if you had to hang your hat on one thing that made the biggest difference on making your property a better place to hunt, what would it be?

Reducing pressure

Cutting timber, ( hardwood).

Hope this thread continues, id like to see what has worked well for others.. Just finished a good bit of thinning & 2 small clear cuts on my property.. Anxious to see if it helps in the yrs to come

Reducing pressure and year round feeding.

Following Mark Buxton on Facebook

Reduction of pressure.

Cutting worthless timber and planting long leaf. Now my long leaf have gotten to the point they are useless but not big enough to thin. Not sure what to do now.

Trigger restraint!!!

Hard to tell what specifically has made the most difference. I have a cutting rotation that keeps some good thick bedding areas, plant a lot of fall and summer crops including perennial clover, low pressure and setting the bar at 4.5 yr old bucks. That and a great neighbor situation makes for fun hunting.

Also going to his seminar the other week.
Going to implement a lot of his suggestions

Improving access to and from hunting stands, hunting less to limit pressure, improving habitat through burning.

Honestly, over the years the thing that helped us most was stand and lane locations. We use to have greenfields, then we slowly transitioned to long power line/gas line type openings. We decide where they start and where they end. Always ending at some major landscape change. Pine to hardwoods, creeks, pastures, dirt road, etc.
Even with corn or when we planted fields, we kill more deer just crossing. When we clear a place, we always have a better idea of where to put the next one.
I will tell you the worst habitat timing on our place is when the pines are 11-thinning age. The understory is usually bare and deer are not bedding on us. We run a pine plantation and hunt for fun though, not the other way around. We thin only when it benefits the timber.

I’d say reducing pressure but for my little patch that really just equates to not shooting or even harassing does. At this point many will walk through the yard while I’m working since they know they aren’t in any danger. The bucks, who use our property sparingly, come, on occasion, at night to the gravity feeder.

Making sure my property remains the thickest in the area. Low pressure. Letting small bucks walk. This works well, I get a chance at a wallhanger every year, may not always connect but get to see at least one big shooter every year on 15 acres.

Letting young deer walk!

Reducing Pressure

Another vote for less pressure. Other than being on it when necessary to manage the timber or to plant or maintain plots, we stay completely off the property starting September 1 until deer season ends.

Keeping pressure to a bare minimum.

Any of you guys successfully changed a property that may have once had mediocre or terrible hunting?