I have planted in the past corn fields as much as six acres and left the whole field standing except for just a small portion. Corn fields can draw deer in the early season but is more beneficial to deer in the late winter months. Deer take in the carbohydrates of the corn and add needed weight for the extreme cold months to come. Placing too much pressure on these fields will hurt you from seeing that big buck in the late season. The deer get to understand the hunters behavior and change their daily routs into night routs. This is how the old bucks that you may get on your trail camera get old. You may see them and think you have them mapped out and they change their moves on you in a heart beat.

If you are hunting small acreage the older bucks are more likely to stay if you put less pressure and watch your doe herd that you may have. I see no harm in harvesting a mature doe in the early season such as bow season. Allow them to walk when gun season comes in. Where the does are the bucks want be far behind when the rut kicks into full swing. I have learned this the hard way on my own and by watching others mess their hunting locations up as I have done in the past. My favorite stand is a shooting house that sits square dead in the middle of an old pasture field that once held cows. It is standing underneath and beside a large pine tree all alone. Forty yards out in front of the stand is six rows of seven-year old sawtooth oak, live oaks, and Chinese chestnut trees that are all bearing nuts this season.

The trees are planted every twenty feet apart so that they can be kept clean through the summer months and fertilized twice a year. Once in the spring and once again in the fall when the small food plots are planted around them. In between each row and all around these trees there is some sort of winter food source there for my deer. There are five rows all together that get planted. Each row has something different except the two outside rows. These rows are planted in Brassica plants Georgia collard. Each row between the trees is roughly about 75 yards long and 20 yards wide. Inside the Brassica plants you have crimson, arrow leaf, and yuchi clovers planted. The last row left is planted in chicory.

By planting the clover it also acts as a food source in the spring time for my turkeys. So I am killing two birds with one stone. When planting different types of plants for wildlife it gives them a choice to eat something over the other. On small properties the more you plant the better the odds move into your favor. Even though your neighbor next door may have 200 to 300 acres more. You still have a chance at drawing some good deer onto your property and the odds increase into your favor. Do not ever give up on your dream of harvesting a great deer. You and I as outdoors-men stand the chance of taking a trophy in our own back yard just as much as the next hunter. We as hunters manage our money as we do our land and deer herd. What I mean by this, is if we are tight wads with what kind of deer we shoot then we are just as tight with our money. And I understand that in today’s economy everything sucks and we as citizens of the United States have to deal with it.

Take time now to check all your gear such as bows, arrows, guns, and even scopes for your rifle. Now is also a good time to practice shooting weather it may be a gun or bow. Shooting at a target now will get you set for when that first game pokes it’s head out. Check all food sources now and scout to see what deer maybe eating. There will be a chance that some of this food source will still be available for opening day in the southern regions such as Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia.

Go into the woods now and start by trimming some shooting lanes for your bow setup. We all hate the times that when a deer steps into shooting range and then we don’t have the shot due to a tree limb blocking the shot. These shots for a trophy buck only come once in a lifetime for most average hunter’s. I have had great success in the past at harvesting a doe for some early season deer meat.

Most of the hunters in Alabama will be on the road to their hunting grounds around Labor Day weekend. They use this time to plant fall food plots, or at least start preparing the ground works of bush-hogging and plowing of the dirt. I think that a lot of hunters mess up here by planting to early. I good idea would be to wait until just a few weekends later maybe in September some time. This will allow your deer to finish off any summer time forge they may be able to find.

Once you have taken the time plan what you are going to plant, make sure that you can allow 10 to 15 days for a spraying process such as round-up on and around the food plots. This will allow you plenty of time to plant things such as chicory and clover and you will not have other late summer grasses competing for fertilizer or lime that you lay out. Keeping unwanted grasses out will allow you with a more beautiful food plot for your deer.

If you have planted corn and still have it standing then leave it this way. Standing beans and corn will allow deer and turkey cover in the fall and also will help you see more in the winter as they come in to search for these foods. Based on your corn field size try mowing strips into it 10 to 25 yards wide and plow and spread winter foods where you have mowed. Most people like to mow the entire field down and when they do this deer and turkey loose this food in the extreme cold days of winter.

