I just inherited an 80 acre family farm in northern Tennessee right below Kentucky line that has never been hunted until now after 40 years! This video was the best video I have seen you produced!! Great job Jeff I really appreciate it!!
i have watched hours and hours of WHS vids..this is definitely in the top 10 of all time and by far better than any other habitat "expert" out there. Simply amazing!
One of your better videos. The neighbor you were talking about at the beginning is actually very savvy! You could actually use corn or apples laid down like a trail all the way around the property to get things started in off season.
Thank you! Ha...very, and most are. Most lands I go to, landowners are pushing deer to their neighbors in some way. And for that ..most neighbors take advantage of the movement.
Another great video! I have an 80 acre rectangular property and have noticed that certain bucks seem to be seen at only certain locations, but not often on multiple camera locations throughout the property. This gets me thinking that they are passing through on specific trails rather than milling around multiple spots. This parallel feature mentality might be a missing ingredient to get them to take that right or left turn and spend more time on my place. Great food for thought.
Man I really appreciate that Jerry! Also, I agree. While it seems the older the buck the smaller his daylight home range. Paralleling habitat features allow you to HIGHLY pattern a specific buck. You can really take your observations to the next level so I hope it all makes sense!
Best video yet! Thanks for all your teaching moments. You're easier to learn from and make more sense than other habitat experts. Have all your books. Thanks for putting this info out there!
You are very welcome and I really appreciate it! Thank you and I hope they continue to make sure lot of sense for you. Also, thanks for checking out the books too ☺️
Didn't start hunting till 50 y/o. Shot my biggest buck yet in 2018 (10pt). Hired a consultant to take a look at my property to make sure I'm not missing anything. Plan on incorporating your ideas into his plan once I receive it.
Wow! One of my favorite videos of yours I've seen yet. This answered so many questions for me. I've been drawing up plans on paper all evening and this helped a ton. Thanks for your content.
Third? Hi Jeff... love this... sounds like a race track layout... I’ve observed deer (mostly does) and yes they follow a natural flow. Parallel tracks on the property will help the containment aspect. Build it and they will come and run in circles on your property and hopefully like it so much they stay.
3rd, ha too funny! It is a concept that a landowner can fit on any land. Maybe not the entire parcel, but on most of a parcel, or string portions of a parcel. As the features of the habitat become more complex, the concept can GREATLY help... Thanks though Ben...hope it really helps you...
Hi Jeff, we have 150 acres that I would love to turn into a home for deer, this video help me to understand a lot, the only thing is that about 80 acres in the middle of it is profit pine I can’t cut, but I’m really looking forward to set up the boundary food plots like you show, I just got into Bowhunting couple of years back, and I know is a big ten point that is home to our land just hard to track. If you have your emIl I could send you the map and see if you can give me some points on how to improve it for Bowhunting, I proven I can drop one with a rifle and to me is just to easy I like to get personal and hunt. I’m going through your videos to educate myself more and more on this and also to be able to have my kids something fun to do together, thank you so much for the info.
Awesome video❗️fascinating that you can actually manipulate big buck movements to such predictable levels just through property layout and implementing these concepts.had to watch it twice to digest it all but again great information!! Thanks and can’t wait to get started with these concepts on my land after the 42 inches of snow melts😆❗️any luck on your land search?
Thanks a lot David, one of my core, original concepts that I use on client lands...every one if them! Critical. Very cool...basically creates a giant net for capturing deer. And dang this snow! Another blizzard last night, lol. Wife and I going out for breakfast soon 🙂 don't mind driving in this stuff at all. Going very well, narrowed it down and it looks like all will go well! Very small piece in a great location. Certainly more details in the coming months...if not weeks! Can not wait and thanks for asking David...
Jeff, The 80 acre example you presented with the cabin in the middle of the property is my exact setup. Q#1 - the access road leading in goes a little to the back with a house that the owner uses on weekends, with that would a parallel food plot closer to fence line at 100 to 125 yards away from the access road be too close? Q#2 - have you ever planted food plots with cattle being on property? if so did you have to use electric fence or fencing and what forage did you select because of it? Thanks Perry
Is it difficult to change historical trails that all run diagonally across your property to the parallel trails you desire. I mean, the deer want to go diagonally for their own reasons, terrain, wind, food, cover etc. I'm assuming you have to give them "new reasons" as you say and they'll forget their "old reasons".
Sure, great point! However, when you add food to the mix in the right locations and create bedding areas in new locations that relate to that food, then cattle paths form that we're not there before. Any kind of trails that cross they the land from side to side or corner to corner are then erased. That's where clients get in trouble. Those trails have to paid attention too...but you can just about erase them and should trails coming thru the land are bad. Add bedding areas, food sources, food plot, edge throughout the land, travel corridors...and there should be no reason to cross thru and entire parcel. You then add trails, corridors or bedding areas to match the lay of the land and existing deer movements in the right location. It isn't that you are changing their tails...you are changing their entire daytime life as it relates to the movement on your land. Very easy to do...but it takes a solid plan, where pieces are installed to compliment both natural and intended movement at the same time. It's a puzzle, but easy to keep the deer from just passing thru on a straight line trail, ever again.
