8 Acre Deer Habitat And Hunting Design 

Will you do more on micro parcels please?

This helps so much. Thank you. 8 acres with a pond. Can’t wait to get it all set up. Just a vet with a piece of property to enjoy!

Jeff thanks so much ,so glad I found your channel, you're helping so many of us small acreage owners., appreciate it more than you'll ever know

Jeff! These videos are incredible. PLEASE keep putting out more whiteboard videos. Being able to visualize the patterns, food plots, diversity, etc. is unbelievably helpful. Could you do a video on ideas for a property without a lot of timber diversity?

Nothing better than sitting on my deck with you Watching a flock of turkeys strutting and gobbling and chasing hens..Thanks Jeff..

Jeff my son and I have 106 acres heavy timber, swamp, dead beaver flows and some open areas. We hung cut two years ago created bedding areas and a small food plot last year. Remarkable difference last season. This year we’re going to cut in a looping trail through our property and plant this narrow long trail to buckwheat this spring and winter rye for fall. Thanks to you and these videos we’ve been able to turn things around on our property in just two seasons. Thanks Mike and Bob Tessier

This absolute gold! I have been stressed for a year trying to buy 80-100 acres, yet I cannot afford it. Please keep posting these type videos.

I am about to purchase 20 to 30 acres and I’m gonna implement everything I learn on your channel to my property and I can’t say enough how amazing your channel is.

so billy had the world's best possible 8 acre property for a deer highway. nice

It’s like you made this video just for me 👍👍, he have 15 acres but only about 8-10 are huntable, .. neighbors on 3 sides and public on one side, we have started hinging the trees on the borders and adding lines of switch, but we are going to convert the ATV trails to food plot trails because they are parallel to the borders. Edge edge edge. Thanks Jeff, don’t mind being the broken here when I say how selfless you are! So appreciated.

We have 15.6 acres. This is just what I needed to see. I want a dedicated acreage for deer along with the other farm activities we want to do.

I have 11.5 acres and it’s busy!! Deer, turkey, and dove. Our property is like a highway... I have a pack of resident doe that I never hunt. They bring the buck in during the season. We have a river that runs through the back. Two good hunting spots. One spot for me, one for my son. We bow hunt so we don’t scare the dee away. Works perfectly for us!

Love this video. I have an 8 acre parcel in Michigan very similar to this one except surrounded by State land on 3 sides. Gonna use this knowledge to set it up. Thx a bunch.

This is the best small hunting video I have seen. Great great information and tips

Exactly what I've been doing. All the natural trails from deer had trees fallen across them. All I did was cut trees off the paths and opened them back up and took down a 5 ft section of fence out and made it easy for deer to pass through. 2021 exactly below my treestand, I had a huge scrape! The landowners sent me a picture of a gorgeous 10 pointer which I never shot. But! I also don't want to give my small parcel high hunting pressure until rut time.

I grew up not far your area Jeff in Macomb County. My brother hunted a lot of those small lots and such too.. I started my hunting in Tn on even smaller land and learned a lot of hard lessons. Being a weekend warrior and young, I hunted every chance I got. Just getting out in the woods was good for me even if I was messing up some hunts. The last couple years I have been able to do more when the time was right and man has that ever paid off.. Even living on land for 17-18 years, I could not always make the best of it because of work. I will absolutely say, no matter the size of the land, hunt when its right and if you just have to get out from time to time, create and hunt an observation stand... Ive killed out of mine in the past even.

I come back to this video so many times. My parents property is 15 acres including their yard. I've been making slow changes to it over the past 3 or 4 years and my success has went through the roof. I didnt have a single sit this year where I didnt have a buck right under my tree. I ended up getting a decent 9 point in November. Thank you for these videos

Thanks so much for this video. Many folks only have access to 5-10 acres and this video is extremely helpful.

Urban warfare is what I call it. I have always been the guy where I'm from who gets laughed at when I ask people to hunt weird small parcels in neighborhoods and what not. After the 1st year, they just continue to keep getting better and better from simple clearing and small kill plots by funneling down the deer. Great video Jeff!

I finally found it!! I hunt on 4.5 acres. The deer just pass through to go to the bedding, Ag fields, or the water. With this video I might be able to get them to stop and stay around longer.

Jeff, great video! I have a 7 acre parcel surrounded by roads and houses and a small river in South East Wisconsin. I started with 4 acre's of dirt, and now have a 1/8 acre clover plot surrounded by switch grass I planted and native trees and shrubs coming from the seed bed where crops once we're. Plus planted trees, Deer love it, and enjoy seeing deer and harvesting nice bucks.