I hope these few steps will help you on opening day like they have done for me and my friends in the past. Stay on the right road and you can’t go wrong for being on the wrong road to success. Planting to early can cost you mainly because the deer and turkey eat them up to fast. I have heard people say my food plots look like crap. What these food plots look like are as if someone has took a lawn mower to it. So start getting ready now for opening day.

It is a time as we grow with what Mother Nature has given us. We take things for granite and with a grain of sand can ruin whatever it is we have of had. Our land lies before us as our grandparents, fathers, and mothers have left behind for us. Young people today do not realize what they have and are sometimes not happy with what has been given to them. Land is getting hard to come by and only seems to be there for the rich. We no longer work hard to have what we could have but work hard for what we do have. The things we want most seem to be getting harder to come by.

Farm land is being turned into a pine forest and I can say I have never seen a deer or a turkey eat a pine comb. The value of timber go’s up and go’s down and timber companies take advantage of these things. I am not saying that a timber company is a bad thing. You don’t see hard wood timber like you use to see it. Even though there still is some farm land left in parts of Alabama and Mississippi. The black-belt area of Alabama is being turned into forest’s as it use to be nothing but farm land and hard wood bottoms.

West Alabama still hold some very great farm land but most of this land is owned by a single family or a company that no longer holds interest in farming for wildlife but farming for tree’s. There is nothing wrong with this if it’s done the rite way. Most of us dose not even know what the rite way is but we still believe we do in our own terms.

There are timber companies that work hard to produce great timber value and still produce great things in the forest for wildlife. Managing your timber and land the correct way will provide great rewards for wildlife today. Rayonier Timber company is a very good company that still helps hunter’s by allowing them to lease lands and manage wildlife in a firmly fashion. There are timber companies that work with companies like Biologic to produce and manage deer and turkey on their lands to make the hunting opportunity better for today’s hunter’s. Let’s take a look at a video on Timber management and see how you can market your timber.

Part: 1

Part: 2

Wild hogs have known to become a problem in Alabama. They are fun to hunt but be careful because if you think you have killed one just when you walk up on a downed hog they jump and attack if they are not down completely. A hog or feral hog as we see most often will grow to be very large animals. They have a shield as to say on their shoulders that act as a steal plate of Armour. This is to protect them.

A hog can be a good thing or a bad thing. They will destroy any crops that can be found but also will eat snakes as a meal. They use their snouts more ways than we think. A hog can smell very well and sense things you may not think. Alabama’s wild hog population has grown tremendously over the past few years.

The Upper Delta (WMA) and Lowndes (WMA) hold quit a few wild hogs on their lands. There are hogs taken every year that weigh in at 150 lbs and larger. Lowndes (WMA) holds most of it’s hogs on the south road hunting area. I have hunted here for hogs, deer, and turkey in this area many times before. I can’t say that I have hunted the Upper Delta before but have talked to many hunters who have taken many hogs off this tract of land.

Hogs also carry diseases that can make you sick. Take extra care when cleaning these animals. As a hunter, you can protect yourself and your family from diseases commonly found in wild hogs. Use safe field dressing techniques when handling a hog. Wear latex gloves and wash your hands as much as possible when done. Also make sure to follow food safety tips when preparing the meat. Wash and clean the meat thoroughly and soak the meat in salt water to take out the wild taste and draw out any unwanted blood. If you get sick with a flu-like illness, tell your doctor that you hunt wild hogs.

To contact your state wildlife agency for information about wild hogs, visit: State Fish and Wildlife Agencies and for more information about wild hog damage management, visit: USDA Wildlife Services or call toll free at 1-866-4-USDA-WS.

Stay Healthy on Your Hunt!
And Good Luck!

Have a plan ready when all of hunting seasons have come to an end. In the South people seem to be tired a lot more in February than they were back in September of the previous year. There was the planting that took place for the fall and winter. Making sure that you had a special food plot to hunt over. Cold months rolled around and we hunted for deer, fall turkey, and even got our tails wet trying to shoot ducks. Which of course th duck thing is nothing that I have ever done but wouldn’t mind giving it a try one of these days. So after my deer season ends in January I get very tired of dragging and cleaning deer. So at this point it’s resting first while sitting on the sofa tuning in one of my favorite box calls getting ready for spring time turkey.

