Deer business wars?

SD51555

5 year old buck +
Lot of elbows getting thrown in the deer business lately it seems. There are a couple very famous youtube deer business guys that are starting to come off as desperate. In the last three months I've seen mudslinging at every system that a given guy isn't selling. I wonder if the deer business is suddenly changing that these behaviors are changing? There's no need to name names, cause frankly they've all done it to one degree or another. My favorite dig at anyone not drinking their brand of kool aid is the one pointed at the regenerative guys. Those guys are a threat to everyone because they don't buy hardly anything at all.
 
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Lot of elbows getting thrown in the deer business lately it seems. There are a couple very famous youtube deer business guys that are starting to come off as desperate. In the last three months I've seen mudslinging at every system that a given guy isn't selling. I wonder if the deer business is suddenly changing that these behaviors are changing? There's no need to name names, cause frankly they've all done it to one degree or another. My favorite dig at anyone not drinking their brand of kool aid is the one pointed at the regenerative guys. Those guys are a threat to everyone because they don't buy hardly anything at all.
You lookin to make trouble? Grin. Yep....Seen this too. The seed merchants and video shills are selling lots of annual blends.....hoping to snag a few of us. (I'm Guilty). We all got stuff to figure out.....and America is alive and well.
 
Perhaps??? people can see they will have less money to spend on hobbies and will need more dollars for gasoline and home heating. The deer guys can see a shrinking of the market and some getting weeded out.

All speculation on my part.


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Yeap…I have reduced my watch list considerably…due to time and to tone down the noise. This year, one of my best plots looks to be my early succession field…all it required was to remove the invasives (Red Ceder, Autumn Olive) till and let nature take its course. Management is simply a burn rotation. So far, the results are impressive and I have not bought any fancy seeds for that plot. I am reducing my traditional fall plots to two. For the 4 acre plot I use bulk seed mix from the farm store. For the 1/4 acre hidey hole I did get a high $ blend but at 1/2 price. Between that, my 12 year old Matthew’s bow and scent control via wind rather than Ozonics I am not these guys best customer. When they start getting too commercial, I turn them off, not down. Currently I watch one weekly and listen to one podcast and get one magazine. I get more from this forum on habitats improvement than most other sources.
 
Ya - there are many great people in the industry as well!

I know when I came out with the seed blends I sell, it was after a couple of years of people asking about not being able to source the seeds, wanting help with a 1-2 system to balance the C:N mix, etc.

That said, I really wanted to try to take the secrecy out of the very small corner of the food plot industry, in which I live.

I try to write blogs weekly to help educate on how the soil functions, so if you use my seed or the co-ops you can make the best choices for your soil and system. I will say that the number of customers who appreciate this is endless, but we have taken some serious heat from others.

All in all, though, there are a lot of great co-ops, seed companies, and options for feeding wildlife. Often starting with a chainsaw is the best way!

PS - my youtube watch list is extremely limited, I do enjoy AG PHD for those interested in the soil! Never stop learning!
 
Follow the money.. A lot of salesman these days.
 
Forums like this do a lot of damage to guys trying to make money off selling "secret" information and hocking products. Why do you think QDMA dropped theirs to control the message. When I see guys talk about the great "Dr. X" system I just smile. Every time we see someone come on here and try to hype a product, real end users start posting the good, bad, and ugly to the thread. They quietly go back to places where the message is much more controlled.

Of course I don't like to see folks taking hard earned money from newbies that could spend it better elsewhere, but I think the worst impact is turning hunting into a competitive sport to attract eyeballs.
 
This thread is a reminder to thank @Bill for this site where there is no effort to curtail posts that would offend sponsors.
The fact that there is only one sponsor and we are ad free removes any temptation. Nevertheless, any opportunity to thank Bill is a good one!
 
Of course I don't like to see folks taking hard earned money from newbies that could spend it better elsewhere, but I think the worst impact is turning hunting into a competitive sport to attract eyeballs.
100%.

What gets me fired up is the absolutism. "This is the only way to do it. Everyone else is wrong. If you don't buy all this stuff, you're going to fail." Until we're all retired, wealthy, and living where we want, those dollars matter. Maybe it's a decent structure to sleep in at camp, or water and septic in that structure, or some tools to make life easier around camp. Hell, even dollars to get there with the way gas prices have been.
 
You can always tell when a new person starts here and you can tell where they got their learin from by their impatience & expectation of results. The FB habitat chat, deer mags and podcast experts all tout expertise based on one time experience ... I planted this BOB clover and got this buck ... see it works!

I enjoy reading the FB Habitat chat because it is ... instant question, instant solution... have been tempted to jump in and comment; however, most don't want to learn they just want validation.

