Land & Legacy - Habitat + Hunting

Latest Episodes:

How To Convert Habitat Work to Taxidermy Bills Nov 02, 2021

Show notes

This week we share with you a story from a client named Patrick Stewart. His family owns property in Kentucky that they have been hunting and managing for years. With mild success over the course of ownership they new they wanted more and should be experiencing it. So, they called us and we got to work developing a plan.

This podcast confirms the need for clear direction and plans for moving forward. Dabbling in habitat management only gets your back sore. Cranking up the dial of intensity gets results. That is what Patrick Stewart did during the of season. Now we get to hear how it paid off on his third sit of the archery season!

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The Dreaded One Lung Hit Oct 26, 2021

Show notes

Bowhunting can be difficult, it's all about minimizing the risk of failure. However, even after a fatal shot is made, this does not mean you will recover the deer. Have you ever bumped a deer? What about lost blood along the trail? In this podcast, we discuss the ways we approach recovering an animal that ensures a calculated, slow, and, steady pace. This is the best way to avoid common but costly mistakes.

A good way to describe a safe approach to recovering a deer is to be cautiously pessimistic. When you are on the blood trail, you need to stay calm, move slow, and be on the hunt for any clue left behind. Many times, the trail is taken up too quickly. This alerts the deer and causes the trail of clues to diminish when if simply left alone, the deer would have expired in their first bed. Don't rush into the track job. Rewind the shot in your mind, ask youself the following questions and answer honestly, Was the deer broadside? Was the deer on edge? Was the shot wise? What was the reaction? Was it a pass-through? Was the angle too extreme? Where did the arrow exit? Did you hear the deer fall? The answers here will guide you to know when and how to take up the blood trail.

If you've ever lost a deer, this podcast requires your ear. Learn about our guidelines for tracking deer. This podcast is packed with lots of great tidbits on finding your wounded deer, give it a listen and share!

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Do I Buy In a Proven QDM Neighborhood or Start My Own? Oct 26, 2021

Show notes

This is a loaded question! We do our best to unpack it this week during the podcast of where to buy hunting property. As with any big decision in life, there are certain pros and cons that should be weighed out. This decision to look for recreational property in a proven big buck-killing neighborhood or to buy in an unknown area is a highly debated one.

During this podcast, we discuss several different scenarios that a land buyer would find themselves in. But we also discuss how important it is to understand the neighborhood or surrounding area before you buy a property for hunting. A proven neighborhood means deer got big there once, but does it mean that the success is sustainable? Another question we address is, how many nonresident landowners make up the neighborhood, is there enough to do total herd management? In the case of starting your own co-op or neighborhood, it is important to start larger than smaller. The road may be longer, but it could have a few more speed bumps along the way as relationships and expectations develop within an area.

To find out what scenario is best, download and give this podcast a share!

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What Else Can You Learn from the B&C Distribution Map Oct 19, 2021

Show notes

Big deer only grow where crops are grown! Wrong! That's been the commonly accepted answer after a quick evaluation of the Boone and Crocket entries map. That is a very surface-level takeaway from that map.

When you study that map and begin to think, I don't live in crop country, you may say to yourself, can I really expect to shoot big deer? The answer is yes, and the route to achieve that is not to bring the crops to your less productive soils. The answer is to not conform to the overall landscape management practices that your area is conducting. If you live in pasture country, don't manage pastures in the commonly accepted way. If you live in timber country, manage your timber differently. The B&C map shows us that the areas with fewer entries is not the way to grow big deer, it suggests different management approaches must be taken in those areas.

Don't settle for less when you can change your management style to meet the needs of deer to reach optimization for your hunting property.

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Woody Browse with Dr. Will Gulsby Oct 19, 2021

Show notes

Sure we all know and accept that deer like acorns, tender leaves, and "food plots". But, that is an elementary understanding of what deer actually eat. When you dive deeper into the annual foraging needs, the metabolic process, and availability of resources, you take your understanding of deer and their requirements to a new level.

Everyone always wants to talk about the protein content of the latest and greatest feed they put down on the ground, but protein isn't all that deer seek. Other elements like calcium, phosphorus, boron, etc... all play a role in the deer's diet. They don't receive these various micronutrients by eating the same plant, food plot blend, or feed you put on the ground every day. When you begin to explore this deeper, you find that the foraging behavior and nutrient needs follow what is naturally produced on the landscape. So to meet these needs let's first understand on a deeper level, how nature works. This week we discuss the role of forbs, woody browse, browse, hard mast, soft mast, grasses, and fungi.

