The #1 Deer Habitat Improvement (It's Not What You Think)
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- Опубліковано 8 лют 2025
- The best habitat improvement does not require expensive equipment or ongoing time and money, just simple tools and some of your time. Marketing has influenced us to think it's about food plots, but it's not...
Spot on information Mark! In my opinion the main reason for a food plot is to give the deer a place to go, where you know they're going to go each day. It creates a pattern and creates hunting opportunity. Without a good woodlot nearby with browse and cover the deer still come to the food but usually after dark.
Hey Mark, 100% agree on your assessment of where a food plot fits in the strategy. All the best to you.
You making me excited to go start working on my property ☺️ i love you're way of thinking and its not all about fancy sponsors 👍👍👍👍
LOL! Thank you for the kind, encouraging words. All the best to you.
Nothing better than a clear cut!
Hey Jason, AMEN!!! All the best to you.
You make your point well, the more cover, the more deer you can hold. The better chances a buck either lives or ruts on your property. Food will only draw in a mature buck if they feel safe being there anyways, and really only during the late season.
Right. So I have to keep reminding myself to focus on this part, even though I like the food plot part more. Discipline, right? All the best to you.
Great info. Thank you. Being from Alabama it is humorous seeing what Mid-westerners call cover or "thick stuff". In the southeast we have an abundance of young pine thickets, briars, kudzu, wisteria and other terrain so thick that a person can't move through it…but to your point about cover…yes the bucks tunnel back in our impenetrable briar jungles to spend the day.
LOL, it's all what you're used to, right? All the best to you.
Spot on yet again.. it’s refreshing watching your videos. Thanks again for the in depth response to my email!
Thanks! Hope the plan made sense, just let me know if I need to try explaining again. All the best to you guys.
Thanks for being a realist!!! Not pushing your agenda or your ego, i think there’s a lot of blue collar guys who can’t afford a consultant or maybe they are cheap or maybe just maybe they know they can work hard at it and it will be better watching things come to fruition! Greatly appreciate the time and effort and surely the sharing of your knowledge!!! Need more people like you in this world! Be one hell of a neighbor too haha
Hey Joe, thanks for the kind words of encouragement! @@joesparacino5529
Agree 100% That's exactly what our Wildlife biologist tells me.
Hey Lee, good to hear from you. And, good to hear our thinking is in line with the smart guys like your Wildlife Biologist. All the best to you.
Good info. I have plenty of food, cover, & water. I treat my place like a reserve, limited hunting. Bucks move in daylight really well with little to no pressure. Especially as neighbors hunting hard.
Hey Joe, you nailed it! Congrats, that is the ultimate, having bucks moving around during daylight. All the best to you.
Hello Mark. I just came across your channel and I really like your approach. My property is 30 acres near Lansing Michigan. Water isn't an issue for me, one of our borders is a small river. My woods is basically like what you described. I can see almost all the way through. I am planning on getting out with the chainsaw this winter to create some thick gnarly stuff. I will definitely be watching more of your videos.
Hey Norman, enjoy "chainsaw season", now is the time. All the best to you.
I handplanted pines not in rows, filled with browse growing up in it. First year you could look across it. Now so thick deer bed in it next to quality food plots. Bucks need serious cover.
Hey Jon, that sounds perfect. Did you plant the browse, or did it come up naturally? What kind of pines? All the best to you.
@@theback40 natural browse, loblolly pines, North Florida.
Thanks for the reply. Glad to hear the browse was natural. @@joncooke9515
Good Morning Mark!!! Cover is the main think my brother's property has!! His property is 75% cover, 10% water source & 15% open woods! We just need to get food pot source integrated into the property. The problem is accessing the property, two rivers one on the southside & the westside a marsh on the north- northeast side! We been keeping all your access roots right down the center of property with 4wheelers to keep your sent off the ground! We have not come up with any other way to access the property! The rivers are to narrow & full down falls to use boat. Open to suggestions???
Hey Keith, sounds like you guys got it right. My only suggestion is to build a few bridges, lol. Always gotta do what you can with what you have. Only suggestion is to move their bedding areas to where YOU want them, based on the best you can do for access. Put them where they can't get sight, scent, or sound from you when accessing your blinds. Remember, you are the boss, use your brain to identify and make a spot where you want them to be. All the best to you.
We've talked about building bridges, but it has not work out yet. I'll talk to him about your suggestions & let him run with it! Thanks Mark!!!@@theback40
Mark, message received! I’ve got a couple of areas to spend some chainsaw time on, and that’s the project for this year. Some of it will expand my plots a little, I really want to add a pollinator plot to see what it does to bird and insect populations, just for grins. But my sons and I have mapped out a couple of bedding areas. Depending on how fast or how long we work, I’m expecting big changes over the next couple of years. Thanks for the encouragement.
Hey Curt, great to hear. Keep us updated on the pollinator plot, too, please. All the best to you guys.
Love the swamps and clearcuts here in Georgia.
Hey Terry, clearcuts that are a few years old are great. All the best to you.
