What’s your one video, article, podcast, book...

Howboutthemdawgs

5 year old buck +
That was the most influential to you as a manager or hunter? The one you are quick to send to buddies who share your passion, that you have rewatched or reread several times. Pretty much anything by dr Harper fits that description for me but for whatever reason this one is my gold standard. It was eye opening and encouraging at the same time. For those who haven’t seen it, it’s worth the time to watch again and again and again!
 
Brian's Winter by Gary Paulson
Must of read it over a dozen times in my youth. Still has a place on my shelf.
 

It's a long video, but this is a great resource on hinge cutting and habitat management in general.
 
I have a degree in wildlife management and worked for the Feds in Natural Resource Management for 34 years, and on my own property for 20 years. I have read all manner of written material and listened to all sorts of podcasts and watched webinars - and I have yet to find anything I would consider a “go to” source. Every piece of property is a little different and manages a little differently. I am still learning. But my best, go to source for my area, is my own experience.
 
Rich Dad Poor Dad. After I read it I made a point to purchase income producing land as an asset., Best decision I have ever made. I now have--Income, future retirement, hunting and habitat work all in one.
 
I have a degree in wildlife management and worked for the Feds in Natural Resource Management for 34 years, and on my own property for 20 years. I have read all manner of written material and listened to all sorts of podcasts and watched webinars - and I have yet to find anything I would consider a “go to” source. Every piece of property is a little different and manages a little differently. I am still learning. But my best, go to source for my area, is my own experience.

^^^^Amen!

I like Steve Bartylla and have talked to him several times. Straight forward, practical advice from a seasoned hunter who shapes his recommendations from a hunting perspective.

The biggest mistake that most people make in property management is that they don't learn enough about their own property before they start making all sorts of changes. They gather up every idea and concept from all these videos & podcasts and somehow think that someone who has never stepped foot on their property will provide magic bean answers. They end up disrupting the natural balance and the reasons why the deer are using their property.

Good to try and learn from info out there, but you need to understand many of these folks are trying to make a buck and have to present a different angle on their can't miss scheme. I have learned more about deer behavior and my property by spending time in my bow stand than anything else.

Learn to hunt, learn your property as sometimes less is more.
 
Much of the webinar, podcasts, deer/habitat so called experts are northern based folks. They talk negatively of doe factories. Many of us in the south have two month firearm seasons and creating doe factories might be what insures we have deer. These same guys talk about providing thermal cover, never even pausing to think thermal cover in the south might be a grove of open ash trees that provide shade and allow a breeze. A lot of the south sees primary stress periods in August as opposed to winter in the north. Northern fawn recruitment numbers might be .8/1 fawn per doe. Half that down here in the south.

I have two pieces of property, six miles apart, in the same river bottoms. They manage nothing alike. And it took me, with a professional wildlife management background, quite a while to figure that out.

I think a private deer manager needs to learn the specific management techniques and then experiment with those techniques and learn from experience on your own ground how those techniques affect your deer population and your property.

i have one piece of property that requires that I remove fawn predators to maintain a decent deer population. The other piece of property requires coyotes and bobcats be present to prevent a wave of hogs from overcoming everything I do towards deer management. Experiment and learn - on your own ground.
 
If you have a chance to watch Bill Winke on Midwest Whitetail, his segments on buying his farm in Iowa, and then selling it---is very informative. The buck history, how they managed a large farm. You can take parts of it, and make it relate to a smaller farm situation (more Midwest related).
 
I'll 2nd Bill Winke and Steve Bartylla. The are both down to earth individuals that explain things in a way that even I can understand....lol
 
If you have a chance to watch Bill Winke on Midwest Whitetail, his segments on buying his farm in Iowa, and then selling it---is very informative. The buck history, how they managed a large farm. You can take parts of it, and make it relate to a smaller farm situation (more Midwest related).
That was actually a pretty good video. I wish he would have gone into a little bit more detail on some of the financing strategies that he had. I think that he has a fairly blue collar job and worked his way up from owning a few hundred acres to almost a thousand and how he did that specifically would be interesting to know. Hopefully the new guys that took over Midwest whitetails will carry on the torch for winke.
 
+1 for Bill Winke. I’ve also subscribed to his new YouTube channel.

As far as podcasts go, I’m a fan of chasing giants although it’s starting to get a bit repetitive.

I also like Growing Deer from Dr Grant Woods, some good habitat information there. Especially because he’s in my state also.

But the most influential probably has to go to Paul Knox. The many hours I’ve spent reading his posts...
 
Last edited:
From what I've found so far, the best podcasts I've seen have mostly focused on public land hunting. They are Truth From the Stand and Hunt for Real. The Deer University and Natural Resource University are both pretty good as well.
 
