What wildlife management tool causes the most fear and yet creates the most wildlife habitat for the least amount of monetary input? Fire. Controlled burning is an incredibly powerful tool in the wildlife habitat manager's tool box. An entire blog series could be written on controlled burning. There is no doubt that ecological succession happens naturally, unfortunately interference by humans has led to drastic changes in vegetation types on the the landscape. Dormant Season

Sometimes we get a little envious of those folks who say their farm/land encompasses alot of acres. We all dream of maybe owning a bigger farm or more land when managing for wildlife. Bigger is better, right? Have you ever heard folks say their 40 acres hunts like 100 acres? Or that even though they own 100 acres they only have a couple of favorite locations within the 100 acres that they usually hunt. What that really boils down to is how useable your property is to wildlife

In the last blog I touched on the value of shrubs as a food source for White-tailed deer, I will continue on with the shrub theme this week. Dormant shrubs provide most of a deer's browse in the Winter months, especially in non-Ag areas. Shrubs also benefit other wildlife besides deer. Shrubs go well beyond being beneficial for just deer. Shrubs when strategically planted can be a big boost to turkey populations. Obviously, turkeys will eat some of the berries produced by shr

This is about the time of year we start noticing bucks dropping their antlers. Some may have dropped their antlers quite some time ago. If a buck dropped his antlers a good while back, especially a large mature buck, that could be sign of poor body condition, high stress levels or injury. Antlers are secondary to a buck's overall body condition. In the previous blog I talked about "Maternal Effect", in a sense antlers are an indication of a bucks overall quality of health. Do

Maternal effect has a big role in just how big those antlers will be on that mature buck

Before we know it, Spring planting season will be here, some folks may very well even be thinking of frost seeding very soon. Often times we see planting recommendations for seeding rates as pounds of PLS/acre. Some of you may know what that means and others may not, but you thought what the heck I am just going to plant it! PLS (pure-live-seed) is the seed in your bag that is actually viable and is able to germinate upon being planted. Seed is available in a wide range of qu

Dense stands of trees hold little wildlife value.

Just like the old commercial for milk .... Got Milk? Protein is a big part of healthier deer; faster body development (increased weights)...

As many of us enter into the growing season many folks require glyphosate to control unwanted vegetation. A number of times I have seen...

Well for most of us it is going to be a very early Spring. Never in the span of growing fruit trees would I have ever envisioned digging...

Pruning your trees is not as difficult as you might think, and yet the benefits of doing so can pay off big. Our main focus here at...

Depending on your wildlife habitat focus you may be looking to enhance existing native habitat, or you may be thinking of adding other...

Does trapping pay? I am not talking about in terms of dollars and cents. There are two camps when it comes to trapping predators. Those...

If you are interested in creating habitat for Northern Bob-white quail and turkeys, "grassland" habitat is a very important component of...

The natural world looked far different 100 years ago. Fire whether it was started by lightening or intentionally by man kept many areas...

In the last blog I talked about timbered areas and some general thoughts about how and why we need to take an active role in managing...

I would say that for the vast majority of us timbered areas comprise some portion of our property. There are very few parcels of land...

While all living creatures need water to some degree should you bother with including water sources on your habitat plan? I say yes. Just...

In the last blog I talked about food sources, both native and man-made (food plots) and considerations to take into account regarding lay...

Food plots are often one of the 1st things land managers look to implement as they begin making changes to the habitat on their property....