Habitats & Food Plots

It may be the off-season for deer hunters but now is the time to do one of the most important things of the whole year for your white-tailed deer herd.

In this episode: new whitetail research (00:44 -- 1:24), tell-tale signs to look for when there isn't enough food for the deer on your hunting property (1:46 -2:56), how to convert old logging decks into food plots(3:16-3:45),  what to do when feral hogs become a problem (4:39 -- 5:29), shed antler hunting tips (5:41 -- 8:28), and rare video of a piebald whitetail doe in Indiana (8:37-9:53)!

It's not too early to start thinking about spring food plots! This week we begin to transition open bottom land into a food plot by eliminating those pesky honey locust trees. Plus, Adam heads west (begins 2:50) this week to try and lay eyes on some giant Kansas whitetails! Watch to see the surprise visitor that puts the huge herd of deer on the move! Finally (4:53), we share with you our techniques at maintaining our traps for years to come!

This winter's brutal weather has made things hard for food plot aficionados.

Want to know how you can be more successful on your hunting property? The key is finding the limiting factors and making the changes to maximize the potential of your land! That's exactly what Dr. Grant Woods does this week assisting the landowners on three different hunting properties!

Experienced land managers are big fans of working in the woods in winter. Frozen ground is easy to get around on (no mud or ruts) and a snow cover protects the forest floor from human impact. Trees are foliage free and it's easy to lay out your work without a bunch of leaves to get in the way. It is also a whole lot easier to get around in the woods without a lot of extra brush to get in the way. Best of all, any trees you cut will instantly deer food the minute they fall.

Winter is a great time to tune up your whitetail hunting woods. A few weekends and a few friends with chainsaws can mean the difference between a great next season and another year of coming up empty. Here a few projects you can do to get you up off the couch and into the deer habitat business.

The food plot business in the United States has grown to gargantuan proportions in the last decade. Thousands of hunters and landowners spend untold millions of dollars every year locating, clearing, plowing, planting and cultivating food plots for white-tailed deer. All too often these prospective deer managers overlook the already existing species of native and introduced species of plants that deer will readily eat.

Keep 'em or drill over? Dr. Woods explains how and when he decides to pull the trigger on re-drilling a stressed bean plot. We're targeting hogs on a local property and planning for some bacon.