Youth turkey season begins tomorrow at The Proving Grounds! Traditionally, I take Raleigh (12 years old) before daylight until noon or a tagged turkey and Rae (9 years old) after lunch until dark or a tagged turkey. My mission is purely to share creation with my daughters. I always enjoy time in the woods with both my daughters.
The girls harvesting a tom is my secondary mission. However, I want them and their equipment to be prepared should the opportunity to collect some turkey breast occur. They shoot a 20 gauge pump shotgun that will be loaded with Winchester Game and Field loads with 7.5 shot. I limit the range they shoot to about 20 yards. This combination of yardage and shell selection has proven extremely effective. It has resulted in turkey breast being added to the Woods’ freezer before.
However, we also have experienced a miss. That’s easy to do when using a full choke. It’s also easy to do as hunters (new and experienced) often raise their head from the gun’s stock to gain a better look at the gobbler! I greatly reduced the chances of that happening this year by placing a Nikon TurkeyPro scope on my daughters’ shotgun. The scope helps the girls (and me – I added one to my gun also!) make sure their aim is true. Even without the shooter raising their head, it’s easy to assume the bead is on target when it actually is not. The design of the reticle in the Nikon turkey scope eliminates those assumptions and also allows hunters to accurately estimate yardage to the target.
I actually enjoyed patterning the girls’ and my shotgun today as I knew exactly where I was aiming because of the turkey scope. I doubt the gobblers at The Proving Grounds will be as excited as I am about this addition to our shotguns. We’ll find out tomorrow.
I was in Kansas turkey hunting last week and visited with a friend there that asked about maximizing the potential of his deer herd. He is a very talented deer manager and an incredible hunter. His stalking skills are by far the best I’ve ever witnessed. He makes me sound like an elephant going through the woods. He lives in an area where combines roam the country side every fall. After getting to know his property, I felt there was one component missing from his deer management practices: standing grain during the winter.
Forage Soybeans by Eagle Seed Provide Winter Protein Naturally
Standing grain provides a great source of digestible carbohydrates to deer and other wildlife. Carbohydrates equate to energy and energy is often the most limited factor in a deer’s diet. Most folks only consider protein when producing crops/habitat management for deer. This is a mistake if the goal is to allow deer to express most of their genetic potential.
Most whitetail hunters realize that most record book bucks are harvested in the agricultural regions of the Midwest. However, they may not realize one of the primary reasons why this trend occurs is because of the quality soils and the excess of grain produced and left available through the winter as combines are not 100% efficient.
The Proving Grounds is located in the very southern portion of Missouri – about 20 miles from the Arkansas border. The world class deer harvested in northern Missouri are direct ancestors from the “dog-sized deer” in southern Missouri, as Missouri primarily restocked deer into the northern (grain producing) counties from the Ozark Mountains of southern Missouri. Many folks wrongly assume there is a genetic difference between the deer north of the Missouri River and the smaller deer in the Ozark Mountains of southern Missouri. The difference is that I’ve never seen a combine in the two counties that split The Proving Grounds.
By producing good quality forage crops during the summer (protein) and grain crops (corn and soybeans) left standing during winter, I’m able to produce northern Missouri quality deer in counties where there has never been a Pope and Young or Boone and Crocket buck recorded (Stone and Taney Counties, Missouri).
The take home message is that folks almost anywhere can allow deer in their neighborhood to express more of their antler growth potential. One of the keys is to provide a good source of energy (grain) through the winter months. Standing soybeans and corn are the least expensive and healthiest method to provide grain to the local wildlife population if you don’t live where combines are a common sight. Even if you live where combines roam, you may be an island where there is no grain, and the local herd may not express much more potential than their distant relatives that don’t ever see a combine.
I worked a few properties in South Carolina earlier this week. They were located in the Piedmont of South Carolina where the pine tree is the predominate crop and land cover! These properties were primarily pine forest, with a few acres of food plots. The landowner and his regular guests reported observing deer in the plots on a regular basis. They really enjoyed seeing deer, and really enjoyed consuming the meat and sharing the hunting opportunities with their children and friends.
Working this property reminded me that hungry deer are easy to hunt. This is not a new principle. A very successful hunting strategy is to determine a limiting resource (food, cover, or water) and when deer are using that limiting resource. In this case, food was clearly the limiting resource. There were miles and miles of closed canopy pines (both private and industrial owned) and a few interspersed fescue pastures. There were no row crops or other cultivated crops within the likely range of a deer. Hence the primary source of quality and palatable food were the plots on my client’s property. Hence my client knows exactly where to hunt. From experience, he had learned how to approach each plot based on the predicted wind direction to limit disturbance to the local deer herd. As a result he reported seeing multiple deer almost every time he went hunting.
