To purchase hunting property or not. Where did all the deer go?

[MidCoast]

So I was looking into purchasing 40 acres of land for deer hunting.  During the Spring time, there were a lot of signs of deer on the property.  Deer droppings (defecate)  plus tracks.  However, I wanted to wait until fall time before  making my decision to buy or not.   I recently looked at the property again, and there wasn't much signs of deer anymore.  Barely any deer droppings, and only some fresh deer tracks but not as much anymore.  Nobody hunts on this property as the owner doesn't hunt. So I would think that the deer herd would still be present. 

Now, Im not sure if it will be a good buy or not anymore.  I mean, during the spring time, it looked very promising, but once fall was here, the property was not as populated with deer anymore.  My question is what happened to all of the deer?  Perhaps they moved to the food crops area for them to eat and concentrated along the woods over there only.  Once winter hits, they move in to the thicker woods.

I guess purchasing the property would not be wise since there doesn't seem to be very much signs of deer during the fall time.  Thoughts? 

 

[delcecchi]

What area?  Deer seem to move towards food.  Also, deer cover way more ground than 40 acres.  What is around this land? 

[rustysetter]

This is a big year for acorns in our area are there any oaks or food for them on the property. What kind of cover do you have, can they safely bed there. There are a lot of factors that either can or won't keep deer on the property, is it possible that all of sign you had earlier was them passing through for food and or bedding areas?

[leechlake]

Years ago we talked about buying our own land in the area we've hunted for years.  Some parcels changed from Potlatch for private and we've just worked around it.  I'd guess that buying hunting land could be one of the worst investments ever.  We have some family land and on opening morning when some yahoo comes walking up to you saying he's lost you feel like all the effort to post it is lost.  

If you buy land enjoy it but don't expect some hunting Nirvana, cut wood off it, shoot some grouse, but keep the expectations low.

[noahsdad]

when you r looking in the spring you r seeing a winters worth of droppings, as they do not degrade when the temps r cold, but they do degrade quickly in the warmer months....try putting up a camera year round

 

[nofishfisherman]

Where abouts is the property located?  What type of land is around this property?  Public land? Ag land? Other hunting properties?

Depending on what is around the property you may be able to improve the land with food plots, additional cover, etc to make the land more deer friendly which will hopefully allow you to keep more deer near the property.  You'll just have to take a look at what kind of competition you have in the area.  If there is ample food and cover elsewhere near by you may have a harder time luring deer away from their normal patterns and get them to start using your property more.

You'll just have to do more research to see what else is in the area competing for the deer attention.

[Powerstroke]

40 acres is a lot of land for one person to hunt, but is the equivelant of one room in the house for a deer. If you look up the deer density information for your area, you will see it is listed as number of deer per square mile. A sq. mile, or section, is 640 acres. So, you have 1/16 of a sq. mile. A good deer density would be 10-20 deer per sq. mile. Thats an average of just more to just less than 1 deer per 40 acres.

So, look at the land and decide what your 40 acre plot has to offer. if is nothing more than some woods, then you may have pass through country that offers some bedding cover in the winter. Thats not all bad, but you need to look outside your boundaries and see what you are competing with at the neighbors places. What you want is to compliment the neighbor rather than trying to compete.  

 

You've offered very little info other that to say you found droppings, If I was looking for deer hunting land, I would would focus on what the land offers, not how many deer you can find. Deer have legs and will find the best habitat. Its much tougher to make good habitat. 

[leech~~]

Where abouts is the property located?  What type of land is around this property?  Public land? Ag land? Other hunting properties?

Depending on what is around the property you may be able to improve the land with food plots, additional cover, etc to make the land more deer friendly which will hopefully allow you to keep more deer near the property.  You'll just have to take a look at what kind of competition you have in the area.  If there is ample food and cover elsewhere near by you may have a harder time luring deer away from their normal patterns and get them to start using your property more.

You'll just have to do more research to see what else is in the area competing for the deer attention.

These are good questions. I would never buy a piece of land without knowing what the land around it is like, and try to find out what the plans for the land around it maybe in the future. Building, roads, logging, Ag? You could be buying a Deer Meca only to have it cut off by building or a road going in.

[O.T.C.]

If it's a thick rats nest buy it as guess where some of them will go in not so many days. But need more info,as cold as last fall was those dropping could've froze solid starting at about rifle season last year, maybe solid muzzleloader spot idk. I know some 40's in zone 1 that might not have a deer on it and know some 40's in permit area 240 that could have 20-30 in it, maybe not so much now but in our higher deer # days. Would this property be in good shape once deer numbers come back up again ? Is there water on it ? Too many ?'s to really give u much advice and why hasn't it sold already to someone else ?

[Bear55]

You need some thick nasty bedding cover or amazing food to hold deer year round, having both is all the better.