TLDR: I recently acquired 600 acres in region 8-21 with a mix of sage brush hills, creek bottom, and hay fields. There are some deer around, but nothing stays on the property for long. Any tips for getting the deer to come back or frequent the area more often?
I've lived in the BC interior my whole life and have had my eye on a piece of property for a while now, only recently did I decide to bite the bullet and make it mine. Last year I saw a few decent bucks on trail cams, but they never stayed in the area for more than a couple days. The property has three creeks (two from the mountains, and one in the valley bottom), a big hayfield with grass and alfalfa, and some really good looking deciduous forest along the creek in the bottom.
While i was cutting this year I saw several does so i know the deer are there, they just don't like to stay. Last season I saw 4 or 5 big whitetail bucks in my neighbors hayfield (which, to be honest looked like trash compared to the lush irrigated vegetation mine offered) but still they chose that over coming to mine which was less than a kilometer away.
Any idea why the deer are acting the way they are, or what I should do to keep some of them coming back to my property?
As an aside: I realize bating deer is frowned upon by a lot of people and don't really want to take that route, also I'm not a snob with having an advantage over other hunters. If I had a stable population that kept returning id gladly open it up to some people on here so they could enjoy it too. Also, if you want some tips on insane grouse hunting, or bear locations hit me up and ill let you in on some secret honey holes.