What's the biggest thing to avoid while preparing your hunting property?
We'll get it out of the way immediately: The number one mistake you can make if you're aiming for a useful and effective hunting property this fall? Being lazy. It takes work. Get out there.
But that's not fair, not not nearly worth reading if that's all there is, so we'll also serve up some legit advice that you're going to want to follow if you plan to hunt the kind of deer, turkey, and other game you had in mind when you settled on your property.
Put in the time, effort, and intelligence, and you're going to at least have variables to learn from. Because you dreamed of having some hunting land worthy of being called great. You knew it wasn't going to happen on its own, right?
Here's a couple of valuable off-season pointers to go along with the one main idea here: Get after it.
Moving Heaven and Earth
Prepping up some ground to serve as a food plot (or even just tear out some weeds and clear some trails) is paramount in your list of off-season things to do to a hunting property. It's especially wise to do these things now, well before the season kicks off, because it's going to cause some major disturbances to the landscape.
Leveling ground to plant food plots is a lot easier with something like a drag harrow, which can be hauled behind a UTV or ATV. Crush it with a chainlink-style harrow if you want to save a little money.
Remember: Pay attention to drainage, and plant seeds in high, sunny areas that cater to stand placement possibilities and prevalent wind direction.
Stand in the Right Place
Speaking of treestand or blind locations, now would also be the exact time to get your stands figured out and in place, if they aren't already.
Assuming you've done this and they're already in place, check out shooting lanes for new growth and trim trees or bushes that need it. Also hinge cut trees now, or when they reach a healthy post-winter stage, and establish those funnels and browse as integral parts of your stand locations.
Find Gear (and Savings) Now
Here's a word to the wise: Sportsman's Guide has every phase of deer hunting covered, meaning they're more than ready to get you prepared for the off season duties you now know you need to do.
In fact, their special Whitetail Universe section includes a full-on Planning and Prep phase with everything you need.
Now's the time to cash in on summer discounts and use the time you have to familiarize yourself with any new gear you need for the upcoming season.
Most importantly, know that a great hunting property takes a lot of action. That means action on your part, which hopefully leads to action in the deer woods.
NEXT: 4 UNDERRATED U.S. REGIONS FOR DEER HUNTING