Hi Jeff ! Im from Buffalo NY . Watched all of your videos , a lot off good information, thank you very much! Because of your videos Im completely re designing my property this year. I got 125 acres and my food plots where in the middle off my property, will try to move them on to outside . But it really hard in my case. When you showing property designs off your clients and Im compering to my property it helps me to re design my property. Can you post more property plans that are over 100 acres ? Thank you !
That is great to hear and you are very welcome!! I am definitely planning on going over quite a few more to help folks out! It seems landowners really like that and I really want to help as many as I can! Really appreciate the feedback...keeps me motivated 🙂
Good morning Jeff, tons of great information in that video! Thank you. I would like your opinion on a theory that I thought of. I have a situation where I want to improve bedding on land that I have permission to hunt. The land owner was opposed to hinge cutting the trees because he felt it "looked trashy" . So rather than hinge the trees I simply cut a shallow ring around them just deep enough to go through the cambium layer. My theory is that this will kill the tree and allow the sunlight to penetrate to forest floor without making a eye sore for the land owner. Again, I value your opinion on this.
Thanks a lot Gary and this is a subject I am going over in a week or two. As in most things I feel very strongly about this. I am not a fan of just about any girdling or hack and squirt habitat improvements. I've seen ACRES of hack and squirt or girdling that deer completely avoid. Those trees eventually drip...deer know it, and they avoid the area completely. I had a client where he paid someone to girdle a bunch of aspen. Not only did they kill all of the aspen regen which should be a crime, the continually falling trees over a several year period created a clustered tangle that was too thick for deer. Heck we couldn't even walk thru it. Worse yet he narrowly missed having a 70' mature, dead aspen without about a 14" dismeter base, fall on him while he planted an adjacent food plot. Always better to cut them down, hinge them or harvest them...I can't say I appropriate girdling or hack and squirt projects that has been appropriate for wildlife and whitetails. They take 2-5 years to die, often most are killing the wrong trees for the landowners goals (box elder,aspen/poplar,ash,elm,basswood,etc), the dead tree blowdowns create a danger to deer do they avoid, and it can become so thick that deer avoid. I know very direct...but not a fan at all. I have a video coming out within 2-3 weeks and that practice is squarely in it: "Top 10 Worst Whitetail Habitat Improvement Practices". I hope that makes sense? But man, not something that I ever recommend, for a variety of reasons...
Jeff, thank you for making it so very clear. You're response makes complete sense. I will talk to the landowner about harvesting the trees ( mostly maples and a few gums) as a option. Thanks again
@@garyhughes4884 that's great to hear Gary! I apologize for such a string opinion, but something I have experienced so often at so many levels in so many locations...I am very passionate about this stuff if you can tell, lol. Just really want to help you and everyone else out!
Jeff, a appreciate your knowledge and the fact that you share it with us. I feel like I should send you a check after watching each video lol. After all I wouldn't walk into my local garage and ask the mechanic for advice on how I can fix my truck. Have a great day!
@@garyhughes4884 I'm just happy to hear that help! That's part of the process of what I do. Some have me out to their land ..some buy the books, but in the end I have always found the more info I can share, the more folks I reach that I can help. It's a win-win and I have a passion for the process. So feedback like yours is so important and I can't tell you how much it keeps fueling my passion for this stuff!
Hey Jeff. Great video once again. If you remember a few weeks back you did a video about how food plots can sometimes ruin a property...I mentioned I was planning on putting a kill plot down by my creek knowing I'd most likely blow deer off it time to time. You helped me decide against it. But now I bought two wireless cameras....which work great. So would this change your mind about a kill plot knowing now that you'd know if deer were on your plot or not before you'd walk to your stand?
Thanks Chris and good question! I really feel that you should have completely non invasive access planned first, no matter what. There are exceptions on those plots, but you still have to have your access screened. For example, maybe a plot surrounded by switchgrass in a tough spot to get in or out...but that you only use for an all day sits during the rut...IF your scent is secure too. I have one I may use like that this year. It is very hard to get to it. But, I may use for opening day of gun and a couple of tim during the rut. Good spot to blow my scent, get in there 2 hours before light, etc. Just depends but always keep in mind that although there may be no deer in the way in...you still don't want to spook any on the way out
@@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751 thanks for the reply! Yes I planned on planting some sort of screen. Still got time to think it all over. Thanks again!
Nathan that means so much to me and I will try to do my best! I feel like I have some really important ones coming out over the next week to 10 days...I hope that you like them and thanks a lot!
@@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751 anything yall put out is a learning lesson for sure. Cant want to see yall get new propertie and flip it around to a hunt Paradise. Wish yall the best of luck
@@nathanhager7082 thanks a lot Nathan...I can't WAIT to do so. I owned land for 20 years and haven't for several years now, so I'm certainly getting the itch. It will be a very rewarding experience to bring it all to you...