Hey Mark, thanks for making these videos. I'd love to connect and pick your brain a little bit more on some things. Have you watched any of MSU deer Lab, See More Bucks, Purpose-Filled Habitat management, Habitat Pro, etc? What do you have for fruit trees & shrubs? Would love to connect and chat more in depth.
Hey Lucas, yes, I have watched all those guys, and have been for years. Fruit trees are apple and pear, shrubs are many, some by me (nannyberry, dogwood, streamco willow etc..), and some NOT by me (honeysuckle, autumm olive etc...). Shoot me an email at markvwal@gmail. All the best to you.
Good advice. New to channel. Fellow Michigander.
Hey Kevin, thanks, and welcome. We're all just trying to get our properties right as quickly as we can, and I'm just trying to share what works and more importantly what doesn't. All the best to you.
I totally agree Mark.....first and foremost is the cover or you will have the deer feeding on your plots only in the dark. Your analogies were good with the open woods being pretty worthless. It may look good, but if you can see through it, it is pretty useless to the deer. Keep up the good work, I hope I will be able to do more this year with more and more PT. Bob
Hey Bob, thanks. We're all pulling for you!!!!
Thanks, again keep up the good work!!!!!
Makes perfect sense Thank you!
Hey Randy, sure does. But I think a lot of marketing in the industry distracts us from this foundational improvement? All the best to you.
My foodplots do well in drawing deer including mature bucks during daylight. I have planted a few acres of switchgrass which helps but I won’t be planting anymore. Where I thought I was going to plant switch I am planting shrubs. They cost me nothing and provide food and cover. Switchgrass is good but it’s a lot of work to establish and the price of seed is ridiculous!
Hey Todd, congrats on your property setup. This is what we all work toward, mature buck daytime movement. And I agree with you on the screening and cover as I am getting ready to head out and plant my annual allotment (400 this year) of trees and shrubs in about an hour. All the best to you.
How do you get shrubs for free? That's a great idea!
Good post
Thanks. It's almost chainsaw season too. I'm ready to get out there NOW! All the best to you.
Couldn’t agree with you more , great content!! Just wondering though . Do you normally hunt on the edge of the thickets or a little ways inside of it ?
I hunt outside the edges. Not saying this is right for all scenarios, but in my scenario, with a LOT of hunting pressure around my property, this has worked for us. We really focus on hunting setups in the transition zone from thickets to foodplots. If they feel comfortable enough, they'll wander out of the thickets into the transition zone in daylight, allowing us to recon and harvest. All the best to you.
You are correct,but you'd be surprised how many people think clear cuts are bad.
Hey Dave, agreed. I wish there was an easy way to educate the masses with the truth. All the best to you.
Orchards. Apple orchards are the answer. Forget the annual food plots. Plant a half acre of apple trees. Highly addictive, lots of cover. I've never not seen a deer in an apple orchard. Once they're established (3-5 years), they're relatively low maintenance, PLUS, you can eat from it too. Toss some clover seed out amongst it and BAM!, you've got yourself most everything you just talked about.
In what part of the country do you live? It seems like here in Michigan the apples are done dropping when the season really gets going and you want strong attraction in mid November? Or is that what the clover is for? All the best to you.
Good one!
OK, "Freetired" is just damn cool name. Never heard it put that way before, I like it. All the best to you.
@@theback40 tx, I'll keep it then. Lol. Retired 1.5yrs ago after 36 yrs at same job. Just purchased a little 23 acre piece. 1st time I can finally manipulate the property to my needs. Like your videos. Helpful.
Just wondering if you looked at 3033 or 3039 deere before you bought the 3046? And if so what do you think is biggest difference compared to those models?
@@freetired I don't recall, it was 6-7 years ago, sorry. But if I were to guess, it would simply be more power is better. A big reason I got it was to put a front snowblower on to take care of my half mile long driveway. Need a lot of power to throw that snow off as far as possible. I also was rototilling my food plots back then, and needed the power to drive a six footer.
@@freetired Congrats! That's a hell of an accomplishment, enjoy it, you earned it.
I have known this for sometime now and it’s a bingo
And it's almost chainsaw season now, yeah! All the best to you.
U are right
Hey Arthur, thanks. All the best to you.
Deer in the south love pine stands. There s cover in them and they eat the briars
Young pine stands are great! Had that on my property when I first bought it back in the 90's, it was a deer magnet. Then they grew, lower branches started dying, and the shade killed everything underneath, and it turned into terrible deer habitat. Had to open it up with the chainsaw to get light on the ground to get the briars going, and now it's much better. All the best to you.
No wolves period!
That helps for sure. All the best to you.
Thumbs are a pretty big advantage 😂
Hey Sean, that's just damn funny, I love it!! All the best to you.
Your WOKE
I'm not sure how to take that, I hope you are referring to being WOKE to habitat, and not politically. All the best to you.
@theback40 lol, it's seems like everyone on UA-cam is trying to sell a product or service or promote their sponsors, whereas fell people like you are outside that norm, for now...........
Pretty sure you don’t know what that means…..