Land & Legacy - Habitat + Hunting

If you have listened and followed along for very long, you know that we often recommend full-scale land management and habitat improvements on each property we visit. This workload can often-times be overwhelming as the projects seem to stack up quickly. Very few times, does the landowner take the wheel, roll up the sleeves, and begin to knock out projects one by one based on time being a limited resource. However, Land & Legacy client, Heath Sutton of Bowling Green, KY has been hard at work and is seeing a complete property transformation in just a few short months. In this podcast, you will hear the recommendations and the follow-up work completed thus far. We visited Heath's property in February of 2019, since then, the land management updates have been nonstop. A complete harvest of the cedar understory has been completed. The cedar harvest was completed by a logging crew and Heath got paid twice for cedar! Be sure to listen to learn how this happened! What remains is a mixed open canopy timber as well as large opening where solid cedar stands once dominated the property. In addition, firebreaks around the boundary of the property have been created. Now the understory is waiting to pop during the spring of 2020. The soon to be flush of native herbaceous cover and forage in the understory will drastically increase the carrying capacity of game animals such as wild turkey and deer. Down the road prescribed fire will be easily implemented on the property as well as access treestand locations. In addition, Heath has been hard at work at addressing the invasive species such as Japanese Stilt Grass. We hope this example of a client getting to work right away will increase your desire to improve the habitat and landscape where you hunt! Enjoy.Learn.Share! Land & Legacy is Powered by Simplecast

Trying to manage a property to maximize your hunting success sounds like an easy thing to do! To anyone who's ever owned or managed a farm knows it's way more complicated than that. This week we're joined by three Land & Legacy clients who we've worked with to improve the habitat on their farm not only for deer but many other animals as well. It's a podcast you don't want to miss as you hear some results they've had in only a short time. What do you think a deer would prefer more during the winter, woody browse from a recently fallen tree or a pile of whole corn? The answer may surprise you! What do you believe is more beneficial to game birds like Northern Bobwhite Quail or Pheasants? Mike in Northern Missouri had a major project recently that lead to him watching his first pheasant using his farm. Lastly Adam asks the questions he's been using a lot lately about the power of young forest and quality cover. Would you spend more time creating food plots or cutting in quality cover in your timber? We cover a range of topics this week but as any of our guests can share, habitat improvement is the best way to reach the goals you're hoping to reach! Timber Stand Improvement, Grassland restoration, Temporary Forest Openings, can all prove to be dynamite on your farm. #ForLoveoftheLand Land & Legacy is Powered by Simplecast

On this podcast, we chat with Land & Legacy contributor Seth Harker. Seth is a life-long resident of Southern Missouri and has taken his fair share of mature whitetails in the area. The story and hunt for a buck named Whiplash is one that starts several years ago. On a recent rut hunt, Seth completed the story by arrowing this 157 2/8th inch bruiser. During the podcast, we will chat about the years of development and details that lead to the recent harvest of Whiplash. You will hear how critical it is to record and catalog trail camera images once a solid deer has been noted. Watch the range and patterns develop over the years to make the strategic game plan. Habitat improvements like clear-cutting can decrease the range of an individual buck of interest just like it did for Whiplash. Even during the rut, deer can be patterned! It is important to take notice of these patterns that develop so you can replicate the success that Seth just experienced. Being patient and diligent will kill target deer. Don't glaze over the details during this time of the year. Now is when you take notice of patterns to fill tags for next season. Land & Legacy is Powered by Simplecast

Every deer season is a learning experience and for Adam and Chad it's a great reminder of just how far it has come. Not many people are blessed with the ability to have a family farm and a long-term lease next to each other, but it's given them the ability to watch the deer herd change as well as the size of the bucks calling their farm home. Unfortunately it took much longer than expected! Over the years people preached food plots were key, but they found that to be inaccurate. With recent large scale changes to their management they've seen changes happen fast! Managing and hunting a home farm does require different tactics than you may see used on outdoor television. Patience is key, playing it safe and reminding yourself it's a marathon not a sprint. Frustrations and slow hunts could tempt a hunter to want to dive into a spot where they know deer frequent but it could lead to slow hunts the remainder of the season. This is a mindset that will allow your farm to hunt fresh from September to January. One thing is for certain through this podcast. If you're entire property is close canopy forest with little diversity and you're looking for better hunting, it's time to make a change. Food plots are an awesome tool in your hunting arsenal but changing the direction of your deer herd starts with habitat management. #ForLoveoftheLand Land & Legacy is Powered by Simplecast

