Sharing deer populations across small properties is a common thing among all private land hunters. In particular, it’s a reality for those chasing whitetails on small and medium-sized tracts. These special sections of free-range deer hunting mean a lot of competition for transient deer groups that regularly cross fence lines to do deer things; eating, bedding, marking their territory, and even mating, just to name a few. Whatever the behavior, they do so with a purpose.
Some parcels are better than others, sporting better browse, bedding thickets, and water sources. Short of planting mini-food plots and other habitat improvements, it’s difficult to sway these purpose-driven creatures to your property, much less toward your stand. Even in areas where baiting is legal, feeders don’t always guarantee any staying power for deer groups–at least not on their own. This is chiefly true for mature bucks – you know, the ones that roam common home ranges, not to mention their smaller core areas.
Enjoying deer hunting success has much to do with effective scouting and keeping your property relevant for area deer. There’s a catch though. It takes work and thought. Let’s face it, those occasions when we are confronted with an unexpected shooter buck are rare.
I enjoy old deer stories where Farmer Fred or Hunting Club Hal just haphazardly grabbed their gun and hit the back forty, only to encounter a monster buck they knew nothing about.
I love that it can happen, but it’s akin to luck.
For more regular success, you’ve got to see deer in order to pattern and ultimately hunt them. Whitetails are creatures of habit. This very fact means you can increase your odds if you can consistently draw them year-round. When you do, you have a much better chance of inventorying, documenting, and hopefully sending an arrow through their vitals at the moment of truth.
There’s no better time than during the offseason.
One good strategy I use to stack the deck is to add multiple features attractive to deer all in the same location; or at least within eyeshot of each other.
I know what you’re thinking; whitetails use different travel patterns throughout the year. There’s the late winter and early spring when they seem to disappear into thin air. There are the spring and summer patterns when bucks grow their antlers and travel in bachelor groups. It’s not long before the pre-rut and rut periods hit and everything gets exciting and erratic. And to think, this doesn’t even cover the October lull, post-rut, and late-season periods.
You’re probably also thinking my neighbor has a good food plot that I’m just not willing or able to compete with.
A long time ago, I graduated college with an Economics degree, so I appreciate the economies of scale concept.
In business and economic terms, economies of scale mean creating cost advantages by making production efficient. Work with me here…
Deer hubs embrace the “more is better” mindset and, for good measure, reduce cost, effort, and time spent strategizing around America’s #1 game animal. It can be like one-stop shopping for deer hunters that want to maximize their intel.
At a minimum, a good deer hub will help discover proof of life for bucks that trip our triggers.
While they don’t make finding big bucks a slam dunk, they entail less time traversing a property; that’s less of a ruckus-causing footprint too.
Still, if placed in a good spot, a good deer hub or two can supercharge your small or medium-sized hunting property by offering features that are attractive year-round. Here are a few features to consider.
Location Matters
First, don’t be hasty when choosing a site. Just because a location looks deery to you or is convenient doesn’t mean it’s righteous from a hunting and scouting standpoint. First off, if possible, choose areas you know have decent whitetail activity already. Refer to your experience on the tract or use plain old good logic. For example, establish your hub between bedding and food or where trails intersect. Also, seek sections with good entry and exit routes. Without them, your small footprint is really a massive dinosaur track – a danger sign for your antlered quarry.
When choosing a hub location, use logic. Look for sign such as bedding areas. Better yet, establish it between food and bedding.
Once you’ve considered the basics, look for smaller features such as nearby limbs acceptable for mock scrapes and logical places for nearby concealment to observe from.
At the end of the day, you want a setup that allows for year-round visits; not just during hunting season.
The Vittles
Food is a great anchor for any hub. If legal in your area, use deer feeders, attractants, and protein blocks. If not, consider a micro-food plot. After all, one route to a whitetail’s heart is through its stomach. If you’re covered up with neighbors using feeders, mix things up a bit by supplementing the corn with another form of feed. I like to mix in roasted soybeans. The idea is to sweeten the pot, setting your offerings apart from those of your neighbors.
Free-choice protein feeders (if legal in your area) are another great feature for a deer hub, especially from a nutrition standpoint.
Mineral Rights
While mineral blocks and granules won’t have a large-scale effect on a herd, they can still play an important role in deer health, nutrition, and antler development. The good news is, it’s also a good draw. For added attraction, combine it with your favorite attractant. Keep it available from February through the early October bow season. Late winter through early spring is ideal, as whitetails are trying to add weight and recover from the cold temperatures during this period.
Mineral blocks and granules not only a add more attraction to a hub, they help antler growth and overall deer nutrition.
Temper any thoughts of growing a booner. They’re still beneficial and a great part of a deer hub.
Water
This one can be a little laborious and, admittedly, I’ve never added a small water feature. However, I’ve seen a couple created by friends and they’ve had pretty good success. There are different ways to create these thirst-quenching features from burying a plastic or metal pool and hauling water to it when needed. However, if you do it, deer will appreciate being able to wet their whistle, especially during the blazing temps of summer.
Mocks
Mock scrapes are my favorite. It’s a lot of fun to create features that directly foster communication among whitetails. What hunter doesn’t like the idea of whitetail bucks making rubs and scrapes on their property? After all, to deer, they’re the ultimate form of communication. This communication, along with the social aspect of community scrapes makes them a great part of any deer hub. Like feeding areas and mineral stations, they’re always a popular destination for trail cameras. Information is born.
Located adjacent to a feeder and mineral station, this hub has multiple mock scrapes – ones that have turned into active ones.
Cameras
While I prefer live scouting, trail cameras are great companions for whitetail hubs. This one is obvious. Whether you’ve spent $30 or hundreds on a camera, there’s no better place for a trail cam than over a whitetail hub. A second camera will also help determine what direction a deer approached from. Golden intel.
Photography and Digiscoping
There’s nothing quite like viewing deer on the hoof, especially bucks. If you have a good camera and zoom setup, use it. Either way, consider digiscoping. In short, this cool form of photography marries your smartphone camera with your favorite optics for capturing and recording the deer you encounter. You never know, your next photo session may just reveal the buck of your dreams. When it does, you’ve got documentation.
Whether you show it to your hunting partner is up to you, but I digress.
Digiscoping and photography are great ways to study and learn from whitetail hubs. There’s nothing like witnessing deer and deer behavior in person.
In either case, deer hubs are a great place to monitor, as their multiple features make them attractive year-round.
Final Thoughts
So, you’re lucky enough to have some dirt to hunt. Embellish your part of the deer woods with features that will draw the transitory deer at different times of the year. Whether it’s deer hunting utopia or a mediocre-at-best destination, you’ll want to capture the movement of these prized creatures.
Don’t forget to tend to the basics, such as scent control. If you’re going to sit over or nearby it, properly conceal yourself by sitting in a blind or heavy cover. Whether you’re actually hunting, camo up and seek to keep from disturbing the area.
The deer you hunt move with a purpose. Offset this by acting with your own sense of purpose. By providing multiple incentives for deer visits, all in one location. Manmade hubs are efficient, taking advantage of deer needs, habits, and memory for multiple generations.
