Enjoy Whitetail Hunting Success on any Property
You don’t need large acreage to have Whitetail success on your property. Anyone can enjoy whitetail hunting success on a small property, says Jared Van Hees, host of Habitat Podcast, co-owner of Vitalize Seed and a real-life practitioner of small property land management strategies.
Van Hees joined a recent episode of Wired to Hunt with Mark Kenyon where he shared his personal journey of purchasing and cultivating his first 15-acre property while offering land management ideas that can work for anyone.
There’s only one way to learn, and that’s by jumping in. Starting small is like having a testing ground where you can make mistakes and learn as you go.
And, at the end of the day, you’ve enjoyed “learning, family experiences, hunting, and you have an asset that has equity,” he said.
Ready to get started? These small property guidelines can help!
- Plan proper access. From the get-go, establish smart plans for access. Start with one main access, and eventually create safe, quiet, and easy access routes around your whole property so you can hunt most days in most winds.
- Create cover and screening to make your deer feel secure. Before cutting timber and brush on your property, consider your goals. Deer in different areas behave differently, but in many areas, cover is king. You’ll want to create and improve cover. Consider selective logging to allow sunlight in, but before you cut any trees, discuss your goals with a forester. You’ll also want to develop screening that will make deer feel secure and keep them coming back to your property.
- Develop high-quality food plots with the right type of cover. Get started on a food plot. Starting with 1/8- to 1/4-acre in the right area can be productive, but make sure you can access it, and make sure you’re growing quality food. “Animals understand and can tell what has the best nutrients and what tastes the best,” says Van Hees. They will follow the quality food sources.
If you’re ready to take the step towards owning your own hunting property, large or small, PotlatchDeltic has a tremendous variety of properties available. Contact one of the experts in the PotlatchDeltic Preferred Broker Network to get started.