With each passing week, the rut closes in. We've been studying hard the daily updates from the Cuddelink System. We aren't just looking for where deer are located, but more importantly, what are they doing. Behavior and wind are two of the biggest predictors of stand selection for us at this time of the year. We closely monitor the intensity of movement by the trail camera images as well as our in the field observations. At this point of the season, we have located two main pockets of antlerless deer, these does are still very grouped up and devouring a destination food resource. So at this point, the preliminary chasing has begun, but the full chase and seeking phase is quickly approaching. As this timeframe closes in, we are expecting more time in the stand in hopes of encountering one of our top deer. We encourage you to monitor the deer and their behavior on the places you hunt closely as well. Don't let the good information be missed. Use this to your advantage as you choose stands to hunt or begin to get aggressive in your hunting locations. Make those calculated decisions by monitoring the rut accurately. Land & Legacy is Powered by Simplecast

This week is devoted to all things cover. Cover for wildlife can come in many different shapes and sizes. This is why we promote various cover types and within those cover types according to the region you should have a whole suite of beneficial species. Tune into this podcast to hear what cover looks like in each region of the country for whitetails. Every region has different factors that determine what type or composition of cover should be present. The various forms are dictated by the climate, rainfall, and length of the growing season. Why does this matter? At this point in the season in much of the country, whitetails are seeking out the cover to find does. As land managers and landowners we need to be able to promote the right cover on each property. Each element of cover we discuss should be present to play a key role in the development of the deer herd and attractiveness of the property. To best understand what type of security cover, escape cover, bedding cover, and fawning cover should be present write down the different types of cover composition for each region. Try to replicate this on your land. If treated like a sanctuary, this cover will produce deer almost every rut! Land & Legacy is Powered by Simplecast

On this podcast, we discuss several critical observations we made while consulting across the country. Recent trips have taken us to farms in Mississippi, Virginia, Arkansas, Iowa, and Missouri. We have seen several trends on the past tours that we devote our time to discuss. Our goal is to educate everyone on the proper management of the natural resources on their land. Closed canopy forests are so common across much of North America. However, when we examine forests closely, they provide a very small amount of benefit to the overall landscape for many wildlife species. Forests produce on average 50-100 pounds of digestible forage per acre each year, yet a whitetail consumes over 2,000 pounds of food a year. When we place real values on each acre of land we are managing, we find a huge under producing element. Although this resource is a low producer, we find it dominating the landscape! If we want to manage a property to be super productive, we have to decrease the number of acres in closed-canopy forest. The new objective for Earth Day is to cut a tree rather than plant one! This improvement across the landscape would make a positive impact. There are more trees across the landscape now than ever before, think about it! Enjoy.Learn.Share! Land & Legacy is Powered by Simplecast

This is the time in which deer hunters across the country begin to hit the woods with real anticipation for encountering rutting whitetails. From our in the field observations and what has been sent through the CuddeLink System, we know very little chasing is occurring in our neighborhood at this time. However, we are just days away from a massive cold front closing out October. The combination of a cold front and the photoperiod is a recipe for pre-rut activity. In this week's podcast, we discuss how our hunting strategy of being conservative thus far in the hunting season is about to change! We start to move in for a strike when the deer begin to move and get on their feet chasing does. If we pressure the property too much before the peak of deer movement, we limit ourselves and productiveness when the chances of encountering mature whitetails is at its peak. Listen closely to the hunting strategy we will begin to deploy this week and the few to follow. It's all about cover, find the cover and hunt! Deer behavior from year to year does not change at this time of the season. Without fail, bucks will be chasing does in areas of ideal bedding cover. Be there or be square and eating tag soup! Enjoy.Learn.Share! Land & Legacy is Powered by Simplecast

Not every encounter with a giant whitetail ends well. Misses are not fun, but they are real and happen to every bowhunter. Without fail at some point you will either miss a buck or loss one to a marginal hit. These tend to be the lower points of archery hunting. On this podcast, we discuss a recent hunt on the Prairie Hollow Property that resulted with an amazing encounter with the largest whitetail currently on the property. The hunt did not end with a truck bed full of antler, but a clean miss and more intel for future hunts.During the podcast, we set the stage for the preparations ahead of time to the habitat, the access, the stand location, hunting conditions, and overall hunting strategy. This powerful cold front that hit the Midwest early in October was highly influential in the success and deer movement we experienced during the hunt. We want this podcast to be like any other, an educational experience that will help others succeed in the outdoors.There are a ton of great days left in the hunting season to take to the woods. This early encounter with this giant buck was a gift. We are gonna keep at it and see what late October has in store for us. Keep you all posted! #ForLoveoftheLand Land & legacy is Powered by Simplecast