Editor’s Note: “A 60-acre lease can provide all the land you and your friends need to bowhunt or gun hunt successfully – if the lease is the right 60 acres,” says Jim Crumley of Buchanan, Virginia, founder of Trebark camouflage. “If plenty of deer are passing through the property, and if you can shoot accurately for at least 20 yards in every direction, then all the land you need to take white-tailed deer consistently is about 40-square yards.”

Jim Crumley manages small plots of land near where he lives that produce plenty of bucks each season for him, his family and his friends. Although Crumley doesn’t have an enormous amount of land, he intensively manages his property to produce the most quality bucks possible.

Crumley learned this deer-management system years ago when he only had enough money to lease 60 acres of hunting land. Crumley worked closely with a state biologist, who determined that the abundance of food and the number of deer using his 60 acres meant that Crumley and his family could harvest from six to 10 bucks each year without negatively impacting the herd.

“If you’re not able to enlist the help of a wildlife biologist, you can use what I consider the Best-Guess Philosophy to predict approximately how many deer you can harvest off a small collection of land,” Crumley comments.

“Before deer season begins, scout your lease, and count the number of deer coming into your green fields late in the afternoon or at night. Assume that you’ll only spot about half of the deer on your property when you count the deer.”

“For instance, if you consistently see 15 deer on a green field, you can make an educated guess that roughly 30 deer live on your land. Or, use your trail cameras to census deer numbers.”

“I’ve discovered that hunters can bag about one-third of the deer on a well-kept lease each season without adversely affecting the resources. My family and I always plan to take no more than 10 animals a season off 60 acres. However, remember, this technique is not an exact or a scientific way to decide how many animals to harvest from your magic 60 acres.”

Crumley has proved the effectiveness of micro-managing deer – even on an extremely-small hunting lease. Let’s look at some micro-management techniques this week that will increase the number and the sizes of bucks you can take off a small property.

Deer Hunting Equipment You’ll Love: Spotting Scopes

Spotting scopes bring nature closer to you than ever. Perfect for target shooting, hunting, bird watching wildlife, spotting the moon, traveling, hiking, camping, archery, and astronomy, you’ll love the assortment of spotting scopes available on Amazon. The ones listed below are highly rated by hunters like you.

Advice from Pros You Know: More Resources for Deer Hunting

Since deer hunting and deer hunters are drastically changing each year, John interviewed some top deer hunters like Mark Drury, Dr. Larry Marchinton, Dr. Bob Sheppard, Pat Reeve, Gene Wensel, Cody Robbins, Ernie Calandrelli, Brian Murphy and Luke Brewster, who took the world’s largest whitetail, to learn their up-to-date techniques for successfully hunting deer and having more places to hunt.

Too, check out John’s book, “Bowhunting Deer: the Secrets of the PSE Pros,” available now in Kindle, print, and Audible versions.

To see all of John E. Phillips’ books on hunting and fishing, visit www.amazon.com/author/johnephillips.

Tomorrow: Keep Deer at Home