Really good video. Lots of good points.

[Westwind]

This video has so many good points about small property management, ethics of management and the current state of hunter culture.

420K views · 4.8K reactions | Dr. Grant Woods on making the most out of a small hunting property. #deerhunting #hunting #bowhunting | The Southern Outdoorsmen

Dr. Grant Woods on making the most out of a small hunting property. #deerhunting #hunting #bowhunting

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[Double Creek]

I really like Grant Woods.

 

[Tangler]

Agree, dude is awesome and makes great videos!

 

[Telemark]

I like that guy. His focus on soil health is right on. One of his videos showed a bean field where the deer were hammering half of it but barely touching the other half. He explained that it was the mix planted the previous year that improved the soil health and that made the beans growing in the improved soil much more attractive to deer. He seems to focus on the process over the results. The results are just a natural consequence of the process.

 

[Baker]

I've learned a lot from him and employ many of his techniques. I am experimenting with the biologic amendments he has been using from Soil Pro this year. Excited about it.

 

[Westwind]

There was a moment there where he seemed really introspective. Where a good dude was thinking out loud as if he was wondering if had done the right things. Really hit me.

Guy isn’t a phony like so many that depend on making content for a living

 

[Natty Bumppo]

I agree. He is the ONLY guy I watch.

Interesting take-away from that video...Dr. Woods transformed his crappy cattle farm with nothing larger than 80" bucks into a big buck paradise holding 150" bucks in 20 years through changes in nutrition and age structure. "The genetics didn't change" he said. There's a whitetail deer farmer with a place called Sinking Creek Whitetails who's on social media a lot claiming antler size has nothing to do with nutrition, and that it's purely genetics.

Trying to wrap my head around this. Can both be true?

 

[Baker]

I firmly place my vote around age and intense 365 days a yr nutrition. Very few places get the full expression of current genetic potential much less start to see the movement in genetic expression from the epigenetic effect.

 

[Telemark]

There's a whitetail deer farmer with a place called Sinking Creek Whitetails who's on social media a lot claiming antler size has nothing to do with nutrition, and that it's purely genetics.

Weird. I'd guess he's fibbing.

 

[Baker]

In the world of deer breeders it is purely genetics. Of course they can control nutrition to the highest level for as long as necessary. That said I've learned a lot about nutrition from some of the top breeders.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Weird. I'd guess he's fibbing.

In the world of deer breeders it is purely genetics. Of course they can control nutrition to the highest level for as long as necessary. That said I've learned a lot about nutrition from some of the top breeders.

Not sure if he's fibbing.

I've researched the owner and his company and had a chat with him last year. He's on a well-known 4th or 5th generation farm if I recall. He's also a well-known breeder of working dogs or something like that. The guy knows his stuff...I think. He will routinely claim that his deer on a part of his farm that eat nothing but local browse achieve the same mass as the deer on his nutrition program, because of their genetics. Nutrition plays no role. I cited the work by Miller, Kammermeyer, and Marchinton that suggests soil quality, nutrition, and age are the biggest drivers...but on wild populations. Maybe I'm comparing apples and oranges. So maybe indeed both can be true.

 

[Telemark]

Not sure if he's fibbing.

I've researched the owner and his company and had a chat with him last year. He's on a well-known 4th or 5th generation farm if I recall. He's also a well-known breeder of working dogs or something like that. The guy knows his stuff...I think. He will routinely claim that his deer on a part of his farm that eat nothing but local browse achieve the same mass as the deer on his nutrition program, because of their genetics. Nutrition plays no role.

If it's this guy:



...then he's clearly contradicting himself. Not even his "wild" deer eat only native food.

 

[Telemark]

cited the work by Miller, Kammermeyer, and Marchinton that suggests soil quality, nutrition, and age are the biggest drivers...but on wild populations. Maybe I'm comparing apples and oranges. So maybe indeed both can be true.

I have no problem believing soil quality is a main driver of deer health and size. If a deer eats a certain amount of food in any given year, the deer eating more nutritious food will be bigger and healthier. I mentioned that video of the bean field where deer were showing a clear preference for soybean plants grown in better soil.

I definitely think genetics and nutrition are both important. I can't do much about the genetics of the deer I hunt, but I can try to improve their nutrition. I just balk at anyone who says nutrition doesn't matter, especially someone who feeds his deer extremely nutritious food. I'm not sure why that guy is saying nutrition doesn't matter, and if that's what he is truly saying, then it makes him unreliable at best.

 

[Baker]

If it's this guy:

View attachment 88944

...then he's clearly contradicting himself. Not even his "wild" deer eat only native food.

I know absolutely nothing about this guy or his property. I do know a number of people in the deer breeder business. I also know breeders that release either pregnant does or young bucks into large controlled " conservation facilities" . Under that scenario with controlled genetics there is no comparative to managing a wild herd and indeed genetics trump everything . I would question how long the deer are allowed to live in his " conservation facility" ?

 

[Telemark]

My only argument is that he's lying about nutrition if he's saying nutrition doesn't matter. I've never actually seen him say that, though.