No longer seeing mature whitetail deer on farm

[njwan597]

We have 180 acres located in Iowa, historically this has been great hunting land. We purchased about 5 years ago, when we first purchased the property we had many mature deer as well as many shooter bucks. Over the last 5 years that has been changing, we're seeing slightly more deer as but they're getting younger every year. We typically only take 1-3 deer off the property every year (1 nice buck hopefully and a couple does). We haven't changed anything about the land since taking it over (food plots, trail cams, hunting pressure). The property has a lot of deer and it's nearly impossible to go for a hunt and not see anything. However, every deer we're seeing is between 1-2. The territorial bucks that dominate our land are all small 2 year old 6 or 8 pointers chasing off 1 year old forks, no does or bucks older than 2.

Previously the land was owned by a farmer who would let anyone shoot as many deer off it as they could find. Then a hunter bought it and resold to us after only two years of ownership (sold because he couldn't get nonresident tags). The first couple years, we had mature deer and monster bucks roaming freely, the deer population is more today than when we bought it, but as I said everything is 1-2 years old. Thinking during gun season we need to thin out the young does and get the population to a point where the mature bucks will be interested in returning. Looking for feedback from someone who has had a similar experience and how to navigate this. Thank you!

 

[go_deep]

Had the same issue on a few pieces of ground my dad owned in Wisconsin. Cut and dry, to many deer. Once we killed a bunch of does and got the population where it should have been, nice bucks started showing back up.

 

[njwan597]

Thanks for the reply, how many does did you end up taking and how long did it take for them to come back? I've done 3 all day sits since Saturday and I'm starting to get tired of these small two year olds run territory that historically has been ran by the monsters.

 

[WCB]

Be interesting to see the difference in 5 years of cover? what type of ground is it? I agree probably too many deer in general but that kind of goes against a couple properties I hunt and have mature bucks on. Lots of deer all year long in it and the mature bucks still show up like clock work end of Oct.

 

[dtrkyman]

Habitat is number one followed by deer density. Bucks are loaners and generally hang around by themselves.

Coming in for rut activity makes sense but does are not hard to come by!

 

[go_deep]

Thanks for the reply, how many does did you end up taking and how long did it take for them to come back? I've done 3 all day sits since Saturday and I'm starting to get tired of these small two year olds run territory that historically has been ran by the monsters.

The one piece was about 600 acres, over 3 years we killed about 50 does, but then continued killing some every year after. Year 5 it got really good, killed several mature bucks with bow and rifle, along with others on camera.
Every places is different, you'll need to judge how many you need to kill. Personally I think a lot of those mature does will run a buck off, except for the couple days they need them for breeding.

 

[SuperDUECE22]

If you're seeing lots of deer and only taking a couple does annually you need to change that ASAP. Try to get your buck to doe ratio as close to 1:1 as you can.
Do some strategic hinge cutting of any non-valuable timber to increase the overall deer habitat.

 

[Skerhunter]

Has anything changed in neighboring properties? Loss of habitat - more pressure? It's hard to "manage" deer on a small parcel, when the area around you is not suitable for mature deer to make a living or the neighbors are slaughtering them.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Wolves and mt lions can really take a toll on smaller localized herds if they get in and stay in the area. They are silent and effective killers, averaging 1 deer per week for each full grown animal.

 

[wildwilderness]

What zone are you in? How many doe tags are issued for the area?

Easy way to start is filling every doe tag per buck for a couple years. So if they give out 3 doe tags and 1 buck then kill 3 does for every buck you want.

Track your buck:doe ratio.

Was there an EHD or blue tongue event? This will often kill all the mature animals and have a population boom

 

[dtrkyman]

Definitely doe some doe management, however with only 180 acres you will have a hard time making any significant impact.

Get with your neighbors and see what they are up to, several landowners can really have an impact if all are on the same page!

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

Agree with shooting more does.

It hasn't been said, so I'll mention this too. How much time (and ground scent) are you leaving running cameras and scouting? Mature bucks don't have a high tolerance for this kind of activity, and on a smaller parcel, you may be conditioning them to bed on the neighbors.

I forgot to mention, you may want to see what the neighbors are running for food plots. If they have something the deer like better, they could be haning out elsewhere.

Finally, it's the peak of the rut. Mature bucks can be anywhere this time of year. You're as likely to catch them out in CRP or a fencline, especially with this warm weather, as in the timber. Be patient and put in your time. Also, don't get too stuck in treestands. Look for bucks cutting does out in the open and in ag fields and try to put a stalk on them. This can be very effective on windy days that can mask your sound and provide dependable approaches.