Do not miss this podcast! This is critical to understand if you want to grow healthier, bigger, or more deer. Give this podcast a listen and a share!

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Creating a Priority List for Habitat Techniques Part 2 Oct 12, 2021

Show notes

After a successful podcast last week, we need to complete the comparison podcast to build upon the importance of having your priorities in order for your property. Last week we discussed a timber-dominated 320-acre property. This week, we discuss a 35-acre property that is roughly 50% open and 50% timber. Various habitat techniques will be used, but not as important as the order in which techniques get accomplished.

One of the biggest resources we can give to a property is not financial, it's time. Therefore, how you spend your time really matters. This resource is often thought of as secondary, but it's not. Quality habitat work can be accomplished when you have time to implement it. So listen up on how to properly tackle an intensive approach to maximize wildlife habitat on 35 acres.

Be sure to give this a listen and a share! #ForLoveoftheLand

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Fall Habitat Ramblings and Reminders Oct 12, 2021

Show notes

Have you harvested a buck yet? Are you waiting for the rut to hunt or the cooler days in the forecast? If so, this podcast was designed for you to learn how you can get ahead of everyone else and the upcoming growing season. What you do now, has the ability to set you apart!

Cool-season grasses when they are out of place can be the enemy of quality habitat. However, we are entering a great time to tackle that grass head-on. A timely herbicide application will terminate the grass ahead of winter. This give you plenty of time to have the area burned off and prepared ahead of the growing season in 2022. In addition, we share some great insight from a recent consulting trip comparing bottomland acres to upland sites. Don't miss out on the information to turn your property into a wildife paradise.

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How Important is it to Harvest Antlerless Deer? Oct 05, 2021

Show notes

During this podcast, Matt and Adam discuss a successful archery hunt Adam had recently over a plot of Heritage Blend. Although this hunt was a great success and we share the details, it is a reminder to be successful in overall property management, you cannot drop the ball on herd management.

We see it time and time again, great farms that do some of the best habitat work fall victims to focusing ONLY on the top 1% of the deer herd. If this is what you've done as well, then you are missing out on optimizing your deer herd and property. You cannot manage a herd well by only focusing on one or two older age-class bucks, it's not management, it's neglect. Those are strong words, but truthful ones. Bucks will get bigger anywhere in the country when does numbers are balanced.

To learn more about the crazy details of this doe hunt and to better understand antlerless deer numbers, give this podcast a listen.

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Land & Legacy - Creating a Priority List for Habitat Techniques - Part 1 Oct 05, 2021

Show notes

During this week's podcast we break down a property and the habitat techniques from top to bottom. There is 11 total, but the number isn't important, it is the order that is key. So during Part 1 of this podcast series, we will walk you through the property characteristics and then the order of importance based on the landowner's goals.

We often see landowners who have the right idea, but their emphasis, plan, and priorities are all wrong. Intentions are great, but without execution they mean nothing. So, during the podcast, we showcase how we would use specific habitat techniques on a property and line them up one through eleven in order of importance. This gives you an idea of how you could become more impactful on your own property.

We all want to make an impact and leave a legacy with your property. But it's important to evaluate if you are choosing to do the right techniques that will make the largest positive impact possible. Time to get our priorities in line and do things with a purpose.

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An Early Season Mature Buck Hits the Ground Sep 28, 2021

Show notes

The stars aligned and we got aggressive, it paid off when a mature buck strolled through during daylight hours. Chainsaw Chad put an arrow where it needed to be and the buck dropped within sight!

The story for this podcast starts back in the spring with a late frost. With zero white oak acorns for miles around this farm, we knew the alfalfa was going to light up with deer during the early season. When monitoring the field edges with cuddelink cameras, it was no surprise to find lots of deer using the fields, but some large bucks doing the same. Just a few days prior Adam was observing the field and saw one of the target bucks entering the field, it was game on from here.

We pushed in and hunted a small ridge we thought these bucks were staging up on before dumping into the large destination alfalfa field. Well, to hear more about how the successful early season hunt went down, you will have to tune into this podcast! We hope you enjoy this podcast!

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