One of the goals here at GrowingDeer is teaching lessons to future generations of hunters that will play a role in hunting and wildlife conservation. One way we do this is teach wildlife and habitat management techniques to our interns. These are young men and women who volunteer at The Proving Grounds to get hands-on experience either during their college coursework or soon after graduation.

You often see these interns on GrowingDeer videos. Our current interns are Tyler McKinney and Jacob Hamilton. We introduced Tyler to you last fall in this blog.

Now it’s time to share more about Jacob so that you can know who he is when  you see him in the weekly videos. He is from Jackson, TN and graduated from Austin Peay State University in December of 2016. He has a degree in Agriculture Science with an emphasis in Forestry and Wildlife Conservation. This school did not have a degree program in Wildlife Management so Jacob decided to intern with GrowingDeer to strengthen his knowledge base and jump start his career in wildlife. He hopes to one day work for a wildlife consulting firm or manage wildlife and forest resources in a state park.

Jacob has been deer hunting for about 10 years. He killed his first deer at the age of 14 on his family property on a foggy morning during youth season. I asked Jacob to tell us about one of his favorite or most memorable hunting experiences. He enthusiastically shared with me how two years ago he killed a big 8 pointer that he had hunted over two seasons. He was especially proud of this buck because he really had to “work” to get him. It all started by planting food plots on a farm he had permission to hunt that was adjacent to his family land. He put in a clover food plot (keeping it mowed and sprayed), left standing beans at one end and groomed the CRP that was adjacent to it by putting in shooting lanes. He was disciplined and only hunted this plot with the right wind.  When he didn’t succeed the first season, he moved his stand location down field. His work and perseverance paid off on a morning in late November. The buck came to the food plot, made a scrape and then Jacob took the 70 yard shot with his rifle.

Along with deer hunting, Jacob is an avid duck hunter! (Being from western Tennessee this is understandable!) He enjoys duck hunting because it’s more social: fellowship with good conversations in the duck blind, the interactive calling to the birds, and of course, the shooting action.

Jacob is an avid fisherman. Fishing has always been something his family does together. He joined and took a leadership role with the fishing team at his university. Under his leadership, the team grew and achieved solid national rankings at fishing competitions (ranked 27th and 30th out of 330 schools competing). When it’s not hunting season, you’ll most likely find Jacob on the water fishing. He is looking forward to the annual family fishing trip the last full week of April. For over 50 years the men in his family go to Kentucky Lake for a week of camping, fishing, corn hole and public land turkey hunting. There will be up to 40 men in his family from Texas, Tennessee, and even Idaho coming together for this outing.

We appreciate the time we get to spend with Jacob. He will be with us through the summer. Keep an eye out for him in our weekly videos and on Facebook where I’m sure we’ll be showing you more photos of his fishing and hunting success!

Blessed to be enjoying God’s Creation,

Tracy Woods

For the GrowingDeer Team

If you or someone you know is interested in becoming an interns with GrowingDeer, please click here for more information.

I’ve recently shared tips from world champion turkey callers that will help us all become better at turkey calling and hunting this season. Becoming a proficient caller is the first key to get a tom to close the distance.

Once that tom has responded to the call it’s not uncommon for him to “hang up”. I’ve found that turkey decoys are an effective tool to encourage a tom to close the gap. (We use Montanna Decoys.)

My decoy setups are chosen based on the different hunting situations. These are things like the local terrain, where the birds are in the breeding season and the habitat. Below are several decoying strategies I use.

Lone Hen: My initial “go to” when I am turkey hunting is the lone hen. A lone hen has proven to be very effective in catching the  attention of a gobbler. (The Miss Purr-fect by Montanna Decoys is the ideal decoy for the lone hen strategy.)

Jake/Hen combo: A jake decoy with a hen can be a strong attractant to a dominant tom. I use this combo frequently at the beginning of the hunting season when the toms are sorting out their dominance. I position the jake about two to three feet away from the hen then put the head up so that red head draws the attention of the dominant gobbler. It’s a good idea to put the lone hen in a feeder pose to create a more natural and enticing setup. Think about it: if both are upright and alert they are sending communicating that something has them nervous. As the season progresses, this remains an effective setup. As the days go on, hens leave and go sit on the nest. When it appears that a jake still has a hen with him it can make a boss tom jealous and get him fired up to come into range! One of my favorites is having a jake sit right behind a hen when she’s in the breeding pose.

