needs some tips

[duece24]

i just inheirited about 400acs of land near grambling, la(wish it were closer or i would hog dog it to death..lol). this will be my first time setting up a place for deer hunting. what tips could you give me for making this a nice place for family hunts several times a year. it will be my buddy, his uncle and me. my buddy's uncle lives in monroe so he will be the one that will tend it while we are out of state so we are going to let him hunt it for free. i know feeders and stands need to go up. my question is for the amount of land i'm working with about how many feeders do i need? do need protein feeders and if i do get them what should their proximity be to the corn feeders? do you trade the corn out with oats? any and all help is appreciated.

we plan to hunt it during deer season a couple of times. then after deer season about once a month go up and varmint hunt for the weekend. during the summer go up several times a month to varmint hunt.

[coach]

LUCKY DOG if it were me 4 blinds and about 6 small food plots. Two of the food plots would never get hunted those would be there sanctuary per say. 4 feeders with 6 protein feeders and if i had the cash I would pump water around to 6 watering holes.This being in a perfect world and if I had the money. LOL

[duece24]

coach like you i teach school so i'm on a limited budget. i'm considering leaseing it to maybe 2-3 other people having max 5-6 guys on the lease. i would make the lease pretty cheap like 400-500 year round and that money would go straight into the lease. feeder, protein feeders, top notch stands. when those got purchased. that money would go to up keep. corn, oats, protein...water holes/pump like you said.

to start i found some nice reasonable priced feeders. thinking of getting 2-3 of those and 2-3 game cams. then three stands. if i lease it this year i will only put 2 guys on it in addition to the original three and charge 400. i would take that 800 and get feeders and stands..game cams last. how does that sound?

[Clay]

Good rule of thumb is atleast a 100 acres a person for leasing.

[Circle C]

Josh,

   Not knowing the terrain on that specific property makes it hard to give good advice.  I have hunted 2k in south Texas with 4 guns and 8 stands, and I have hunted 800 acres in the hill country with 16 stands and up to 12 hunters at a time...which may sound excessive, but the land layout and terrain makes a HUGE difference.

    Keeping a budget in mind, you might find that it makes better sense to lease your place in LA to some locals, then lease a place near where you live. I know that when I was in Pearsall, it was ~300 miles from my house, and it cost plenty to run up there for a weekend hunt.  Might be something to consider.

[duece24]

didn't really think about that...that's a pretty good idea circle

[coach]

Sounds pretty cool. Like what was said 100 acres was my rule of thumb. What we did was outside of the cost of the lease we pitched in 75 to 100 per month for the corn and protein to feed throughout the year.
this helped in to maintain the property shredding and what not. First couple of years we shot nothing but culls and does. Paid off in the end this property was 20min outside Laredo 600 acres by myself. It was shot up. 5 of us my brothers and father on the place only paid 1000 for the whole lease I know how lucky I was but I made many improvements to this place by the 6th year I shot a 150 class deer. The owner saw a picture that one of the guys took with the deer. I would let come on and shoot a couple of does and spikes. Needless to say he decided to raise the lease to 10000. Well I did what came naturally I got pissed and shot every buck I saw and left it in the same condition I found it in. Well actually it was still better than what I found it in. LOL

[dgdawsonBMCs]

Duece24 - I can help you out if you want.  I am originally from the Monroe area and have a friend who works in Ruston.  He an I hunt in LA on the Mississpi river, but he is always looking for a place closer to where he lives for after work.  In short, let me know if you dicide to lease it out or if you want good (lawful) members.  I imagine, being right there near ruston that it is a little hilly probably a good bit of pines....100 acres should be the norm per membership (lots of deer there, just not much soil to make the antlers grow)..

Just some advise, but on a limited budget you probably don't want to get into the land managment, better to find some good people and have them pay you to do it.  You will enjoy it much better that way, especially if you leave yourself an option to make a hunting trip once or twice a year

[coach]

In leaving yourself an option one place we had in Mexico there was a two week period that only the family was able to hunt. The people on the lease were not able to hunt during the x mas and new years break. Would be right up your alley if you don't coach powerlifting, or soccer.

[elliscountyhog]

I knew that do would pay off someday for me . Congrats on the land, the best thing to do is find someone with tractors and implements and time to let hunt free to put in 3-4 food plots and manage the land, but i would find one maybe two guys, remember when u lease most people think the land is theres to go as they please and want to hunt everyweekend and will get upset with other people going out there, just my experience

[jjmartin89]

my name is john i learn to mange deer lease. you have to find out if baiting is leage in your state first. then if it is just put gravdy feeders and spend feeders out. Food plots work great all the time. Make sure you deer have alot of water and food. and i sure deer well keep coming if you want talk i have a lot more invise so email me at jjmartin8914@yahoo.com

[jjmartin89]

You should lease it out for about 1000 or so year rould a dived the land 35 to 45 acers for every hunter you have. spend little money on the feeders and food plots but get the hunters to help out to. dont do all the work and get all the reward.

[pig snatcher]

Duece, Something else to think about.

If your propperty has any agricultural fields you could lease out the farming rights to a local farmer.  A lot of folks around here do that.  They get paid to have cropps planted that will benifit the wildlife.  Farmers are also pretty good about helping keep up the place and keeping poachers out.