Because he had identified the limited resource and how to hunt it without disturbing deer, he and his guests have been extremely successful at observing and harvesting deer. I warned him that after he implements the habitat improvements I recommended, the quality of the deer should increase, but the quality of his hunting, measured by number of deer observed, may decrease.
I created a plan to thin the timber significantly so there would be sunshine reaching the forest floor. This action paired with a treatment of herbicide and prescribed fire to control hardwood saplings should result in a huge increase in the quality and quantity of native browse production. This means there will be quality food throughout the property, not just in the food plots. In addition, my plan included significantly increasing the acres of food plots and changing what he planted from solely winter annuals to forage soybeans during the summer and winter annuals during the fall (if the deer consumed the beans before they produced pods). It may take a season or two to get the deer density/forage production ratio balanced.
I’m extremely confident if he implements my habitat recommendations, the herd’s quality will increase. However, I’m not sure his observation rate will increase. We will use a trail camera survey to monitor the herd’s population trends. However, monitoring the satisfaction of the client will be through direct observation and conversation. I was confident in my proposal based on detailed and repeated conversations about his deer management and hunting goals and objectives. It is critical to listen to their objectives. Listening often allows me to give the best counsel.
The 2nd Annual Shed Hunt at The Proving Grounds occurred last weekend. We had identified 96 bucks using Reconyx cameras during the 2010-11 season. To date this spring we have found 60 antlers, including seven skulls. That’s almost a third of the antlers that could be on the property! I think that is a huge success considering:
Some of the bucks are still carrying their antlers based on recent trail camera images.
Some of the bucks were harvested on neighboring properties.
Some of the bucks most likely shed on neighboring properties.
Coyotes and other critters have probably moved or consumed some sheds.
The shed hunt attendees all understood these factors and joined us in celebrating the success of our hunt!! However, there were questions about the number of skulls (7) found. All of the carcasses we found were totally decomposed or consumed. There were only skeletal remains and most of the smaller bones like ribs had been consumed by predators. Therefore there was no evidence as to the cause of death.
There are gads of causes of mortality for deer. In most areas, the most common cause of death is hunting. Predation by coyotes is a close second (and maybe the primary cause of death) in some areas. Deer also are commonly killed by vehicles (not a common cause of death at The Proving Grounds as there is very little road frontage). Deer die as a result of injuries from fighting. Often wounds they receive from fighting become infected. Deer are wounded by hunters and are not recovered.
The bottom line is that non-hunting mortality is a huge factor in deer management. The rate varies from property to property. Good managers learn to account for the non-hunting mortality at their properties and adjust the hunter harvest accordingly. We found 60 total antlers this year at The Proving Grounds, 14 attached to skulls. That means there were 46 sheds (a minimum of 23 bucks, but not all the sheds we found were matches). Taking into account the single sheds we found, it appears we had a 20% non-hunting mortality rate. I expect that is a bit high. Remember, skulls are easier to find than sheds because they are larger and simply easier to observe.
Research from Mississippi State indicated that in the herd they were studying there was about 10% non-hunting mortality annually. That number is probably higher now given that coyote populations are much higher in many portions of the whitetails’ range. So, don’t be surprised if you find about 10% or more skulls. Shed hunting is just another fun tool managers can use to monitor a deer herd.
I really enjoyed the 2nd Annual Shed Hunt! There were fellow deer hunters from 14 states that attended. There were hunting buddies, husband and wives, and families. They came from Texas, Michigan, Indiana, and most states in between. They came from different hunting cultures, different occupations, and hunting experiences. However, they were all deer hunters!! We all laughed and learned together. It was a great event that left me with new friends and ideas.
As I reflect on the great conversations I had this weekend, I’m so saddened when hearing about hunters arguing with each other. White-tailed deer have been extremely abundant throughout most of their range for many years. However, this trend is changing. Several states are now reporting reduced harvest rates. There are several reasons including loss of habitat, loss of hunters, and increased predation. During this era of change in hunters and hunting, it is critical that we deer hunters/managers pull together. We need to identify projects we can unite around and fight for the continued success of white-tailed deer and deer hunters. Silly arguments like whether crossbows should be legal are useless if there are limited deer populations and no deer seasons.
Please remember as deer hunters we have a joint mission of producing healthy herds and providing safe and enjoyable hunting opportunities. Our mission is tough, and may become tougher. There is no room for arguing among our ranks. Our energy is much better spent helping each other.