Breeder Hen/Full Strut Tom: When toms are running together and working to sort out who’s the boss, another effective decoy strategy is to put a hen decoy in a breeding position in combination with a strutting tom. I set the Miss Purr-fect hen decoy on the ground (without a stake) in a breeder pose, then add a Papa Strut behind her. The local toms will see the “intruder” and come in to see who’s messing with their hen!

Three Hens: Setting up three hens is an almost irresistible setup for a tom. It’s especially effective if you’re hunting an area with bully jakes and gobblers won’t come in. But what gobbler is not coming in to three hens? When you stake out the hens, put one in the breeding pose, another in a feeding pose and another in an alert pose.

I mentioned above that we use Montana Decoys. These are easy to carry, multiple decoys can fit into your vest and they are very versatile. The days of lugging a bagful of hard, loud decoys are over! They just fold up to fit in your vest; they are adjustable and have different leg pole sleeves to enhance various poses. Think about the message you want to send when posing the heads of the decoys and add movement by using their Motion Stake.

We’ve used all these setups at different times and in different states. Each one has proven successful during the right conditions. When scouting and then during the hunt, read the mood of the turkeys and create your decoy strategy around those observations.

For more details on how to setup your decoys, click here to get a free guide from Montanna Decoy.

Chasing turkeys, setting up decoys and enjoying Creation,

Grant

We’ve been having Field Days at The Proving Grounds for many years.  Each time we welcome the visitors as strangers then find that by the end of the weekend we’ve made new friends. Most all the folks attending the tour watch GrowingDeer and this is our chance to get to know them just a little better. We love talking to them, hearing about their goals for their hunting properties, their hunting stories, and their families.

There were so many kind, friendly folks here at the Field Event: 128 folks from Georgia to New York to Michigan to Texas.  Each and every one of them were passionate about deer hunting and deer management. Here are a few of the folks and just a little insight into why they came.

Ron came all the way from Savannah, Georgia to see first-hand how we are managing The Proving Grounds for better hunting. I talked to Ron during the social time on Friday before the bow shoot started.  He said his hunt club members were all a bit “old school”.  Ron has taken the initiative to improve the club. He was interested in learning how to better improve the food plots in the sandy soils of eastern Georgia. The presentations and field examples of cover crops, crop rotation, and the “Buffalo system” we are using gave him ideas to take back and implement on his club.

Rick and Tina, a couple with hunting land here in Missouri came to the Field Day event looking to find a balance for their property between managed food plots and native vegetation along with how to use native grasses for bedding areas. The food plot demos and presentations along with the up-close, personal looks at the areas with prescribed fire were very helpful to them.  One of the last questions by Tina was for a recommendation of the best type of boot to wear when working a prescribed fire.  They plan on cutting more cedars and implementing prescribed fire on their property!

Paul and his son from the St. Louis, MO area; they came looking for tips to improve their hunting property – specifically how to get it to hold more deer.

Stephen and his son Chris from Houston, Texas: Stephen has been hunting for many years.  He wanted to introduce his step-son Chris to hunting.  He started by showing Chris the video where young Rylan White was hunting.  After watching Rylan’s hunt, Chris decided that if Rylan could hunt, he could too!  Now this young boy is “ate up” with hunting and watches all the GrowingDeer videos. Stephen and the family came to Branson for the weekend so that he and Chris could meet us and learn more about hunting.  Chris had the biggest smile on his face all weekend as he listened to the field presentations and then, during the social times met Rylan White.  It looked like the two of them were having a great time as they played around the office and had Crystal exhausted from hours of chase and fetch!

In addition to the social aspect of the weekend, Grant and Daniel were able to really jump in and get specific with some of the hunters with advice on their hunting land.

We spent some time getting to know Tom.  He had retired to Florida but returned to his home state of Michigan to hunt at his club.  The club is a lease on over 2,000 acres but with a lot of members in the lease. His concern: no one was harvesting does.  He wanted to figure out a balance between deer and food.  The reality was that he needed to harvest does…more than he could do himself.  Daniel gave him advice on how to work with members of the club as well as increase the available food.

Daniel was able to spend time with Tim and Taylor from Illinois.  Daniel reviewed their maps and discussed their current strategies for hunting the land. The final analysis was that their hunting strategies were good, but given they had the largest block of timber in the area, they needed a late season food source for after the harvest of the local ag crops.  He encouraged them to use the timber more as a sanctuary and hunt the edges of the timber.