The Blood Brothers videos were very good, covered Farm Country Bucks, Marsh Bucks, & Hill Country bucks.

Real hunters who did not own land and found a way to get it done.
 
Last edited:
The old forum and the many great posters on it and the trails they led me to were instrumental in most of the advances made on our property and in my development as a landowner/manager. Today the same holds true except that we are split into two forums that I follow, this one (habitat-talk) and Deerhunterforum. A second best source for me might be the Cornell Master Forest Owner program. Conducting woods walks and sharing information with other land owners, both deer hunters and non-deer hunters alike provides new learnings or different angles to look at something which adds up to more SEEING and understanding. And as SwampCat stated, "every property is so different". Each woods walk is a real challenge to help the landowner as much as possible. And by doing so significant personal growth is one of the paybacks.
 
Much of the webinar, podcasts, deer/habitat so called experts are northern based folks. They talk negatively of doe factories. Many of us in the south have two month firearm seasons and creating doe factories might be what insures we have deer. These same guys talk about providing thermal cover, never even pausing to think thermal cover in the south might be a grove of open ash trees that provide shade and allow a breeze. A lot of the south sees primary stress periods in August as opposed to winter in the north. Northern fawn recruitment numbers might be .8/1 fawn per doe. Half that down here in the south.

I have two pieces of property, six miles apart, in the same river bottoms. They manage nothing alike. And it took me, with a professional wildlife management background, quite a while to figure that out.

I think a private deer manager needs to learn the specific management techniques and then experiment with those techniques and learn from experience on your own ground how those techniques affect your deer population and your property.

i have one piece of property that requires that I remove fawn predators to maintain a decent deer population. The other piece of property requires coyotes and bobcats be present to prevent a wave of hogs from overcoming everything I do towards deer management. Experiment and learn - on your own ground.

How bout a good resource for managing frequently flooded river/creek bottoms?

bill
 
How bout a good resource for managing frequently flooded river/creek bottoms?

bill

I havent found a good resource - probably because there is not a good way to do it. I depend a lot on durana clover. Since I usually cant get equipment into my plots in the spring to do anything, I need something that can MAYBE make it on its own. Durana seems to be able to withstand about two to three week durations of inundation. It will also hang on in surprisingly wet, soft ground. I plant wheat into my durana plots in the fall when it is dry enough to work for a quick green up to hunt over. I dont depend on the wheat to provide anything else. Hogs will graze durana, but they dont tend to root too badly in it. If durana plots are too wet to access in early to mid summer for bush hogging, weeds may actually shade the durana enough to get it to last throughout the summer.

If you do find conditions allow planting in bottomlands mid summer, I like milo or wgf sorghum. It is fairly drought resistent and later plantings may allow the heads to last into deer season, and if flooded in the fall or winter, can also provide some decent duck hunting. Hogs dont seem to root the planted seeds like they will corn or soybeans.

Persimmons, native pecan, and mayhaws for bottomland mast source, along with a variety of oak species. Ash and box elder stands provide excellent summer thermal cover as those trees will typically provide a dense canopy, shading out underbrush, providing relief from the sun and open sub story for unimpeded breeze.

I am all ears if anyone has any other flood prone successes. Managing in those areas can be very frustrating - and what worked this year may not work next year.
 
I havent found a good resource - probably because there is not a good way to do it. I depend a lot on durana clover. Since I usually cant get equipment into my plots in the spring to do anything, I need something that can MAYBE make it on its own. Durana seems to be able to withstand about two to three week durations of inundation. It will also hang on in surprisingly wet, soft ground. I plant wheat into my durana plots in the fall when it is dry enough to work for a quick green up to hunt over. I dont depend on the wheat to provide anything else. Hogs will graze durana, but they dont tend to root too badly in it. If durana plots are too wet to access in early to mid summer for bush hogging, weeds may actually shade the durana enough to get it to last throughout the summer.

If you do find conditions allow planting in bottomlands mid summer, I like milo or wgf sorghum. It is fairly drought resistent and later plantings may allow the heads to last into deer season, and if flooded in the fall or winter, can also provide some decent duck hunting. Hogs dont seem to root the planted seeds like they will corn or soybeans.

Persimmons, native pecan, and mayhaws for bottomland mast source, along with a variety of oak species. Ash and box elder stands provide excellent summer thermal cover as those trees will typically provide a dense canopy, shading out underbrush, providing relief from the sun and open sub story for unimpeded breeze.

I am all ears if anyone has any other flood prone successes. Managing in those areas can be very frustrating - and what worked this year may not work next year.
Yeah I feel for you guys in flood plain. Steve demaris flat out told my buddy to sell his place in Illinois if he was looking for sustained management successes because it flooded frequently. He did...
 
Top