Tip 3: A caution. While management does require some disciple and restraint on the trigger finger, be careful NOT to let overly strict harvest rules take the fun out of hunting, especially for the young or inexperienced. Remember, any deer a hunter is proud of is a “TROPHY” to that person! Keep hunting fun and easy for beginners. The future of hunting, indeed the future of wildlife, depends on the participation of the younger generation in hunting and on us...

It would be hard to imagine a better food plot than a really good stand of Tecomate Lablab, but does that mean Lablab is always the best food plot choice? No, it does not! Different plants do different things. You have to “prescribe” the right thing for the job. Let’s see what goes into that.First, when buying seed, consider value, not just price. Don’t be fooled by bag size. Bigger is not necessarily better. Some of the best wildlife plantings, like...

Distribution And SizeOk, you have a handle on the total acreage of food plots needed, but how many plots do you need, what size should they be and where should they go. You can’t really answer any of these questions without giving thought to the others since they’re all related and interdependent. The number of plots depends in part on what size they are, and vice versa. And, in areas with limited tillable land, the distribution of the tillable land...

You like the idea of more and bigger deer on your property, and you’ve become convinced that food plots can help get you there. You’re ready to commit the time and resources necessary to get into an agricultural-based food-source management program, the kind that’ll significantly enhance the nutritional plane of the property, not just attract deer to a field. In short, you’re ready to start “farming for deer” so you can get the most from your land, investment and deer...

While the temperature climbs and climbs through the summer and many of our minds are fixated on spending time in the water keeping cool, we often forget about those animals which we hunt each winter. Summer is one of the toughest times for deer, especially with hot summers and scarce rainfall. Tough environmental conditions are further complicated by the peaking nutritional requirements by deer in the spring and summer months. Metabolic rate for deer can double during the spring and...

Are you looking for an easier way to plant food plots, save on equipment use, and take much less time doing it? It you hunt in the portion of the world where the ground stays frozen for most of the winter and even early spring, then frost seeding maybe a planting method that you may want to try. Frost seeding is simply applying your seed to the top of frozen, or snow covered ground. The slow process of thawing and...

Lastly, food plots. Nothing has the potential to improve the nutritional plane like serious food plots. Deer view food plots as a browse mecca and will readily shift their feeding from native browse to high-quality food plots. Under serious food-plot programs that provide abundant year-round nutrition, we’ve seen food-plot forage make up as much as 70% of the deer’s diet…on good native habitat! When you substitute relatively low-quality native browse with loads of high-nutrition food-plot plants, the results on deer...

Good reproduction is key in management and the engine that powers a program. Simply stated, the number of deer coming into the herd will determine the number YOU can take out. The reproductive rate is the number of fawns per adult (1½ and older) doe entering the fall population. Don’t confuse the number of fawns born with the number entering the fall population. A lot of fawns can die between the time they are born and the fall. Being born...