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Annual To-Do List: Whitetail Property Management

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,879
274
Appalachia
This is something that's been on my mind for a few weeks now in regards to content I'd like to share on TOO and the guys at Whitetail Partners in Wisconsin nailed it with their recent post on Instagram. I copied/pasted their list for a quick reference and give all due credit to them for creating such a great list. I've bolded the items that are most important to me this January.


✔Hunting - doe management or a target buck if you own the food and know his next step.
✔Cameras - turn off the cell cams but keep SD cams rolling for another 6 weeks to see who survived.
Scouting - the sooner you can do this, the more relevant the sign will be to hunting season. Target bedding and travel routes to see how they are being used. Fly a drone if you have access to one.
Layout - scouting often leads to planning, so be sure to have marking tape while you are in the woods. Bedding and corridors are key areas to mark.
Worklist - make your list and prioritize what you want done. It helps to keep a list while scouting.
✔Timber Inventory - always be on the lookout for that next timber harvest to improve your habitat. Don't know what you have? - start by reading up on it and having a forester walk your land.
✔Calendar - Make entries for work days and keep other time off like family vacations out of key times like planting fall food plots.
Cuttings - Get after those timber cuttings (TSI, bedding, corridors, shooting lanes) plan around snowfalls for productivity and safety. It's hard to move around the timber when there is a lot of snow.
✔Neighbor Relationships - connect to see how their season was and promote QDM.
✔Express interest in buying neighbor's land if/when they are ready. Repeating this annually is important - you will always be the first call when the time comes.
✔Budgeting - for the property improvements in the year ahead.
Get Materials - this year shortages are real. Glyposate is already twice the price, and it may become difficult to find.
Orders - prep your tree and seed orders. Get them in early as well.
✔Learn - Buy some books on subjects you could learn more about - trees, forestry, other wildlife, etc.
✔Plan - schedule your planning needs with @whitetail_partners Anything from a few hour Q&A session to a full blown habitat plan, now is the time to get it on the calendar. There are only a few spots left before spring green-up.

My biggest goal in January is to nail down my to-do list, which will get done while scouting, then I need to get on acquiring some of my materials. Pending the arrival of Baby #3, I plan to get most of my cutting down this month as well.

Tagging @at1010 and @Spencie as a couple of guys who are actively managing properties for whitetails and other creatures. I'd love to hear from other guys doing similar stuff on their properties like @Isaacorps, @Big_Holla, and @Stressless.

I'll keep my eyes open for their next post and hopefully, we can follow along here on TOO for those that don't use IG. This is a great topic and one that should be helpful to a few handfuls of TOOzers.
 

Fletch

Senior Member
Supporting Member
6,078
118
No extra deer here.... Now... BEARS... That I can give you... Now that our A/H got re-elected we will soon be overrun with them... What size you want???
 

at1010

*Supporting Member*
4,943
139
Absolutely a great list and fun topic. In an effort to be somewhat brief, I will put together my list below.

1. LEARN - be it about Soil, Timber, and/or deer - I set a goal to learn more each year. Not only from my own observations but from the most respected scientists and PHDs who study these mediums. I find that the more I research and learn the more I enjoy learning.
2. Finish an 11-acre TSI area that has been treated heavily for TOH, AO, and MFR. I need to finish grapevine cuttings.
3. Soil diversity - add acres in food, add more diversity, possibly play with tissue sampling to better understand nutrient uptake and the variations in plant physiology related to the soil test reports.
4. Increase relationship with neighbors
5. Browse surveys to start putting together doe harvest goals/objectives for 2022.

I am sure I can think of a bunch more but this is a fine list to get started!
 

Stressless

Active Member
2,127
85
Keene, OH
Great stuff @bowhunter1023 - Anyone can tell if they read my threads I'm a planner/doer.

