Managing for What’s to Come

Dr. Grant Woods of Growing Deer TV has truly taken deer management to the highest level. Him and his team manage predators, the property, the food sources, and the deer herd. He has taken his management practices to truly cover all there is to cover. This practice is far from easy, it requires year round efforts to balance and maintain population levels. It is by doing this that a trophy hunter can truly reap the benefits of his work. Work leads to results. Over time years of work leads to truly exceptional results. For Dr. Grant woods and Growing Deer TV success is plentiful. Years of effort have created a unique property that is great for deer hunting. Managing predator populations and truly providing deer with exceptional nutrition has resulted in a fine deer population.

In his most recent episode Dr. Woods and his team wrap up their predator trapping season and discuss the importance of post-season food sources. Check out this episode for ideas to improve your property from a predator and a food source standpoint. These small efforts each season will eventually produce exceptional dividends.

 

Post-Season Efforts for February

The post season is well underway. We’re now stepping further into February and there are numerous tasks to complete during this cold month. Some of the tasks completed during this stage of the season will be the difference between understanding a mature bucks location and rarely seeing that buck at all.

1. Bed, Trail, Rub, and Food Source Scouting: Thorough scouting of our main property has revealed numerous bedding areas and some bedding areas that where much larger than I could have imagined. A few of the bedding areas have been quite surprising. A number of the scouting attempts have produced some considerably large rubs. One was right where we’d expect it to be.
2. Stand Scouting and Preparation:  We’ve been considering a few new stand locations for the upcoming season and one of those locations is right near if not directly in that incredible bedding area I’ve recently located.
3. Shed Hunting: At this point the amount of snow on the ground has made it difficult to locate sheds in our area, but we have found the shed of one spike. Once the snow melts it will be much easier to locate sheds. We’ll be looking around food sources and in these numerous bedding areas we’ve located.
4. Trail Camera Surveys: Around the middle of January the majority if not all of our bucks shed their racks. Between my neighbor and myself we’ managed to get a decent inventory of bucks that have survived the season. It will be interesting to see the size of these bucks in the late summer as velvet takes off growing. Post-season surveys have also provided a good idea on the size of our doe herd. In the next couple of weeks I’ll pull the majority of my cameras and store them until late summer when the velvet beings to show itself in substantial ways.
5. Nutrition: I’ll reiterate the importance of this point that I made in my January post-season article: In states that allow providing post-season nutrition and supplement can greatly enhance the health of your local deer herd. Any type of food or supplement that is added to the whitetails diet can be helpful. Nutrition can play great dividends when seeking to harvest mature bucks with trophy racks.
6. Predator Control: Harvesting coyotes can be a fun and important part of the post-season. So far we’ve yet to harvest any of these animals, but the tough winter has made it difficult to even come by many tracks.

A Quest for a 6 1/2 Year Old Buck

It’s often a struggle to see mature deer let alone harvest them. While Michigan has mature deer there are far many more immature bucks. Tony Hansen had his eyes set on this mature buck for some time. His encounters with this buck where documented and this had been his primary target over the past few seasons. This story has a few ups and downs along the way, but in the end Tony gets it done. Harvesting a 6 1/2 year old buck in a state like Michigan is an awesome feat. Michigan allows hunters to harvest two bucks and season and many hunters in the state shoot young deer. Therefore I tip my hat to Tony on this awesome accomplishment. Trophy bucks are often hard earned and the story they leave behind is always memorable.

Check out Tony’s surprising hunt —here–.

This footage is part of the Realtree hunting video series. The footage is great, and the stories the hunters provide often great insights into the challenge and strategy to harvest a mature buck.

Taking a Record Book Buck Takes Perseverance and Risks

Saskatchewan is Canada’s version of Iowa, Illinois or Kansas. It is the Whitetail destination of choice in Canada. The amount of quality whitetails in Canada is something special and Doug Broich’s choice to hold out for a special buck was a wise choice. Read the full story of —Doug’s Saskatchewan Non-Typical Whitetail Record Buck—. Doug made a choice earlier in the season to pass on a fine buck that he had rattled in. This is often considered a risk, but Doug has his eyes set on the real prize that still was out there.

For Doug a number of important variables lead to his harvesting of this 243″ monster:

• Early season stand set-up and establishing feeding areas on his property
• Running trail cameras to determine to quality of deer around
• Taking a risk and attempting a stalk on a mature buck
• Rattling in a few of the biggest deer in his area, including the buck he eventually harvested
• Being ready to reload quickly during the moment of truth

Not everything played out perfectly for Doug, but in the end he did what he needed to get the job done. Hat’s off to him for killing a buck that is absolutely incredible.