Southeast Woods and Whitetail

Timber harvest and fire!

This is how you provide food and cover in the same area!
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Smoked..💨🔥

This unit had a major problem of sericea lespedeza and sweetgums. If we had burned this unit in the fall, the sericea lespedeza would have been dormant and wouldn’t have been hit near as hard as it was after germinating this spring. We will follow up with herbicide to treat the sericea as needed.

When dealing with invasives, the timing of fire can be very important!
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Make ‘em before you take ‘em! The turkeys are loving this freshly burned woodland! 🦃
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On the board in Bama! 🦃
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As a habitat manager and forester, I can’t think of a better tool for a landowner to have. Timber management is a large part of habitat/wildlife management and fire can benefit both your timber and habitat when used under the right conditions!
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The barn ninja is down and had previously been shot in the neck by another hunter!

This deer’s antlers have been this way for at least 2 years now and are likely due to an injury to the pedicle. While many would say he had bad genetics, this is likely not the case at all. He got his name due to the fact that he bedded very close to the barn on multiple occasions. This allowed him to know every single time the area was compromised! It’s amazing how tough these animals are..
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This one Chinese privet has thousands of berries on it that will be eaten by birds and distributed to create thousands of new plants.

The damage that has been done to our native ecosystems by invasive plants that came about through ornamental plantings is unreal. The Chinese privet is among the worst and is a constant uphill battle for wildlife managers. If you have these on your property, do all you can to eradicate them.
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Had some stuff stolen from the barn so I threw up my cell cam for security, and this is what I got on camera…

Maybe this is a similar case to rumors of mature bucks bedding near parking lots on WMAs.
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Planted over 3 weeks ago with only one light rain. I guarantee you the results wouldn’t be the same had it been tilled.

I’m hearing from lots of people that are having to replant entirely. They could’ve saved a lot of time and money if they’d convert to a no-till system whether they have a drill or not.
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Food plot season is here, and like many others, we have been planting.

On our 500 acre property we manage about 25 acres of food plots (5%). Many stop here and don’t manage the majority of their property to benefit their deer, turkeys, etc. in ways much greater than planting food plots.

Controlling daylight movement starts with cover, and if you don’t have cover spread out across your property then deer likely won’t make it to your plots until dark. By providing cover in strategic locations throughout your property, you could give yourself a greater chance of harvesting the deer you’re after. While many may look and think “I have cover” since the other 95% of the property is in closed canopy forest. This couldn’t be further from the truth! If you find yourself in this situation, maybe consider some selective timber harvest or hinge cutting of selective species. This will help you better strategize and give you a greater chance of having those deer step out before dark!
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Meet Willa, the newest member of Southeast Woods and Whitetail!

Expect a bunch of baby Willas and Winstons in a few years!
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We recently expanded a water hole in a high traffic area where multiple travel corridors meet.

Not only was this location a hot spot for travel, but a spot that holds water throughout most of the year. Water holes can be great camera locations, especially in dry years like we’ve had. Now just waiting for it to fill up!
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Edge feathering is a practice we implement on our own property and for many reasons.

Deer feel much safer entering a food plot when a transition like this has been applied. It allows them to stand within cover and assess the potential dangers. It also forces deer to approach the food plot to see what else might be using it. Along with these, it provides deer, turkeys, and others with year around food and can even be used for cover.

Edge feathering also increases our hunting opportunities as deer are more willing to enter the plot through a smooth transition such as this. This helps funnel deer into an area and increase our chances of harvesting them, especially when bow hunting.
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Unlike this buck, our first deer expo was not a disappointment! We got to talk to a lot of potential clients and make some connections with other great outdoor related companies!

For those of you we talked to at the expo, shoot us a follow up email or call!
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Come see us at the World Deer Expo in Birmingham, Al (Booth 2225) and sign up for our over the phone consult giveaway or grab a hat!

Friday 3 PM - 9 PM
Saturday 10 AM -9 PM
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It’s almost that time of year!

A favorite fruit of mine and of many species of wildlife!
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It’s amazing what you can do with modern mapping technology!

I get-referenced this 1941 aerial photo over the current imagery and boundary of our current 500 acre farm. It’s fascinating getting to look back over 80 years and see how much the landscape has changed. Almost all of the open acres are now timbered, and the vast majority of what was once hardwoods is now plantation pine.

