So let's say you only have a very small area to hunt

I have a small tract of land and only about 2 acres is huntable. By huntable, I mean that's the only part of the land that has woods and isn't part of the yard to the house where the dog roams. This is mostly hardwoods with occasional pines. We had a great acorn crop this year, but from what I can tell, most of them are from oaks I've identified as water oaks. Only have a few white oaks, a good bit of reds, and a ton of water oaks. Sorry for the long post ahead..

I put up a camera about two months ago and I have deer. I have a few small bucks, spikes, and a bunch of does. I was feeding them corn up until the start of gun season. I don't bow hunt so I figured why not feed until I actually start hunting. Surprisingly, the deer still come to the old feed site, but I'm only guessing for how long they will continue without anything there.

My bucks have not been on camera since opening day. No surprise really, but I do wonder where they went.

I'm not the best in hunting. I hunted in my teens and learned a lot about it, but I've forgotten more than I'd like.

I have sign everywhere, but I'm not sure exactly how to read it. There are a few small scrapes I found, and they are within 10' of one another. They are about 20" in diameter. Here's one of the two



I also have rubs. These are on two trees in the same vicinity of the scrapes. These trees are about 8' apart. I looked for more in a line but these were the only two I saw.





They don't look particularly fresh though. I assume they might have been used some months back possibly for velvet removal..?

All this sign is in an area of the corner of the woods about 20' from the edge of the yard. It's crazy to me how close it is to the house - about 60 yards away. fresh droppings everywhere..even some clumped together (buck?).

I have not done any more major scouting over the remainder of the 2 acres of woods, because I'm afraid human intrusion may ward the deer away. I bet I might find more though If I were to look.

Both sides and the back of my land are surrounded by undeveloped woods, and I assume that this is where a lot of habitat is. Some of it may be on my land, but I don't know how to identify trails and bedding areas. Again, I assume they were only really coming onto my land because of the feeding I did. I could be wrong though.

I got started with this way too late this year to think about any kind of green fields or food plots. This summer I will definitely do this because I know this will draw them in. I am fenced all the way around with barbed wire about 4' high, but I know that is nothing for a deer to jump.

I've been in a climbing stand a few times and hunting on the ground too. I have not seen anything yet. Not a single deer.

I do hunt the wind and am prepared with scent free clothes and all the major precautions and preparations. I think the reason I'm not seeing anything is because I'm not set up on travel corridors or anywhere that they may be using on my land. Like I said, what reason do they have to come if there is no benefit like a food plot or bedding areas.

I'd be thankful for any help. I'm just trying to put some meat in the freezer.

The biggest problem you have is 2 acres is not big enough to hunt in my opinion.

I'd say enjoy the game cam pics and find some public land to hunt. 2 acres is not nearly enough. You could probably hunt for a week straight and not see anything, plus you'll stink the whole place up.

What is your 2 acres surrounded by?

Nothing but woods. Seriously..undeveloped woods.

This is Elmore Co. and those trees with runs are about 5" diameter.

I had an old buddy who hunt just over an acre and a half. It was on the edge of some big woods. He didn't see deer every time he went but about 5 years ago he killed a 160 something inch buck during bow season on that little patch of land.
That was when I was in school and lived in Tuscaloosa. After I moved back here I lost contact with him so I'm not sure if he has had anymore success.

Adding to that, if your little area has trails on it that's what I'd hunt, trails mean movement. Just gotta catch em during the day haha. The same problem people that hunt 3,000 acres have

Yeah most of my pictures are at night. I think one of the main issues I have is not being able to identify trails. These don't exactly jump out at me. I'm sure a seasoned hunter may know more what they are looking at.

For instance..standing in the middle of the area I used to feed at, I can't see anything that jumps out as a trail where they are coming in. I have not walked along the fence line of the property, but I don't see any place where they may be coming in.

I'll draw up a map in paint to illustrate.

Why not? As long as u have permission from the neighbors to recover a shot deer on their land then hang a stand and hunt. JMO

I agree with it being hard to hunt, because I have been there done that. BUT I wouldn't give up on it just yet. If it were me I would get a plotwatcher to see if you have any deer naturaly passing through during the daytime. Especially with no more acreage that you have to hunt. This will let you know whether or not hunting the area is worth while to you. I wouldn't use corn anymore and heres why. In my experience I have had deer frequent an area during the daytime and I thought by putting corn out I could get more and bigger deer to frequent my property. Huge mistake. I no longer seen deer in that area during the daytime with corn being present. It took them a while to break out of that routine after I stopped using corn, so good call on not having it out now. If you are itching to hunt and don't have anywhere else you would rather go; I would sit there during the rut. Even if you didn't have a lot of action on the plotwatcher. You never know what could come cruising by.

