The Drury Brothers are synonymous with “whitetail” in a lot of bowhunters minds, and for good reason. These two have more combined experience hunting whitetails than almost anybody. Along with that, Mark and Terry have been managing whitetail farms for decades. A while back, we randomly selected a handful of farms from around the country and asked them to give us their thoughts. This first farm is located in Southwestern Wisconsin.

1. Access

One of the trickiest parts of this farm we put in front of them is the overall size of the farm and the minimal amount of access points it allows. There is one road on the north side of the farm that allows access to the remainder, and that road also happens to be lined with a field from edge to edge. Mark and Terry’s first suggestion was to create a vegetative screen with either Switchgrass or Sudan Grass to provide cover while accessing from the north. Their next priority quickly turned to working on securing access rights from neighboring landowners on the southeast and southwest corners of the farm. If access could be secured for both of the southern corners of the farm, especially since the largest sections of tillable are also located there, this would exponentially increase the possibilities when hunting and accessing the piece.

In addition to securing new access from the neighbors, Mark and Terry also suggested investing in a robust trail system from the north access of the farm through the timber to make traveling throughout much easier. In the steep bluffs of western Wisconsin, creating a road system like that is no small task, but would be infinitely valuable.

2. Food

This property offers great tillable opportunities in the southern portions of the farm. Mark and Terry were quick to identify that these fields are all on the tops of large ridges that will get plenty of sunlight and depending on what’s planted, have the ability to draw deer from all directions. Another distinct advantage to hunting the tops of ridges in country like this is wind consistency. A lot of bowhunters will start seeing great sign in creek bottoms and in the bottom of ravines and want to hang a stand and hunt down there as much as possible. The Drury’s were sure to emphasize the importance of staying out of the bottoms to avoid swirling winds.

The southeast field would be a great hidden plot surrounded by dense cover on all sides, while many of the south and southwestern fields offer great opportunities for a variety of agriculture. The Drury’s have been extremely successful with hunting over food plots in the evenings. If access was dialed in and these fields were put to good use, the southern portion of this farm could be dynamite.

3. Timing

So much about being successful on a farm is learning how to time it correctly and hunt according to how deer use that particular piece. With the sheer quantity of timber, Mark and Terry quickly identified that morning sits in the timber very well could be the best opportunities this farm has to offer. With the lack of owned southern access, slipping into the wooded ridges in the northern portion of the farm in the mornings could be one of the better options. Use the cover of darkness to enter from the north and be on stand when the deer are traveling back out of all the ag ground in the south. Different farms seem to offer different opportunities depending on the layout and time of year. The factors on this piece definitely lend themselves to hunting within the timber and utilizing morning sits to access intelligently.