 year old buck in the area would score about 135 Boone and Crockett (B&C) points. But, I decided that I wanted a place closer to home in order to get in as many weekends as I could to plant, hunt, build tree stands and blinds, trails and play in the dirt.

I ended up buying the 200-acre farm that was only a two-and-a-half hour drive. I decided that I would get much more time on the land and would be able to keep better control of the property as well. I knew the average 3 1/2 year old buck on our farm was only going to be around 115 to 120 B&C points. Through good deer management and land stewardship I felt we could raise that average to 120 to 125, especially over a few years time. If thought if we could convince the neighbors to follow a good QDM program, I might even have the possibility to increase the antler scores to about 130 to 140 points.

After five years of owning our farm, none of the neighbors have conformed to implementing a QDM program. But it hasn’t hurt the deer numbers of the quality of the bucks on our farm that much. By following our goals and guidelines, including creating watering holes, food plots, pasture land, fields planted in vegetables, legumes, grasses, grains, brassicas, clovers and creating secure sanctuaries, we have made our land “deer friendly.” We have even increased the size of the land as well. My cousin Leo Somma purchased 110 acres and we lease another 130; so we have 440 contiguous acres on which to practice QDM.

One of our rules is anyone who hunts our land may kill only bucks that are 2 ½ years old or older and who have at least eight-point racks. We require that that at least five older does are taken off the land each year as well.

Although all these elements helped us to bring our deer levels and antler sizes up considerably over the last five years, the one strategy that has helped the most was creating non-hunting zones. Kate, Cody and I walked the farm several times before and right after we purchased it. We marked off two parcels of land in the middle of the east side of the property and in the middle of the west side and created two secure sanctuaries. Each parcel is between five and six acres. One is located in a hard-to-hunt swamp with ankle-deep water. The other is located off a big field and is in an overgrown abandoned apple orchard with thick second growth cover where we found a lot of deer trails and bedding sign. After posting them with signs, “Keep Out – Sanctuary,” we never hunted or entered them again over the last five years!

In a further attempt to keep these sanctuaries totally pressure free, we don’t allow anyone in to follow a wounded deer during day light hours. If a wounded deer enters either area (this happened only once since we created them), we look for it at night when the other deer left the area to go feed.

These two spots have developed into high traffic areas. There are countless deer trails leading into and out of both sanctuaries. Deer can often be seen bedding or standing in the areas as we work the fields nearby or walk the trails above them. They have learned that over a five-year period, no matter what is happening outside their protected area– they are safe and sound inside the sanctuary. It only took them two seasons to figure out where to run when the pressure started from neighboring farms. Our deer numbers go up during hunting season instead of down! To our surprise, not only do deer use the areas for safety, so do turkey, and, in the swamp, waterfowl.

Since that time we have learned a lot about how to attract and hold deer on a smaller property. Our food plots are strategically located near thick bedding areas and the plots are only hunted over during the archery season. While the plot areas required a lot of forethought it was worth the time and effort. The same goes for all the different plantings we plan each year that go into our pasture fields.

During the spring and summer we even try to maintain a low profile on the land by not hiking around a lot. With deer, out of sight means out of mind, and it only helps them to want to remain on the property more.

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