One thing I saw that they didn't bring up front is "annual 'work weekends' - for me with the travel required and work it's rquired for getting other buds lined up to help. Some work for "access" to be able to hunt etc - but I try to get the dates for Spring planting, Summer and late Summer touch points lined up as early as possible as an extra man on some of these projects is needed.

So I put lists together - I like the subject "listing" these guys did. Just pulled my current list off the phone:


Property North:
Chores:

Game Cams
- swap Cresent pond with Spartan
-- check solar, cam and cellL
- pine dead batterys swap solar/batts
-- move to cover feeder
- Greenbriar trunk on...ffs


- Wildlife chores

7 more wood duck houses
Buck pond
Cresent pond
Fox pond
Cliffs

Pics spray Jap Knotweed Crescent Pond

SUMMER-
IF POND HOLDS
Gravel and liner Cresent Pond to road
Level for rednecks spot at Greenbriar and Backpad/2"
Cut trees at Fishbowl level/stumps out
Level East Corners of Fishbowl pond

NOV-MAR- mark White Oak Path connect to beaver bottom connect to middle path
- Mop Cabin floor
- redo window plastic sheeting on doors
- make wax dirt
- make fleshing beams
- paint doors

- Stands Priority
-- move Wheelhouse East

-- pull out stands
--- crossing
--- backpad
--- 8 inch
--- Amp

-artificial xmas tree limbs in
-- Swamp
-- Poplar
-- Greenbriar S (new)
-- Ash
-- N spoil

Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone


Ima take a knee and do their list, gonna need a bigger screeen :geek: - Categorization and Timing - LoL...

1641323224834.png
 

Spencie

Senior Member
5,051
145
Constitution Ohio
On the schedule for this off season:
1) Predator control. We have already eliminated 1 coyote, coon and possum. Many more need to go before fawn drop and poult hatch.
2) Rake and seed with grass/clover the newly mulched area.
3) Cut maples out of the clover plot and frost seed.
4) Replant alfalfa field and clover field
5) Trail maintenance
6) Scout/shed hunt
7) Continue trail cam inventory
8) Tend to fruit trees
Most of our major projects are now completed with the last mulched area. We have no more big changes for the property in mind.
We have not taken a doe in our 3 seasons here. I have read over and over about taking does and know how most feel about it. We just aren’t in that camp. If we had 500 acres it would be different. We have 100 acres. Going from X number of does to 1/2X is not going to increase the number of bucks using our land. They aren’t going to run back and forth looking for a doe on us. If they aren’t here they will keep going. There are a lot of bucks using what we have. Until that changes we aren’t going to do anything different. When we started this thing we didn’t have many mature bucks and an ok number of does. Next season the age structure should be much better than when we bought the place…even though we lost some 2-4 year olds this fall. It’s probably good to be my neighbor if you are into killing 115”-135” bucks.
 
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at1010

*Supporting Member*
4,943
139
On the schedule for this off season:
1) Predator control. We have already eliminated 1 coyote, coon and possum. Many more need to go before fawn drop and poult hatch.
2) Rake and seed with grass/clover the newly mulched area.
3) Cut maples out of the clover plot and frost seed.
4) Replant alfalfa field and clover field
5) Trail maintenance
6) Scout/shed hunt
7) Continue trail cam inventory

Most of our major projects are now completed with the last mulched area. We have no more big changes for the property in mind.
We have not taken a doe in our 3 seasons here. I have read over and over about taking does and know how most feel about it. We just aren’t in that camp. If we had 500 acres it would be different. We have 100 acres. Going from X number of does to 1/2X is not going to increase the number of bucks using our land. They aren’t going to run back and forth looking for a doe on us. If they aren’t here they will keep going. There are a lot of bucks using what we have. Until that changes we aren’t going to do anything different. When we started this thing we didn’t have many mature bucks and an ok number of does. Next season the age structure should be much better than when we bought the place…even though we lost some 2-4 year olds this fall. It’s probably good to be my neighbor if you are into killing 115”-135” bucks.

I think shooting does is one of the most misunderstood dynamics of land management. I credit this to a few things.