I believe the best method to stop the arguing is through education. That’s one reason I so enjoy our Shed Hunt and Food Plot Field Day events. It’s a great time for hunters from different cultures to come together on neutral ground and see new techniques and share their knowledge. I really appreciate all the Shed Hunt 2011 attendees that joined my family and me. I hope we shared some useful information with them. I look forward to joining ranks and fighting for our deer herds and for each other. Deer hunters are a family. Good families work to make each member the best they can be.
Large antlers are simply a bi-product of healthy, mature bucks. The availability of nutrients in the dirt determines how healthy, drought resistant, productive, etc., plants can be. If the right quantity of nutrients isn’t in the dirt, they can’t feed the plants, and the plants therefore can’t transfer these nutrients to deer. Simply put, if deer don’t consume food produced from good dirt, they can’t produce antlers to their fullest potential.
Given this very simple, but important fact, I’m amazed that every serious deer manager doesn’t collect soil samples and have the soil in their food plots analyzed. The price of having a soil sample analyzed is about $15 per sample. That’s one of the least expensive and most important tools I use as a deer manager.
The results of a soil sample include the soil’s pH, and the amount of phosphorous, potassium, and several other trace minerals (depending on the analysis requested). This information is then used to determine how much lime and fertilizer is needed to produce a quality crop.
However, the information is even more valuable than a generic recommendation! The results will state how much of each element is necessary based on the crop and desired yield you wish to grow!! For example corn requires much more nitrogen than soybeans or clover. To get the best yield and therefore give the deer a better opportunity to express their full antler development potential, it’s critical to apply the appropriate quantity and quality of each element required for each crop. This is exactly where many food plot farmers miss the boat. They collect soil samples and send them to a lab to be analyzed. However, without telling the lab the exact crop or blend of crops to be grown in that plot, the lab is forced to either not provide any recommendations or provide a generic recommendation. This usually results in producing crops that don’t express their full quality or quantity potential, and therefore the deer that consume these crops can’t express their full potential.
I just received the soil test results from Waters Agricultural Laboratories for every food plot at The Proving Grounds, complete with a unique lime and fertilizer recommendation for each crop. Soil tests are a fabulous tool to tune up a deer herd. If it’s not in the dirt, it can’t get to the antler.
I’m in the Montgomery, Alabama airport waiting on a flight home. I’ve been working in a privately owned property in south Alabama that is leased to a hunting club. The current tenants have established 100+ acres of food plots, completed an intensive camera survey of the deer herd, and are keeping great harvest records. They are off to a great start!! However, there is much more to deer management than food plots and estimating the demographics of the herd. The property is approximately 2,000 acres. Therefore the food plots only compose approximately five percent of the property. The remaining 95% is just as important for the deer management and hunting programs!!
To address this point, I spent time with the landowner touring the property and addressing the most obvious habitat features that are very unproductive from a wildlife and timber production point of view. In the south, this usually means unmanaged or poorly managed timber stands.
Unfortunately, unproductive timber is common on privately owned forested properties. Forestry practices in the past often dictate the current forest health unless the past forest was totally removed as part of the regeneration program. Typically, the best trees are harvested on private land and the diseased and/or poorly formed trees are left. In any business, if the best stock is removed and the less desirable is left behind for several generations the overall quality decreases substantially. In forestry, this is called high–grading.
Deer herd management always means some degree (usually more than less) of habitat management. Healthy forests usually result in healthy deer. What makes a healthy forest for deer and other species of wildlife? There should be some sunshine reaching the forest floor. There shouldn’t be weedy species, such as sweetgum, filling all the space where more desirable species have been harvested.
Remember that the ax can be one of the best deer management tools – or one of the worst, depending on how and when it is used. It’s always best to use all the tools in the deer management tool box, not just the tractor and a bag of seed. For the deer herd to express its full potential, the entire habitat must be managed, not just a small percentage.
I’m driving across Kansas today through heavy falling snow. The temperature is thirty degrees and it will get colder tonight. These types of late winter storms cause wildlife, including deer, great stress. Kansas is able to produce mature bucks that express a lot of their antler growth potential year after year despite these harsh conditions. This is mostly because of the large amount of corn and soybeans grown here. Even though I haven’t seen any standing grain there are huge expanses of non-tilled corn and soybean fields that provide enough quality food to allow deer to survive through the winter with reduced stress. These same weather conditions in nonagricultural areas would likely result in hungry deer that don’t have access to a quality food source to alleviate the stress.
