New Farm Purchase
Whitetail Deer
After several months of searching, I bought a 66 acre farm at the end of January. It is an all wooded property, surrounded by 600-700 acres of woods as well. Two creeks surround it as well. I have been working on it extensively since closing. I was able to reclaim a 1/2 acre food plot and improve some atv trails as well. Took a track-hoe doe this past weekend and removed the stumps. Durana clover was frost seeded in the plot, along with North Winds Switchgrass on the perimeter. I have also put up several tree stands and established two mineral licks with 80lbs of trophy rock 465 at each spot. The broken blue lines are access trails i have created or improved on the property. The dark blue lines are the two creeks paths. This is from OnX, so the red lines outline the property. It also hunts big. Walking the perimeter , it was 3.2 miles around. Lots of terrain changes throughout. The property was select cut 20 years ago, with many large beech and white oaks spared. 3 crabapple trees remain in the plot. I also planted a japanese persimmon tree. Bedding areas are marked in yellow. I did quite a bit of hinge cutting to enhance bedding near the plot. The other bedding areas are very thick. Regeneration has been great since the initial cutover. Fortunately, they didnt replant any damn pines. Popular and other small saplings are growing thick, with cedars mixed in. Two weeks ago , i dug a giant hole and installed a 110 gallon tank for water in the middle of the plot. There is a stand next to it as well. Two feeders will be utilized for supplemental feeding also. Any suggestions from anyone based on my screenshot? Going to be a long work in progress.
Looks nice, is this in North Carolina?
Close . It is in South Carolina , just south of central NC a few miles. Great deer and turkey population.
Cleared plot
Cleared plot
Piebald
Piebald
Got this little guy on first card pull.
Neat! I wonder if you have a piebald color phase on your property. That shooting house needs a littler TLC!
Any history with this property? Trail cam pics or sheds? What's the area like - and what's the buck potential there? Hogs?
I know almost nothing about hunting in SC.
Looks like you are going to have fun!
Nice and congratulations! I was going to say make sure you get some ponds/tanks on it asap and then you had a picture. That, in my opinion, is better than any foodplot. A combination of both is better yet!
Looks like a fun project, thank you for sharing.
Yes, congrats for sure and have fun!
"Neat! I wonder if you have a piebald color phase on your property. That shooting house needs a littler TLC! Any history with this property? Trail cam pics or sheds? What's the area like - and what's the buck potential there? Hogs?"
Fortunately no hogs on the place!! They are fun to hunt on other peoples property tho! LOL. The former owner had it for last 14 years. He didnt even hunt it after the first year or two of owning it. He built the shooting house and cleared the plot originally. Then let it grow up terribly and didnt maintain. Not sure why he left the walls open on it. I have a new ladder ready to go on it soon. NEed to put walls on it and get it closed in though. Only one buck has been legally killed on it in the last 3 years. A large state park is 1.1 miles away from it. Great buck potential and a solid deer population. Since ive cleared the openings, they are covered in tracks each time i return.
Nice! I think you are going to be surprised at the deer quality.
The best kept secret in big bucks is central NC to the East past reidsville. And to the south for a long ways. Sounds like that’s right in line with your place. And, I’m betting there are some good ones running around your property.
Here’s a buck from that part of the country. They don’t grow horns bigger then that anywhere.
Beautiful looking property and it sounds like you're doing all the right things (except inviting me to hunt). Just a heads up, you have the coordinates of the property on your first picture. May want to hide those.
Tried to delete the pic and repost without GPS. Having trouble.
Edit: Property is sitting North up. Prevailing winds are out of the west. 1/2 acre plot is the purple waypoint in the circle of broken blue trail.
WV - Have a HARD time believing that buck photographed was in NC.... WV, bow only zone, I get it but not NC, buck of that quality likely a NC state record... If there were more bucks like that in NC, we'd here MUCH more about them, secrets like that don't get kept...
Congrats on your purchase. Sounds like you’ve already hit the ground running at a sprint! One thing I’d look at is possibly putting in another food/kill plot or two, if you have any spots conducive to being able to establish them. Hard to tell how feasible that would be from your topo pics. Any potential spots possibly?
I do have two other areas i am looking for kill plots. One is the small ridge on SW portion near where the neighbors property comes up the ridge at the point. I dont think the neighbors are hunting near that particular spot. The other is near the creek on the west side. We cleared a 100yd lane with the track-hoe Sunday. Hopefully cereal rye will grow on both of those spots without having to lime. I have already put 1000lbs of pelletized lime on the 1/2 acre when i frost seeded the clover.
