Your strong suit- Hunter vs Habitat vs Layout

[gjs4]

It seems like there are habitat and hunting layout consultants coming out of the woodwork since the rocket launch of rec properties with Covid. Going through my YouTube feed with the Mrs yesterday Im looking at some of the things I subscribe to......and some of the hosts have less years of life being than i do hunting career. Then a chat with a friend from here cemented that the members of this forum vary in what they have/know for skills based on their experiences, locale and years of life. So here's yet another GJS4 thought provoking thread attempt for all of us to participate in/with.......

Please rank yourself with the these three skills, and then prioritize where you'd like to improve or state you're content.

hunting skills/knowledge,
habitat skills/knowledge,
layout skills/knowledge

 

[gjs4]

I think my order of abilities looks like this :

1) hunting skills/knowledge- have this blessing to anticipate deer/animal behavior and can visualize how they will use an area on the strong side. On weak side- I overthink everything with "analysis to paralysis.

2) layout skills/knowledge- as stated above, between being a wind nut who grew up small game hunting and having a photographic memory....critter tendencies, needs and shortcoming jump out to me. Weakness- I cannot figure out my own places with anywhere of the ease I could someone-else's. I tend to hunt some public every year just to act like a guy on a mission and need to walk away from the "what ifs" of repercussions, just to see how good i am with anticipating deer bedding/travel tendencies. I also help, and have helped, so many buddies lay their places out....but ask me about mine and smoke rolls from my ears.

3) habitat skills/knowledge- I would love to be higher with this one. I don't know my trees well at all. I don't understand soil exchange. I love grafting but am not great with it.

 

[H20fwler]

As far as hunting skills,
I hunt deer/waterfowl upland birds/bunnies/yotes..I'm pretty content with my knowledge on all of them and have been at it long enough I have nothing to prove to myself or others. I am looking forward to passing what I can of my experience down to my grandchildren so they can enjoy it as much as I have.
As far as the deer hunting goes, I am blessed to have a few really good spots and I am old enough to have killed all the "big" bucks I needed to and am happy seeing my family members kill them now and I just want to have fun and fill the freezer.

Habitat skills, it has been a pure joy to convert land back to nature and see wildlife and trees/shrubs/plants/orchards flourish like they have. I feel there is always more to learn and truly enjoy working on projects.

Layout skills,
As far as deer, I to play the wind like it is a religion, I use ladder stands and if the wind isn't right to get in and sit I hunt somewhere else..be it a different stand or property. Also watch weather like a hawk.
As far as waterfowling, I will humble brag and say I can set a spread of decoys so that the birds are fifteen yards or less from me whether I am in a blind, a field, or layout boat for divers. Hunting geese or puddle ducks I would rather forget my decoys than my calls....and weather is huge.
For upland birds, I train up some pretty good bird dogs.

 

[Tree Spud]

hunting skills/knowledge - Good to strong but still always looking to learn. I hang with hunters who have better skills & experience than me and always picking up little things that can be really important. I think this really has to be a priority to gain knowledge here before one starts to do a lot of habitat work. You need to learn how the deer behave on your property before making a lot of changes.

habitat skills/knowledge - Strong. Been doing habitat type work for probably over 30 years. Was one of the first to start caging pine & spruce trees, got a lot of crap from others as it was a waste and too expensive. Then watched the critics slowly convert as deer destroyed their trees. My food plot/soils mgmt knowledge is decent to good. By no means am I an expert on soil chemistry or herbicides, lots of folks here smarter than I. I can put together a perfect food plot/soiling building/weed control/multi-season food plan, then have it all blow up because of a 7 week drought like we had last summer. Probably 70% of our soils are sandy loam so that presents challenges. The ag fields were rented to local farmers for the 20 years prior to us buying the farm and they simply abused the soil.

layout skills/knowledge - My limitation here is the property itself. I know what to do and where; however, the property doesn't always have the right conditions in place. It's great if your property has lots of straight trees for stands and multiple access routes to avoid wind problems, but mine has challenges there. I have a mix of ag, timber, wet ground, and thick marsh. Ground water on the property can fluctuate because of beavers and slow drainage. Accessing good spots and setting up stands can be difficult with the type of conditions we have. On the plus side, we have 350 acres with an incredible 200 acre sanctuary & bedding area (marsh, alder, RDO, tamarack, cattail/grasses, etc.) that no one gets into.

I see lots of newbies on here with lists of every habitat scheme the talking heads can come up with. My recommendation has always been to slow down and learn your property first. Everything thing you do to change your property may have a positive or negative effect on the deer.

