Help with Managing Hunting Land

Scott from Michigan asks,



Bill, merry Christmas to you and your family. I really enjoyed you reading Luke 2 every year from the deer blinds. Also, the story on how you shot your buck this year was nothing short of amazing. I’m am thinking the whole time; seriously??? I bought 156 acres in the up of Michigan on thanksgiving weekend. Obviously that is a different planet than Iowa but it is within 2 miles of our cabin. I think you have some experience hunting up there. It has fields, cedar swamps and hard woods. I know you are really busy but I was wondering if you could give me some guidance on what to plant etc if I sent you some aerials? The guy who owned it before me had some sort of plan going and the fields have been planted in the past but it hasn’t been hunted in 4 or 5 years. Again have a merry Christmas and thanks for all you do for deer hunting!




Bill responds,


Topic: Help with Managing Hunting Land:

Managing Hunting Land

It takes a lot of time to do a good job of setting up a management plan. I have considered doing that as a pay service, but have not set that up yet. I can help with specific questions here on the Ask Winke section, but I have to stop short of trying to breakdown an entire property.

Scott,

Thanks. Merry Christmas to you and your family too. I need to get back to reading the Christmas story again.  That was always my favorite episode of the year.  I will plan to do that again next year, for sure.

Regarding the land question: it just takes too long to start from scratch on a piece of ground and come up with a useful management plan for me to do that as a free service. I have considered doing that as a pay service and really dig in to help people make their properties better or to pick and set up better stand sites, but I have not gotten that started yet. Maybe in 2022.

In your situation, it would be much better for me if you thought through all the decisions you have to make to set up your property well and then just ask me the specific questions that you are struggling with the most.  That forces you to learn and allows me to focus me time on just the highest value questions you have.

Please feel free to come up with a couple of specific questions and hit me up here on the Ask Winke. Enjoy the day! (12/25/21)

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Comments (3)

  1. Scott Van Tuinen

    Ok I totally get it. Please keep me posted, I would be willing to pay once you have things set up. My first question would be what crops should I plant in the spring to get things started. It has 4 tower stands set up around fields that can be planted. The food plots range from 5-10 acres to a acre of so. I was thinking of just doing rye to start out because it’s cheap and builds the soil. Then in areas I could set up tree stands maybe mix in some clover? Then in the fall I I would re-till and plants some oats and brassicas. The other option is just to brush hog and let whatever naturally comes up. I have noticed that sometimes this is just as effective. Thanks again, Scott

  2. Bill Winke

    Scott, It is too much of a crap shoot to let your season come down to what naturally grows in an area. Sometimes that works, but more often it doesn’t. I would focus on three or four plots the first year and do them well. You can always add more in time, once you get a feel for the place. On the largest plot I would plant soybeans this spring. If the deer hammer it, you can just broadcast brassicas (purple top turnips, dwarf Essex rape, forage radishes) into corners of that plot so it is still productive in the fall. On the others, I would kill, till and then broadcast clover – probably red clover the first time around – because it is cheap and easy to establish. You can till it under (or parts of it) in late July and plant that to brassicas if you want. This plan will give you the most forage for fall without having to spend a ton to get these spots into shape. Long term, I like the bigger plots being a rotation of row crops (corn, beans or sorghum) and the smaller plots rotating between clover and brassicas. Good luck.

  3. Scott Van Tuinen

    Thanks Bill!

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