Leased two tracts of land almost 1,000 acres total about 5 miles apart am excited about having my own places with only 4 of us hunting it me my dad my son and cousin. But dang there is a lot of work to be done and not enough time to get it all done before deer season starts. Got started yesterday By spraying and trimming some old food plots yesterday. For you guys that have had your own leases what are some suggestions on what you wish you had done sooner or things you wished you hadn't done.

Made the food plots as big as possible. clear the roads.

I picked up a new lease last year about 45 min from my other two and it nearly killed us getting everything set up and ready to hunt on the new place. Take the time and trim it out right get your stands in place and exactly where you want them rather than just hustling thru to get it done. If you say, I'll come back and get it later" you wont have the time. Knock it out and do it right while it's in front of you and you're there. Congrats and good luck.

1). Food plots, even if I don't plan to hunt them. Soil test and amend.
2). Select stand sites so shooting lanes can be trimmed. Then leave the area alone.
3). Roads and trails into stand sites. If a stand can be hunted from multiple wind directions, then you need multiple directions to access that stand from.

These would be my priorities based on a short window of time before hunting season opens. I like to have my stands placed and shooting lanes cut well before season starts then I leave them alone.

Im with Yelp. #3 is the one that if I don't get done when entering a new property I always regret later. 1 and 2 I always do as second nature, and forget or overlook 3 on some stands. Then you are wondering in the dark looking for a stand scaring all the deer off making noise everywhere. You really wish you had better entrances to stands then. I even go in a time or two before season starts and rake these trails.

I probably wouldn't do a thing besides plant the fields and feel it out the first year...

Congrats on the new place. Hopefully it goes well for yall.

Im not really a rifle hunter so I don't worry too much about food plots.

But I would recommend putting up stands before the season and make sure you've got enough to where you're not pressuring the same areas every time you go.

Of course it will take some tweaking whether you do it mid season or next season.

I would trim the roads and not spend a lot of time on anything else until I started hunting it.

That's my advice. You might put a shooting house up on a plot that doesn't ever have deer in it. Or maybe right where they walk out into that plot.

Lot's of questions need to be answered before you start throwing work into it.

This is kinda what mode we are in right now. Not many places to choose from for fields and They are over grown not planted in a few years. Just trying to get those cleared and get some houses built and put up before season starts and get a few tripods to put in cut overs.

If you share the location we all could give much better advice

Lamar/Fayette Co. That specific enough.

Oh man I was kidding about giving us the location. It's ok. But I'd be walking in the woods now scouting. Go ahead and try and figure out where you want stands. Basically there's always something.

And I set all the stands up for a north west wind.

Then what happens when you get a ton of SE wind like we had last year? I prefer to have spots set up for different wind conditions.

I think we have had more south or east wind in the past two years than north.

No doubt about it. Last year the predominate wind was out of the south or east. Of course it was the warmest hunting season I can remember.

Wish I would've planted a dove field, fixed my 2 row planter, fixed roads and fire breaks, and took loc on's down to get them out of the weather.

Maybe I am different on this part of it but why the rush? Of course I understand clearing the field(s) for planting, I get that but why spend so much time trying to throw a stand up here and there, build shooting houses for what could be slow fields for deer. I say take your time, look over your aerial maps and identify possible places to hunt. It'd be hard to hang or set up stands knowing they need to moved a 100yds down the ridge by January. Or build a shooting house right where the deer come into the field, you may setup the shooting house for a NNW and it needs to be setup for S; wind in Alabama is to inconsistent to be setup for one wind. Lastly, enjoy it, by all means that's why we do it.

If there are small trees with limbs hanging over your roads go ahead and cut the whole tree now instead of just trimming the limbs. I would hunt the property for a season before I did not much major clearing for food plots. Set aside areas that you will never step foot inside, preferably toward middle of property if possible.

Contact Whild Bill and bring him in as a consultant