Most people can relate to my dilemma. Maybe for you it is the trigger-happy neighbors, the DNR, too small of a parcel, others in your hunting party, having to hunt public ground, scent control, lack of strategy, etc, etc, etc…

For me it is Buster, a six-year-old pit bull lab mix that loves to chase deer. Normally, the worst time is when she gets let out in the morning. She steps outside and listens for deer to move and then she runs full tilt to chase them off her property. These are deer that are traveling through my property at first light that bed across the road in a swamp. These deer previously traveled through the neighbor’s property. Usually, these are does; and they are more visible, because I put a food plot in my front yard. Obviously, I am trying to advertise to passersby that I can help attract whitetails to their land. My solution this spring will be to heavily screen the plot from the house. I have a narrow lot which is only 660 ft. wide, and I need to provide travel corridors to keep the deer on my property. I will use switchgrass to not only screen the plot, but also create a screened travel corridor that goes behind my barn. I will spray a 5-foot-wide path with glyphosate to allow silent travel for deer. I need to preserve the travel corridor; because it leads to my larger afternoon holding plots, and it keeps the deer on my side of the fence.

I don’t worry about walking Buster every day at lunch time over 10 of my 40 acres. I keep her out of bedding areas, and it is a fairly quick 15-minute walk. I believe this keeps does from overpopulating my food plot and switchgrass plantings. I do not expect the mature bucks to start showing up until September. I eliminate the walks with Buster from September through December.

I know I must manage Buster’s actions during the hunting season. I don’t let her out during the last two hours of light. In fact, I usually wait an hour after dark before I let her out. By this time, the deer have left my plots and moved over to the neighbor’s large ag fields for the evening social mixer. She does not leave the property and actually stays close to the house. If she roamed free and wide, I would have a much more difficult time harvesting mature deer. The truth is, I have to manage for her as much as for deer. I’m going to adjust my property plan to eliminate her morning escapades. In fact, I started going out first in the morning to slowly move the deer on before I let her out. This morning, February 19th, I had to move off a 3.5-year-old 9 point with a bum leg. I know he is a 9 point because I have his sheds from this year, found in my front yard food plot, and his limp is a dead giveaway.

It is a challenge to grow a deer herd with mature bucks on 40 acres in Michigan. I live on the property, and I find the more relaxed I am about normal everyday activities, the happier my hunt is. I have specifically laid out the property so that the bedding areas are furthest from the house and the deer move toward the house in the afternoon. The house and barn are essentially a big dead spot of deer activity. This allows me to access stands and get back home without getting busted by deer. The food plot near the house is also on the other side of the house from where I enter and leave the house for hunting. Property layout is essential to mediate the risks associated with improved hunting land. Is Buster my biggest obstacle to whitetail nirvana? Not if I manage her actions just like I’ve learned to manage mine!