I love your videos. I have a lease in Belleville Mi. I just bought my 1st tractor 30hp 4x4 loader now Im buying implements. I want a fall food plot no summer because of all the ag. Im thinking annual for tonnage . barassica maybe. Not sure. Id like to plant alot of Egyption grass you talk about for boarder. How do you plant it i dont have a plug maching can you broadcast the seed. Also where do you get it and when to plant. When do you plant for fall food plots in southern mi. What seed co do you recommend. Thank you
Jeff What do you feel is the hardest type of property for you to improve, and do you ever run into a property that you can't do much with as far as improving for whitetail habitat.
Great question Jerry. Boy, solid hardwood lands are easy to create a design for, but ultimately have the lowest potential and demand the most amount of resources to improve. Someone is always better off finding a parcel 1/2 the size that offers diversity, edge, open ground, and low value timber...than a parcel twice the size or even more, of pure hardwoods. Any parcel can be further improved...typically by a lot. BUT, the habitat portion is only a portion of it because how the land is hunted and the amount of hunting pressure applied, is ultimately the lowest hole in the bucket. Most hire me to design their habitat, but don't realize 1/2 of their design or more will involve changing how they hunt. That's why if a consultant does not have experience with shooting mature bucks for many years, almost every year, and working with implementing tactics for mature bucks, they can't design a land to do so either. Most land managers know deer habitat, but very few know mature buck hunting. So when I visit lands there I'd so much to do! Not only should their be whitetail habitat improvements on the land based on depth of cover, paralleling habitat features, bedding by sex layering, hunting season habitat, hunting season plots, etc and all if the concepts I devloped...but they need to be applied accurately as a consistent mature buck hunter would put it together. So much to do, from habitat to high level hunting practices. Again though, boy this giant hardwood parcels may be easy to design...but it takes so many resources of time and money for ultimately a lower level of potential.
i cannot say enough brother i wish i had the money to get you to Tennessee on my 75 acres my wife and I just bought or a way i can give you an areal view from google maps its longer than it is wide. hunted on the back side on another property not front or sides and hidden from any public road. im going to try to apply this video to my 2020 hunting season looks like a goat farm from all the pellets at any given time in the center of the property with 12 scrapes in a 30 by 60 ft area they eat the weeds in that area but not in any other area with the same weeds i have several nice bucks and a lot of different young bucks nothing done with the property yet why is this? may God bless you and what you do. Smith Co. Tennessee
I have a large property, I have to hunt, and had some cams out, but do to were I found the activity of the deer, evrywhere I want to set a blind seems like I'm on top of the deer, was looking for advice
Man... This is great info. Do you have a recommended switch grass? I have borders where the neighbor has 6 stands right on or near the property line. I would like to use your switch grass method but have never done it. How wide should it be?
Thanks Nick...where do you live? I really like at least 20' wide for borders...30' is even better. Your goal would be to build yourself an access tunnel right along the border. So easy to slip by whitetails, right behind the switch...
I live in Indianapolis. I hunt far west in Brazil, IN near the Illinois border. Do you recommend a certain seed or brand? Does it need tilled or could I get away with raking?
@@nickarnold8417 Good question Nick, I figure that I could answer that with this video a LOT better! I hope that it helps... th-cam.com/video/apM6n9MnXNk/w-d-xo.html
At 3:50 you say the deer are not encouraged to bed in the switchgrass. Isn't switchgrass beside a food plot ideal for deer bedding? I do not understand.
Hi Miguel they like to bed behind it, in the woods/cover. Switch is incredible screening and a base form of cover...but incomplete alone because deer need browse. That is a very good thing tho because you can hide deer from each other and from you...establishing that first layer of bedding right behind it.
So you line up the depth of cover: food, doe bedding, buck bedding. I know you set up on the back side of the buck bedding for mornings, but what about evenings? Are you hunting on mock scrape, waterhole combos between doe bedding and food or between buck and doe bedding?
Good question Matt! I hunt near food or on the way to food in the evening...typically well away from bedding. On a waterhole, mock scrape, or just a travel corridor 100 yards off of the food. I also hunt buck bedding area staging areas too! Here is one of my articles on that... Hope it makes sense! www.whitetailhabitatsolutions.com/blog/whitetail-bedding-staging-area I very rarely hunt the same stand all day...
Whitetail Habitat Solutions ok gotcha. I’ve often heard guys talk about trying to stack doe bedding right up against food, especially on smaller properties, but I always thought that would make that movement in huntable. I’ll be sure to check that article out!
@@mattkontyko97 oh for sure...I started that strategy of doe layering many years ago. The beauty is that bucks are then behind them, which places them in a position you can more easily hunt. The bedding becomes more defined...I hope that makes sense? It creates an assemblage of stand locations ..morning buck hunting, evening buck hunting, etc.
Whitetail Habitat Solutions whoops, I meant to put unhuntable* I guess in that situation you just have to slip in between doe and buck bedding and wait for those bucks to come by? Thanks so much!
@@mattkontyko97 you are very welcome! It really depends on where you are placing does, but you want to make outside corridors, mock scrapes and entrances for bucks to circle into the food. Bucks circle...does travel straight line into food. Check it this video...I hope it makes sense! th-cam.com/video/CXSZOxlsJZA/w-d-xo.html
That's tough Steve, those pastures are bad...I had the same thing happen on one of my lands I hunt on. Very thick cover helps greatly in that situation, but it really depends on what you have around you. For example if you have large woods that you could safely draw deer from, across the pastures every night...if you had food. Or if it is just a pass thru parcel during the rut, etc.