1. QDMA purposely or mistakenly presented this idea that only a dead doe is a good doe - this was majorly misunderstood.
2. Most scientific research is around buck movements, antler growth, etc. Very little to no research is around doe dispersal. I recently emailed Dr. Bronson Strickland and Dr. Steve Demaris about this very fact and the answers I received were somewhat vague. Rightly so, as the research just hasn't been conducted to present facts. What they do know is that when a doe is removed from prime habitat, the replacement time of that doe is directly correlated to the surrounding habitat, deer density, and how prized of a territory said harvested doe was taken from.

To me, this is why doe harvest is endlessly complicated. If you extrapolate that idea out, you are constantly having deer shift from one sq. mile to the next based on habitat changes, pressures, etc.

I think with doe mgt - we need to understand a few things
1. What are the goals of our property
2. What are the neighbors doing - Not just next-door but within a few mile areas
3. What food options do we have vs. the surrounding sq miles
4. What is the browse pressure on native habitat and are we concerned with the degradation of said habitat. There is 100% a direct correlation to degraded habitat and reduced antler size, fewer fawns, fewer fawns coming into estrous in their first year (further reducing fawn crop), high predation on fawns, etc. Not to mention the epigenetic triggers that will be released over time, further impacting the health of the deer herd.

All that to say, I think it absolutely absurd how many people advocate for shooting does without any information about a property and surrounding property. I love seeing deer and I don't want to shoot every doe I see, I am sure many here can agree with this feeling.

I will share with you (if this is redundant I apologize) how I decide if/what doe harvest looks like on our farm.
1. Farm is around 250 acres - I communicate with all the neighbors (around 2K acres) - last year one neighbor shot 13 does, this year 2 - very important to understand what they are doing a year in and out to understand how I want to proceed.
2. Study browse pressure on native flora (green briar, mfr, etc.). If I am finding green briar as thick as my pinky ate up, I am concerned. Likewise, if every stump sprout is browsed, etc.
3. Study exclusion fences in food plots. I have some fields that you might think are failures, but inside the fence, the deer have eaten FEET of the tonnage from the fields.
4. Camera observations - I try to overlay timestamps on cameras throughout the farm. For example, 5 pm - I will look at 4 different cameras and mark the number of does on each camera. This is something I found to be interesting because often most assume the same doe groups are going from one field to the next. When you look at the time stamps often we can be amazed at the number of deer that are spread out vs. huddled together.
5. Hunting observations - again comparing this to camera observations


All of this sand I still tend to be fairly conservative in my quota for doe harvest each year, typically between 2-4.

I am not saying one way is right or wrong - just wanted to try to provide a little information I have gathered over the years in hopes it might help someone a bit.
 
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Spencie

Senior Member
5,051
145
Constitution Ohio
Every property is different and different management plans for each. Neighbors will kill enough does in my opinion so we provide a safe haven for them. I'm not against killing some does for food but we seem to have plenty in the freezer. If it gets to the point that we feel there are too many does we will address the issue then.
It's not like they only stay on our 100 acres. There is a piebald doe that comes to the house feeder regularly. We have seen her across the road 2 farms away feeding in fields. I have never seen her while hunting. That is another thing about learning a property....which deer use which areas. We have some that are only along the northern border. Others that stay on the east side and some that stay to the west. That doe and some bucks never go past the house and stay to the south. Others are on the whole place daily. It's really interesting to me watching this play out. We hung a stand in the SW corner because "Wideload 53" was a daily regular around the pond but we never saw him while hunting. Opening morning he walked under me in that stand. Next season that might be tempting. Observe and learn.
 