Really like the white board+map vids. Really ties together what I learned from your playlists. 👍

Love this video, trying to make a plan for my 5 acre property and these concepts really shed light on what I can do to set it up properly. If you ever have a free moment to break down another micro parcel I for one would be very great full. Your decades of experience are really helping me avoid mistakes and wasted time coming up with a plan. Thanks again Jeff!

Thanks this property is like mine and found it very useful. I watch them all the time.

I scouted a 28 acre piece in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. Saw plenty of deer sign as well as human sign. What I love this area is it’s so small I get to see the whole area which it’ll enable me to figure out an entrance and exit route once I have the wind and weather figure along with the outside surroundings of the property.

Enjoy watching you use the White Board. It's a lot easier to get a visual of your ideas Jeff.

Wow… those are pearls your giving us… Thankyou!

As usual, great video Jeff. Going to a 10 acre parcel in 2 weeks to work on. Video came at a good time! Thanks

Excellent. Thank you so much Jeff. Over the next year, I will be converting about 30 acres into great WHS habitat! God Bless and stay safe. Bob

Awsome video, I've started appling your tactics the last 2 years to my 10 acres which is 90 yrds wide with my house in the middle. Had success last year on a nice buck and continuing to extend those parallel lines of movement this year.

Your videos are awesome. This one in particular really gave me some ideas for a 7 acre property I just got permission to hunt. It's almost identical to the piece in the video. Minus the golf course. The owner will let my brother and I make improvements for hunting. Already have some pics of a couple nice bucks at corn piles. Thanks

Perfect video for my situation! My 22 acre NJ parcel almost has an identical layout but with NJ laws determining that you need to be 450' with a gun or 150' with a bow from a house - I have to walk deeper into the parcel to legally hunt. Loved the presentation. Cris

Thanks for al of your videos, they are very helpful to me.

Hey Jeff, Just finished watching your discussion on Micro parcels and am excited to get to work on our 10 acre piece near Leonard. It is more open with brush, apple trees some huge oaks along the road. I get the challenge is to get deer to linger on your property. Going to do the winter rye layering. Maybe we could get together when in Mi. John LaPine

Awesome video ty for sharing! My wife and I just bought 14 acres that is almost identical to this with 2 exceptions. To the north across the road is ag with a house and some big open timber the deer try and get out of at 1st light and enter our property at 2 major locations and 2 minor locations. Behind is more private land that we r able to hunt and only us which is 25 acres. Beyond that is 1300 acres of state land.. to the west is another private 20 acres I can hunt and do whatever I want to do with it.. These ideas will help slow the deer down in early morning and hopefully still be around come shooting light. We can't do anything to the 25 acres behind but the 14 will definitely get some improvements this spring. Thank you again! I usually only find videos on massive land tracts that I just don't have.

I used to rabbit hunt in the huge expanse of land that is now the Chrysler Tech center. Oakland county was way more open 40 years ago. Thanks for the great content.

I use to train beagle gun dogs and developed my property for rabbit habitat. Dogs came and went but the area that i dedicated for training, turned into wonderful deer habitat. I keep one ,8 foot wide trail in a loop pattern cut in that area. I planted pines down there about 8 years ago. nothing crazy but nice cover and break from county road. I do not go into that area if i can help it. no reason to go there. It's a haven for deer during the gun season. Deer pile into there for safe haven. It's super thick with natural trails that the deer established. That 8 foot loop gives them easy access to two hardwood stands. one was select cut and the other is natural mature, huge tree's that come down on their own thanks to mother nature. Both are surrounded by Ag. I have been seeing some real nice bucks come and go through my property. Been lucky enough to knock down one or two. I have been blessed by having a fella that lives across the county road that is a real ass. Shooting all the time. Nice property when the original owner had it . This guy is an ass. Sure do like having him run every deer over to me with his activities. Getting long winded now. Hope i painted the picture that I intended.

Good video. I've got 11 Acers this is what I've been doing. Im Improving every year. Because of these videos

Nice strategy and concepts.

Great video jeff. My wife and i just bought a ten acres in Vermont and it already has great deer activity on it.I cant to start working on it and use some of your tips and tactics on it and turn it into a hot spot for deer movement.