Hi Nick, sometimes? But the lay of the land and the connection directions with other nearby improvements, potential stand locations and neighboring concerns ultimately dictate the shape. There is not certain shape that everyone should have on their land. The ends of the food plots dictate direction and travel, so it is more about the shape needed to facilitate a natural flow. Here is an article that I wrote a few years ago about the best kill plot shapes...I hope that it helps make more sense... www.whitetailhabitatsolutions.com/blog/best-kill-plot-shape
@@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751 Read that and a couple of the interlinked articles. Thanks for that. I appreciate your passion to help the hunting community greatly. It gives some ideas. I think our property is just very challenging and non typical as it's sandwiched between ag on one side, Creek and ag on the other, and no wider than 125 yards anywhere. Creates challenges on so many things and pretty much limits hunting to be at the ends of the property bc getting in and out of stands is problematic otherwise. The struggle is real in Nebraska.
Would be happy to, did my wife return the message? Unfortunately a fly-in only location but I believe we have fly in openings in June or July. Would be great if we could work a time out!
Whitetail Habitat Solutions no, I hadn’t heard any response back. Would be great to get you here any time you’re available. We are just outside of Tulsa.
Whitetail Habitat Solutions Stacy Duncan & about week ago. If anything opens up sooner, we would love to have you out sooner or if we could send you an aerial photo to maybe help us get started now? Be more than happy to pay you to do that until you can make a site visit. Thank you soooo much!
It really depends on the parcel and neighboring lands. One of my favorite small parcels I worked on was am 8 acre chunk in MI. I created an East/west movement on the north side 20 yards off the road, extended south within 20 yards of the east line to the south border. Bedding area in the central west side. They shot 3 mature bucks in the first 2 years in a blind only 10 yards off the road on the north side, in the middle of spruce and Autumn olive. Deer didn't have a clue...neither did the people driving by on the dirt road, or in the neighbors house on the east side of the land. But again...lots of variables. Mostly parallel movements would be called for still...but not always. Although on land that size...just about every improvement line is close and parallel to a border 🙂
Whitetail Habitat Solutions sounds like you’re talking about the property in your new micro parcel video 🤔 if Diane never emails back on an inquiry for you or Ross/Dylan to design a property plan, does that mean I was screened out and to look elsewhere? On a different TH-cam video you said 3/2021 was next KC fly in, but no reply to website or email. Thanks.
I do Dillion, here is one of them: th-cam.com/video/aXiVyH15q8k/w-d-xo.html I also don't film all if my hunts...most, but not all. LOTS of hunting footage of from the stand or blind tho. A whole lot! Any deer footage not showing the Exodus trail cam line ate the bottom, is from my hunting footage... Nearly all of my videos shot during the hunting season are filmed from the stand, using footage during that hunt. All of the rut hunt strategy vids, in season strategy hunting vids, etc.
@@dillionbalentine7482 what I do is to roll them into a strategy. Most channels title their hunts, "Joe's Iowa 157" Season 4 Ep 3". More of entertainment and doesn't offer a strategy or last past the initial publication. My goal is to teach and to create evergreen content that can be searched for key words and lasts for years. Harder to find the hunts although just about any vid during the season shows hunting footage. The way I do it is to try and offer a strategy that can be searched and found for many years - on top, instead of an entertainment vid that offers very little teaching and dies within a free days after publication.
@@dillionbalentine7482 here is my bow kill...within the strategy of course. Hoping this video will add 100k in views this year and can be searched and found for "morning rut hunting strategy" for several years to come: th-cam.com/video/lCgwrShBT2c/w-d-xo.html
I just inherited an 80 acre family farm in northern Tennessee right below Kentucky line that has never been hunted until now after 40 years! This video was the best video I have seen you produced!! Great job Jeff I really appreciate it!!
i have watched hours and hours of WHS vids..this is definitely in the top 10 of all time and by far better than any other habitat "expert" out there. Simply amazing!
Wow, never knew this. This is why I love watching your videos Jeff. Thank you so much!!!
Thursday great Randy...really happy it hits home for you!
One of your better videos. The neighbor you were talking about at the beginning is actually very savvy! You could actually use corn or apples laid down like a trail all the way around the property to get things started in off season.
Thank you! Ha...very, and most are. Most lands I go to, landowners are pushing deer to their neighbors in some way. And for that ..most neighbors take advantage of the movement.
Another great video! I have an 80 acre rectangular property and have noticed that certain bucks seem to be seen at only certain locations, but not often on multiple camera locations throughout the property. This gets me thinking that they are passing through on specific trails rather than milling around multiple spots. This parallel feature mentality might be a missing ingredient to get them to take that right or left turn and spend more time on my place. Great food for thought.
Man I really appreciate that Jerry! Also, I agree. While it seems the older the buck the smaller his daylight home range. Paralleling habitat features allow you to HIGHLY pattern a specific buck. You can really take your observations to the next level so I hope it all makes sense!
Best video yet! Thanks for all your teaching moments. You're easier to learn from and make more sense than other habitat experts. Have all your books. Thanks for putting this info out there!