We try really hard to present information and answer the questions from the hunters at our field events. It’s intense, but rewarding for everyone.

On Monday morning, we received an email from Mr. Orf, one of our previous clients that attended the event for a first-hand look at The Proving Grounds.  Mr. Orf had this to say after experiencing the GrowingDeer field day event: “I’ve been to a lot of seminar events like this for my business and I’ve not been to many that were as packed with really good information as this Spring Field Days.”

We’ll have highlights of the field day when we release the new video next Monday morning.  Check it out and watch for tips that might help you with your deer hunting and land management objectives.  It will also include a turkey hunting demo that received a very positive response.

A big thanks to all that came to the field day event. We were blessed by each and every one of you!

Enjoying His Creation and the spring rains –

Tracy

For the GrowingDeer Team

We’ve been preparing for turkey season – practicing our calls, doing a lot of prescribed fire and getting our decoys ready.

In addition to scouting and practicing turkey calls, this is the time of year to make sure and spend some time patterning your turkey gun. In my opinion, this is the most important thing to do before a hunt. (I recently patterned the 12 gauge before our Florida turkey hunt.)

Here are a few tips to consider when you are patterning your shotgun:

1. 1. The most important aspect to remember when you head to the range is to grab your hearing protection. Always, always protect your hearing when shooting or when around loud equipment. Good hearing is vital to turkey hunting and enjoying Creation.*
   2. While this seems obvious, it needs to be said: shoot the same shell that you’ll be using when turkey hunting. Don’t go the cheap route and use an off brand when testing your gun. Know how both your gun and the load perform together.
   3. Since you are testing the accuracy of the gun, take out the other sources of error. Use a gun rest or shooting bench, shoot from a seated position and measure the guns performance, not yours. You can go to a shooting range or do what I do and use a Lead Sled and Stable Table from Caldwell Shooting Supplies.
   4. Test the gun at different yardages. Notice how the pattern changes as the distance increases because when you are in the field that tom might hold up at 40+ yards or surprise you and come in really, really close! Making a kill with a turkey gun can be easier at 30 yards than 10 yards. This is because the shot pattern of a turkey gun is smallest at close range. It would be much easier to miss a tom at 10 yards, due to the very tight pattern, than at 30+ yards.
   5. Before you go to the range, check out this handy tool that I use: the Winchester Pattern Board Application on Winchester.com.
   6. What gauge shotgun will you be using? Consider the weight of your gear if you’re running and gunning. I have found that by carrying the light and collapsible Montana Decoys and switching to a 20 gauge, it’s a lot lighter when you’re standing on one ridge and that tom fires off on the other ridge. Winchester now has a 20 gauge in Long Beard XR. I love the idea of toting a 20 gauge over these Ozark Mountains.
   7. Think about the benefits of using a scope on your shotgun. If you’ve ever shot the Long Beard XR shells from Winchester, you know how tight they pattern. And if you’ve got a bird at 20 or 30 yards or even 15 yards, you could miss easily if you’re just using a bead. And if you’re at 40 yards, you want to make sure the gun’s bead isn’t covering the entire tom. Plus, a scope keeps your head down and you know exactly where your point of aim is going.

Many of our friends across the southern portion of the US are already out in the turkey woods. We’ll be doing the same soon as we travel to hunt in Tennessee!

When you’re out there – remember to take time, look around and thank the Creator for all His blessings and the ability to live in a country where we have the freedom to hunt.

Enjoy Creation,

Grant

*When I’m hunting I wear WildEar hearing protection. These have been great to wear in the field. Small and custom fit that protect your ears from extreme noise and gun blasts that also provide hearing enhancement. I’ve lost hearing from years of shooting without protection. The WildEar helps me to hear turkeys and other sounds in the woods that I cannot hear with my natural hearing.

For 15 years we’ve worked to improve the habitat and nutrition for white-tailed deer at The Proving Grounds. We named the farm The Proving Grounds because this may be one of the hardest places in North America to hunt and “grow” mature whitetails. We thought that if the tools, practices and strategies we use here for growing and hunting whitetails succeed, they can work anywhere there are white-tailed deer.

We’ve had proven success with getting scrawny Ozark deer to grow antlers and increase body weights that are above average in our area. These increases are simply a bi-product of healthy deer. By improving the native browse and adding high quality forage through food plots, we have enjoyed great hunting opportunities.

