Any suggestions for our place? 1200 acres near Magnolia
We have owned 1200 acres around Magnolia since 2003. Well 850 of it up until 2014 and the other 350 we bought in 2014. We have really just started to manage it. Last year was our first year on MLD. We were issued 16 doe tags and no buck tags but a recommended 8 bucks to take. Camera surveys show a 3:1 ratio for the last two seasons. This year our ratio is the same but our fawn numbers are horrible. We really don't know why. I do think it has a lot to do with coyotes for one. Im going to be hammering them hard this winter with the guns and my brother will hammer them on the trap line.
My main goals with our place is to improve our habitat and improve our herd health. I want an increased age structure of our bucks and of course better quality. Seeing what our fawn recruitment was this year and last, it has moved up to the front in importance. We have some incredible habitat. Of the 1,215 acres we have, about 850 acres is Lake Creek bottom hardwoods and floods completely. The rest is just typical Magnolia oaks and yaupon. The last big flood we had this spring put the mud line in the trees over 8ft off the ground down in the bottoms. I have tried food plots before with very little success. Once the seeds got floated out from rain. Another never took because we went 60 days without rain. I don't want to waste a bunch of time and money trying to get food plots to take every year and have them destroyed or never take. We are seeing a lot of encroachment from development on all sides except one. We have also tried protein feeders but they get flooded as well. Im kind of at a loss. I feel like when the acorns are gone the deer almost leave the country. At least that is my perception. That includes the spring. I feel like all our deer are gone but I want to have a place where they never feel the need to move on when there are no acorns. Its funny seeing all the post and other published material about making sure to find the acorns and youll be successful. Ha! We could feed a nation with al the acorns we have.
I feel like we could have one of the best places in the area but for some reason we just don't. We have a ton of does, no real big deer to speak of; 130 is a really big deer for us; and of course, our fawns don't seem to be doing well. I don't really know the right answer. I would love to be able to have some amazing food plots through spring and fall and run protein feeders to give the deer the very best nutrition possible but Im not sure how to make it happen. I know the quality of bucks that are in all the neighborhoods surrounding us and I believe I know that they just have everything those bucks need. They just don't have a reason to come to our place except during the rut but that doesn't even seem to happen either. I do know that neighbors kill way too many deer on their side. I honestly don't feel angry about it and I have no reason/right to infringe on their using their land legally and for whatever reason they would like. We have plenty of land and they are free to do whatever they wish. I know for a fact they cant kill every single big deer that comes on our place.
Honestly, Im just hoping someone can see something I cant or has some personal experience with land like ours that can shed some light on anything we could do to keep improving. I have been pushing hard for family to let young deer walk and I can definitely see an improvement but it just doesn't seem to be making as big of a difference as I thought. All those 2-3 year old deer we pass up just don't seem to be around anywhere the next year. Anyways, any help yall can send my way would be great. I want us to be good stewards of the land and to have a great place to hunt for as long as we can afford. I am happy to send/post aerials or topos or whatever if that is something that could help. Thanks guys.
My main goals with our place is to improve our habitat and improve our herd health. I want an increased age structure of our bucks and of course better quality. Seeing what our fawn recruitment was this year and last, it has moved up to the front in importance. We have some incredible habitat. Of the 1,215 acres we have, about 850 acres is Lake Creek bottom hardwoods and floods completely. The rest is just typical Magnolia oaks and yaupon. The last big flood we had this spring put the mud line in the trees over 8ft off the ground down in the bottoms. I have tried food plots before with very little success. Once the seeds got floated out from rain. Another never took because we went 60 days without rain. I don't want to waste a bunch of time and money trying to get food plots to take every year and have them destroyed or never take. We are seeing a lot of encroachment from development on all sides except one. We have also tried protein feeders but they get flooded as well. Im kind of at a loss. I feel like when the acorns are gone the deer almost leave the country. At least that is my perception. That includes the spring. I feel like all our deer are gone but I want to have a place where they never feel the need to move on when there are no acorns. Its funny seeing all the post and other published material about making sure to find the acorns and youll be successful. Ha! We could feed a nation with al the acorns we have.
I feel like we could have one of the best places in the area but for some reason we just don't. We have a ton of does, no real big deer to speak of; 130 is a really big deer for us; and of course, our fawns don't seem to be doing well. I don't really know the right answer. I would love to be able to have some amazing food plots through spring and fall and run protein feeders to give the deer the very best nutrition possible but Im not sure how to make it happen. I know the quality of bucks that are in all the neighborhoods surrounding us and I believe I know that they just have everything those bucks need. They just don't have a reason to come to our place except during the rut but that doesn't even seem to happen either. I do know that neighbors kill way too many deer on their side. I honestly don't feel angry about it and I have no reason/right to infringe on their using their land legally and for whatever reason they would like. We have plenty of land and they are free to do whatever they wish. I know for a fact they cant kill every single big deer that comes on our place.
Honestly, Im just hoping someone can see something I cant or has some personal experience with land like ours that can shed some light on anything we could do to keep improving. I have been pushing hard for family to let young deer walk and I can definitely see an improvement but it just doesn't seem to be making as big of a difference as I thought. All those 2-3 year old deer we pass up just don't seem to be around anywhere the next year. Anyways, any help yall can send my way would be great. I want us to be good stewards of the land and to have a great place to hunt for as long as we can afford. I am happy to send/post aerials or topos or whatever if that is something that could help. Thanks guys.
Comment