You are very welcome and I really appreciate it! Thank you and I hope they continue to make sure lot of sense for you. Also, thanks for checking out the books too ☺️
Didn't start hunting till 50 y/o. Shot my biggest buck yet in 2018 (10pt). Hired a consultant to take a look at my property to make sure I'm not missing anything. Plan on incorporating your ideas into his plan once I receive it.
Wow! One of my favorite videos of yours I've seen yet. This answered so many questions for me. I've been drawing up plans on paper all evening and this helped a ton. Thanks for your content.
That is great to hear Clayton... outstanding!! I really hope it helps and the planning is half the fun 🙂
Third? Hi Jeff... love this... sounds like a race track layout... I’ve observed deer (mostly does) and yes they follow a natural flow. Parallel tracks on the property will help the containment aspect. Build it and they will come and run in circles on your property and hopefully like it so much they stay.
3rd, ha too funny! It is a concept that a landowner can fit on any land. Maybe not the entire parcel, but on most of a parcel, or string portions of a parcel. As the features of the habitat become more complex, the concept can GREATLY help...
Thanks though Ben...hope it really helps you...
Great info.It explains why and how the deer move on the 40 Ac.plot I hunt.
Hi Jeff, we have 150 acres that I would love to turn into a home for deer, this video help me to understand a lot, the only thing is that about 80 acres in the middle of it is profit pine I can’t cut, but I’m really looking forward to set up the boundary food plots like you show, I just got into Bowhunting couple of years back, and I know is a big ten point that is home to our land just hard to track. If you have your emIl I could send you the map and see if you can give me some points on how to improve it for Bowhunting, I proven I can drop one with a rifle and to me is just to easy I like to get personal and hunt. I’m going through your videos to educate myself more and more on this and also to be able to have my kids something fun to do together, thank you so much for the info.
Awesome video❗️fascinating that you can actually manipulate big buck movements to such predictable levels just through property layout and implementing these concepts.had to watch it twice to digest it all but again great information!! Thanks and can’t wait to get started with these concepts on my land after the 42 inches of snow melts😆❗️any luck on your land search?
Thanks a lot David, one of my core, original concepts that I use on client lands...every one if them! Critical. Very cool...basically creates a giant net for capturing deer.
And dang this snow! Another blizzard last night, lol. Wife and I going out for breakfast soon 🙂 don't mind driving in this stuff at all.
Going very well, narrowed it down and it looks like all will go well! Very small piece in a great location. Certainly more details in the coming months...if not weeks! Can not wait and thanks for asking David...
Exciting times for you! Hope it works out!! Keep us posted!
@@deercamp3479 I sure will thanks David!
Great advice brother makes perfect sense. Great video as always. Gave me a couple ideas on my lease thank u for sharing GOD BLESS.
Very cool to hear Randle...man I hope it helps a lot of folks out...very important strategy!
Thanks Great info jeff. Good luck with your property search .. you will know when it’s right. .. god bless and have a great day
..nick
Thank you so much Nick...I really appreciate that! Hope you can enjoy the day too...great family day with a lot of snow outside for me.
Great video. I enjoy watching all of them. Maybe some day I can put some of your info to work.
Thanks Sean I hope that you can! This stuff works extremely well for all hunting setups...small or large lands. Really appreciate it!
Jeff,
The 80 acre example you presented with the cabin in the middle of the property is my exact setup. Q#1 - the access road leading in goes a little to the back with a house that the owner uses on weekends, with that would a parallel food plot closer to fence line at 100 to 125 yards away from the access road be too close? Q#2 - have you ever planted food plots with cattle being on property? if so did you have to use electric fence or fencing and what forage did you select because of it? Thanks Perry
Is it difficult to change historical trails that all run diagonally across your property to the parallel trails you desire. I mean, the deer want to go diagonally for their own reasons, terrain, wind, food, cover etc. I'm assuming you have to give them "new reasons" as you say and they'll forget their "old reasons".
Sure, great point! However, when you add food to the mix in the right locations and create bedding areas in new locations that relate to that food, then cattle paths form that we're not there before. Any kind of trails that cross they the land from side to side or corner to corner are then erased.
That's where clients get in trouble. Those trails have to paid attention too...but you can just about erase them and should trails coming thru the land are bad. Add bedding areas, food sources, food plot, edge throughout the land, travel corridors...and there should be no reason to cross thru and entire parcel. You then add trails, corridors or bedding areas to match the lay of the land and existing deer movements in the right location. It isn't that you are changing their tails...you are changing their entire daytime life as it relates to the movement on your land. Very easy to do...but it takes a solid plan, where pieces are installed to compliment both natural and intended movement at the same time. It's a puzzle, but easy to keep the deer from just passing thru on a straight line trail, ever again.
Hi Jeff ! Im from Buffalo NY . Watched all of your videos , a lot off good information, thank you very much! Because of your videos Im completely re designing my property this year. I got 125 acres and my food plots where in the middle off my property, will try to move them on to outside . But it really hard in my case. When you showing property designs off your clients and Im compering to my property it helps me to re design my property. Can you post more property plans that are over 100 acres ? Thank you !
