Louisiana whitetails 2025 2026

[Baker]

Its 35' and raining. Housebound so thought I would put this video together from the farm this yr,

 

[Baker]

For reasons beyond the scope of my technical competency the video didn't post?

 

[Turkish]

Awesome as always! Some questions:

Do you think your lack of 200s is simply due to a lack of older bucks since Laura?

Have you had much of a flush of invasives since Laura opened the canopy? Tallow, privet…?

Any concerns that repeated mowing to set back succession in your savanna will lead to grass dominance?

 

[SwampCat]

The video did post. Some great lookin bucks

 

[Telemark]

Still blows my mind how you get such antler mass on your bucks.

 

[Baker]

Awesome as always! Some questions:

Do you think your lack of 200s is simply due to a lack of older bucks since Laura?

Have you had much of a flush of invasives since Laura opened the canopy? Tallow, privet…?

Any concerns that repeated mowing to set back succession in your savanna will lead to grass dominance?

All great questions.
Yes, lack of top end bucks especially over 200" is a function of how many bucks are in the upper age classes of 6+-8 yrs old. Nutrition may play a role as I believe having cows on the farm for 3 years ' might ' have diminished the year round nutritional plane. But mostly its age. { This also points to how important recruitment is}

yes, there has been a flush of tallow and privet in particular. I've spent thousands of dollars hack and squirt on Tallow. Wasn't a problem before but open the forest canopy and look out. Will be attacking privet and tallow again this yr.

Not worried about mowing leading to grass dominance though your question is insightful. In the long run as the savannah mellow I plan to convert them all to multiple clover species . Some of them are a bit rough for equipment now but I'll address that with time.

As a side note. So much emphasis is put on forest and habitat mgt and that is very important . But candidly you only need enough woodland for escape cover, social distancing , thermal cover and travel corridors. Open areas properly designed provide far more tonnage of food than woodlands thus increasing carrying capacity. Managing for top end production is a numbers game and to consistently produce trophy bucks one must have a lot of bucks growing up in the herd.