 

[Btaylor]

With 180 acres, I would take a long hard look at the surrounding 1500-2000 acres. What is there and what isnt there? Start tweaking habitat to what isnt readily available or is need to improve your 180. And like the others have mentioned, thin the herd.

 

[njwan597]

Be interesting to see the difference in 5 years of cover? what type of ground is it? I agree probably too many deer in general but that kind of goes against a couple properties I hunt and have mature bucks on. Lots of deer all year long in it and the mature bucks still show up like clock work end of Oct.

It's mostly CRP, couple cricks running through it, some areas of thick cover and timber, ground is pretty hilly in some spots providing cover from the roads. Most of it though is CRP grass though.

 

[njwan597]

Has anything changed in neighboring properties? Loss of habitat - more pressure? It's hard to "manage" deer on a small parcel, when the area around you is not suitable for mature deer to make a living or the neighbors are slaughtering them.

Not really, a lot of it has been the same for many years. 85% of the land surrounding it are like minded trophy bow hunters who have minimum pressure and only take mature bucks. One neighbors owns a corn field and he just wants all deer gone and will let just about anyone hunt. However, that's always been the case with him, he had the same policy years ago when we were seeing consistent trophy bucks on our land. I know about a year ago a neighbor across the road about half a mile away passed away and as a result his grandkids and their friends have hunting access and will shoot just about anything that walks in front of them.

 

[njwan597]

Agree with shooting more does.

It hasn't been said, so I'll mention this too. How much time (and ground scent) are you leaving running cameras and scouting? Mature bucks don't have a high tolerance for this kind of activity, and on a smaller parcel, you may be conditioning them to bed on the neighbors.

I forgot to mention, you may want to see what the neighbors are running for food plots. If they have something the deer like better, they could be haning out elsewhere.

Finally, it's the peak of the rut. Mature bucks can be anywhere this time of year. You're as likely to catch them out in CRP or a fencline, especially with this warm weather, as in the timber. Be patient and put in your time. Also, don't get too stuck in treestands. Look for bucks cutting does out in the open and in ag fields and try to put a stalk on them. This can be very effective on windy days that can mask your sound and provide dependable approaches.

Not a ton, my brother and I are really the only two people that hunt it and we're pretty strict about entering and leaving the tree only when it's dark and do all day sits. We make sure trucks are not visible when we park to hunt. Trail cams are the email ones so we don't need to be there checking them. We mow some paths that the deer use a lot through some of the thick CRP grass and plant food plots, but other than that we don't spend tons of time on there compared to neighbors. The neighbors that are strictly bow hunters don't spend a ton of time, but some neighbors rent out their land to farmers to allow cattle to graze, other neighbors are fields where they're actively farming it, so I'd say we fall somewhere in the middle in terms of how much we disturb it and leave scent.

 

[Skerhunter]

Not really, a lot of it has been the same for many years. 85% of the land surrounding it are like minded trophy bow hunters who have minimum pressure and only take mature bucks. One neighbors owns a corn field and he just wants all deer gone and will let just about anyone hunt. However, that's always been the case with him, he had the same policy years ago when we were seeing consistent trophy bucks on our land. I know about a year ago a neighbor across the road about half a mile away passed away and as a result his grandkids and their friends have hunting access and will shoot just about anything that walks in front of them.

Do your neighbors have a lot of mature deer living on them? If, so then I would take some advice from the guys about improving your 160 acres/herd. I'm guessing they don't or I would expect some to still show up on your place now through december (you hold doe), but I could be wrong. The properties near by, that are shooting everything, can really mess up the age class in a hurry and that takes years to recover.

 

[dtrkyman]

Do you burn your CRP?

I would start if you dont, mow buffer strips and burn in sections. If the CRP is a large single area then I would rotate areas I burnt.

Divide it into sections and burn a section every year, so then you will have multiple stages of habitat at all time, diversity is usually key! A certain percentage of CRP can be allocated for food for wild life so you can mix some food plots in.

As stated earlier look for something they do not have in the area and provide it! Generally speaking my best properties have had CRP on them.

 

[19hunt92]

This is what i watched and worked for me. Same exact situation you found yourself in...hunted hard before me, nice deer, i take over and manage for population and not maturity, big deer disappear. Finally after 3 years of working on my property as described here and now i have big deer hanging out again:

 

[dtrkyman]

right on topic!