I know this is long, but in 2000 I started my plan. I don' t have much in the way of habitat to work with, but I' m trying to get the most out of every inch of the property to substantially increase the enjoyment of my property, and the results are outstanding! Keep in mind I am only in the 4th year of my plan, but I am now up to 5 5/8 Acres of food plots entering into hunting season...ahead of schedule! No, I' ll never have 4,5, and 6 year old deer running around on a consistant basis, but realistically a couple 2.5 year olds and even a 3.5 year old coming around each year is becoming reality. Here is my progress....so far.

Let me paint a picture for you…. 120 Acres covered with pockets of older-age spruce, cedar, pine, soft maple, and fir, blended in with a substantial portion of tag-alder creek bottom, and clear-cut openings from the early 80’s, full of a variety of young pine. Soils consisting of primarily a sandy loam, with pH levels in the 4.7 to 5.2 ranges. Little to no mast crop, fruit crop, or farmland growing within 20 miles. A population of less than 5 deer frequenting the property on a daily basis, contributing to less than 5 total rubs from the previous year, and no evidence of any scraping activity.

So how do you see it, five-year dream or nightmare?

In 1998 it became a dream, and in July of 1999, when the 120-acre parcel was added to our adjoining 10 acres and home, it became a reality. It also became the acceptance of year-round management, year-round stewardship, year-round planning and year-round work. But not all work is created equal, and after three and a half years of molding and shaping, the results of hours of “fun-work”, have been extremely rewarding.

The Molding and Shaping:

In 1999 I joined the QDMA, and through them, I was introduced to Ed Spinnazola, President of the Mid-Michigan QDMA branch, now a board member of the national QDMA. It turned out Ed was a food plot expert, not to mention full of generosity in both time, and even a little seed. As was stressed in most publications at the time, Ed stressed the importance of liming, as well as variety in planting, including both warm and cold-season forages. Along with Ed’s advice and information obtained largely from the QDMA’s Quality Whitetails book and Quarterly Whitetails magazine, I formed the basis for my plan.

It was also in 1999 that I was privileged enough to meet fellow central U.P. area resident and nationally known white-tailed research biologist, John Ozoga. John is not only an expert in local herd research, but has been an invaluable reference for local scientific insight and herd structure.

In august of 2001 my continuing plan was reinforced, as I hired Mark Thomas, also a national board member of the QDMA, to evaluate my actions, and make any recommendations of improvement. Mark and I spent approximately nine hours of walking and talking on the property, while I did my best to absorb the countless insights that Mark shared with me.

The information gleaned from Mark, John, Ed, and the QDMA, has lead to what I believe has been the successful foundation of the start a journey of many years to come.

The Food Plots:

Entering the 2000-hunting season, I had been able to hire a bulldozer to help create two food plots totaling 1 acre. Two years later, by the start of the 2002 hunting season, and approximately 22 tons of lime later, I had a total of 4 ¼ acres of food plots. During a warming trend around Christmas of 2002, I had been able to start another ¼ of an acre of food plot, with the remaining portion of that particular area being added, limed, and leveled in the spring of 2003, as well as the completion of another adjoining ¼ acre area. Additionally, two other ¼ acre “harvest plots” are planned for the summer of 2003, bringing the total of food plot acreage entering the 2003 hunting season to a projected 5¼ acres, with each 40 acre parcel offering various sizes of food plots. Each year the effects of lime have been dramatic, from unfertile, almost useless soil, to a productive clover field in just one-year!

The Strategy:

What to plant, how to plant it, where to plant it, and why? Access roads, safety zones, treestand locations, and native plant management. What deer to harvest and how many?

In general, I’ve tried to build everything to accommodate a “stealth” approach, an approach in which my hunting and daily activities can be carried out with little human to deer contact. All aspects of the property revolve around a centrally located large non-hunted food plot, and a high percentage of “safety-zone land”. This is where the planning comes in. When shaping a piece of land, mistakes can be costly and irreversible, and because of this I decided to make the investment of hiring an expert, as my efforts were becoming quite extensive.

Mark Thomas came to me highly recommended and with a wealth of field experience, education, and knowledge. Overall, Mark reaffirmed the direction my plan was taking, and had a couple of key suggestions. First, Mark saved me from a recommendation of a local state forester to build a pond in a particular area of the property. After seeing this portion of the property for the first time, Mark immediately suggested I do very little with the site, which meant no food plots, and especially no ponds. Mark informed me that this particular area held the best variety of preferred native vegetation and browse species on the entire property! It would have been a costly mistake to build a food plot in this location, and even worse, a pond. Mark’s recommendation wasn’t exactly to “do nothing”, but to lime and fertilize this area to further enhance the attractiveness the area already possessed.

The second aspect of Mark’s recommendations was an interspersion index feature. This feature is basically a harvest plot, with various planted spokes heading into different directions to resemble a “crows foot”, from the air. The long narrow spokes, always close to cover, promote increased daytime feeding activities, as well as increased viewing and harvest opportunities. I have incorporated this with my food plots in that they have various spokes or irregular indentations, and most are primarily long and narrow.

Mark also confirmed two other aspects of property strategy. First, a harvest goal I had developed in talking to John Ozoga, in that doe fawns would be an appropriate harvest target, as well as bucks at least 2.5 years of age. And secondly, a recommendation to leave the timber and young growth on the property just the way it is, with excellent screening, bedding, thermal, and escape cover already present.

