Before I had gotten the serious bow hunting bug, I had drove past this woodlot countless times. Never did I think there were going to be deer in there right?! I mean, it was a 1 acre woodlot, surely bucks wouldn’t stay in there. That is what I kept telling myself time after time. Little did I know, a few years later I would be driving a tractor around this woodlot and my mind would get changed. It started a few years ago with a deer I had dubbed “Twin Towers”.
As harvest was going on, there he was bedded with a doe in the middle of the field. As soon as I kicked him up with the tractor, he ran straight to the woodlot that I had always over looked! My jaw dropped in amazement that he went in there and never came out. That night I got a trail camera and headed right back there. A week later I was back there checking it and was amazed, he was in there a lot, along with another good buck! So game plans were set, and I was after this buck. While I never actually got to harvest him, that deer made me realize that little areas can produce. Most of the farms I hunt have at most 30 acres of woods. Most of them are just small funnels or small wood lots, but they sure can produce. Am I saying that every small woodlot will produce for you? Nope, not at all. If you over look them though, then they never can produce. Lately, some of my best go to spots are the smallest chunks that I have. It never seems to matter what time of the year it is, the bucks will use the small areas
I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that if its small, then they can cover it a lot better with their senses. If you make too much noise, they will hear you. You chance the wind and it swirls they will smell you. The odds are strictly in the favor of the deer. It for sure is a challenging hunt in a small woodlot, but can have huge rewards! So the next time you drive past a small woodlot, give it a second glance, and never under estimate its potential!