The deer podcast guys are like golf infomercials...somehow buying the latest & greatest new putter or hybrid driver will make you a better golfer. Gimmicks and gadgets that are supposed to overcome knowledge and experience. Trust me, I have my box of ... never worked, never use it again stuff ... that I bought when I was starting out. Sometimes you gotta waste some money on junk before you realize that you are being suckered.
 
You can always tell when a new person starts here and you can tell where they got their learin from by their impatience & expectation of results. The FB habitat chat, deer mags and podcast experts all tout expertise based on one time experience ... I planted this BOB clover and got this buck ... see it works!

I enjoy reading the FB Habitat chat because it is ... instant question, instant solution... have been tempted to jump in and comment; however, most don't want to learn they just want validation.

The deer podcast guys are like golf infomercials...somehow buying the latest & greatest new putter or hybrid driver will make you a better golfer. Gimmicks and gadgets that are supposed to overcome knowledge and experience. Trust me, I have my box of ... never worked, never use it again stuff ... that I bought when I was starting out. Sometimes you gotta waste some money on junk before you realize that you are being suckered.

Hey, I am an admin at the Habitat Chat on FB, dive in and comment. I don't comment myself much as I don't have time but we need good folks to share information. Unless you are referring to habitat managers (I am not an admin there - our group is only like 3K people).

PS - Don't tell the deer but the 11-year-old bow is still killing them, I think they are supposed to not die from this old sucker! LOL
 
I'm staying out of this thread until someone attacks my cornholer, and then its gloves off......

ULn6l3y.jpg
 
I spent less on food plots this year. With higher seed, higher fertilizer, higher gas. I just simply cut back. I will have to rely on my ag fields to be the draw I guess? Not too worried!
 
I spent less on food plots this year. With higher seed, higher fertilizer, higher gas. I just simply cut back. I will have to rely on my ag fields to be the draw I guess? Not too worried!

You are starting to sound like me.


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Lot of elbows getting thrown in the deer business lately it seems. There are a couple very famous youtube deer business guys that are starting to come off as desperate. In the last three months I've seen mudslinging at every system that a given guy isn't selling. I wonder if the deer business is suddenly changing that these behaviors are changing? There's no need to name names, cause frankly they've all done it to one degree or another. My favorite dig at anyone not drinking their brand of kool aid is the one pointed at the regenerative guys. Those guys are a threat to everyone because they don't buy hardly anything at all.
The humorous part of this is you can tell most of them listen to each other and are constantly jostling to come up with a way to be considered the true expert. I know which one you are referring to. If you want to listen to hypocrisy and a couple of guys contradicting themselves every week on a podcast thats the one to listen to. There are self proclaimed experts , BS'rs and snake oil salesmen in every industry and the deer business is no different. There are also plenty of honest people making products that help us enjoy our hobby as well. The individuals you refer to are really worried about regenerative guys because when it takes hold (and it will) with the guys with the expendable income to pay for a consultant, the koolaid wont taste very good anymore. My guess is when that time comes they will say they have been doing it all along and spin it in their favor. When someone tells you over and over they are "telling it like it is" and "looking out for the average guy" they are doing anything but! Especially when they share an opinion as "Fact" on something they have never even tried themselves ! The kind of people on this forum typically see right thru that type of thing but there is obviously a pile of people that dont. If they were really telling it like it is, they should just state " im going to help you kill a deer regardless of who or what else it messes up along the way". There is a bunch of people that would be fine with that. I doubt any of those people are on this forum much. I love to hunt deer as much as anyone. The older I get the more i enjoy managing my habitat for all wildlife. If i had to choose between deer hunting and managing my property for all wildlife including my pollinator plantings it would be a tough decision and this is coming from a guy that derives almost 100% of his income via the deer business over my entire 30 + year career.
 
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It took me a long time to realize why I was receiving so much backlash to my food plot experiments on the old forum. I guess I was naïve to how things work.
 
It took me a long time to realize why I was receiving so much backlash to my food plot experiments on the old forum. I guess I was naïve to how things work.
I think Dale Carnegie summed it up the best: "They do not erect monuments to critics". Most of those folks have not done their homework or tested the theories they will criticize....and that goes for most of us. The public is slow to change. Always been that way....and sometimes it's hard for a free thinker to understand how naive folks can be.

I like a cartoon that depicts an 18th century battle going on.....and has a General telling an inventor "don't bother me now....I have a battle to fight'.....as the inventor has a Gatling gun behind a curtain. Grin. Sometimes it goes just like that. The pic below is not the one I was thinking of....but its close. I have sent a pic like this to a few "wanna be customers" when I had trouble getting to see them. It worked a time or two. Grin.
 

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