That is great to hear and you are very welcome!! I am definitely planning on going over quite a few more to help folks out! It seems landowners really like that and I really want to help as many as I can! Really appreciate the feedback...keeps me motivated 🙂
Good morning Jeff, tons of great information in that video! Thank you. I would like your opinion on a theory that I thought of. I have a situation where I want to improve bedding on land that I have permission to hunt. The land owner was opposed to hinge cutting the trees because he felt it "looked trashy" . So rather than hinge the trees I simply cut a shallow ring around them just deep enough to go through the cambium layer. My theory is that this will kill the tree and allow the sunlight to penetrate to forest floor without making a eye sore for the land owner. Again, I value your opinion on this.
Thanks a lot Gary and this is a subject I am going over in a week or two. As in most things I feel very strongly about this. I am not a fan of just about any girdling or hack and squirt habitat improvements. I've seen ACRES of hack and squirt or girdling that deer completely avoid. Those trees eventually drip...deer know it, and they avoid the area completely. I had a client where he paid someone to girdle a bunch of aspen. Not only did they kill all of the aspen regen which should be a crime, the continually falling trees over a several year period created a clustered tangle that was too thick for deer. Heck we couldn't even walk thru it. Worse yet he narrowly missed having a 70' mature, dead aspen without about a 14" dismeter base, fall on him while he planted an adjacent food plot.
Always better to cut them down, hinge them or harvest them...I can't say I appropriate girdling or hack and squirt projects that has been appropriate for wildlife and whitetails. They take 2-5 years to die, often most are killing the wrong trees for the landowners goals (box elder,aspen/poplar,ash,elm,basswood,etc), the dead tree blowdowns create a danger to deer do they avoid, and it can become so thick that deer avoid. I know very direct...but not a fan at all. I have a video coming out within 2-3 weeks and that practice is squarely in it: "Top 10 Worst Whitetail Habitat Improvement Practices". I hope that makes sense? But man, not something that I ever recommend, for a variety of reasons...
Jeff, thank you for making it so very clear. You're response makes complete sense. I will talk to the landowner about harvesting the trees ( mostly maples and a few gums) as a option. Thanks again
@@garyhughes4884 that's great to hear Gary! I apologize for such a string opinion, but something I have experienced so often at so many levels in so many locations...I am very passionate about this stuff if you can tell, lol. Just really want to help you and everyone else out!
Jeff, a appreciate your knowledge and the fact that you share it with us. I feel like I should send you a check after watching each video lol. After all I wouldn't walk into my local garage and ask the mechanic for advice on how I can fix my truck. Have a great day!
@@garyhughes4884 I'm just happy to hear that help! That's part of the process of what I do. Some have me out to their land ..some buy the books, but in the end I have always found the more info I can share, the more folks I reach that I can help. It's a win-win and I have a passion for the process. So feedback like yours is so important and I can't tell you how much it keeps fueling my passion for this stuff!
Awesome information, thanks Jeff!
That's great to hear...very critical for deet land management! You are very welcome...
Hey Jeff. Great video once again. If you remember a few weeks back you did a video about how food plots can sometimes ruin a property...I mentioned I was planning on putting a kill plot down by my creek knowing I'd most likely blow deer off it time to time. You helped me decide against it. But now I bought two wireless cameras....which work great. So would this change your mind about a kill plot knowing now that you'd know if deer were on your plot or not before you'd walk to your stand?
Thanks Chris and good question! I really feel that you should have completely non invasive access planned first, no matter what. There are exceptions on those plots, but you still have to have your access screened. For example, maybe a plot surrounded by switchgrass in a tough spot to get in or out...but that you only use for an all day sits during the rut...IF your scent is secure too. I have one I may use like that this year. It is very hard to get to it. But, I may use for opening day of gun and a couple of tim during the rut. Good spot to blow my scent, get in there 2 hours before light, etc.
Just depends but always keep in mind that although there may be no deer in the way in...you still don't want to spook any on the way out
@@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751 thanks for the reply! Yes I planned on planting some sort of screen. Still got time to think it all over. Thanks again!
Love your videos man they have taught me so much keep up the killer videos man.
Nathan that means so much to me and I will try to do my best! I feel like I have some really important ones coming out over the next week to 10 days...I hope that you like them and thanks a lot!
@@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751 anything yall put out is a learning lesson for sure. Cant want to see yall get new propertie and flip it around to a hunt Paradise. Wish yall the best of luck
@@nathanhager7082 thanks a lot Nathan...I can't WAIT to do so. I owned land for 20 years and haven't for several years now, so I'm certainly getting the itch. It will be a very rewarding experience to bring it all to you...
@@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751 Can't want
@@nathanhager7082 enjoy Nathan!
I love your videos. I have a lease in Belleville Mi. I just bought my 1st tractor 30hp 4x4 loader now Im buying implements. I want a fall food plot no summer because of all the ag. Im thinking annual for tonnage . barassica maybe. Not sure. Id like to plant alot of Egyption grass you talk about for boarder. How do you plant it i dont have a plug maching can you broadcast the seed. Also where do you get it and when to plant. When do you plant for fall food plots in southern mi. What seed co do you recommend. Thank you
Jeff What do you feel is the hardest type of property for you to improve, and do you ever run into a property that you can't do much with as far as improving for whitetail habitat.
