Hopefully a Sign of Things to Come

If you want to know what bucks are in your neighborhood, putting a trail camera in an agricultural field or food plot is a great place to start.  Even though this corn will likely be down for most of hunting season, it is a real hub of activity for all the neighborhood bucks during the summer months.  Even the ones that normally live on someone else's property will spend the summer months taking inventory of all the deer in the home range.

  After putting up my trail camera in late June, I went back about a month later to see the number 1200 on the front of my trail camera.  I thought I had just taken a thousand pictures of the corn growing (which turned out to be closer to 200), but when I popped the SD card into my computer, I was pleasantly surprised...OK I was really happy!  Even though these brutes may not live on my hunting ground, I'm hoping they'll show up in November looking for a hot doe.

My trail camera setup was simple, really.  I selected a 10yd wide drainage strip through a cornfield, and walked until I found a wet area where the corn didn't grow that well.  As luck would have it, there are also a couple of trees growing the in the drainage ditch, so I strapped on my camera and let it do the rest.

The Importance of Edge Habitat

   OK, everyone who has hunted for over a food source should be able to relate to this scenario: 30 minutes of shooting light left, and a doe eases out into the field (or food plot). A few minutes later another doe and a small fork-horn begin feeding their way out into the field. With shooting light fading fast, you hear some movement mere feet from the field’s edge, but can’t get a visual. Minute after agonizing minute, you wait for the deer to emerge, but it never does- at least not until shooting light is gone. Sure enough, you can barely make out the shadowy form of a mature buck walking out into the field.

                          A strip of Rye Grass around a client's food plot

   What if there was a way to coax that buck out into the open? Well there just might be… Something to think about as you’re planting and tending your food plots this summer is planting some edge habitat.  I made a brief reference to edge habitat in my last post, but it bears a little further explanation. The concept is simple, really- give deer a buffer zone between the forest and the food plot.  As deer get up from their beds and begin to move to feeding areas in the late afternoon, the most wary ones (often mature bucks) will wait until dark to enter food plots.

   By planting 20-50 feet of edge habitat around the perimeter of a food plot, you can offer deer a sense of security because the edge habitat is tall enough to offer them some concealment from any trouble at ground level. With good edge habitat, wary deer still think they are protected, so they will be more likely to come out of the timber a few minutes sooner-before you run out of shooting light.  As long as you are in a treestand, you will still have a clear view of the buck's vitals even as the slink around in the edge habitat.

   Grasses are a cheap, easy way to develop some edge habitat.  They may take a year to grow to maturity, but could pay serious dividends.  Drop us a line to get some quotes on your desired grass seed.  We carry many popular varieties and are have very competitive prices.

Managing Your Property For Whitetail Deer (and other wildlife) Part 2

Deer love tall grass.

    It may be a bit of a secret to some hunters, but deer love tall grass. Recently moving to the farmland of central Illinois from the forested hills of western Pennsylvania, this is a new concept to me. After hearing about it, though, I flipped through my hunting memories of the past few years here in Illinois, and was surprised that my memories agreed-deer love tall grass.

Little Bluestem

    In the fall of 2009, several friends and relatives of mine bow hunted some public land nearby. As the group split up to do some scouting, three of us stuck together and decided to scout an area near some standing corn. Tall grasses, goldenrod, and small trees littered this area. After we made our way down a hillside adjacent to the corn field, we jumped a nice buck in the grass, which took off up the hillside we just came down. Two doe leapt from the same area, but went another direction. At that point, the three of us split up and I decided to still-hunt a large circle around the area. After meeting back up with my friends, I learned that one had actually spotted a bedded buck in the grass about 150 yards from where we jumped the first one. At about 40 yards, my friend was getting ready to draw his bow when the buck sensed something wasn’t right and jumped out of his bed, quickly bounding out of bow range.

    This past year, we returned to the same public land, and my wife’s cousin got some video footage of a 160 class buck the first afternoon we were there. Guess where? In a CRP field with tall grass and golden rod. He also put a stalk on another buck two days later that bedded in the same field. Similar to last year, just as he was about to draw his bow, the buck’s 6th sense told him to get out of dodge.

    Last November, I was bow hunting in Fulton County when I happened to spot a buck breeding a doe. Where? You guessed it. Tall grass. I could list several other examples, but hopefully the point is clear by now. Deer love tall grass! People who spend a lot of time in pursuing deer will tell you that deer often prefer tall grasses and CRP fields over the forest for bedding and travelling.

    Big Bluestem

     If you own land, or have the freedom to do some land management on your lease, consider planting some of these grasses. Big bluestem, little bluestem, and Indian grass are all good choices. Each has its own merits. Big bluestem grows up to 7 feet tall, which offers total concealment for deer. It also offers quality forage. Little bluestem tops out around 3 feet. This is tall enough to conceal a bedded deer, but still offer the hunter some visibility when a deer is moving through. Indian grass can grow to 6 feet tall, and is very tolerant of poor soils. Planting a mixture of these grasses can give deer a feeling of security, some food for browsing, and a great field of view for a hunter.

    Grasses can be planted a few different ways to be most effective. A large, several acre patch of native grasses can be a real haven for deer to bed in and travel through. Another application is planting a 30-50 foot swath on the edge of mature timber, or the transition zone from a bedding area to a food source, so as to create edge habitat where deer will travel through and congregate in before entering fields at dusk.

Indian Grass



    A lot more could be said about tall grasses, but since this is only a blog and not a book; I’ll leave it at this: if you don’t have any tall grass on your hunting ground, it is definitely worth your time to plant some. You will not be disappointed with the results. If you’re interested in creating some of this deer-magnet habitat, give us a call or drop us a line. We can get virtually any type of tall grass, and can even plant it for you if you don’t have the time!

More Coyote Hunting

     With a blizzard blowing in this afternoon, I decided to try some coyote hunting this morning.  I thought the approaching front might be encouraging animals to be looking for some food.  Anyway, I hunted this particular property for the first time this morning.  I walked up a fence line from the road to the woodlot, then picked a tree to sit up against.  I had a panoramic view of my downwind  side (to my left), as well as a good view straight ahead for at least 150 yards.  I started blowing on my rabbitt distress call and this coyote popped out of the woodlot into the field about 100 yards in front of me.  It was less than 10 seconds from when I first blew on the call, to when I saw this thing.  My gun was still in my lap.  After surveying the situation for a few seconds, it turned and walked back into the woods.  This time I got my gun up on my knees before I called.  I only blew into the call twice and it popped right back out where I saw it the first time.  Then it trotted towards me for a few seconds and sat down, facing me head on.  I put the crosshairs right on it's chest, and my .243 dropped it in it's tracks.

     I was pretty pumped up until I approached the varmint and realized it had some issues.  Looks like it had some sort of mange.  Some clumps of hair missing here and there, as well as the 1/2 bald face.  What an ugly critter!  At least it's dead now... 

     I've been surprised how easy it is to get permission to hunt coyotes.  I spent last Saturday talking to landowners and I've now got 5 properties to hunt.  Only one land owner didn't want any hunting on their land.  I'm hoping to shoot at least a couple coyotes with nice coats, so I can tan their hides and use them to make something-or maybe just hang one on the wall.