In Alabama I look forward to the spring for a mature gobbler. Then I also look forward to all the spring time planting that will need to be done. I would like to say that I’m a farmer but just not cows and horses but for my turkey and deer. So now I will carry you through a few steps to get yourself into farming shape for you too can be a farmer for wildlife of your choice.

Step 1. Look for land if you don’t already have any for the next season. Not only do I turkey hunt and plant in the spring but always on the lookout for new land to hunt for the next deer season.

Step 2. Plowing for the spring and getting ready is a must in my book. This is the time i will take to turn over old soil and create new. My existing food plots will require fertilizer, and lime if needed. A prescribed burn will also help before the plowing process in order to kill and wipe away dead grasses so the plowing will become more easy. Plus a burning stage will bring forth turkeys to feed on any roasted dead bugs that may be in the area.

Step 3. Building new stands for the new season and placing them out well ahead of time will also help you in more ways than one. I also will build and place in new feeding stations for deer. This will keep the deer around longer in order for you to hopefully find sheds or see new born fawns in the earl summer months. Feeding grains to deer and turkey is against the law in some states but in Alabama you can feed as long as you don’t hunt over it. By me feeding things like corn or deer pellets this will allow me to find and see what bucks have survived the last season.

Step 4. By step 4 it’s spring time and most of the plowing and planting has already been done. This is the scouting process and watching it grow process. With those of you that don’t have tons of land I suggest that you get yourself a game camera and place it out over a feeding station. Also at this point if you have not already put out minerals this would be a great time to do it for the bucks have already lost their antlers. I can also get in some last minute turkey hunting at this time as well.

So the next time all of your seasons come to an end get back out there and start over. The farming for wildlife  trends never end. It is like a cattle ranch and just keep growing. Great rewards will come with time and effort if you the hunter or outdoorsman just keep at it. Good luck this upcoming year with your own wildlife farm no matter how big or small it may be.

When managing for trophy deer on small acres you can still think big. You just have to manage it differently. Planting the right food source and having food there for them year round. There are many ways to take care of the small land parcels that we hunt each year.

With so many timber companies now owning land and we as the hunter having to lease the land it can be hard. But it can be done if properly cared for. See the good thing about company land is the timber is already being taken care of and managed for you. A friend and I have just recently leased 78 acres in Butler County,Alabama to hunt on for the first time.

The good thing about this land is it’s small and it’s land locked. The hunting land around it has been managed for some years now in more ways than none. The one thing I like about this land is it is close to home. The timber is being cut as I write this article and bow season starts here in like three weeks. So even though it might not be the best bow season on this tract gun season in early January will be great.

Scouting: #1

When scouting small tracts of land it is a lot easier than you think. The less land you have to scout the more chances you have at actually seeing deer. Check for bedding areas but stay out of them. The less pressure you put on the deer the better you are. Try and use a game camera to take pictures with or even get high on a hill and scope it out and find where deer are coming and going from fields to woods.

Maps: #2

Use maps to you advantage you will never go wrong by using them. A map can be your best friend. If you are leasing new land at the last minuet try and go online and use Google Earth it works great. There is no telling how many times I have looked at it over the last couple of months at the land we just got. It will really pay off for me in the end.

Hunt the Trails: #3

When hunting trails the wind can be a factor. Always use the wind to your advantage. Make sure that when you hunt deer will not detect you coming in to an area and also leaving out. If you have someone to  come and pick you up after dark,  you don’t spook any deer left around you.

Food Plots: #4

I always say plant a food source where you and your deer will only be the one’s to know about it. A 2 acre food plot can be good for feeding deer but there is a very big chance you want see deer using it in hunting hours. A hunting food plot should be no larger than a half acre in size. Even a 1/4 acre plot could be the best food plot you ever hunted over. People take this for granite and think that in order to kill and see lot’s of deer you must hunt over one to two acre food plots. Yes these plots are good just not good enough for hunting. Food source play’s a large factor when hunting small tracts of land.

Know when and where: #5

Know when and where to be when hunting for a trophy buck. Check your local states Boone & Crockett scores. If you are planning on hunting for big bucks then you have to be where the big bucks are. More than likely most of the big bucks in Alabama have been taken from the woods or swamps and not on a food plot. In my area where I hunt there are some great bucks taken each year. It is not uncommon to see some 120 to 150 inch bucks taken each year off some of the land around me. These bucks didn’t get this way by being stupid or growing over night. It takes years to produce big deer not day’s.

