5 Micro Deer Parcel Design Tips 

Jeff, this is Heath Postma. You did my 8 acre parcel years ago and it’s in one of your micro parcel videos. I shot Tank out there. Anyways I now have 40 acres in Michigan and have used your tactics on that piece as well. This year I took my first 150” deer from it! Thank you for all you share.

Always so great to watch your videos I have 14acres and you never leave the little guy out! So many people/pros talk about 1500 acre farms they own or hunt etc and it just doesn't fit my play book. Thank you for keeping it real for us small land owners...it is greatly appreciated

Started clearing blow downs in my sanctuary and building my maze last week. Had a terrible season because I didn't know I had a problem until I walked the 20 acres. Thanks Jeff

Now that the deer season is over for me I just wanted to take a minute and thank you very much for all of your videos and advice it has clearly made me a much better hunter and teacher to my sons and for the first time we all three harvest 3 mature bucks and I owe alot of our success to luck we also have to give you some praise for all the videos wich help us achieve this perfect whitetail deer season..

Just as important as the wind on small parcels is knowing what your neighbors are up to on the days you select to hunt. They can be just a few yards from your honey hole on any day.

Love these micro parcel videos. I feel like a lot of people can relate nowadays since land continues to get subdivided making parcels smaller and smaller. I have 10 acres in East TN that’s surrounded by lots of woods and ag fields within 1/2 mile away. Excited to implement some of your advice for this coming season. Thanks for all you do Jeff!

I have a little under 10 acres, and about 30 acres of habitat abutts me. We are going to be working on our parcel over the winter. Normally we just let things be but I can see how I can improve my parcel. Mostly woods, oak dominant with some swamp edge. We are hinge cutting near the swamp edge to create bedding and cover. And a small 1/2 acre food plot in one spot on the opposite end.

Love design 👍 My favorite topic- thanks for everything you’re doing for us -!

Thanks for all you do Jeff, prepping for next season already, making changes.

Spent sometime improving bedding and trails yesterday. Thank you WHS team for another great video.

Thanks for your videos! I have a 40 in northern wi I have been trying to implement some of your ideas on.

Thanks Jeff always informative

Good video Jeff. Entering my second year on my 35 acres in Leelanau. I love considering your techniques in my plan.

Hey Jeff , I want to thank you for your videos and for sharing your knowledge .. My sister has 10 acres, and between her livestock and dwelling, that only leaves about 3 - 4 acres to hunt. I put in a water hole (witch was the difference), and hunted the weather like you recommended, and all I have to say is " I had my most successful seaon ever ".. Thank you , I had an awesome season !!!

It took a long time, and ultimately WHS, to help me come to terms with my micro parcel. Im no longer ashamed to admit that I have a micro parcel. Thank you WHS for looking out for us guys suffering from debilitating parcel size.

Thanks Jeff! Seen 2 really nice bucks within25 yards this year. Bad shot angles. Dad and son both got 2 1/2 year olds. Really appreciate giving us your ideas. Been watching for 1 year now. Luv it!!!!!

Well, land costs money! Around me it's $200k per acre. I'm grateful to have my 10 acres!! Love your videos because I need all the help I can get designing my "urban" parcel.

Man looks like you guys had fun at ATA show! It felt so good to finally get out and scout our property after 4 months of staying off

Thanks Jeff! Yesterday had my last hunt and saw 3 new bucks come right behind my stand! No shot though 😢, still super blessed to have seen them! Can't believe seasons over, wish I had more time to hunt them!

Both places I've owned is 8 acres and now 8.5 acres with our 2 combined lots. Our current place is way better for natural deer movement but I had way bigger deer at the old location. Lots of AG out there and not so much if any here. If I could get a 20 acre parcel id feel like I was in hog heaven.

Love the videos. Plan on reading your books and such to plan out my 40 acre property to hunt.

Wished I started seeing this last winter. Just hunted the family farm, that hasn’t been hunted in my 49 yrs on Earth. It’s a small plot w/ pears, figs trees planted and persimmons all around the border along the marsh. 1/2 acre fresh water pond in the middle of the property. AG land outside the marsh of our shared access road. Hoping to implement your techniques to get some of them to stay in our wooded section and hang around after the rut season.

I really like this video

We've used your concepts on our 13 wooded acres in Southern Michigan. We understand that it's hard to hold deer on it and that's ok. Our buck sighting increase during the Pre Rut as the bucks are cruising from parcel to parcel. Jeff taught us to use Rye Grain because of the browse pressure. We sprinkle in some Rapeseed to sweetin' it up come the cold weather. We've taken some nice bucks on this micro parcel.