Thanks! This is something that is doable behind my house

Cool little set-up

Awesome stuff. Im in Va and we have dog hunting and a few thousand acres around me ran by the hunt club. Good mix of large ag and tree farms. Im trying to make my 10 acres a sanctuary for bow hunting. Challenge is an understatement. Thank u for any and every idea.

With good cover, less can be more. Interesting concept....You mentioned a DR trimmer for clearing the plot trails. I imagine a pull behind DR rototiller would work to till the dirt for planting.

Wow that is super exciting! Have a similar situation but my property is just clear ag land thinking I could still make it work?! Thank you for the great education!!

Billy has a lot of parcels. 😁

This is exactly what I have been talking about Jeff. I bet there is a market for people that have property just like this. Leased or just able to hunt on and would love to have you do a evaluation. I would think aerial photos and a few taped or live feed walk throughs of the property and you could do a mini version of what you do now, but from your house. What ya think?? Anyways, as always it’s a great video and directly applies to my spots that I have. Ty sir. 👍🏻🇺🇸👍🏻🇺🇸

Love the info! Just bought 10.8 acres in central North Carolina and have been stressing about how to bring more deer to the property. Cell cameras have been out for 2 weeks and there are some deer, bear and coyotes on the property but nothing during the day. It backs up to 400 aces of timber property and I don’t see any real food around. Looks like I’ll be making some food plots!

Learning so much from your channel. I recently bought a house on a 6.5 acre parcel in genesee county. Love hearing your references about Oakland county I’m sure I’ve hunted some of the similar lands you’ve been on. Would love to chat sometime and talk about the parcel I just bought. Keep up the videos, they’re great and extremely informative.

YEAHH BUDDY. You're a national treasure. Have you looked into polyculture food plots? (We em cover crops cause we're in ag but the deer can't tell a difference) they've saved me a ton of water and have improved my soil while servicing the herd. Just a thought, thanks for all your info

Another awesome video! Thanks brother!👊

Hi Jeff, Thank you so much for this video! I am going to put the path of least resistance to the test. as I wrote in your other video I have 20 acres of all switchgrass, by adding the path with etables this should keep the deer planted on my property while waiting for the dark to move around more.

Great video Jeff! Really relates to our spot we hunt in Illinois. Only 7.5 acres, so we really dont hold many deer but it's a great transition property. My wife and I have both taken our biggest deer from this small spot. Her first deer 130" 8pt and last year I took my largest 159⅝ 12pt. Keep up the great content. Thanks

You didn't forget! Thanks. Been waiting for this one.

Thanks for the video. These tactics will work great for where I hunt. Can't wait to see how it will work out for me.

A very similar diagram to the 10 i sometimes hunt,have paths brush hogged winding through AO leading past a stand hidden in an oak overlooking an apple tree.2 bucks and a doe taken there 2019 bow season. Property is lake front estates with ag.1/4 mi.south and 1/2 mi. S.E. Doe bedding adjacent to and in A.O.On an observation sit in sept.2019 saw 2 bucks that ignored landscapers mowing next property 450 feet west.did not phase them at all! I liked this very much Jeff,planning on lmprovements early spring,just picked up a bio-logic pull behind Disc!!

This is almost identical to my situation..... gonna try it next year.

Off topic..Shed season is best ever.Up too 40..My pup has found 9 that I would have never seen. Matched set of the biggest deer I have on camera.They were 600 yards apart.But we got um.4 matched sets so far.

Another great video. Thanks Jeff

Thanks for the information. This video will really help me for the property I’m on. 👍🏻

11 acres here. 2-3 acres open for house and mini farm. Mixed ag and with some developments. My biggest issue is getting in to hunt as normal winds blow towards the vacant lot next door where they bed. Fingers crossed that they start bedding on opposite side that was logged out.

Very very interesting information. Can really see the big picture of how this all would work together. Any thought of using a drone more often to show a before and after of properties? thanks....Bob

Another great video Jeff.....it has me thinking of adding a food plot trail through the area of Christmas tree I cut a bunch of browse pockets in late last fall that runs north-south along a highway. Thanks!

Thank you for this video! I just closed on my 10 acre acreage which means there is about 1.5 acres mowed area with some big walnut were the home sits, 1.5 acre lake front and rest is a mix of hardwoods and lay-down timber. I would love to hear more about how to shield or screen my home and every day activity from the area I would like to create as linear food plots.