How do you think this has effected wildlife populations and management, the encroachment of non-natives and invasive species, the decline of native species, the presence of quality habitat, etc? (Map via University of AL historical aerial database)
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Many of the species in our summer blend are going to seed! The turkeys and doves are spending lots of time in the food plots and the various root systems are adding lots of biomass to our soil! Quality blends feed more than the deer and the soil too!
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The habitat work you have done or should’ve already done is crucial for this part of the year when fawns are dropping and does are nursing! Nursing does will require an excess of nutrition in one of the two most nutritionally stressful times of year (late summer). Believe it or not, nursing fawns is even more nutritionally demanding than growing antlers. An unhealthy ecosystem will result in an unhealthy mother and an unhealthy beginning for a fawn. Do the work now so your future deer herd isn’t always recovering from the last stress period when they could be living with less stress year around!

Aside from the nutritional requirements, fawns need somewhere to hide! Manage your forests and old fields with a deer’s prospective in mind! Everything occurs from ~3.5ft and below.
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High quality food, structure, thermal cover, and much more! Something we can all work towards and achieve.

If a timber harvest is necessary, you can also use that money to put towards other habitat improvements!
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A lot of emphasis is put on predator control in efforts to address declining turkey numbers across the country. Even in good habitat such as this woodland where these adult turkey remains were found, predators will kill an adult turkey occasionally, and more often poults.

Success in reversing declining turkey numbers is found less in predator control and more in focusing on nesting/brooding habitat. This is why we spend little time trapping and lots of time improving habitat. There is no one cause for turkey decline and there is no one solution. Dedicate your efforts on a variety of factors with your main focus being quality habitat management!
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In a world of food plotters, be a habitat manager!

Food plots are too often regarded as habitat and real habitat work is too often neglected. We plant food plots for a couple days every year and spend most of the rest working to improve our habitat. Food plots should always be secondary to your habitat requirements! We too have our fair share of food plots, but be careful not to devote too much of your time working on food plots when you should place greater emphasis on habitat!
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Woody browse is not something we should overlook as land managers, and this is proof!

We never want to use the same management tactics across a whole unit. Using the hack and sq**rt method, strategically placed hinge cuts of specific tree species, and just cutting trees and allowing them to sprout are all practices we like to implement. This provides deer with bedding thickets, native grasses and forbs, and woody browse all within the same unit!
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Pokeweed (poke salad) is among the most sought after browse by deer. Native species such as this are what deer survived on for thousands of years and what deer continue to eat even when quality food plots are present. Divert much of your focus from food plots and focus on creating habitat full of native species like this!
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Cheap and effective! This unit was released back in late summer of 2020 using the hack and sq**rt method and followed up with a prescribed fire. This is the response!

Redring milkweed, black eyed susan, wild bergamot, native mints, native sunflowers, mineral sprouts, and much more
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Fixated lots of free nitrogen into the food plots this spring! Don’t put it all to waste by disking it afterwards!
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This is a major way that prescribed fires jump fire breaks! Be sure to fell dead trees near your fire breaks that may fall and allow fire to carry across into another unit!
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We have seen snakes on the move here lately..👀🐍
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We burned this pine stand for a landowner a while back and the vegetative response was not what we had hoped for.. the landowner was just wanting to set back the sweetgum encroachment in this stand, so his objectives were met. While we had hoped for a different response, this is what we got. An almost monoculture of sericea lespedeza that provides 0 wildlife value and can spread quickly. This is a great example of why you should always monitor the vegetative response and not just expect what you are hoping for!
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Our native crabapple is as pretty as it is attractive to wildlife!

Native options will always be better for the wildlife and pollinators! Soft mast producers like this can be a great bonus to any property!
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Steep banked creeks like this influence deer movement greatly as they offer very few easy places to cross. Features like this can make deer movement much more restricted and predictable.

Find an s-shaped curve in a creek like this and the down-stream side of the curve will likely have the most gradual banks as the water has slowed down in the s-curve. I guarantee this terrain feature will create a high traffic creek crossing!
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We got to this maple a little late, and it defeated the girdle and herbicide application. Time your forest stand improvements right so your time isn’t wasted! This works best in the summer and fall, but it can be effective any time of year that the sap isn’t rising.
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He has defeated death so that any who desire may take the free gift of life! Happy Easter!
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