However, if the right quantity of nutrients isn’t in the dirt, the plants have no available nutrients to transfer to deer. Simply put, if deer don’t consume food produced from good dirt, they can’t reach their full potential.

Given this very simple, but important fact, if you’re planting food plots it is of great benefit to collect soil samples each year. The price of having a soil sample analyzed is one of the least expensive and most important tools I use as a deer manager.

The results of a soil sample include the soil’s pH, the amount of phosphorous, potassium and several other trace minerals (depending on the analysis requested). This information is then used to determine how much lime and fertilizer is needed to produce a quality crop based on the forage you wish to grow.

To get high quality forage and therefore give the deer a better opportunity to express their full potential, it’s critical to apply the appropriate quantity and quality of each element required for each crop. Make sure you note on the form submitted for each soil test, the exact crop or blend of crops to be grown in that plot. If you don’t, the lab will either not provide any recommendations or provide a generic recommendation. Omitting the specific crop that will be planted usually results in producing crops that aren’t as palatable or nutritious for deer.

I just received the soil test results from Waters Agricultural Laboratories for every food plot at The Proving Grounds. The soil management practices, cover crops and crop rotations used on those plots that have been established for several years indicate that the soil has significantly benefited from those practices. In fact, I have not had to put any fertilizer on my plots in four years because nutrients are held and recycled! Soil tests are a fabulous tool to make sure that your deer herd has quality nutrition available. Remember, if it’s not in the dirt, it can’t get to the deer.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

Last week we shared turkey hunting tips for locating turkeys with an owl call. The owl call is the first call out of our vests when we hit the turkey woods. As we go through the day, other calls start to come out to call in or locate those toms.

World Champion Caller James Harrison has some advice for those turkey hunts that don’t go quite as planned, when the toms went the other way or just go totally silent. In these type of hunting situations he considers one of the best tools to use to locate more gobblers a crow call.

Crow calls are louder, sharper and will get the toms to gobble. It is one of James’ favorite tools to get turkeys gobbling.

In the early morning hours, if you’ve tried an owl call without response from the turkeys, James suggest changing things up. You can even use them right off the roost if you’ve got a lot of owls in your area. If the owls are hooting and the turkeys aren’t gobbling, make a crow call.

He definitely recommends using a crow call from midday on.

For those states that allow all day hunting, they are especially good for the afternoon and early evening before the birds go on the roost.

If you’re hunting with a partner have them step away from you (the caller) so that they can listen for the tom’s response to the call (just like with the owl call) as crow calls are extremely loud.

James recommends crow calls with a sequence of three to four short bursts, varied in length. Listen. Repeat.

If you’re “tuned up” you can get crows to respond back and actually call in crows! When another crow responds back, he’s actually locating the turkeys for you!

The more realistic you can be with your crow call the better off you’re going to be when turkey hunting! Locator calls like the owl call and the crow call can be practiced outside without educating the turkeys in your area as you “learn” the calls. So while you’re sitting on the porch, checking trail cameras, fishing at the pond, shed hunting, or just doing yard work – take your crow call along and get some practice in!

A special thank you to James for these helpful tips! We hope they will bring you success this year on your next turkey hunt!

Enjoy Creation,

Tracy Woods

What’s the first call to come out of your turkey vest?

To locate gobblers early in the morning one of the best calls to use is an owl call. It’s one of the best calls to get turkeys to sound off on the roost. (You’ll see Daniel and Clay using an owl call in this turkey hunt linked here.)

After talking with world champion caller James Harrison, I’ve put together a few basic tips for using an owl call. James Harrison is the mastermind and creator of the Harrison Hootin’ Stick by Hook’s Custom Calls.

If you are hunting in hardwoods, it’s important to not call too loudly at first. Owls are naturally only so loud. If a turkey is nearby and you over blow, you’ll scare the tom into not gobbling. It’s best to ease into the call. A modest, softer first “hoot” is best. If all is silent, you can begin to crank up the volume.

If you are hunting with a partner, send them a short distance from you (the caller). That way your partner can listen to see if there is any response to your calls. As the caller, you will have the sound of the call in your ears and may not hear a tom answer. 

If you are in open country, try holding the call at the end, grasping it with your thumb and index finger, making an “okay” sign with the end of the call in the middle. Then cup the other fingers to make an open “tube” on the call. This will help you get a little more range out of the call. The pitch is higher and carries a little further to get distant turkeys to gobble.

The more realistic you can make your calls the better off you are. It’s safe to practice owl hooting in the pre-season. Break out the calls, step outside and work on those hoots!

