Brian's Northern WI Deer Habitat Success
I love Northern WI deer habitat and hunting, as well as any other northern lands including MN, WI and MI! I personally lived in a Northern wilderness setting for 14 years, but have hunted for nearly 30 years in agricultural land as well; the combination of both is hard to beat! Brian is in an area where there is plenty of mixed ag to the South within a mile or two, but virtually all-remote wilderness settings to the North. He is right on the fringe of where high deer densities meet low deer densities, within a habitat comprised of plenty of conifer, acres of tag alder, yellow birch, white birch, red maple and aspen. His mix of higher elevations with a portion of ag, and his lowland with extreme cover and bountiful quality bedding opportunities was the perfect parcel to use food, to not only keep the attraction level high on the land but to accurately define deer movements.
By making several key adjustments, Brian was able to experience a great deal of success quickly:
1. Food plot plantings were lengthened and strengthened to increase Brian's ability to attract, hold and build a deer herd during the hunting season, as well as to define movement
2. Many new treestand locations were created to take advantage of the definition of movement provided by the food, lay of the land and existing cover
3. Completely new hunter access routes were installed to match the intended flow of the deer herd, all within a highly non-invasive, low hunting pressure approach
Brian's Northern WI Deer Design
1. Green:
Long, thin lines of food used to direct deer, move deer where desired, compliment a high % of the available bedding cover and to offer highly defined hunter access and ambush points. For more info read, "Food Plot Designs: Thin is In"
2. Red:
Stand locations and access trails created to both take advantage of high quality ambush points connecting food, travel and bedding...as well as to maintain a high level of parcel efficiency where the deer should rarely see, hear, or smell a hunter. For more info read, "Whitetail Rut Treestand Access Guide"
3. Yellow:
Travel corridor creations with a goal of defining deer travel to a single 1-2' wide deer trail. For more info read, "Chainsaw Travel Corridors for Deer"
4. Tan Shaded Areas:
Native Browse Plot Cuttings used to focus deer movement to desired travel corridors to compliment the natural flow of the land, topography, access and stand locations. For more info read, "Natural Browse Plot Creations"
5. Beige Solid Block:
Habitat dead zone to allow for an interior, non-invasive stand location that hunter access and scent can be greatly deminished by. For more info read, "Habitat Dead Zones"
Here is Brian's Northern WI Deer Habitat Success Story...
"Hi Jeff,
I'm writing to personally thank you for sharing your wisdom to help me have by far the most successful and enjoyable bow season of my life. If you recall you came out to my 130 acre property and immediately emphasized the need to establish an all season food source to go with the excellent bedding already there. I followed your recommendation and planted 4 acres of rye, oats, peas, and brassicas side by side. I also adjusted some of our stand locations, and more importantly the access to and from those stands. I saw shooters (3.5 yr or better) on 9 sits starting with opening day, and culminating on November 12th with the harvest of this 5.5yr legend that I nicknamed Mr Mineral. Prior to this year I had only seen 1 shooter in 3 years! It was an amazing year, and harvesting a monarch I have 100s of pictures of and watched grow over the last 4 years (he was actually lost quite a bit of tine length from when he was 4.5 - must have been the record cold winter), but never saw from the stand is unbelievable!
I still have much to do to fully implement your plan (probably only 50-60% complete), but I know it is worth it. The proof is in the 20" main beams and 20" spread I'm holding on to!
Please feel free to list me as one of your satisfied customers, and use this testimonial if necessary."
Regards,
Brian
Northern WI
Conclusion
I am really happy for Brian! Northern WI deer are tough to pattern and hunt because they are so incredibly wary. But with a solid plan and a LOT of work, Brian was able to find success in his very first season, with his oldest buck.
Congrats Brian...thank you very much for completing the work and you deserve it! As always, hard work creates a lot of "luck".