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bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,879
274
Appalachia
I like your thoughts on shooting does, Mike. One of the biggest paradigm shifts for me was the video Jeff Sturgis put out where he talks about the difference between "buck farms" and "doe farms" and is adamant that you can't have both. I've watched our farm evolve from buck farm to doe farm for many of the reasons he listed and the irony is the hunting has only gotten better as we've moved to being a doe farm. It used to be a sausage fest, which made for great "Hit Lists" and such, but the hunting sucked when the rut rolled around because they all left to find love. Now, I have the hottest ladies night and with 3-4 distinct doe family groups using the farm at any given time, it's brought the bucks to me. I went 15 years without killing a buck on that farm (sometimes by choice) and now I've gone back-to-back-to-back on bucks and all 3 were using our farm to find love. From 2010 to 2019, we stopped shooting does and now, we kill one a year off 80 acres (more like 150 if you take into account surrounding properties that heavily influence our place where no one is killing does either). I like to see deer when I hunt and I like to shoot big bucks every so often, so we're in a win-win situation being a doe farm. If being a buck farm means boring hunts from late-October through gun season, I don't want to be a buck farm.
 

Isaacorps

Member
5,230
145
Columbus
Great discussion. I’ve got a ton of to do items rattling around in my head, just need to sit down and sort them out and prioritize them. Much of the last few months have been dedicated to non management/hunting projects at the property. With that starting to wind down a bit I’ll be able to really shift my attention in that direction. Thanks for the reminder!
 

Stressless

Active Member
2,127
85
Keene, OH
I like your thoughts on shooting does, Mike. One of the biggest paradigm shifts for me was the video Jeff Sturgis put out where he talks about the difference between "buck farms" and "doe farms" and is adamant that you can't have both. I've watched our farm evolve from buck farm to doe farm for many of the reasons he listed and the irony is the hunting has only gotten better as we've moved to being a doe farm. It used to be a sausage fest, which made for great "Hit Lists" and such, but the hunting sucked when the rut rolled around because they all left to find love. Now, I have the hottest ladies night and with 3-4 distinct doe family groups using the farm at any given time, it's brought the bucks to me. I went 15 years without killing a buck on that farm (sometimes by choice) and now I've gone back-to-back-to-back on bucks and all 3 were using our farm to find love. From 2010 to 2019, we stopped shooting does and now, we kill one a year off 80 acres (more like 150 if you take into account surrounding properties that heavily influence our place where no one is killing does either). I like to see deer when I hunt and I like to shoot big bucks every so often, so we're in a win-win situation being a doe farm. If being a buck farm means boring hunts from late-October through gun season, I don't want to be a buck farm.
On Does... and this is along what others have posted, in that 'it depends'. Since 2016 on the 1800+ acres surrounding around our property (not my 100 or the neighbors 400) but encircling our 500 acre co-op: No - 0 - Zero does have been taken. Now this isn't AG or broken up small lots, one outfitter and one land manager control that 1800 acres. Cliff and I know them both well. 650 acres adjoining to the South and East and 1200+ to the North and West is a solid Doe Factory in that they only shoot 'largish' bucks and strictly buck only. My friend and Co-Op neighbor Cliff shoots 8-10 mature does a year off his 400 yearly and we harvested 4 mature/yearling does (not fawns) off the 100. But the small vacuum we create is immediately filled from the overabundant mature does and yearlings does surrounding us.

The thought is to take the mature does off and make room / depressure our land for those yearling and 2.5 y/o bucks to come in and establish themselves in the Core areas. As the surrounding 1800+ acres are FAT with Big Ol'guurls that run off those 1.5 2.5 y/o bucks we're trying to recruit. Funny that Cliff's entire 400 is a Core Area - his camp is 3/4 mile away, I've put about 70-75 acres into my Core as the cabin is well into the property. In 2019, 2020 #1 was Niles and he came in and established his Core on my farm. 2020, 2021 Dutton established his Core Squarely on 100 acre. Cliff didn't have 1 or two pics of either buck. I am hopeful that my linear plots and opening/bedding in the woody browse openings I established in 2021 will enable a 'couple' mature bucks to use the core. Trying to keep the soft mast/ greens food plots separate from the hard mast/woody browse. Note that except for some rough once a year cut pastures (covered landfill and covered strip mine) in the 1800 acres surrounding us it's all high canopied hardwoods.

