How Small is Too Small...Hunting Properties

[bobby314]

I am thinking about buying 10-12 acres just south of Lake Livingston (Near Sam Houston National Forest). I was wondering if 12 arces can develope into some decent bowhunting after a few seasons with feeders, food plots, etc.

Is 12 acres too small? Or are the surrounding properties a bigger factor on the potential to bowhunt here? Any info?

[DorothyNotKeegan]

If you're going to hunt 12 acres make it a sanctuary where the game thinks they can escape the pressure! Food plots, salt licks, and year round corn should work for starters.

[alec73065]

I had 5 acres in Minnesota and the back 3 were wooded and a funnel to a corn field . I killed several deer every year cutting through my property. I think the surrounding property made all of the difference . I never found a bedded deer on my property , all were cutting through to bedding or feeding areas.

[Smart]

The surrounding properties would totally be the factor on your success. It's worth a shot but if your surrounding properties are under the "if its brown its down" mentality, you'll be hunting a similar situation. I had some buddies who were on 1200 acres and their season was controlled by the surrounding properties. Most of the younger big deer they passed on early were all killed. Imagine what 1/100 of that acreage would be like. Now on the flip side if you are in a well managed area you could benefit by having a little less pressure.

We used to bowhunt on 2-3 acres in the 80s near theTarpley area. Luckily our property was on one of the only dams on the surrounding 50K acres that the deer were able to cross without swimming. It made for a heckuva funnel and we were very successful.

[Oz_Ag]

It completely depends on what properties surround you. You could hunt on 5 acres if you have some significant land around you with little pressure. You just have to have some way to draw them in.

[SaltwaterSlick]

When I was a kid, my dad had 25 acres in east texas and had 4 stands on it. We had one time when we had 4 people hunting, one in each stand and all 4 people killed a buck the same morning... It can be done.

The other big consideration if you intend to bow hunt it is that once you make a shot, the animal doesn't have to travel very far until it is off your property. You will need to know what your options are for such a situation. Neighbors can make you or break you on such a piece of property. If however it actually backs up to the National Forest, then that's a different story... may be a good story, and may not be. That will depend on access to the forest around you. Easy access, equals bad. hard access is not so bad.

[Codie]

when it is small enough that the chances of you shooting a deer and it crossing a boundry fence become substantial.

[Hawkins]

If I owned 12 acres and it had deer on it, yeah I would hunt it.

[treestandjunky]

I hunt on ten acers and kill good bucks every year. I also have a few friends that hunt on 20&30 acers and they do well also. I really just depends on how much pressure you have around you.

[erikm1981]

Hopefully the surrounding deer will travel through it. Like others said food plots and corn will help.

[KingsX]

The surrounding properties would totally be the factor on your success. It's worth a shot but if your surrounding properties are under the "if its brown its down" mentality, you'll be hunting a similar situation. I had some buddies who were on 1200 acres and their season was controlled by the surrounding properties. Most of the younger big deer they passed on early were all killed. Imagine what 1/100 of that acreage would be like. Now on the flip side if you are in a well managed area you could benefit by having a little less pressure.

We used to bowhunt on 2-3 acres in the 80s near theTarpley area. Luckily our property was on one of the only dams on the surrounding 50K acres that the deer were able to cross without swimming. It made for a heckuva funnel and we were very successful.

[SmTx]

Disadvantage to it being on the national forest would be you creating a funnel from the forrest to your 12 acres if you're feeding since you can't bait on the national forrest.