Jeff I would just like to rant real quick. I showed the picture of the 8 acre buck to my brother in law and all he had to say was "yeah that buck just happened to be crossing through and the guy was just there at the right time" these responses are so frustrating! He believes you have to have 100 acres to yourself to have a successful hunt.... I just briefly tried to explain that he took the right steps to manage his property for a good hunt instead of throwing out some bait.... I have tried to share your channel with him before but to no avail. I'm 22 and he's 29 so what do I know y'know? Lol. He will repeatedly tell you that small properties are just pass thrus for big bucks but I guess that's just his experience... rant over.

You’re the man - thank you for this video

What if your 8 acres is mostly creek bottom type area that stays wet a lot?

This is the video I needed to see! Ive got 14 acres, with nieghboring horses to the left. Pressure/ trespassers to the right. 😠.. Plus moving water in a 5 acre clearing with great cover from shrubs and tall weeds. It tends to flood in the spring. I really want to cut visibility to the right so I can do the parallel plots without making it so noticeable to these nieghbors. Kinda stumped on how to pull this off.

Ive got almost the same situation with my property. Except my golf course is a lake. Id love to have you look at it but thats going to have to wait a little longer. 11 wooded acres with unpressured woods on north and south. Ag across west and i have a 3 acre field on the east. Neighbors on north and south of the field. Woods are thick near my field but open up closer to the Ag in the back.

I appreciate you doing these shows on small parcels I have a 16 acre parcel out in southern Missouri Northern Arkansas area and my house is on the 16 acres but in the very front. Its way out in the Matk Twain national forest area surrounded by Ag land and forest. It was logged a couple of years ago before I got the place and has tons of cover and im constantly finding bedding areas I can hardly go out back on the property without jumping a deer. I get 7 or 8 doe's in micro plot of winter wheat every night on cam but I dont see many bucks at all. I have tons of fawning the way the property looks you would think it would be prime time. Even has a pond out back too. Most of the land around me has been logged too so there is just cover everywhere. They left all the downed tree tops and just tons of new growth. Scat piles everywhere. Not sure how to get the bucks to come around.

I grew up hunting Oakland County and Holly State Rec myself.

Thanks for this information i only have 5 acres with lots of oaks and deer always pass through North to South and sometimes come in or leave to the east. Its winter rye on 2 fields to the north surrounded by pines and more oaks to the south I usually sit just off their couple of main North south trails. I have a shooting house on the ground. I have actually had them come as close as 8-10 feet from the shooting house while in it. Even got a big tall 7point in December 2020. I've thought about planting something to keep them from just running straight across.

Thanks for the effort you put into producing good content. I was just about to start improving my 24 acre property (it's about 200 yards by 840 yards) when I started following your info on RU-vid. Now my plan to improve my property won't just be random but will have rhyme and reason! I'm pumped for this fall!

What great information! Describes our new purchase so well, except we are surrounded by a little more Ag. Debate with the spouse: Would you recommend bringing in a forestry unit to clean up the down rot and briers left by loggers that came through years ago or work the land slowly, as not to loose too much right away. Many thanks!

have 10 acres in oklahoma with about 60 percent red cedar trees about 8 to 10 foot tall all bunched together on north side of property, 1 acre pond on south side of property, i have hinge cut several trees for browse, common cattle grass on the outside sides of my property for cows, Do i need to reduce my cedar trees for more grass and where do i place food plot, about 20 feet inside my property all the way around, thank you and God bless you are amazing guy

I'm working on an old 4 acre homestead now. I'm thinking food plot along the back and switchgrass across the front.

Great video, always interesting to hear what you recommend. Off topic - I have been considering planting switch grass on our property located in central MN, namely planting field edges (20-40 yd wide) for side cover to improve bedding within the 30-60 yd strips of trees prior to the red willow swamps. We regularly have coyotes and wolves on the property and I question if switch grass is a good choice. Have you or would you ever create a video discussing bedding areas in high predation areas.

Love your videos ❤️❤️😍

We've been successfully hunting 12 acres of woods in northern MN for several years now. Though we haven't tagged them, superb natural cover, a small food plot and a watering hole have helped keep some nice bucks on the property. Some of the principles from the video are sort of accidentally present already in the woods, to our fortune. Our biggest issue is access, though - there is one way in and one way out that can't be helped due to geography and road access. I know we're bumping deer whenever we enter, and while the does and younger deer don't seem too worried about it, those bucks that show up on camera but never in person know better, I think. Not sure how to fix that.

