By Kris Klemick
It would hold one
sanctuary after the next, a tangled glory of prime bedding and thick cover.
Mature woodlots would produce immeasurable hard-mast crops year after year.
Established orchards of soft-mast trees would bear fruit by the truckload. And
if that weren’t enough, you’d also have the tools, equipment and premier soil
profile to grow lush, nutritious food plots. Oh, the possibilities and good
fortune of being able to manage and hunt such utopian ground. In reality, few people hold the deed to
countless acres. However, if you’re fortunate to own a little slice of heaven —
as I suspect most Whitetail News readers do — chances are you can’t hit every major feature
that’s important to whitetails out of the park. You should, however, position
yourself for success. Unfortunately,
many people try to do so much on their property that their efforts don’t
produce the results they hope to see. That’s why stepping back and evaluating
the broader picture is an essential part of managing small tracts. What’s considered small by one person might
spell limitless possibilities to another. Size is purely subjective, and
because of that, we won’t postulate to which degree you might label a parcel as
being small. For this article, we’ll consider a small parcel as anything a landowner
might believe isn’t large enough to make a positive impact on the herd or
hunting experience.
As mentioned, people
often believe they need to tick off numerous checkboxes to make a difference,
including food plots, mineral sites, bedding and fawning cover, water sources
and multiple stands for several weather variables. They overthink it, wanting
to nail it all. Soon, however, they find themselves over their heads, awash in
the stress that goes with biting off more than you can chew. You’ve likely heard, “Go big or go home.”
Forget it. Such philosophy has no place with small properties. Another
misguided concept is rationalizing how or why you must outdo your neighbors to
be successful. “Bill plants four food plots over there each year. I’ve gotta
get at least five or six in the ground.” Hunting is a sport, but there need not be
winners and losers among our ranks.
The whitetails we pursue
are the captains of the team. We wear the same camouflage uniform as the next
guy, collectively working together to do what’s best for the animals we pursue
with unwavering passion and commitment. If you don’t — or can’t — have a
mutually rewarding relationship with your neighbor, use topo maps and Google
Earth to see what’s going on around you. Determine what’s missing or what you
can do to best complement the surrounding landscape. For example, if one property after the next
consists of rolling ag fields or food plots carved out of mature timber, focus
on what’s lacking. Identify where deficiencies exist, and work to eliminate
them. By ensuring your property fills a void and complements its surroundings,
it stands to be favored above others. After all, your goal is for deer to spend
as much time as possible inside the property lines as opposed to just cutting
across a corner of your property from time to time. In such a scenario, adding Whitetail
Institute’s newest product, Conceal, into your plan can enhance your property
and provide the edge you and your deer need. Conceal is designed to complement
all aspects of deer management by rapidly producing tall stands of thick cover
when and where it’s needed most. It can also create a visually impenetrable
wall that’s perfect for bedding areas. It can also produce much needed security
around food plots to help keep deer in them more often during daylight. “The varieties of seed in Conceal grow to
different heights helping ensure the plot is dense, and the shorter plants
offer support to the taller varieties as the planting develops and matures,”
said William Cousins, general manager of the Whitetail Institute. “Two of the
main keys to using this product successfully are seeding at the correct rate
and applying proper fertilization. The plants can grow up to nine feet tall but
need sufficient fertility to accomplish this. Also, too much seed per acre or
square foot will also create crowded root space, which can lead to shorter
overall plant height.” In a world with
scarce thick cover because of aging forests and increasing predator populations
that continue to threaten fawn recruitment, the possibilities with Conceal are
limitless.
Mineral sites are another
huge benefit to landowners and deer. Food plots are often the vehicle by which
minerals from the soil are transferred to deer, but deficiencies in the soil
can often limit mineral and nutrient uptake, resulting in inferior antler
development. This is especially true in areas not conducive for farming or
deep forests where smart bucks grow old. The annual cycle of antler development
depends strictly on a buck’s ability to maintain his skeletal structure first.
Minerals beyond the skeletal requirements can then be put toward antler
growth. The Whitetail Institute’s 30-06
mineral products are the gold standards in the industry. Check the guaranteed
analysis on each package, and you’ll find the correct micro and macro minerals
in proper ratios needed for a healthy herd. We’ve been using 30-06 on our property for
years, and deer have benefited significantly from it. Does can produce more
milk for their fawns, weights per age class continue to increase and bucks are
putting more mass on their racks. And for our area, deep in the mountain
country across the northern tier of Pennsylvania, we’ve been fortunate to
consistently harvest best-in-class bucks year after year. Establishing a 30-06 site is as easy as
pouring it on the ground and walking away. First, though, test a few spots off
a well-worn travel corridor by raking a 2 to 3 foot-diameter area clear of
branches, leaves and vegetation to bare dirt. Then pour 5 to 10 pounds of
mineral in the center of it and mix it in with the soil. After a few weeks, you
should be able to tell which sites deer prefer and you can continue recharging
it based on the ebb and flow of usage. Using trail cameras at those sites can
assist tremendously. We use them year-round for site-specific statistics,
inventorying deer numbers and much more.
Ultimately, you must make
every acre count. Hunting smart becomes more critical on smaller properties.
Hunting smart means hunt while keeping your presence known to deer at a
minimum. Work with your neighbors to develop and improve your hunting, and make
the most of what you’ve been blessed with.