I enjoy the small tracts of land cause I control the pressure that is put on the herd. For every 100 acres on small tracts there should be two hunting plots and one feeding plot that dose not get hunted. As I said before hunt small tracts and you too can grow big deer.

How do people look at hunting when it comes time to hunt a high fenced in area. There are so many places now day’s going to a high fenced in hunting area. What is the advantages and disadvantages that it may have compared to free range hunting?

I had the chance to work with a hunting lodge located in Forest Home, Alabama that was surrounded by a twenty foot high fence. Yes I will say that there was always work to do and the fact of keeping certain animals like coyote’s and bobcats and other wild dogs out of the area was just as hard. The time and pressure that is put on one person to take care of a lodge in the summer time by himself was very tiring at most times.

The fun part about this place was the fact that I can say I seen deer every day the whole time I was there. There was also a breeding operation going on inside it as well. So having the chance to hand feed deer and them walk rite up to you was amazing and fun.

I can say that in a high fenced area you are holding deer in a certain area where you can’t do it on free range land. The deer outside the actual breeding pen were just as wild as a free roaming deer. You couldn’t just walk up to these deer cause they would run in a heart beat. There were bucks on this place that exceeded 200 inches in antler easy. The site of seeing deer like this has a effect on a free range hunter.

You can manage the property better with a high fence but it can be harder at sometimes to make sure that the fence stay’s up at all times and then there are always gates to open and close where on land of free range you may not even have to open a single gate except to go into the property.

Hunting a high fenced area you can have the chance to see deer just about every single time you go hunting. Where on free range land you may not have that chance. Free roaming deer seem to be actually less skittish than a pen deer cause they have more ground that they can put in between you and them at all times where a pen deer can’t.

As the old saying go’s grass is always greener on the other side of the fence well that’s not always true. In my opinion grass could always be greener on the outside of the fence. For years now people say that a high fenced area is unethical hunting.

In 1986 Ray Scott became a man who started a small company in the southern part of Montgomery,AL. He wanted to find a way to produce and and hold bigger bucks on his property. So the food plot revolution began and a new era for planting for whitetail deer became one of today’s most famous way’s to grow bigger rack and larger body deer.

With wildlife seed’s such as Imperial whitetail clover, whitetail extreme, chicory plus, “chic magnet”, Imperial Alfa-Rack plus, winter greens, and the new Double Cross have sky rocketed into a high protein feeding frenzy for wildlife managers or today. With over one million acres planted the whitetail seed’s have gone to all time high’s.

With Ray Scott’s two son’s Wilson and Steve Scott they together have mad the food plot industry what it is today. I have had the pleasure of working under these two fine men and also under the late Dr. Wiley Johnson an agronomist and plant geneticist from the University of Auburn. I will always remember the things that the Institute’s once Biologist Jody Holdbrooks a graduate of Auburn and the late Dr. Johnson told me was to always make sure to put the seed in the rite spot.

Dr. Johnson was a loved and caring man at the office and away from it. He will be missed forever. My days at the Institute were always filled with fun things to learn and the staff there were like none else anywhere I had ever worked. I can still remember every morning getting there about the same time as Mr. Steve and him asking me have you turned the alarm off yet. He was always there to meet me and do it for me cause I never learned how to operate the darn thing. Steve was always standing behind me to help me and leed me in the rite direction.

Wilson Scott was a man that you were always ready to get to work and see when he arrived. He is a man of his word and would stand beside you and help you when you needed help the most. One thing I can say about him is a true outdoors-man could never ask for a greater friend and boss. He is in my book the true conservationist of the year. If I ever had a chance to choose and work for any boss that I’ve ever had in the past he would be him and his brother Steve.

If you have any questions on the Whitetail Institute products and how they will help you grow and hold bigger deer on your hunting land give them a call at 1-800-688-3030 or log onto the web site at http://whitetailinstitute.com and check to see their special deals that they always have.

