How many of you guys are successfully managing 200 acres? I've recently leased 192 acres and through my camera work this first year we had a lot of young bucks who lived on the property through the feeding season and 7 families of does/fawns. There were 2 possibly 3 mature bucks that lived on the property. When the rut kicked off we had a lot of bonus bucks that showed up cruising our ridge looking for those doe families. Our plan going forward is to manage the property for does to continue seeing these bonus bucks year after year but I don't feel that's a viable option. There's a part of me that also doesn't feel I'm going to have much success managing for mature bucks on the property either because I'm bordered by public land on three sides and the private landowner on the other isn't interested. I'm looking for any tips/ideas. Thanks.

Mission = impossible. You can certainly let young bucks walk, and you should if you want to have bigger deer around. But the public land on 3 sides is a total killer.

I have a tract thats 200 acres. I could have killed 10 mature bucks off of it in the last 3 years. We have killed 1 buck a year off of it and no does. I have 7 bucks of 5 years or older on cam including a 140ish 10 that we passed last year as a 130 inch 9 point. you can manage it as long as you have good neighbors

He doesn't......

I thought I was ok even with it being public land but its Bankhead which already has a reputation for big bucks and draws a lot of interest from folks anyway. You have to hike a good ways to get to where it borders my property so I figured I may slip under the radar. Well this weekend on of the guys on my lease was hunting a creek crossing and noticed some guys that had hung climbers right on the property line. First time we've seen it this year and we know it's going to happen. They killed a buck that we would have let go another year. Not the end of the world but once word gets out about that one, and it will, I just don't see it as a viable management plan.

Just give up on managing it and shoot what you want to kill. If you pass a deer, it might live til next season or it might get killed on the neighboring properties. Not every deer you pass will get killed so by passing them you will enable some bucks to get into older age classes but 200 acres in Alabama is impossible to intensively manage unless you have great neighbors on all sides of the property that own significantly more than 200 acres each. Bucks will roam miles during the rut so your bucks are certainly not going to be staying on your property even 50% of their time and when they are off, they are subject to get shot. Plant as much good food as you can, make the 200 acres a sanctuary with very little human pressure until conditions are optimal and do not harass or pressure the does and you'll have some bucks show up on the property during the rut whether they live on it most of the time or not. I'm not trying to discourage you but trying to manage 200 acres with public land on 3 sides is just a waste of your time.

All you can “manage” is your pressure. Don’t shoot does and only shoot mature bucks. The mature bucks are there for a reason. More than likely to escape pressure from public land. If you can keep your pressure low bucks will continue to use the area.

I agree. We have 90 acres that has public land close by and have yet to shoot a doe this year and taking the whole month of December off of it so deer feel safe from the public pressure. First year with lease and untill we get a longer lease of 3 years or more we will pass on 2.5 year olds and kill good 3.5 year olds. They still get my blood pumping so they get shot. If we had gauranteed long lease I might wait another year on deer. Or maybe not.

PREACH ON!!! Very, very effective way to kill mature deer. Can be done on much smaller properties also. Good cover, good food, low pressure.

I bet Whild Bill has some sound advice on this topic. He knows how to manage a sanctuary.

Not discouraging at all. That's really what I'm talking about when I say manage for does.

We have 500 acres and our saying is.....the only thing we can manage is food and pressure. Try to provide as much as possible on the first and as little as possible on the second.

Just hunt and have a good time, let the kids shoot an occasional deer.

This is great advice that work on tracts from 40-4000 acs. Let those public hunters pressure them on to your sanctuary loaded with food

So that would lead me to my next question.... the property has natural forage now (acorns, hickory nuts, etc) on roughly 130 acres of the property.... how many acres of food plots should I negotiate with the landowners? Luckily he’s not growing this for timber so it will strictly be my costs putting them in but currently only have roughly 1.5 acres total between 5 fields and they’re already being hammered which leads me to believe I could use more. Is there a good ratio I’m not aware of?

As much as he will let you have or as much as you can afford to plant and still pay the owner to allow you to do it. I'd strategically place 2-4 plots on it depending on how it lays. In an ideal situation, plant a 5-10 acre perineal feeding plot in the center of the property and then put 2-3 smaller strategically placed kill plots in other areas. With the neighbor situation you have around it, I would not have a food plot within 200 yards or that could be seen from the property lines.

I had a 350 acre tract, for 15 years, which was joined on three sides by NF land.
It was mostly inaccessible, or difficult to access, but that doesn't matter at all.
The pressure isn't caused by public land hunters, it's pressured by the road warriors, night poachers, beer can shooters, late night campfire parties, ATV parades, hordes of morons who just can't resist riding every single trail and playing in every single mudhole, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Usually I’m just an asshole, but if I catch an atv riding my property, my head spins around and I become a REAL ASSHOLE. You’ve got to let the neighbors know

Quit reading all those huntin Mags. Just go huntin.

+impossible with 200 acreas, Bucks range much more than that. Neighbors will love you for not shootings deer