It requires a huge amount of acreage in harvested crops to provide enough grain to carry the deer herd because harvest techniques and modern combines are so efficient that little grain is spilled. The same quality of deer can be produced in nonagricultural areas with much smaller fields of grain if they are not harvested. One acre of grain left standing is probably equal to one hundred or more acres of harvested grain this time of year.
The limiting factor in most of western Kansas is cover. The limiting factor in much of the nonagricultural areas is food. By identifying the limiting factor and providing it in both areas deer managers allow the herd to express most of its potential. Late winter is a great time to take a drive across your property and identify the limiting factor.
There are wildfires in Florida today. Wildfire was part of the natural cycle before Columbus discovered North America. Early explorers reported riding horses for five or more days across where fire had recently burned. They also reported that they traveled 15 miles per day on average while traveling on horseback. That means a fire 75 miles across!! Obviously such fires couldn’t be tolerated today. However, the exclusion of fire from some areas for several years are responsible for the devastating fires that have occurred during the past decade.
There are several levels of intensity of prescribed fire and fire can be used to complete several different missions such as fuel reduction, habitat improvement, species maintenance, etc. Just like any tool, the more experienced the operator, the more efficient the tool.
There are several sources of education and instruction about using prescribed fire including federal, state, and county agencies along with private contractors. Just like any tool, the more complex the mission the more instruction is required.
I use prescribed fire annually at The Proving Grounds and recommend it as a tool for many of my clients. There are very few habitat types that don’t benefit from or require prescribed fire. Most prescribed fires today are on a much, much smaller scale than what the early explorers encountered. This doesn’t lessen the importance of prescribed fire, it simply requires a bit more planning.
Smokey the Bear was a great campaign at the time. It was basically a message to stop folks from setting wildfires and causing devastating damage. Unfortunately, the message has been frequently misunderstood to mean all fire is bad. Every year I answer questions such as “Doesn’t fire kill all trees?”
Many managers will be using fire this spring throughout the whitetails’ range to improve habitat. When you see smoke or the evidence of a recent fire, remember that Smokey was against wildfire, but he was not against prescribed fire. All tools can be used to do good or do bad. I’ll be using prescribed fire to improve habitat at The Proving Grounds again this spring. If you are unfamiliar with the benefits of prescribed fire, come check out The Proving Grounds and see for yourself.
Monitoring a deer herd’s health is a critical part of deer management. One of the most enjoyable methods to get an indication of a herd’s health is by going shed hunting! Bucks that hold their antlers through January in most of the whitetails’ range are usually healthy. However, bucks that shed before mid January are usually stressed, injured, or have a disease.
Earlier this week Tracy (my wife) and her shed hunting lab (Crystal) searched several food plots for sheds. The next day Brad drove by one of those plots and saw the right antler from Hidden Valley 8 in plain view. It is very doubtful Tracy and Crystal would have missed that large (62”) shed. That gave me an exact date of when Hidden Valley 8 shed his right side. That’s obviously a rare event to know exactly when a free-ranging buck sheds.
However, much data about when bucks shed can be easily collected by using trail cameras. The average date bucks of each age class shed can easily be calculated. Discovering that an individual buck shed early is not a reason for major concern. However, if a majority of the bucks have shed before January, the herd is experiencing significantly stress, probably due to malnutrition. If most of the bucks still have their antlers through most of January, the herd is probably in good health.
Images of an individual mature buck that shed early are often an indication he has been injured. Closer inspection of the trail camera images may allow determination of the location and extent of the injury.
It is fun to hunt an individual deer, but management of free-ranging herds is best when the entire population is considered. Evidence that a mature buck is injured is disheartening. Evidence that the entire herd is experiencing substantial stress is very concerning and should result in action.
Go shed hunting this week and investigate the health of the local deer herd!
The 2nd Annual Shed Hunt at The Proving Grounds occurred last weekend. We had identified 96 bucks using 
It requires a huge amount of acreage in harvested crops to provide enough grain to carry the deer herd because harvest techniques and modern combines are so efficient that little grain is spilled. The same quality of deer can be produced in nonagricultural areas with much smaller fields of grain if they are not harvested. One acre of grain left standing is probably equal to one hundred or more acres of harvested grain this time of year.
However, much data about when bucks shed can be easily collected by using trail cameras. The average date bucks of each age class shed can easily be calculated. Discovering that an individual buck shed early is not a reason for major concern. However, if a majority of the bucks have shed before January, the herd is experiencing significantly stress, probably due to malnutrition. If most of the bucks still have their antlers through most of January, the herd is probably in good health.