 

[b116757]

hunting skills/knowledge
Average to high
I grew up hunting and trapping getting old enough to not get overly excited about shooting game like I used to, I find it more interesting for my kids to hunt now.

habitat skills/knowledge
High to very high
I have been planting food plots and planting fruit trees since the early 90’s first deer orchard I fenced the entire thing 4’ thinking that was the answer to animal destruction. Deer killed the entire planting started caging after that learning experience with cages to small for them to jump into. Not many trees at least local to Northern Wisconsin and SE Kansas I can’t name summer or winter from the bark alone in most instances. I manage several acres so this should be something I’m pretty good at but we actively farm most of the ground so I’m often making decisions with more than one end goal in mind.

layout skills/knowledge
Average
To some extent I think some of this knowledge comes with learning your individual properties and local deer habit's but there are certainly generalities that can be applied short of hands on intimate knowledge of a property that one can start with making some assumptions.

 

[Catscratch]

Lots of great knowledge on this site!

I'm likely a better hunter than plotter or habitat guy. But damn I sure love all of it!

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Hunting Skills/Knowledge: Like many of you, I have been hunting for almost 40 years now....you're bound to get good at something if you've got more than 2 brain cells and you do it a lot. No gadget, Youtube Video, or specialized consultant can substitute for EXPERIENCE. I've got a lot to learn...but I would say that I am pretty knowledgeable about deer hunting....especially tracking since that is what I do the most.

Habitat Skills/Knowledge: Pretty decent. I have a degree in Wildlife Bio and Forestry Mgt. from UMASS. I have been doing habitat work on my land for 20 years now. Though there is always more to learn, I do feel like I have a strong knowledge about how the local fuana interfaces with the flora on my chunk of paradise, and how my habitat work and TSI enhances those relationships.

Layout Skills/Knowledge: Not a huge food plotter....so I am pretty low on this one. I also live in and hunt the Northern big woods, so deer are really free to travel and browse at will with little predictability. That's why I mostly track. My two little Figure-8 and Boomeranged shaped plots do draw deer and give me some nice bow hunting experiences that I would never have had before. But yes...not a great layout guy.

 

[bwoods11]

I would say more than anything for me has been experience/memory. It took me awhile, but once I figured out how big bucks relate to weather/fronts wind direction … & which habitat they like . I started shooting nice bucks !

I think willingness to work in the offseason planting trees, hinge cuts, trails, new stands… that’s a close second !

 

[Tree Spud]

I would say more than anything for me has been experience/memory. It took me awhile, but once I figured out how big bucks relate to weather/fronts wind direction … & which habitat they like . I started shooting nice bucks !

I think willingness to work in the offseason planting trees, hinge cuts, trails, new stands… that’s a close second !

B ... Do you see the most big buck activity before, during, or after the weather fronts? I assume you are talking about cold fronts.

 

[bwoods11]

B ... Do you see the most big buck activity before, during, or after the weather fronts? I assume you are talking about cold fronts.

I would say during an actual storm, or a big temp drop . In Minnesota I’ve had great luck with big bucks moving during a NE wind with some snow or even light rain.

Times … the rut obviously, but Nov 16-18 & late November, if any cold weather front hits. I try to be in a tree!

 

[Turkey Creek]

It seems like there are habitat and hunting layout consultants coming out of the woodwork since the rocket launch of rec properties with Covid. Going through my YouTube feed with the Mrs yesterday Im looking at some of the things I subscribe to......and some of the hosts have less years of life being than i do hunting career. Then a chat with a friend from here cemented that the members of this forum vary in what they have/know for skills based on their experiences, locale and years of life. So here's yet another GJS4 thought provoking thread attempt for all of us to participate in/with.......

Please rank yourself with the these three skills, and then prioritize where you'd like to improve or state you're content.

hunting skills/knowledge,
habitat skills/knowledge,
layout skills/knowledge

I heard a podcast in the last year by an "up and coming" podcaster. He was advertising his services for property consultation and then the rest of that podcast was about him having a high dollar consultant who had just consulted on his property for him. WTF? Same goes with wildlife tree nurseries, I constantly see ads and comments from new people/companies toting trees for sale. I just caught wind of someone today who is merely buying nursery stock, putting his tag on it and saying it was grown by him.

