Owning and Managing your Dream Hunting Property - Part 2: Establishing Safe Havens

Troy Esau

Before we get into it, I need to rewind a little bit and give you a little backstory on our road to owning a property that we can hunt on. For many years I dreamed of being able to live in the bush and enjoy watching, and hunting deer, turkeys and whatever other wildlife would roam in the bush surrounding my dream home. A few years ago, 60 acres of bushland became available within the family. At the time, we weren't really prepared to leave our existing home that we had put so many hours into renovating, to make the way we wanted. We did not jump at the opportunity initially, but it sparked the idea and the possibility of living in the bush. After some serious chats and realizing that the opportunity to purchase a bush near our home community may never come up again in our lifetime, we decided to go for it. The piece of property that we purchased is 60 acres, was solely bush until we built a house on it, and is largely aspen trees and fairly dense undergrowth. It has always been home to many deer and wild turkeys, which is exactly what I was looking for.

Once we officially owned the property, I did a lot of walking through it, as well as looking at the satellite map view for hours on end trying to establish bedding areas, travel routes, food sources, and many other elements of the way the animals used the bush. Obviously, the main reason for trying to figure out the lay of the land was to be able to try and hunt it as effectively as possible with minimal impact on the wildlife. All the time I have spent chasing whitetails has made me realize that our entry/exit routes can have a big impact on the way the deer travel and feel hunting pressure. They pattern us and can figure out when humans have been in their home, causing them to adjust their own movement patterns when they feel over-pressured. There are a few ways to combat putting too much pressure on a hunting property. One way to minimize pressuring a property is to be aware of scent control. If the deer do not smell you or figure out that you've entered their home, they do not feel the pressure. Creating and figuring out pockets of bush that are solely bedding and safe havens for the deer is also extremely critical. This is important for 2 main reasons: so you do not spook deer while entering and exiting stand locations and checking trail cameras, and so you can position your stands to intercept deer on their way to and from feeding areas or watering holes. Doe bedding areas are the most critical to establish, as often the best opportunity to kill a mature buck is during the rut when they are sniffing around the ladies to find the next available hot doe. It is important to keep these known bedding areas or safe haven zones as free from human traffic and as undisturbed as possible. The only time I would consider entering these areas would be in spring when I'm looking to add a few shed antlers to the collection. Spring shed hunting season also happens to be the best time to figure out these major bedding areas as you can see all the visible deer sign from the winter months in the snow. Deer beds and trails are easy to decipher at that point. Once you have narrowed down the areas that are off limits for the most part, it should help direct you to the spots that you want to be hunting in order to give you the best odds at success.

If the deer feel safe on your hunting property and have everything they need to survive, quite simply, they won't leave. Retaining deer on your hunting property is the main goal, so when you head out with your weapon in hand, you have maximized your chances at harvesting that buck of a lifetime.