_JPG.jpg)
330-473-0401 | MILLERSBURG, OHIO
LAND MANAGEMENT
To attract and keep a whitetail deer herd you need quality bedding, a mixture of preferred food, and then water. A Deer loves variety! After that, it is the design of where to put each need so that there is deer movement over the area of your property. The property needs to be designed in a way so that there are potential ambush sites that have the best access that is possible given the acreage we have to work with. Every property is completely different and there are always different ways to design and set up that particular acreage. There are always ways to improve your hunting property! Even though the phrase "the more acres the better" is very accurate, you don't need a large tract to kill mature whitetails. If you can figure out the "why" of your property then your chances of harvesting that trophy of a lifetime will increase drastically.
Food Plot Clearing
Where to put a food plot can be the big question if you have a property that is mostly wooded or covered with brush. We can help you decide where to put it, how to effectively shape it, and then also create the food plot to your liking. The main thing we focus on when creating a new food plot is leaving as much topsoil on the new food plot as possible. That will in turn give you the maximum growing results possible.
Timber Stand Improvement (TSI)
Hinge Cutting: We use a variety of hinge cutting techniques to establish multiple different ways to attract and guide the deer. In bedding areas, we hinge cut trees to create browse and bedding. Keeping some hinge cuts low so that the deer can browse on the new shoots and leaves that become available when the horizontal hinge stays alive and resprouts. Then also keep some hinge cuts higher (waist high) for the deer to move around and bed underneath.
Clear Cutting: Clear cutting also has its place in the creation of habitat for wildlife. When clear cutting you will expose the forest seed bed to sunlight and get a complete new regrowth on the forest floor. This will include a lot of much needed forage and woody browse for deer and other wildlife. We focus on a technique called “group opening” when we do TSI.
Food Plot Planting & Maintenance
Food plot planting is a very important key to having a successful whitetail deer herd and then also being able to hunt them. We install and maintain all types of food plots: everything from Fall annual greens, perennials, corn, soybeans, and even Giant Miscanthus for screening. Our process on every food plot is to determine what type of soil we have to work with, what the deer numbers are in the area and what size is the food plot.
Switchgrass Planting & Maintenance
Switchgrass can be a great addition to most hunting parcels by providing screening, travel routes, or a new bedding area. In the coldest weather, it provides a great thermal cover for all wildlife. The starting point for a successful planting is to use the correct chemicals at the right time to take care of any weed competition. We plant most of the switchgrass with our no-till drill to ensure that the seeds have instant seed-to-soil contact.
Pond & Water Hole Installation
Water sources are very very important when establishing and maintaining a healthy deer herd. They need water on a consistent basis when the weather turns warm and dry. An important factor also is that a whitetail deer would rather drink out of muddy or mossy water holes than a clear fresh creek or spring.
DIY Earth Ponds
Easy to install and will attract wildlife instantly.
Tree & Seedling Planting
Tree Planting: Be it fruit trees, spruce trees, pine trees or even miscanthus, we can plant it for you. Every year we do hundreds of nursery tree plantings. We plant fruit trees for orchards and mast producing food for the deer. We plant spruce and pine trees for windbreaks, cover or screening on your hunting farm and we plant thousands of rhizomes of miscanthus for its own purpose of screening or cover breakup. We use different techniques for different plantings
Seedling Plantings: Creating future forests is a major factor in an open field environment and is very important to us. When changing open fields into cover we have really good success with doing mass seedling plantings with a pull-behind tree planter. Knowing your goals and what soil types where you are planting is very important in deciding which species to plant. If you want the fastest tall tree cover possible, going with the fast growing Eastern White Pine is your best bet.