(To see how to use an owl call visit Hook’s Custom Calls to see the “how to” videos on their page.)

Enjoy Creation,

Tracy Woods for the GrowingDeer Team

These past few months have been very difficult for the Woods family. Last week was the most difficult of all as we said good bye to Grant’s father, Glen Woods. Glen, “Pops”, hunted with the GrowingDeer Team and became a familiar face to viewers of GrowingDeer videos.

Glen loved fishing and hunting. He passed on that love of hunting to Grant. He was a patient father, taking Grant out to hunt as a young boy. When Grant developed an interest in turkey hunting, Glen rose early to take Grant to the turkey woods even though he himself did not hunt turkey at that time. He waited at the truck while his “boy” chased turkeys around the Ozark hills and hollers. Grant was blessed to have his father as his best friend and best hunting buddy. Hunting and fishing kept them together with time to talk in the truck driving to hunts, in the hunting blind or fishing boat. These are memories Grant will treasure.

Many folks have written expressing their condolences which we very much appreciate. One dear friend shared a wonderful note of encouragement with Grant. His insightful words were so comforting that it is an honor to share part of them here:

I can still remember the first time I met your father. We were doing a prescribed burn on your farm (what is now known as The Proving Grounds) and he was in charge of being on the lookout for fire crossing the line.  There’s an old saying that I hear a lot, that you can tell a lot about a person by their handshake. This certainly holds true in your father’s case. When I shook his hand, it immediately told me a story about your father that was also verified by so many people at today’s service. His strong grip could have easily crushed my hand even in his 70s-80s. The rough skin told me that he had spent a lot of long days doing manual labor and probably spent very few days behind a desk. This told me immediately that your father was a hard worker and that I had my work cut out for me that day and that I was going to be giving my full 100% just to keep up with him. Hopefully I didn’t let him or you down.

That first time I met Glen his eyes also told me a story. I am sure that at his age there was a lot to be frustrated, grumpy or to complain about, but his eyes always told me that he was happy. I am sure that in his 87 years of living that there were probably a few frowns, but every time I ever saw him, his eyes told me that he was the happiest man on earth. Another thing that I saw was his love and respect for his children, especially you, Grant. I never had the privilege to spend much time around your sisters, but could tell that his family was perfect in his mind. He didn’t have to say much, just the simple words “Thank you, son.” and the way he said them told me that his love for you and your family was endless.

Your father always had a pair of binoculars either around his neck or within arm’s reach. It’s as if he was afraid that at any moment some part of God’s Creation might in fact try and sneak by without him noticing it. I doubt that even the sneakiest bobcat was ever able to get by without your father seeing it, and sure wouldn’t have gotten by if he had decided to take a shot at it! What an amazing shot he was…

Our friend really captured the essence of Glen in his note.  He really “saw” Glen.  We appreciate his sharing the impressions Glen made:  to be remembered well by friends and family is a blessing and an indicator of a life well lived.

Additionally, for those readers that are interested, here is Glen Woods’ obituary.

Glen Woods died peacefully on February 15, 2018, at the age of 87 in Springfield, Missouri.

Glen was born on October 18, 1930, in Springfield, Missouri, to Noah and Ola Elizabeth Woods. He accepted Jesus as his Savior as a young boy and followed Him all his life. In 1949 Glen married Jean Kirk. They were married for 68 years. During his lifetime, he was blessed with three children, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Glen started learning the construction business at a very early age. At first, he was a plasterer and then started building homes in Springfield and Republic and the surrounding area.  He worked on large construction projects in several states. He was an honest and skilled contractor teaching the building trade and life skills to many young men throughout his career.

When not working, Glen loved to go fishing and hunting. His other hobby was raising a garden and sharing his produce. Good tomatoes and cantaloupes and watermelons were his specialties! He and Jean also owned a farm at Republic where they raised sweet corn, green beans and all kinds of vegetables. Somehow, they also found time to raise cattle, hogs, and alfalfa hay.

Life was busy for Glen and Jean as they travelled to many of the fifty states either for fun or so Glen could lead a construction crew building a new mall, hospital or business building.

Services for Glen were held on Monday, February 19 in Springfield, MO.

Thank you for keeping our family and the GrowingDeer Team in your prayers. We appreciate them more than you will ever know.

In closing, we would like to encourage you to spend time with your loved ones, take them out and enjoy His Creation.

Tracy Woods