Finally, another important piece of the “stealth” approach strategy is the trail system and tree stand usage. My access trails avoid crossing food plots, and the majority of the food plots are rarely hunted, with the bulk of the hunting activities taking place on travel routes to and from bedding areas. Some have suggested I plant a portion of my trail network, but I have chosen to stay away from this practice due to the fact that it greatly increases the human to deer contact frequency. My treestands are numerous and not overused. Some treestands are hunted only once per season, in the perfect situation of wind, time of year, and time of day, and most are hunted less than three times.

Some may find my “stealth strategy” a little extreme, but on limited acreage it has been my experience that it takes very little human to deer contact to effectively damage the comfort level of an entire local deer herd. I may eventually chart my findings of my established camera locations, but I have found that deer may completely avoid an area for 2 to 3 days, previously being visited multiple times per day, after just one intrusion of stand set-up, construction, or even heavy ATV use. My strategy is an intensive one, but I feel my efforts are already beginning to be rewarded.

The Rewards:

In 2000 I was able to find less than 5 rubs on the property from the previous season, and one small scrape. It was quite evident from track counts found on the property, that there were less than 5 deer using the property on a daily basis. It was actually common to be unable to find a fresh deer track for 2 to 3 days at a time on the property’s 1.5 miles of trails and 2-tracks! By the beginning of the 2000 hunting season I had been able to have a bulldozer establish two separate food plots totaling 1 acre, and a third ¼ acre food plot was established with Ed Spinnazola’s recommendations of multiple herbicide treatments, and a spring-toothed harrow. Although the initial food plot quality was low, deer began using the property on a daily basis, and my viewing opportunities within bow or rifle range increased dramatically. I also received my first buck picture on the property, a small spike, and later captured a 2.5 year old 8-point on a migration trail in December. The rub and scrape counts stayed about the same as the previous year, but it was obvious the daily deer activities were increasing, and the positive steps, although “baby steps”, were encouraging for 2001.

During the 2001 season, with the addition of a tractor, I was able to increase the food plot total to 3.5 acres. With established mineral stations and food plot funnels in place to effectively monitor daily activities, it was easy to create a camera census of the daily deer population using the property. Mark Thomas toured the property in late August and stated he thought about 15 deer were using the property on a daily basis, based on track count and sign. After the hunting season, while scouring numerous game photos, I was able to make the following population determination: Six mature does, 4 yearling does, only 1 fawn (due to an extremely harsh late winter/spring combination), and 3 yearling bucks. In addition, I was able to harvest a healthy 2.5 year old 8-point that had been residing on the extreme edge of the property, for a total population of around 15 deer. Mark couldn’t have been any closer in his estimation, and this offered further evidence of the validity and expertise of his suggestions. “Last but not least” for 2001, were the over 40 rubs and over 20 scrapes found throughout the property boundaries! My “baby steps” for the property were getting bigger, and although I love passing the winter months scouting, while listening to my beagles run the numerous snowshoe rabbits that now benefit from the increased food supply, I couldn’t wait for the upcoming management season of 2002.

2002 was a great year in many ways. By the start of the 2002-hunting season, I was able to establish another food plot totaling ¾ acre, bringing the total food plot acreage to 4 ¼ acres. The game camera pictures were coming often and in John Ozoga’s opinion, they were mirroring the five-peaked daily activity rhythm feeding patterns of the white-tailed deer. On several locations, including the ¾ acre field I had just established, feedings were occurring consistently at mid-morning, mid day, late afternoon, and twice during the night. My own personal observation suffered as I spent 5 prime hunting weekends away from home, while hunting whitetails in WI and PA. But by the end of the season, the game cameras confirmed the movements of six different 8-points, of 2.5 to 3.5 years of age, 6 to 7 mature does, and 8 fawns! The game cameras also supported the findings of limited fawns the previous year, in that just 1 yearling was captured on film, a fat and healthy spike. Although there was less scraping activity within the property boundaries, both rubs and scrapes had increased in size and intensity.

Looking Forward to the Future:

There are indeed limits as a result of owning a “smaller” piece of property, but while staying within those limits, and establishing realistic long-term management and harvest strategies, a property of restricted size can experience dramatic improvement in both quality and attraction. Our property has several limiting factors that have been taken into consideration, including: Size of property, substantial amounts of bordering public lands, low soil quality, and the migration patterns and yarding characteristics of the resident deer population. Staying within these limits, I still feel that I have achieved the best “120 acre parcel” in the area. With the tips and tactics I have been able to incorporate into the property, many from information I’ve learned directly from the QDMA, or the QDMA’s Quarterly Whitetails magazine, I have been able to produce a solid foundation of strategic management philosophy. This foundation will insure a successful future for the long-term attractiveness and productivity of the property’s habitat. The management of the property will be a never-ending tale of “fun work”, but as the 4th season of management activities approaches, the property is well on it’s way to becoming the property I started dreaming about almost 5 years ago. It all starts with a five-year plan of setting priorities for each year and being diligent, but not “over-worked” in your actions. In the end of your hard work, and as the realization of your dream takes shape, you will find that not only have you increased the level of enjoyment and productivity of your property, but you will have experienced the rewards of being not just a “hunter”, but a “Manager”.