Don't Pass Up The Small Tracts

Don’t pass up hunting the small parcels of land. 

When you are scoping out places to hunt or to get permission to hunt don’t overlook the small tracts of land that are in your area.  In my area of Virginia most of the farms and large tracts of land are leased by hunt clubs and the clubs are very possessive about their leased property.  I do have access to our Hunt Club’s property but it is not always advantageous to go  there for a quick evening sit when I have been in an office all day.

Most of the time I hunt our own 30 acres or two smaller 5 and 15 acre parcels that boarder our property.  All these places are surrounded by larger tracts of farmland and timberland.  One of the tracts is leased by another hunt club, and the other is owned by a family who does not hunt and does not allow hunters on their property if they can help it (in VA you are permitted by law to enter someone else’s property to retrieve your hunting dogs or down game).

 Most Court Houses in the country have a Recorders Office where all the property deeds and land books are kept.  These are public records and you can go into these offices and look these books over.  If you are looking for small parcels near your home that might offer a place to set up a deer stand you should locate your house and work out from there looking over the neighboring parcels.  Most of these land maps can be copied and for a small fee, the Recorder’s Offices will do this for you or allow you to do it yourself.

 If you log onto Google Earth and follow the instructions to locate your property and the surrounding parcels you will be able to bring up a satellite view of your property or any property you might want to hunt.  This will enable you to locate funnels or pinch points that might be worth trying to get access to for hunting.  These points can be on tracts as small as five acres.

Think about your area. Are there small parcels of land that you drive by every day that could hold deer?  Consider them to hunt on.  Now remember, you don’t know if you can hunt these tracts if you do not ask.  When hunting these smaller parcels it is usually more advantageous to hunt them with your bow and when asking permission to hunt let the landowner know that you do not intend to be on their property with a firearm.  That might just get you on the land and a trophy on the wall.

The first deer pictured below was taken by my husband on a 7 acre parcel of land with his bow (the coyote that belonged to the pelt was taken on our property) and the second deer was taken by me on our property with a muzzleloader. 

Remember, you do not need a thousand acres to be a successful hunter!!!  Good Luck to Everyone on their 2010 Deer Seasons.