Unless you are included in the small percentages of individuals that own vast pieces of land, managing your property for hunting can be tough. The follow has some simple ideas and management tips to help create a better piece of hunting land for you and your party. Most people in the wildlife management profession analyze a property as a three-stool approach: Habitat, Wildlife, and Human Users. This article will examine aspects of each stool and how they can help your property.
What Are You Missing?
When we are evaluating what is needed for a particular species, we as wildlife managers and conservationists look at what are called limiting factors to decide what action needs to be taken. The three aspects of limiting factors are most often food, water, and habitat. All three are needed to maintain a population of any species. Whether it be grouse, turkey, pheasants, deer, or other game, creating a habitat containing food and water is necessary. In places such as northern Minnesota, some of the most common limiting factors for deer are food. On the other hand, in the same location, the most common limiting factor for grouse would most likely be nesting cover primarily comprise of tall native grasses. Can there be a middle ground? Yes! Conveniently, the native grasses that are utilized to increase upland bird populations are also great bedding and feeding areas for deer. Keep in mind that if the neighboring properties all have food and habitat, maybe a man-made pond is the way you want to lean towards. If you live in southern Minnesota in areas that are open croplands, habitat such as CRP (Conservation Reserve Program grasses) and tree plantings are probably the route you should take. Before any action can be taken to create a better property, the limiting factors must be evaluated thoroughly. The best approach to evaluating these are to ask what, when, where, why? This means what do we want to manage, what time of the year is targeted, where on the property can we do this, and why is this what we should do? These few simple questions will help get you on your way to a better piece of hunting land.
What’s for Dinner?
Any outdoorsman today knows that the most common phrase now is “food plots.” Everyone wants one and assumes it’s the key to monster bucks or higher number of birds. Take a step back and look at why the food plots are working, what exactly they are, and when they are hit. Certain crops such as soybeans, corn, clover, brassicas, and chicory are the go to forages, but they do not all fill the same niche (duty in the ecosystem). The best time to utilize corn and soybeans is going to be during the late season when the deer flock to them as the temperatures head south. Brassicas, turnips, clovers and similar forbs are hit from early spring until the snow gets thick. As the first frost hits, plants such as turnips and pumpkins can be dynamite attractants. While this is all fine and dandy, it is important to plant food plots that will help keep your game on your land year round. If the animals using the property feed heavily on it until October when a sudden fall snowstorm hits, then seem to disappear they most likely head to places where there is good winter feed. By creating a couple different food plots that can be beneficial at different times of the year, you can help keep different species of animals on your land throughout the year.
Be Selective
Anyone who watches hunting shows on television can see hunters like Lee and Tiffany Lakosky, Mark and Terry Drury, Don and Kandi Kisky, and others who are passing deer that most of us would only dream of harvesting. Often times we question why they could possibly do such a thing. The reasoning is simple. In order to grow large mature bucks, passing on the younger bucks is a must. With small acreage, it is tough to keep deer on your land if their home range size is larger than your total property size. Because of this, it is important to not shoot every doe, spike, fawn, or buck that walks by. The more deer in the area running around or running through, the more chance of growing big bucks you will have. Those does that run through can often times pull a buck from neighboring properties to yours during the rut.
Total Use
This is one of the toughest topics to manage. As the human user portion of the three-legged stool of wildlife managers, it is often the toughest aspect to swallow. It is difficult because if someone has a cabin with land, most owners want to go ride ATV’s, hunt, hike, shoot firearms, and vacation there. If the property is 200 acres or smaller, there may not be sufficient room for these activities. In Minnesota there are thousands of miles of ATV trails that are there for your enjoyment. This prevents unnecessary disturbances to wildlife, erosion, and damage to the ecosystem you are trying to preserve.
Can You Kill Two Birds With One Stone?
While managing a property may seem like a lot to digest, there are a few easy steps to begin. If both habitat and food sources are scarce planting trees and shrubs such as apple, plum, Russian olive, and chokecherry trees can satisfy both issues. They create habitat for deer, upland game, and turkey as well as nesting cover for songbirds.
Another tough issue is to manage human users, which can be addressed by finding a middle ground is allowing only minimal use. If shooting firearms is necessary, do it during the early parts of the year. If you have kids that enjoy ATV riding, then create a few smaller trails that only cover a portion of the land. If moderate to heavy ATV use is necessary, then it is very important to create what is called a sanctuary portion of the property. If your land is roughly 40 acres in size, select a 5 or 6-acre area that will see zero human interactions throughout the entire year. This means you do not hunt, drive, or walk on the land. It is important however; to make sure it is not desolate “garbage” land. Do not pick a plowed up section of field as your sanctuary. It must have excellent shelter and should be relatively close to either food or water. If you can keep this area undisturbed for a year or two it will quickly become a regularly used part of your property by many species of wildlife.
A Few Last Words
Even though you and your hunting party may only have access to a small piece of land, it is worth the effort to talk with the neighboring property owners and try to implement a plan together. In many instances, they want the same things that you do and are willing to pass on those spikes or shoot does for another year or two. No matter how much work it seems your projects may be, remember what goals you are trying to achieve. If you think the Lakosky’s, Drury’s, and Kisky’s got to where they are by shooting every spike and doe that walks by or by saying it’s too much work, then you obviously have not watched enough of their shows. They work day-in and day-out to manage their property. This article is not a quick-fix to monster bucks and plentiful upland birds, but it is a quick read on ideas to help make what you have better. Good luck and I hope to see some trophy photos from your property next fall!
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