That’s an interesting view on a small person parcel

I appreciate how you touch on so many different scenarios.. I only have 5.5 acres to improve so this video is perfect for my situation.. I've already completely turned it around in one season but this video will help improve it even more. Jeff is the Whitetail Ninja!

I walked up on some deer on my bear bait pile up north. Would of been great shot but wasn't archery season yet. So I doubled backed and hunted cfa land that day. The challenge up there is getting deer off cfa land on to my property. In the deer wintering complex. Also trying for better hunting habitat for bear and rough grouse.

Hey jeff , got Private in West Branch ,Mi in clear lake . Ive been hooked on your videos. Would love to ffind out prices and when you could fit me in if i pull thr trigger but i will say ive given it much thought to try it alone with help from your videos and perhaps your online sessons instead. My point!!! Thank you!! I love thr fact that you have been in this and surrounding states and you know exactly whsts up and how it is! Thats what impressed me thr most . I see alot of folks surrounded by a 10 ft fence and or private land on sevsral sq miles . You want to help the little guy like me on 400 acres to thr big guys who own 1,500 acres . Mist impressive is we both go deep into thr woods to try to be alone and not very many folks do that . Especially after thr first big hill,river, whatever is hard to cross. Thry just dont. But you understand how things just stop all sudden and thr oressure thr deer feel in a state like mi when thr orange army invades thr woods thr deer freak! This is why i go deep. Thank you for what you do. Keep putting out thr vids plz thank you

Jeff, Thank you for another great video. Curious if the new seed mixes will include a winter pea/bean/oat mix? Thank you, Chris

Went hunting for a doe on my last hunt of the season in Pennsylvania. Couple doe went behind my shooting lane but sure enough one of the biggest bucks I saw all season(I already shot a nice buck first week of archery) came 15 yards broadside had safety off ready to shoot and I’m like wow it’s actually a buck in the last hunt in late archery

Great info! We have a 1.71 acre property. Very very small but the total woods surrounding is about 15 acres and there are deer around. I'm going to plant some apples trees, add a waterhole, maybe plant some clover and see what happens.

I got 5 acres for Colombian blacktail. There's no real way to hold them on the property other than a pass-through. But with tips and tricks been able to harvest three bucks that were able to go in the state record and a handful of others that were quite decent

A buddy and i hunt on 6 acres. We found that cover mattered for us due to all the food around. We can get in without being seen and it holds does. And they bring the bucks to us.

Really enjoy the information in your videos Jeff! How do you recommend screening a wood edge along a road to keep people from seeing into the woods and how far into the woods from the road would you recommend putting in a small food plot on 20 acres? I’m thinking 50 yards if I can screen from the road enough and still leave enough room on the backside of the plot for DOC

Hi to Jim. I think i have what it takes to be a hermit. I'm willing to take over for Jim when he's had enough.

First year hunter here I have 5 acres. Good hunting property deer move 30ft from my garage back window. Got 2 deer last year.

Is there a good way to fence off a food plot until fall? I’ve got two dog pens (6’/12’/6’tall) that I’m thinking about taking out. My kids are saying that the plots aren’t growing but I’m sure they’re going to see a difference inside the pens.

On a small parcel or any parcel, how close to a road can you put buck bedding? I have a small hill that blocks sight to the road but they will still hear the vehicles. Probably 60-70 yards from road. Thanks for any help! Chris

Bought 26 acres last year got my first season under my belt . Watching a ton of these videos, very helpful and finally started to click after I went scouting yesterday. One question though if you have time...if there's no AG around me and I make 2 acres of nice food plots...will I then turn into the nighttime feeding grounds?

Made that mistake this year put turnips and radish in 3 different 1/4 plots beginning of August by November there was nothing but dirt and few weeds such a bummer

I hunt my moms 5 acres because all the acres around it that aren't hunted. So the deer are across the road on that 82 acres. I drive by some of the best public land hunting to get to my moms. I like the fact no gun hunters around. I can sit at my moms picnic table and take deer with my bow. Lots and lots of doe. See very few bucks. Planting cover around the garden did help keep deer out of garden. The cages around the apple trees make hunting a little tougher. Don't want to put an arrow in an apple tree.

Hello Jeff, I have watched a ton of you videos and make have picked up something I never heard before on this one. For those of us with micro parcels, should we abstain from brassicas and move to rye or clover extensively? Simply for browse resistance?

I have 14 acres in Québec your work is very interesting i will see how it can apply. The seadon only open 9 days mid novembre should the Property be set differently for that kind of hunting?

What would you say is the best summer food source to plant?

The tornado destroyed sanctuary sounds like my place, lol.