When someone ask you how high the PH level in your soil is what can you tell them? If someone asked you how high their PH level needs to be for certain plants could you give them the rite answer? If I told you I’m gonna plant clover in my field what would I need?

In this article I will talk about how your PH level in your soil can help produce more tonnage of food for you deer and turkey herd on your property. If you wanted to plant clover I would suggest that the first steps in doing this it to take a soil sample. Your local extension office should be able to help you on this. People sometimes will not use their local extension office cause they think it may cost them money. People that why you pay taxes and your local extension office is your tax money at work. They can provide you with a soil bag and all you have to do from here is put some dirt into it and send it off. Now the sending off part may cost a little but it will be worth every dime you spend.

Now back to the PH thing. So you plant some clover and you didn’t take that soil test what happened. It might have come up but it’s not gonna produce what you expect. Your PH level should be between 6.5 and higher. My soil on my land is roughly 6.0 and I get a very good stand of clover every year and mainly it is because of the red clay soil that is here.

Chicory is another big seed that has come to our attention that we see that deer love it also needs a PH level of about 6.5 to 7.5 in most places to have a great stand and to produce what it should produce. I have sent soil samples on many occasions to Auburn University to have them checked. I may send a many as 5 to 10 samples off at a time. Marking each bag as a field name or field 1 or 2 even. When marking your bags make sure they have a field name on them in case you forget what field needs what when your test come back.

The way you bring your PH level up is to get you test back and add the recommended lime needed to bring it up. I will say you can never have to much lime when it comes to putting it out. If you don’t have time to take a soil test then place 500 lbs to 1,000 lbs of lime to the acre along with the rite fertilizer. For clovers put about 400 lbs of 0-20-20 to the acre and add about 500 lbs of lime in with it until you can get a test done. Chicory is pretty much the same way it could take a little more fertilizer though. Just make sure that your first number in your fertilizer is as low as a number can get. If you use a 13-13-13 you may not have to use as much but still add a lot more lime to the mix. So make sure you do a soil sample and watch your food source take off.

I have come to find that planting the rite kind of tree can make your hunting land better and valuable. On forty plus acres located in south central Alabama is where I started a small project on managing for my deer herd and turkey population.

I have come to understand that there is more to managing for trophy deer and turkey than just feeding or planting a food plot. The food plot industry has shot way up in the last ten years. Have you ever thoght of planting a food plot that will last longer than the average three to five year plot? How about a tree food plot that could last you a lifetime and probably your kids also.

I started with forty plus acres and planted trees twenty feet apart in rows. Why twenty feet apart you may ask? Well this gives me plenty of space to bush hogg and plow between them to plant other things like clovers, chicory, and even a bean type plant in the summer if I choose to do so.

I wanted to find a tree that would grow fast and produce a fruit within a short period of time. The one tree that I went with was the sawtooth oak. If taken properly care of the tree can produce nuts or fruits in three to five years based on how much tender love and care you give it. By fertilizing the trees the proper time of the year will also help speed up the process of the fruit there is to bare.

In the sawtooth oak you have two types of trees. One is the regular sawtooth and it’s acorns are 3/4″ – 1 1/2″ long, egg-shaped; about 1/4 enclosed by shallow cup with hairy scales. The second sawtooth oak looks the same but the acorns are smaller in size and can also grow very fast. I have trees on my property that are almost ten to twelve feet tall and are only four years old.

The live oak is another fast growing tree that you can plant and can produce nuts in a few years after planting. The live oak is a medium-sized evergreen tree with short, broad trunk buttressed at the base forking into a few nearly horizontal, long branches, and very broad, spreading, dense crown. These trees are high in value in the south mainly being used for land scapeing for lawns in the city area. It’s fruit is acorns 5/8″ – 1″ long, narrow and oblong, ¼ – ½ enclosed by deep cup; green becoming brown; maturing first year.

Keep in mind that when you pick and plant your wildlife trees to make sure that you plant them far enough apart so you can also palnt other things like clovers and chicory around them. Having a tree type food plot and the extra foods around them can pay off big. Remember that this is only a small thing that you can do to harvest a trophy animal on your property. Also remember that if it’s trophy deer your after that buck has to reach the rite age before he’s going look great on the wall. If you plant trees for yourself today then your kids will have them for tomorrow.