How close is too close?

[MoeFaux]

Today, I'm acquiring two TINY plots of land nestled within 15,000 acres of wild USFS land. The two plots I'm picking up are roughly 100 yards apart, and my desire is to make one of them (1/4 acre with road access) into my campground where I sleep, eat, and hang around a fire while the other one (smaller, still) into a food plot.

Would I ever be able to hunt this food plot successfully, or would noise, fire, and humans 100 yards away blow out the area?

I don't know prevailing wind directions for the area yet, so lets just assume they don't tend to be in my favor.

 

[mi650]

A couple evenings ago, I was in my tree and had ashes coming down around me and a faint smell of smoke from someones' fireplace. I saw 4 deer during that time.

Deer will get used to nearly anything.

 

[jrbarnes9972]

I think the bigger concern tor me would be the public hunting the plot while I wasn't there.

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[hiker270]

Guess its worth a try since you may be able to draw deer to a food plot. Its the possible pressure being surrounded by public land that may be your downfall.

 

[cnelk]

When I’m at my cabin in Wyoming, I see deer walking around for the first couple days I’m there.
Then, they start adjusting their patterns and I don’t see them as much.

I was standing in my cabin when I took this pic a couple weeks ago.
Didn’t see any bucks walk by after that.

IMO - Human activity will affect movement

 

[*zap*]

you should see the deer here at the local state park campground....they feed 50' or less from folks sitting around the fire...some folks put out corn and the feed even closer.
hunting pressure moves deer away from an area, not just human presence.

 

[Bert01]

I have literally shot them out of my back door, I’ve also shot them on my rifle range a couple hours after sighting in a rifle.

 

[go_deep]

Got a video this morning from Wisconsin of a buck feeding in a corn field about 75 years from my buddy running a backhoe through the field, he didn't care.

 

[Macintosh]

If youre there full time ie more or less a “constant presence”, deer get used to it. If its “unusual” for you to be there (ie not there almost every day at more or less predictable times) your presence will spook the deer without being careful, since your presence is out of the ordinary.
Good exit from your other land, good screening, maybe??

 

[Yoder]

If you were there all the time, I would say no. They get used to people. The problem is when they are used to no people and you show up. If it's thick, 100 yards might be enough that they don't care.

 

[MoeFaux]

If you were there all the time, I would say no. They get used to people. The problem is when they are used to no people and you show up. If it's thick, 100 yards might be enough that they don't care.

Sure. I have city deer in my front and back yard on a regular basis. I even have a picture of a 6 point buck and my pit bull casually staring at each other 3 feet away.

. . . but these aren't city deer I'll be chasing. The camp site is surrounded by 15,000 acres of USFS land, so my presence there will be out of the ordinary for the wildlife.

Forest is plenty thick between me and the plot, so I'm really hoping you're right.

 

[MoeFaux]

I think the bigger concern tor me would be the public hunting the plot while I wasn't there.

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Yeah, but there's really nothing to be done about that. If it happens, it happens, but people who can't drive down my road (I'm one of 3 property owners on that road) would have to fight through a lot of thick and rough woods to get to my hidden little plot, so I'm not terribly concerned about it.