When do you recommend putting in food plots for north east Alabama for white tail deer. As well as what plants?

Hey Jeff, met you Wednesday at ATA in the sky walk. Again, really appreciate and enjoy all your team does! Question, can we leave the winter rye for a cover crop until late summer then kill and crimp it after planting fall crops such as radishes, then relayering rye later in the fall? Thanks, Joe from NW Arkansas.

That’s funny I remember when we use to put pegs I always was smart I didn’t want to get sap on my hands yea what a joke putting those in oak trees but I remember we did it just about every day with a lock on I only used the one with straps just shows how times changed Jeff they here that one ting say goodbye they know ain’t no metal leaves or branches 😂

What can be done with an old clear cut area of cedar swamp? Nothing left but grass and shrubs

I'm part of a hunting club where we are allowed to make changes to our areas. We get three spots. I wanted all three in the same area but maybe if members leave. Do you think I should treat my areas as small parcels? And design them this way?

Food plots- my property was part of a 19,000 acre fire, we lost a lot of habitat as well as animal deaths. It was awful. Is awful. Been rebuilding and deer numbers are very low now, if I do summer food to build my herd, and I’m not within 3.5 miles of any ag, can I put my summer food in a different location than my fall foods?

Jeff I have 20 acres,what is the best size for a food plot,I have a 1/4 acre now looking to make it a 1/2 acre. Ag on all 4 sides

Now that the hunting season is over, can I scout my whole property without worrying about kicking bucks/deer off beds?

First year in a 13.35 acre plot. Deer bed naturally on far north side. Problem is they bed by a state owned cinder stock pile. Ive herd from locals they know the deer bed there. One guy even told me before I owned the land he had gone and jumped the deer there. Im thinking of improving that bed area but I think people coming in just to chase them to properties past me might be a issue. Do I just hinge cut another 50 yards down in my land in hopes the deer will stay bedded if others try to jump them? Or do I destroy that bed area and turn it into food plot so there arent deer even there in daylight hours? Big woods to my west My 13 acres is in a 50 acre or so funnel that leads to more big woods to the east. To north and south is big ag fields. I hardly hunted it this year and learned real quick the wind has to be coming out of bed area and i can only hunt eves. Deer come from the east 9 out of 10 times in the morning and wind is usually from the west. I killed 2 doe there this season but never even saw a buck other then on night cams. Deer population is extremely low in that entire area. If you see a herd of 5 deer ever, its a large herd

Aside years of attention and experience, where did you where did you build your foundation of knowledge on habitat designing? School? Special programs?

When it comes to food plots. How close is too close to having it to your home? I want to put food close to my borders but not too close to where the deer are spooked when I step outside my house to go to work

Do deer really know where property lines are? Also you are assuming that the hunter can have access via all directions. Alot of us only have 1 way in and same 1 way out.

GREAT, GREAT Video Jeff. My biggest issue is that I can get to my stand and hunt over my pass through .50 acre plot but at dark I still have deer feeding. I have not found a good way to get out without blowing the (usually doe) out after dark. Any suggestions at all? I have tried throwing things and that doesn't work.

Land prices have gone through the roof. I unfortunately sold a nice farm in 2019 and now it is worth 3x what I sold it for. So to replace it I will have to buy 1/3 of the acres. Who saw this coming?

Was sitting in my stand yesterday thinking of the things to do improve my property.It seems like it all came down to the wind🤔

Ah,And the glasses?When ya hit 50 things look different 🤷🏻

Can you do something on how to design a peice of land that butts up to public hunting land?

My 18 acres borders 8,000 acres of public land which are mostly waterfowl fields with not nearly as much woods. Unfortunately it’s quota only hunts for whitetail. It’s going to take a huge undertaking to attract deer with food. I’ve only been lucky enough to catch them transiting through my land and not very consistently.

What would you change about your local hunting regulations?

Hey Jeff this is Adam Peek I got an email from you saying I won a 2023 hoyt bow is this legit

I have 70ac that's useless sadly

Seriously what’s up. Second

I hunted on a acre of land kill 2 bucks a doe

Mantap masih banyak rusa rusa di situ

Jeff What about if you only had 5 acres or another Small Property to Fence it in. ( High Fence) Let's quit playing kids Games and Kill the BIG BUCKS

Jeff you rants against beans and corn in areas where it isn’t grown is completely misguided. Especially when a electric fence is utilized. You must revisit this

I'm on a 10 acre horse farm down In Florida maybe a acre and half of woods, been here for two years I have two small clover plots and keep corn out all year we have a small pond for water we have a group of 3 does and two spikes that we get on camera every night they all went nocturnal when the neighbors from New York started "hunting" there 5 acres next to us