ZBone, that deer was in fact in NC. My brother has pics of 3 more that nearly big in surrounding areas. It’s the secret in big deer. Feed in every direction. And thick brush to hide.
The one thing you’ll learn if you look, is there are more truly big bucks then must will ever realize. It’s just most folks don’t flaunt them. FWIW, my brother shot that deer the year before that pic. Hit him high. He is a STUD
What a great project and it sounds like you are doing an awesome job! Keep posting! BC
Okay WV...
Congratulations on your new farm KHNC...
Congratulations and enjoy!!!
ZBone, believe what you want. Just know this. If that deer was in the bow only area, 15 minutes from my house and a place I hunt, I can assure you I’d never post that.
Lord willing my brother will get another chance at this deer next year and, make good on it this time. I’ll dig this post up and post a pic of him holding it. Just for you.
KHNC, good luck. Enjoy your property. Put out plenty of cameras on it. And, don’t expect much until the rut gets them on their feet next year. With that kind of acerage there are some big’ un’s there too.
Take care and God Bless men.
Congrats on getting your own piece of paradise! Happy hunting
WV - Didn't say didn't believe, said had a HARD time believing... Just looked it up the current NC state record typical which is 176 7/8" from Halifax County in 2006... Don't know, but from the look at your picture, that buck looks much bigger than the state record buck's photos posted... Good luck to your brother and if he gets him, please post pix...
Spent a lot of time in Raleigh and RTP in the 90's for technician training and all the photos I've seen of "their" bigger bucks were tight racked gnarly looking things, and not big open wide typicals like the buck WV pictured...
I'll let it go now, will be my last post, and to Kenny would like to apologize for hyjacking your thread, was not intended... Again, congrats on your new property...
Thanks to everyone who commented. Any improvement suggestions are still welcome.
"Firsty" This property is in South Carolina, not far from the border of NC below Charlotte.
Congrats on getting your own piece of paradise! Happy hunting
Congrats on the purchase! Sounds like youre already enjoying it
Congrats!!!!! That’s gonna be fun!!
Hey Kenny I bought 150 acres near Bamburg 2 years ago. I'd love to compare notes and I'll happily offer any contacts for work, etc.
You have better soil up there for plotting, mine is bad sandy, but we can certainly compare food plot notes too. I've had a thinning done on some pines, done some burns, opened up an area and had it stumped, worked toward treating the soil and getting it be the best it can be, etc. Just good ole triffling in the woods.
Shoot me a message if you would like to connect. Jon
Congrats on the new farm. I love doing habitat improvement on my little farm here in NC, it is good practice for when my son and I can buy a farm in good whitetail country in the Midwest in a few years.
WV, having lived here in NC since 2005 but hunted all over the country prior to than and ever since, I can say that the buck in your brother’s pic is extremely unusual for this state. Hope your brother gets another chance at it.
I had to edit. Sounded lippy.
I’m not sure what part of this is confusing people. That bucks is extremely rare for any state, providence, atmosphere, or galaxy that God may have made.
To be clear, I’m not claiming that deer as normal in NC. It wouldn’t be normal in Iowa. I’m saying the Deer hunting in a part of NC is the best kept secret in big buck hunting.
I don’t know why it’s so hard to believe. A deer living there can walk in any direction and eat beans, corn, milo, tobacco, wheat, Alfalfa, clover, etc.... take three bounds and be in the nastiest cover a bull dozer couldn’t get through.
Once again KHNC, good luck.
"To be clear, I’m not claiming that deer as normal in NC. It wouldn’t be normal in Iowa. I’m saying the Deer hunting in a part of NC is the best kept secret in big buck hunting."
WV, That particular area of NC , guilford county and the few surrounding counties produce whopper bucks every season! You are correct in that the word is not really out about it. I didnt comment much before, however , a friend of mine killed a buck that grossed in the low 180's near the airport in Greensboro. He has also killed two others in the 150's. Another guy i know regularly kills high 140 class bucks every season in the same area. They both have intensely managed land to hunt but the giants are there.
Not quite as much of a “best kept secret” anymore! ;-)
Nope. With Lease rates in the $20+/acre range, it hasn’t been a secret for quite a while in reality.
KHNC, you got that right.
Congratulations on your purchase and all that you have accomplished so far. It is impressive.
New Plot
New Plot
Got a few updated pics. Planted a pear tree in the plot. Its blooming , the wheat is growing and the 3 crabapple trees have new leaves! Finished clearing a 2nd plot in back of property as well. Had a track hoe for a couple days. Got a tremendous amount of work done! NO more stumps either.
