In the fall of 2014, Mike Chamberlain killed one of the largest bucks tagged during the Minnesota season. The rack of the behemoth whitetail stood in stark contrast to the size of Chamberlain’s hunting property: The buck scored 198 B&C, yet Chamberlain arrowed the giant on a 5-acre chunk of timber that bordered his backyard.
Whitetail aficionados share a common fantasy—hunting a massive farm crammed with prime habitat, abundant food, and giant deer. Reality paints a different picture for many of us. Due to a number of factors (urban sprawl, rural development, a challenging farm economy, etc.), the large acreages that once dominated rural America are now parceled up. More and more of us are forced to hunt small, or not at all.
The good news is that it’s entirely possible to have excellent hunting on relatively tiny tracts. In fact, I’ve come to view a parceled-up plat book as a blessing, not a curse. With more landowners to visit, the chances of gaining hunting permission actually increase, and given my druthers, I’d rather hunt ten 40-acre parcels than a single 400-acre block. Each of those smaller parcels will contain differing habitat that shines in different situations. Plus, hunting multiple parcels allows me to distribute pressure and alarm fewer deer. Here’s a four-step plan for making the most of a micro estate.
1) Analyze the property. First you must decide exactly what it offers for deer and, consequently, when they’re most likely to…