Great question Jerry. Boy, solid hardwood lands are easy to create a design for, but ultimately have the lowest potential and demand the most amount of resources to improve. Someone is always better off finding a parcel 1/2 the size that offers diversity, edge, open ground, and low value timber...than a parcel twice the size or even more, of pure hardwoods. Any parcel can be further improved...typically by a lot. BUT, the habitat portion is only a portion of it because how the land is hunted and the amount of hunting pressure applied, is ultimately the lowest hole in the bucket. Most hire me to design their habitat, but don't realize 1/2 of their design or more will involve changing how they hunt. That's why if a consultant does not have experience with shooting mature bucks for many years, almost every year, and working with implementing tactics for mature bucks, they can't design a land to do so either. Most land managers know deer habitat, but very few know mature buck hunting.
So when I visit lands there I'd so much to do! Not only should their be whitetail habitat improvements on the land based on depth of cover, paralleling habitat features, bedding by sex layering, hunting season habitat, hunting season plots, etc and all if the concepts I devloped...but they need to be applied accurately as a consistent mature buck hunter would put it together. So much to do, from habitat to high level hunting practices.
Again though, boy this giant hardwood parcels may be easy to design...but it takes so many resources of time and money for ultimately a lower level of potential.
Wow! just when I think I've seen them all.. Excellant info!
i cannot say enough brother i wish i had the money to get you to Tennessee on my 75 acres my wife and I just bought or a way i can give you an areal view from google maps its longer than it is wide. hunted on the back side on another property not front or sides and hidden from any public road. im going to try to apply this video to my 2020 hunting season looks like a goat farm from all the pellets at any given time in the center of the property with 12 scrapes in a 30 by 60 ft area they eat the weeds in that area but not in any other area with the same weeds i have several nice bucks and a lot of different young bucks nothing done with the property yet why is this? may God bless you and what you do. Smith Co. Tennessee
I have a large property, I have to hunt, and had some cams out, but do to were I found the activity of the deer, evrywhere I want to set a blind seems like I'm on top of the deer, was looking for advice
Man... This is great info. Do you have a recommended switch grass? I have borders where the neighbor has 6 stands right on or near the property line. I would like to use your switch grass method but have never done it. How wide should it be?
Thanks Nick...where do you live? I really like at least 20' wide for borders...30' is even better. Your goal would be to build yourself an access tunnel right along the border. So easy to slip by whitetails, right behind the switch...
I live in Indianapolis. I hunt far west in Brazil, IN near the Illinois border. Do you recommend a certain seed or brand? Does it need tilled or could I get away with raking?
@@nickarnold8417 Good question Nick, I figure that I could answer that with this video a LOT better! I hope that it helps...
th-cam.com/video/apM6n9MnXNk/w-d-xo.html
At 3:50 you say the deer are not encouraged to bed in the switchgrass. Isn't switchgrass beside a food plot ideal for deer bedding? I do not understand.
Hi Miguel they like to bed behind it, in the woods/cover. Switch is incredible screening and a base form of cover...but incomplete alone because deer need browse. That is a very good thing tho because you can hide deer from each other and from you...establishing that first layer of bedding right behind it.
Thank you for the response
Jeff my access to my dear stand is through water does this help my sent control.?
Drake it sure does and man I love accessing slowly through water. Awesome access.... UNLESS lots of moccasins!?! Lol
Great point though Drake!!
So you line up the depth of cover: food, doe bedding, buck bedding. I know you set up on the back side of the buck bedding for mornings, but what about evenings? Are you hunting on mock scrape, waterhole combos between doe bedding and food or between buck and doe bedding?
Good question Matt! I hunt near food or on the way to food in the evening...typically well away from bedding. On a waterhole, mock scrape, or just a travel corridor 100 yards off of the food.
I also hunt buck bedding area staging areas too! Here is one of my articles on that...
Hope it makes sense! www.whitetailhabitatsolutions.com/blog/whitetail-bedding-staging-area
I very rarely hunt the same stand all day...
Whitetail Habitat Solutions ok gotcha. I’ve often heard guys talk about trying to stack doe bedding right up against food, especially on smaller properties, but I always thought that would make that movement in huntable.
I’ll be sure to check that article out!
@@mattkontyko97 oh for sure...I started that strategy of doe layering many years ago. The beauty is that bucks are then behind them, which places them in a position you can more easily hunt. The bedding becomes more defined...I hope that makes sense? It creates an assemblage of stand locations ..morning buck hunting, evening buck hunting, etc.
Whitetail Habitat Solutions whoops, I meant to put unhuntable* I guess in that situation you just have to slip in between doe and buck bedding and wait for those bucks to come by?
Thanks so much!
