When creating food plots to enhance the wildlife habitat of a property, the first few things you need to do is come up with an initial strategy, select your sites based on this strategy, and perform soil tests on those sites.

One of the most important -- and simple -- things a deer steward can do before the hunting season begins is to conduct a trail camera survey on their property.  The information gathered from these surveys is crucial to improving the health of the deer as well as the habitat that they live in.;

StakeOut's Trail Camera Mounting System comes in three main models -- Screw-it, Stick-it and Strap-it.  Each has its pros and cons, but there is no doubt that this product has made it much easier to set up and move trail cameras around on a property.

The Whitetail Institute's Imperial Clover is a clover blend that was produced from cross-breeding over 100 different clover varieties, eliminating the least desirable clover and keeping the best.  After years of this research and development, Imperial Clover was born, and has since been the standard by which all clover blends have been measured over the last couple of decades.

Imperial Clover is a perennial, and can be planted in spring or fall.  If taken care of, in addition to fairly good weather, you can expect to get strong results for 3-5 years before having to plant again

There are two functionalities of W.I.S.E. that most use -- patterning deer activity and trail camera surveys.   

Although both are incredibly useful to all hunters, the approach to them are drastically different.

Here are some "best practices" tips that will help you get the most out of W.I.S.E., and hopefully explain the different approaches to have success with both patterning deer and performing your trail camera surveys.

Turkey season doesn’t start for a few months, shed hunting hasn’t started yet and next year’s archery opener seems like a lifetime away.

What can you do now?

If you’re anything like me, you think about being in the whitetail woods year-round. There is one tool that you can use throughout the year that can help you be more successful when hunting season rolls back around: That tool is the trail camera.

Fall food plots are a great way to provide forage throughout the colder months of the year and into the beginning of spring before you plant your spring warm season plots. It will help maintain the carrying capacity of your property and can also be a great attractant for a hunting stand. NOTE: Please check with your state and local game laws when planting supplemental nutrition.

Cool season forages can be planted in fall. Cool season forages start to grow once the air and soil temperatures drop below 60 degrees. Just like warm season forages, they can be annual or perennial.

For hunters, there is just something about this time of year.  We’re all ready for the temperatures to drop, the days to get a little shorter, and those first hours in a tree stand.  I’ve been reading, and re-reading hunting magazines, setting the DVR for all my favorite hunting shows, and laying awake at night thinking through my pre-season checklists and priorities as I prepare for the upcoming season. 

 

Now it is time to put some of this reading, watching, thinking, and dreaming into action.  Here are a few items that might help you with your pre-season preparations.

Many deer hunters say that they have too many does on their property, but do they really know?  And if they do have too many, do they have an idea of what the excess is?  Most likely not.

Most hunters rely on what they see in the field as an indicator of the population density and buck to doe ratios.  While this is better than nothing, it isn’t much better (than nothing).

The Whitetail Institute’s Imperial Power Plant is a variety of warm season annuals, including soybeans, cow peas, lablab, sorghum and sunflowers.   With the promise of “more tonnage per acre than any other spring/summer annuals”, Power Plant was on my list of food plot seed to try in the spring of 2010