How Much of Your Property is Useable by Wildlife?

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. I am not talking about the odd chance that a deer, turkey or quail could show up on any square foot of my property, sure they might, will they .... not likely. Why is that? How does a deer, turkey or quail benefit from being in that one particular spot. Does it provide food or protection from predators? Often times we overlook that if you are a deer, turkey or quail your day-to-day life outside of breeding season is almost entirely focused on staying alive. It really is that simple. When you look at any living species, the harsh reality (no matter how sophisticated or evolved including us humans) from a purely biological perspective is to stay alive long enough to reproduce and pass on our genetic makeup. Are you managing your property to convert as many of those acres under your control to providing food or protection from predators? Owning less acres that you can successfully manage is far more beneficial than owning lots of acres that have limited wildlife value. Being able to devote the time and/or financial resources to your property is a key to successful wildlife habitat management. I myself struggle with managing my own 87 acres to maximize wildlife value. Every chance I get to supply "man hours" to my property really needs to be looked at from the view of what will provide the most benefit. Just this week as we were doing some prescribed burning on a dense, native, warm season grass stand that needs to be opened up to allow some forbs and open space back into it I was dreaming about burning a block of my timber. Will I have time to burn in the timber this Spring? Probably not. Burning the grassland allows me to manipulate and improve the habitat on more acres, more quickly, to the benefit of more species.

Sometimes we fall into the mindset of providing everything we think wildlife can possibly need on our property, but yet it is located in such a way that it is rarely used by wildlife. Is that food plot on one end of your property located several hundred yards away from the nearest quail brooding or predator escape useful? Is that perfect old field habitat ideal for quail chicks and turkey poults surrounded by a field of extremely dense grass preventing them from moving from great nesting habitat to that old field? Coming up with a wildlife habitat plan that makes the most of your time and money, and benefits wildlife the most is a key step in making the most of your acres. If you would like to have help in creating your wildlife habitat management plan we are here to help. Click the link to find out how we can build a plan that prioritizes the things that will help your property the most.

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Turkeys in Field