I tried doing to the Easy No-Till and ultimate No-Till that Jeff Sturgis describes on my farm in 2021 - detailed that mess last year HERE - buckwheat got mowed off, brassicas got mowed off... so I just made my plan for 2022 with changes from that experiment and from @at1010 s No-Till blog - I'll get to in a minute.
 
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Stressless

Active Member
2,127
85
Keene, OH
2022 To Do List:

Hunting - doe management or a target buck if you own the food and know his next step.
- Killed Dutton n tagged out on big ol'guurls
✔Cameras - turn off the cell cams but keep SD cams rolling for another 6 weeks to see who survived.
- Yep - but that runs right into my turkey scouting time so I add a month of cell cam in Apr for that.
✔Scouting - the sooner you can do this, the more relevant the sign will be to hunting season. Target bedding and travel routes to see how they are being used. Fly a drone if you have access to one.
- Found two great areas to add to my stand assemblage, added them one panned out to be a GREAT location, puling the other and moving about 250 yrds to another opportune location.
✔Layout - scouting often leads to planning, so be sure to have marking tape while you are in the woods. Bedding and corridors are key areas to mark.
- Feb - Mar are my fun times: In Order
-- Frost seeding the plots I'm taking out with switchgrass
-- Frost seeding the plots that didn't stand a chance last year and I'm moving back into perennial production.
-- making sure "browsing paths" are open in the 10 woods openings, chainsawing them and making sure 3 planting areas in each are open for
-- the 80 or so trees I'm ordering ~ White Spruce and Red Cedar to put in my hardwood openings created in 2021 Planting planned for early Apr and....
-- the 30 Bald Cypress I'm planting along crescent pond road
-- assembling and putting up the 7 wood duck houses and putting in the bedding/predator guards
-- marking the last 200 yrds or so of paths I want to connect the N and S ridges of the property
-- Oh an I might find a shed if my dirt bag Oil and Gas shitbird land man doesn't pick them all up when he runs his ATV all the Faq over my property in late Feb (last two years on Camera)...

✔Worklist - make your list and prioritize what you want done. It helps to keep a list while scouting.
- Check because I'm away most of the time, I plan the days and tasks within the days down to damn near the hour... I make time to chill and swim in the pond etc, need to make more time to fish etc but the chores are always sitting on my shoulder whispering.. hissing about their needs....
✔Timber Inventory - always be on the lookout for that next timber harvest to improve your habitat. Don't know what you have? - start by reading up on it and having a forester walk your land.
- I'm more following the Forestry Management Plan (FMP) for NCRS and CAUV programs, FMP is a ten year plan and mine's due for renewal in 2025 so 2023/24 will need attention. Neighbor Cliff has been very active in the last two years getting setup for some logging - we discuss over cocktails frequently.
✔Calendar - Make entries for work days and keep other time off like family vacations out of key times like planting fall food plots.
- Both kids getting married in CO this year so I'm backing off some of the key times in Mar and June...
Cuttings - Get after those timber cuttings (TSI, bedding, corridors, shooting lanes) plan around snowfalls for productivity and safety. It's hard to move around the timber when there is a lot of snow.
- See TSI and openings cutting. One thing I also use is a blend of Triclopyr and diesel in that Feb/Mar timeframe to terminate invasive trees TOH, XXX Olives, and grapevives - I also in the last year or two have been hitting (hack and squirt or girdle and squirt) large trees on the sourthern side of my plots to open them up to sunlight with said tree termination cocktail
✔Neighbor Relationships - connect to see how their season was and promote QDM.
- Glad to say I'm the guy the brought them all together in 2014-2015 after my brother died. Once a year I take a bottle of wine over to my the family that ownes and leases to Amish... My closing line every-time, "I'll beat anyone's price if they ever give you any reason to open the lease." Controlling or better buying adjacent land is priceless.
✔Express interest in buying neighbor's land if/when they are ready. Repeating this annually is important - you will always be the first call when the time comes.
- LoL -- hadn't read this but see above...
✔Budgeting - for the property improvements in the year ahead.
- Deer meat is the most expensive meat in the universe, even when you try to budget!
Get Materials - this year shortages are real. Glyposate is already twice the price, and it may become difficult to find.
- My chems are already in.
Orders - prep your tree and seed orders. Get them in early as well.
- Calling tomorrow to order the trees (delayed shipping) and going to Merit mid-Feb for my Frost Seed legume mix.
✔Learn - Buy some books on subjects you could learn more about - trees, forestry, other wildlife, etc.
- A Flag officer said to my young self and it stuck, "You don't need to work on what you're good at." Always - and it helps having a neighbor that freely shares his wisdom - 11 BBB's (all archery) and many many other record book (95% archery) animals from all over N.America.
✔Plan - schedule your planning needs with @whitetail_partners Anything from a few hour Q&A session to a full blown habitat plan, now is the time to get it on the calendar. There are only a few spots left before spring green-up.