 

[Turkish]

It seems like there are habitat and hunting layout consultants coming out of the woodwork since the rocket launch of rec properties with Covid. Going through my YouTube feed with the Mrs yesterday Im looking at some of the things I subscribe to......and some of the hosts have less years of life being than i do hunting career. Then a chat with a friend from here cemented that the members of this forum vary in what they have/know for skills based on their experiences, locale and years of life. So here's yet another GJS4 thought provoking thread attempt for all of us to participate in/with.......

Please rank yourself with the these three skills, and then prioritize where you'd like to improve or state you're content.

hunting skills/knowledge,
habitat skills/knowledge,
layout skills/knowledge

Boy I wish I knew. I don’t think I have results to suggest I’m good at any of those.

 

[Electrodigical]

Since I have slightly more than zero habitat knowledge, and don't even know what layout means.....

 

[Bill]

Since I have slightly more than zero habitat knowledge, and don't even know what layout means.....

To me layout is stand location and some manipulation of the area to get deer to go where you want. I actually feel like I've gotten pretty decent at that over the years. It's pretty amazing what a short fence or a downed tree can do to put them in the sweet spot. On a grander scale layout is manipulating large areas. Planting bedding cover, travel corridors etc. Much harder then the little things.

I feel like my hunting skills/Knowledge are decent. I don't hunt nearly as hard as I used to but feel like I hunt smarter then I used to. Layout skills are decent. I'm soft on the actual deep habitat knowledge. Some guys on here know what weed is growing and why. I have to look up what half the weeds are in the first place. My soil fundamentals down right suck..

 

[bwoods11]

hunting skills/knowledge - Good to strong but still always looking to learn. I hang with hunters who have better skills & experience than me and always picking up little things that can be really important. I think this really has to be a priority to gain knowledge here before one starts to do a lot of habitat work. You need to learn how the deer behave on your property before making a lot of changes.

habitat skills/knowledge - Strong. Been doing habitat type work for probably over 30 years. Was one of the first to start caging pine & spruce trees, got a lot of crap from others as it was a waste and too expensive. Then watched the critics slowly convert as deer destroyed their trees. My food plot/soils mgmt knowledge is decent to good. By no means am I an expert on soil chemistry or herbicides, lots of folks here smarter than I. I can put together a perfect food plot/soiling building/weed control/multi-season food plan, then have it all blow up because of a 7 week drought like we had last summer. Probably 70% of our soils are sandy loam so that presents challenges. The ag fields were rented to local farmers for the 20 years prior to us buying the farm and they simply abused the soil.

layout skills/knowledge - My limitation here is the property itself. I know what to do and where; however, the property doesn't always have the right conditions in place. It's great if your property has lots of straight trees for stands and multiple access routes to avoid wind problems, but mine has challenges there. I have a mix of ag, timber, wet ground, and thick marsh. Ground water on the property can fluctuate because of beavers and slow drainage. Accessing good spots and setting up stands can be difficult with the type of conditions we have. On the plus side, we have 350 acres with an incredible 200 acre sanctuary & bedding area (marsh, alder, RDO, tamarack, cattail/grasses, etc.) that no one gets into.

I see lots of newbies on here with lists of every habitat scheme the talking heads can come up with. My recommendation has always been to slow down and learn your property first. Everything thing you do to change your property may have a positive or negative effect on the deer.

I would agree with your point on how a sanctuary ranks right up there with “ the most important “ step a hunter can take to shooting older bucks !

 

[gjs4]

I heard a podcast in the last year by an "up and coming" podcaster. He was advertising his services for property consultation and then the rest of that podcast was about him having a high dollar consultant who had just consulted on his property for him. WTF? Same goes with wildlife tree nurseries, I constantly see ads and comments from new people/companies toting trees for sale. I just caught wind of someone today who is merely buying nursery stock, putting his tag on it and saying it was grown by him.

I fear this WAY too much of the hunting (habitat sub-) industry. Seed guys, then tree guys and now habitat guys. YT and Pods may have more parrots than the creative types at times.....and the even the creative ones try so hard for their "own" individual material(s) that it really is just a super confusing version of someone-else's take. Or, like at least one guy, so confusing to understand that you have to hire him to explain it to you.

 

[gjs4]

Since I have slightly more than zero habitat knowledge, and don't even know what layout means.....

Hunting property layout, or orientation, as to allow for prime (hunting) opportunity, potentially even over and over again. Creating the most likely/frequent path of travel between deer needs (safety, bedding, travel corridors, doe locations, food, water, social hubs...) with highly probably shot locations and undetected hunter entry and exit.