The results of our recent burn show promising signs for spring green up in this block of timber.
Do you hunt timbered ground? The Proving Grounds is dominated by timber. That means we have a lot of timbered ground that we have to manage. As often as we can, we choose to manage our land in the most natural way possible. This helps to keep our land progressing in its intended fashion.
One of the best ways we chose to manage our timbered acres is by burning each year before the start of the growing season. This accomplishes many goals for both of our habitat and deer management plans. The intention during each of these burns is to remove all the duff or leaf litter on the forest floor. These leaves or fuel have built up over a few years since the previous burn was completed. During this time of the year on days when the humidity levels are low, we begin our prescribed fire!
Each burn unit has set fire lines that have been blown days in advance. This allows us to act fast when the weather conditions turn favorable to burn. These prescribed fires we conduct within the timber are slow backing fires. We do not set a head fire in our timbered areas. Our goal is to remove all the leaves, exposing the soil. We do not want to damage our large hardwood trees. When we remove the leaves from within the timber, the soil is then exposed. When the growing season begins, sunlight and the warming soil temperatures allows for germination and new growth to spring up. These burned areas are quickly converted from simple leaf duff to a “timbered food plot”. Deer are natural browsers, so with the diversity of vegetation that begins to grow, this area becomes highly attractive to them. Turkeys also frequent these areas as they will consume earthworms and grubs that are exposed by removing the leaves. They will make a return when the new vegetation begins to sprout out of the ground.
Burning is not just a management tool that benefits your timber; it also creates additional forage for wildlife. We are looking forward to spring green up so we can provide you with updates on the progression of our prescribed burns.
GrowingDeer together,
Matt Dye
Warning: This blog contains information about prescribed fire which is a management tool for trained professionals using the appropriate tools for the situation.
This week Adam and I are in Western Oklahoma. We have a client whose property has recently experienced a lot of hog damage. Feral hogs are not native to this continent. They arrived years ago as early explorers discovered the Americas. These non-native invasive species are tough to manage as they repopulate quickly. This is because feral hog sows can produce 2 to 3 litters each year! Each litter size can range from 10 to 15 piglets. This means one sow can rear 30 to 45 piglets in a given year.
Adam recently tagged this large sow during a hunt in Western Oklahoma.
How do you manage such an active population? Trapping feral hogs has proven to be the most effective way to manage these populations. Trapping allows a landowner to potentially remove a large amount of hogs at one time. Entire sounders have been trapped and removed with trapping efforts. If trapping is not an option, intense hunting pressure is the next most effective way to keep hogs from doing damage to a property. Feral hogs react to intense hunting pressure. They will often leave an area that they feel is unsafe.
Baiting an area, where legal, will condition hogs to this specific location. When hogs become use to the bait site and start using it during daylight hours, then it is time to hunt! Put in time and hunt these areas. Not only will you be harvesting and removing feral hogs, but sending a message to them as well. The message is that this area is now unsafe! Hopefully this will result in hogs moving off your property.
A recent harvest of a buck we call Gappy yielded some interesting post harvest findings. Gappy was seen on our Reconyx cameras early during November with a blind eye and wounds to his head. It appeared he had been in a recent tussle. Over a month later, on December 18, I was fortunate enough to harvest him. During the recovery process we inspected the blind eye but also noticed infection around the base of his left antler. We were interested to see what the skull looked like once we got the European mount back.
Gappy’s skull post harvest. This hole was caused by a brain abscess; note the pitting around the hole.
At first glance we noticed a large hole in the skull and a hairline fracture around the left pedicle. The hole is deep enough to see a small amount of light coming into the brain cavity. These signs pointed to a severe condition known as a brain abscess. If I had not been fortunate enough to have harvested Gappy, the road did not look promising for him. Discovering his condition encouraged me to further research brain abscesses.
Most abscesses start out as a cranial abscess or simply an infection of the head. A specific bacteria (Trueperella pyogenes) forms in these injuries. Once present the bacteria begin to erode the skull. In the case of Gappy, the eroding away of the skull caused a large hole to form (see photo). The bacteria had progressed enough to reach the brain cavity. Once this occurs this condition is known as a brain abscess. This condition is usually fatal once the bacteria reaches the brain cavity. In some cases a deer can fight the infection off and survive a cranial abscess. If so, there are usually signs of pitting where the bacteria began to erode the skull plates.
Cranial abscesses have the ability to cause serious injury and even lead to death. As you hit the woods in search of shed antlers this winter be sure to look for any signs of a brain abscess. A buck with a brain abscess can shed portions of their skull when antlers are cast. If you don’t shed hunt, but have European mounts from past harvests, examine those for potential cranial or brain abscesses. There is always much to learn even after the harvest is over!
Bow season has now been closed here in Missouri for a week. Adam was able to harvest a doe on the last evening, ending the season on a high note. Although it’s only been one week without deer season the preparations for next year have already begun.
Our Reconyx cameras stay out all year long. We are now in the process of taking an inventory of what bucks survived the hunting season and in what condition they are entering winter stress period. This information is valuable for multiple reasons. First and foremost we want to be able to monitor their movements and identify their core areas. This is especially true for the 3.5 year old bucks who will make the hit list for the upcoming season. We didn’t spend our time this fall trying to understand those deer and their patterns of movement. However, now as we prepare for next season we will we use this information to go back and look at trends in movement from those individual bucks that were recorded this past fall. This prepares us for the following seasons as deer are creatures of habit. A buck may move under similar conditions within the same areas from year after year. If we have this information already recorded and analyzed then we can confidently go into our Summit stands the following season.
In addition to keeping our cameras running all year long, we also keep our Trophy Rock Four65 locations supplied throughout the year. Deer need a supply of mineral year round especially during the winter stress period. Setting our Reconyx cameras on these locations allows us to gather the information we are looking for at this time of the year.