Jeff, could you please make a video about topography and how you relate your habitat improvements based on topography? I own a 20 acre block of timber with the east 1/3 being a 20% grade with a N/S ridge. The west 2/3 up on top of the hill is much flatter. How would you create travel corridors? Would you direct the deer straight up and down the hill East to west as it would be parallel to the northern property line? Thank you for all the great content you put out!

My 12 acres is designed very similar...harvested a dozen bucks in 15 seasons.

Another great vid keep it up jeff..

Great video Jeff. Do you ever see multiple side by side land owners using your layout designs? I would think that would greatly help the overall buck age structure in the neighborhood.

Hi Jeff love your videos and have all your books. I’ve got small wood lots in Sanilac county in Michigan that I’ve been doing habitat improvement on over the past 5 years. One of the problems is getting in and out of the area unseen.. need some advice as to what I can put around the theses lots to access them...they are about 1/2 mile from road (all rotating ag,ie beans and corn) to get to and it seems no matter what I’m doing I can’t get the brush to thicken up around the edges to offer concealment to and from. Second issue is the neighbor to the north. One of our small sections of woods really took off with doe bedding and buck bedding and in year 3-5 started to explode with real nice bucks. Where our 8 acres met the neighbors to the north some great trails were coming into property and he decided to drop a huge box blind right on that trail and right on the property line looking into our property and shut off movement there. Any ideas would be very much appreciated. Thanks

Jeff, I'm sure we've tracked some of the same Oakland Co hunting land. We are into year 2 of our hardwood plot (Livingston Co) on 10 acres. Ag' to the south rural homesteads to the; West, North & East. The hardwood; usual suspects; Oak (Red Oak), Sugar Maple, yellow. I literally opened up parcel viewer for the property we have begun to plot and hunt on. Our area is similar to "Bob's"... with out the Subdivision and Golf Course. We have a natural water source...that said; I'm going to put in a watering hole. The movement / Flow pattern can be achieved where we are located and we don't have to fell any trees. now we have to decide what to plant....Do you have Deer Habitat & Hunting for our condition: Wooded (primary: Hardwood) bordering Ag'. and marsh land.??

this is just the video I have been searching for,my area is adjacent to ag on 2 sides ,a neighbor who just bought and is trying to build a buck haven in his acreage which has been working pretty good for me and a ton of pressure on the north etc etc...I've been trying to figure out how to do my food plots and making a trail of them will work perfect I think ,, although I do have a question,,Black Walnuts,,to do they deter deer away from an area or do they just ignore them?

Jeff love the videos and the help they have provided for a 20 acre land owner. I want to plant switch grass this year but have a few questions. I’m in east central Wisconsin. What type of switch grass and when to plant are my 2 main questions.?

Good information!

Amazing video! Question what is your thoughts about adding fruit trees and nut trees like say to this example where would you place them? I was thinking of having apple, pear, persimmon, pecan, Walnut, Hickory

Thank you so much for all the videos you post. I have a question. I have 23 acres in southern Indiana my property is very narrow probably less than 100 yards wide and long that is pretty much all up and down hills. I have been trying to figure out how to be able to access the back of my property. The only way I have to access it is from my house at the front.

Oakland county huh? I bet you came right in over to ruby off of Abbotsford road in "the hills"? Or port Huron area state game.

Nice talk.

Hey WHS Awesome work. Do you have an informational video that would help with options for working with less than ideal soil? I’m talking old gravel pits, Michigan’s lakeshore areas. Sandy, Sandy, Sandy!

This was a very helpful video . I dont have enough properties to try all the different stuff you show everyone but I know a few people i can show this to to help them thank you for this video what is the maximum amount of acers you would do this on or does it matter

I see your water holes on lots of your videos. I see both metal and rubber stock tanks. Do you have a preference?

Great stuff! Would you be willing to do a similar video on a Big Woods setting? Or have you already?!

I've been watching a lot of your videos. I like the concepts. Do you think these could apply to different deer species? Particularly Axis deer here in HI.

Jeff - Great teach on this one! I like the food plot trail idea and have what I think is a good run for this across and around the 120 acre property to help pattern their movement. Does that make sense? Or is better for a smaller property? Thanks!

New hunter here, what are those sticks hanging down from the trees that the bucks are smelling or rubbing? Is it just a branch with estrus on it or what?

Do you think cat tails are as good screening as switch grass? Just they grow in a different soil conditions. Willow grows in the wet where red ossier dogwood does well. What would you do with existing willow?