One thing I've found very valuable to how I Plan, Design, Work is Google Earth Pro. I build layers that can be turning on/off to declutter the work easel. In this snap:
- Paths
- Wood Duck Houses
- TSI areas
- Bridges/culverts
- Game Cameras
- Ponds
- etc...
I thin case it's the long ignored path in the bottom - connecting all many paths (White Not Done - Planned) (Green - Done ) (Yellow - partially complete). Also OnX can import the GE Pro layers so for instance - I have a layer that is the just the TSI areas - BeaverBottomXX I save that and inport into my OnX account - when walking around the property with my phone and OnX app it takes me right to them and in this case shows me where the "Planned" two new opening are BeaverBotttom8 and 9.

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Stressless

Active Member
2,127
85
Keene, OH
Looks like another trip to WPAFB is in the works so I'll be at the farm next weekend for about 72 hrs. LR forecast has above freezing temps so the soil should free of snow and ice for frost seeding. Gonna be a busy little bee....

Like Jesse I used my last visit to open up more plot space - I chemically treated ( Triclopyr Ester & diesel &/or Tordon) the trees in the areas South of my plots to get more daylight into them. Looks like a damn smurf was peeing all over the S edge of the plots. They were girdled last year but many still had leaves until fall so I'm trying to get in front of any growth this year.
20220225_075541.jpg



In priority as I generally don't get them all done:

#1 - Cut and remove tress that have fallen into the roads, plots and trails (quite a few that got girdled last summer....)
#2 - Harrow then blow leaves off plots that will get frost seeded (and) be the plots I plan to setup for turkey season that's only 60 days or so out
- Pine, 2",
#3 - Harrow the plots that will get frost seeded but I don't plan to put turkey blinds on. (This is to loosen the leaves from being matted to the soil and get much better seed to soil contact for the frost to pull them in)
#4 - Spray Simazine in the areas marked for swtiich grass and spray simazine on last years switchgrass plantings
#5 - Frost seed legumes and switchgrass
#6 - In the first evening assemble the 7 woodduck houses / go get the seven 8' 4"x4"s to mount them on
#7 - Put out the rest of my minerals, 4 locations
#8 - Collect wood that got bucked off Backpad from clearing last Spring/summer for firewood/saw stumps below brushhog
#9 - Install the 7 wood duck houses
#10 - Mark the bald cypress planting areas along Crescent pond
#11 - Pull most cams / relo some for turkey scouting and overwatching a couple wood duck nests
#11 - Clear/Open any paths and areas in 10 TSI openings / Mark the locations for 2-3 clumps of white spruce (Cypress and Spruce to be planted in Mid Apr)
#12 - Mark bottom trail (connect three other trails) for clearing in Apr

I'll also be thinning the trash panda hordes throughout...

Jeff's ToDo list mirrors many of the comments in this thread.