We are watching and learning this buck’s movements.
Although we cannot chase whitetails during the next few months we are going to actively prepare ourselves for the next opportunity. Make sure you keep your cameras running through the winter. The information gathered from the pictures will allow you to learn more about each individual deer. That information serves a greater purpose in the coming months!
Over the past weeks we have set many Duke cage and dog proof traps at The Proving Grounds. Even though fur prices are the lowest they’ve been in decades, we are trying to do our part to manage the local predator population. We have already removed 28 nest predators and there are still two weeks left in trapping season!
Even though the season is not yet over, it is obvious that our trapping efforts have been successful. How do we measure that success?
A dog proof trap catches another nest predator, helping the local turkey population.
Every predator trapped is weighed and sexed. Over multiple seasons the information we’ve recorded reveals several things. First, the average weight of predators has decreased. Second, a majority of the predators we trap are males.
As managers we consider this success. By trapping each year we have removed many of the resident predators. We are now catching young males that are moving onto the property to fill these voids. This is why we continue to trap each year. If we stopped trapping it wouldn’t take long before predator numbers spiked.
While trapping at The Proving Grounds, we have watched the predator and prey populations change. Last year we removed over 50 nest predators. That is 50 hungry mouths that did not find turkey eggs. This year the turkey population is the best it has ever been and we helped through trapping!
Whether you measure your trapping success through your records or an increase in deer and turkey numbers, keep doing your part to balance predator/prey relations.
As the close of season draws near, it is almost time to slow down and reflect on the blessings of the season. Those blessings are not always wrapped up in harvests. Much of the time spent reflecting is looking back at the memories shared with others and lessons learned from the Creator while afield.
Reflecting on the late season harvest of a buck we called “Gappy.”
I recently moved to the Midwest from the mid-Atlantic region and some noticeable differences in hunting strategies became apparent to me. While back east, I had the opportunity to hunt in many urban areas. At first it was a new style of bow hunting for me. It was not only unique and intriguing, but offered new challenges. I found myself taking less time to strategize about food sources than ever before. I spent the majority of my time focused specifically on bedding and bottlenecks. This was due to the lack of cover available. I identified this as the limited resource and took advantage of it. I noticed many times deer feeding in ball fields, golf courses, or even backyards. Obviously I wasn’t able to focus hunting efforts there, so my approach differed from hunting in the mid-west.
This year our approach hunting throughout the Midwest changed drastically as the season progressed. Early season our focus was on white oak acorns, then transition areas, and then back to food sources (which depended on the weather to determine what food source was preferred at that time). Differences like these can be seen throughout much of the whitetails range, different properties within the same region can witness different types of deer activity. Differences in deer activity where you are hunting can present a unique set of challenges. These challenges force us as hunters to strategize and execute plans with the fullest intention of being successful.
No matter the location or size of your Proving Grounds, it offers areas or times of the year when you can be successful. Your property may hunt best during early season or perhaps it’s a small property with a main travel corridor and hunts extremely well during the rut. Whatever strength it may have, take time to note the patterns you see on your Proving Grounds. Begin to strategize how you will approach the next hunting season. Plan out your management projects for the year and start preparing for the season opener! If you wish to have different results in the hunting seasons to follow, then a new approach should be taken. Make the most of this period of reflection!
As the end of season nears, the action can still be hot in many areas. Cooler temperatures are finally settling into our area, pushing deer to feed heavier than we experienced all fall. In response to this the Reconyx cameras overlooking Eagle Seed Broadside and soybeans are getting a workout. This information allows us to close the distance on any hit listers that are regularly feeding in our plots.
Although we are hunting the same deer from the beginning of season their appearance may have changed. For instance, a 4.5 year old buck we call Gumby has been showing up across The Proving Grounds throughout the season. Gumby is a hit list buck and showed every sign of a mature buck at the start of season. His chest merged evenly with his neck and had a large pot belly. Now, Gumby looks like a different deer, besides the fact that he has busted multiple tines off his rack. His large belly is no longer present and his neck has thinned down so much you could easily misjudge his age if you saw him for the first time, potentially passing on this mature buck.
Gumby during late season, take notice of his neck and other body characteristics.
Establishing a hit list prior to season allows us to identify and watch bucks progress as the season continues, no matter what shape we may find them in. Just because Gumby does not currently sport the normal body characteristics of a 4.5+ year old deer, does not mean he is taken off the hit list.
Be sure to watch the bucks that frequent your property closely from the beginning of season all the way thru. This will help to ensure that mature bucks who are worn down from the rut don’t get a pass during late season!
Temperatures have been extremely warm throughout December here at The Proving Grounds which has made for some tough hunting. Typically December can be a great month to pattern deer! Temperatures normally are dropping as winter sets in and deer head to food sources like soybeans and corn. With the temperatures we’re experiencing this winter, we’ve had to change from our usual late season setups.
Matt Dye was able to harvest “Gappy” after we found a pattern of deer using a ridge with known red oak acorns on the ground.
Food sources like Eagle Seeds Broadside blend, clover, or acorns might be the ticket to success during warm years like we’re experiencing now. We’ve been watching our Reconyx cameras a lot lately trying to find the food source with the most activity and red oak acorns seem to be the best! Red oak acorns are more acidic than white oak acorns. Therefore, deer don’t usually eat them as much during the early fall. As the fall progresses the red oak acorns break down, making them less acidic and more favorable to deer. Here in southern Missouri, we had a big crop of red oak acorns and we’ve spent a lot of time hunting around them. Last week Matt and I had a great morning in some red oaks when Matt shot Gappy, a big wide 8 point.
Don’t be afraid to change your tactics at any point during the season! As the weather changes during the fall, your hunting tactics will most likely change as well!