Doesn't look like rubs to me.

Me either

Two acres is plenty if it's in the right spot. CD.

Any reason why they don't? I was skeptical as well..

It looks like the bark is falling off. Think about it like this. If you took the back of your knife and rubbed it against the tree, would you expect it to look like that?

I hunt my uncle's 7 acers. And have trail came pics of mostly bucks and 4 does and 7-8 bucks that i have on camera every time. If yal remember the big 8 point that got killed by the car in the subdivision not long ago it's really close to that and he was running with bigger ones than him. Hope they show up during the rut.

2 acres is fine with the right surroundings. number 1 tip i can give you is to do your major scouting in feb. Then your scent is not an issue. Plus Right now the leaves have just fallen. Trails are hard to identify even for the most skilled and seasoned hunters. In Feb. all the rubs, scrapes, and trails are highly visible. Likely, the same one will be used next year!

I agree with CD, a super small acreage can be productive, if it's the right location at the right time. Obviously it would be easy to over hunt, keep that in mind. I wouldn't put all my eggs in that basket, find some other places too.

Doesn't look like a rub to me either.

Agreed. I don't think either one if those trees are rubbed

Ok good reasons. You guys are right..could be a case of I want them to look like rubs really bad..haha.

I'm working on a topo map. It's gonna take me a while. Not an easy task.

Yeah dude that second one ain't a rub

Maybe this will help a little. This first picture is a topography map. It is not the best, but hopefully it will help with responses.

This area represents the 2 acres I'm talking about. Around the outside, there is a fire break or clearing. It is about 10-12' wide all the way around my fence line. You can see it in the light green color. This mowed grass (bush hogged) actually has a strip that goes right down through the middle of the woods. There is a small island of woods right in the center of that - Marked with the number 2. It is probably 25' in diameter.

You can see that the highest areas are up near the yard (bottom of the map. As it goes further back towards the property line (top of map), it gets lower in elevation. Note the legend on the right for drop.

The three separate patches of woods are the strip to the left, the island, and the big strip to the right. The little strip to the left is not big enough for anything really, so I have concentrated my efforts to the larger right hand strip.

Down at the bottom, there is the arrow pointing towards what is the front yard. That's where the house is and where there are really no woods, so no reason to concentrate on anything back there.

The black lines running vertically with the lower areas around them are like dry creeks. They sometimes have water. From what I gather they are basically just natural ditches where drainage can and has run in the past. Some are quite deep. The one in the middle is close the 3' in some places where the really dark maroon is. It actually runs out of my property under the fence - as depicted.

The area inside the blue circle with the number 3 is the area where I found the scrapes and what I thought were rubs.

The blue square with the number 1 is my stand or sitting location. the dashed blue lines represent my field of view. I can only see about 50-60 yards because the woods are so dense. I cannot see the property line to the left or the back. I can see the right.
---------------------------



This is a picture showing how much of the land around me is woods. It is even bigger than depicted, but you get the idea. None of it is developed..it is all woods. You can see the area of my yard and my house is the blue square..not to scale.

Like I said..the deer probably have plenty of habitat in the surrounding woods. I doubt they were on my land for anything other than the feeding I was doing.

I'd put about 200 lbs of rice bran on one end and hunt the down wind side from 101 yds.

All you need is about 6 or 8 good deer dogs

Is rice bran legal? Lol

Can you cut a part of the fence down and make one spot where it's easier for the deer to cross. They usually will use the path of least resistance. If it's wide open hard woods you may want to think about hinge cutting some trees also to make more cover

Is this other surrounding land being hunted? If so I would proceed with extreme caution and make sure you have permission to retrieve a deer if needed. On a quiet morning you are probably going to be able to hear deer walking on the other properties, it's gonna take some sself control not to give in and smoke one off of your property.

I retract my previous statement. If you really feel like wasting your time hunting that spot I'd get me a shotgun with buckshot and find some ammo that groups well. But I still feel like the best use of your time would be to either gain rights to hunt that surrounding land as well or hit up public land with a bow to fill the freezer.

No but being 101 yards away from it is

my back yard is only 4 acres with water oaks and a small food plot ive been productive hunting it when I don't have time to go farther. the old saying you don't need hundreds of acres to hunt you just need to see a deer. little late but sweeten it up next year.

I would be sitting on that right back corner watching the firebreak.

^