@@mattkontyko97 you are very welcome! It really depends on where you are placing does, but you want to make outside corridors, mock scrapes and entrances for bucks to circle into the food. Bucks circle...does travel straight line into food. Check it this video...I hope it makes sense!
th-cam.com/video/CXSZOxlsJZA/w-d-xo.html
I have a good hunting farm however my place is just over 5 acres had lots of deer but neighbor put in pastures all around how can I get deer back
That's tough Steve, those pastures are bad...I had the same thing happen on one of my lands I hunt on. Very thick cover helps greatly in that situation, but it really depends on what you have around you. For example if you have large woods that you could safely draw deer from, across the pastures every night...if you had food. Or if it is just a pass thru parcel during the rut, etc.
Love your videos! Is that a #section1776 hat?
Thanks a lot Justin...and yes, it sure is!! I hope folks will check them out 😉 Cool website:
section1776.com
Whitetail Habitat Solutions great organization!!
@@justinshaw5706 man it really is!
Would a boomerang shaped food plot that points inward from your border also work???
Hi Nick, sometimes? But the lay of the land and the connection directions with other nearby improvements, potential stand locations and neighboring concerns ultimately dictate the shape. There is not certain shape that everyone should have on their land. The ends of the food plots dictate direction and travel, so it is more about the shape needed to facilitate a natural flow.
Here is an article that I wrote a few years ago about the best kill plot shapes...I hope that it helps make more sense...
www.whitetailhabitatsolutions.com/blog/best-kill-plot-shape
@@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751 Read that and a couple of the interlinked articles. Thanks for that. I appreciate your passion to help the hunting community greatly. It gives some ideas. I think our property is just very challenging and non typical as it's sandwiched between ag on one side, Creek and ag on the other, and no wider than 125 yards anywhere. Creates challenges on so many things and pretty much limits hunting to be at the ends of the property bc getting in and out of stands is problematic otherwise. The struggle is real in Nebraska.
How do you create a travel corrider?
Love it!
Morn brother.
Morning Randle!
Would really really love to have you come to Oklahoma to help us with our hunting property!!! I’ve messaged you on your website...
Would be happy to, did my wife return the message? Unfortunately a fly-in only location but I believe we have fly in openings in June or July. Would be great if we could work a time out!
Whitetail Habitat Solutions no, I hadn’t heard any response back. Would be great to get you here any time you’re available. We are just outside of Tulsa.
@@Brownderosa ok, I am checking with Diane right now...what is your first name and how long ago did you send that in?
Whitetail Habitat Solutions Stacy Duncan & about week ago. If anything opens up sooner, we would love to have you out sooner or if we could send you an aerial photo to maybe help us get started now? Be more than happy to pay you to do that until you can make a site visit. Thank you soooo much!
What if you have a vary small property like 5 or 10 acres
It really depends on the parcel and neighboring lands. One of my favorite small parcels I worked on was am 8 acre chunk in MI. I created an East/west movement on the north side 20 yards off the road, extended south within 20 yards of the east line to the south border. Bedding area in the central west side. They shot 3 mature bucks in the first 2 years in a blind only 10 yards off the road on the north side, in the middle of spruce and Autumn olive. Deer didn't have a clue...neither did the people driving by on the dirt road, or in the neighbors house on the east side of the land.
But again...lots of variables. Mostly parallel movements would be called for still...but not always. Although on land that size...just about every improvement line is close and parallel to a border 🙂
Thanks you have been a big help with all your videos
Whitetail Habitat Solutions sounds like you’re talking about the property in your new micro parcel video 🤔 if Diane never emails back on an inquiry for you or Ross/Dylan to design a property plan, does that mean I was screened out and to look elsewhere? On a different TH-cam video you said 3/2021 was next KC fly in, but no reply to website or email. Thanks.
Why dont you upload your hunts?
I do Dillion, here is one of them: th-cam.com/video/aXiVyH15q8k/w-d-xo.html
I also don't film all if my hunts...most, but not all. LOTS of hunting footage of from the stand or blind tho. A whole lot! Any deer footage not showing the Exodus trail cam line ate the bottom, is from my hunting footage...
Nearly all of my videos shot during the hunting season are filmed from the stand, using footage during that hunt. All of the rut hunt strategy vids, in season strategy hunting vids, etc.
@@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751 Thank you I didnt realise you uploaded hunts!
@@dillionbalentine7482 what I do is to roll them into a strategy. Most channels title their hunts, "Joe's Iowa 157" Season 4 Ep 3". More of entertainment and doesn't offer a strategy or last past the initial publication. My goal is to teach and to create evergreen content that can be searched for key words and lasts for years. Harder to find the hunts although just about any vid during the season shows hunting footage. The way I do it is to try and offer a strategy that can be searched and found for many years - on top, instead of an entertainment vid that offers very little teaching and dies within a free days after publication.
@@dillionbalentine7482 here is my bow kill...within the strategy of course. Hoping this video will add 100k in views this year and can be searched and found for "morning rut hunting strategy" for several years to come:
th-cam.com/video/lCgwrShBT2c/w-d-xo.html
@@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751 Thanks jeff
is that a death wish coffee mug???
Nope...MJC Archery shop mug from southern MI...Jim Morrow owns the shop...
first
A big huge Sunday morning congrats to you Harold ☺️ 👍👏😎 BUT, I hope that it helps you hold some deer on the land that you hunt?
@@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751 checked my cameras yesterday - have not seen the big 11 pointer in a month : (