Ethics of Baiting Whitetails

Bill, First off, I have been following you and your productions for many, many years. Your attitude and faith have put you at the top of my list, so THANKS for all that you have done and I know you will continue to do. My question centers around the current trend in Deer hunting in my region of the U.S. at least, whereby deer hunting seems to have become a very predictable game of employing attractants such as rice bran and other chemicals/agents to pull the animals into your hunting stand site. Hunters in this area actually place 55 gallon barrels full of attractants at their tree stands and simply throw buckets of the attractant on the ground after they reach their stands. While the state laws allow these measures, the reality of utilizing these attractants has resulted in the harvesting of the top-tier mature bucks quickly resulting in an age class gap on these properties due to the very predictable nature of the attractants effect on the local deer herd. This type of deer hunting seems to remove the 'unknown' nature of deer hunting and hence much of the enjoyment of the hunt to me. I have watched the evolution of the game camera utilization craze that helps identify the local population and now the evolution of the attractants seem to be the next logical step for many hunters who are willing to exploit any means possible to harvest that trophy. I also know that not all states allow the practice of hunting over attractants and I believe that NONE of the top trophy whitetail hunting states allow this practice but I could be mistaken. I was wondering what your thoughts were on this subject if you have ever encountered these types of practices during your hunting career.View post →

Hunting Without a Cameraman

Hunting Without a Cameraman
Hi Bill, Glad you've been able to hunt purely for enjoyment again and not have the stress of filming and such (though I miss following along). That had to of been a grind doing it for as long as you did. My main question is has how you hunt changed much since you stopped filming? If so in what ways- like do you hunt as frequently etc? Also were you able to buy a farm or will you be hunting the same/similar lease this year? Hope you have a great seasonView post →

Cutting Timber on Hunting Land

Cutting Timber
Hi there Bill, I was wandering if you could go into a little more detail about the timber stand improvement work you did on your southern Iowa farm. I know that you mentioned you hired a crew to cut out all the junk species of trees. But I also read in your how I built the dream farm article that you did harvest some of the oaks off the home farm as well. What order did you complete those projects in and did you allow much time to pass in between those projects? I have some timber I've been working with a forester on a managment strategy long term. Basically I have some big cottonwoods and sycamores that need to be taken out, but I also have some nice walnuts trees that could be harvested. Debating on whether to do it all at once when I have the logger there or waiting a couple years to harvest the walnut and oak after I take out the cottonwoods. I just feel like doing it all at once would almost be to much. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated! Have a good day and good luck this fall!View post →

This Current Recreational Land Boom

Recreational Land Boom
Bill, your land blog series is an incredible story and i am so glad you shared it. In part 2 of your land blog series you wrote this. “I remember a kind fever that existed. People were buying big farms sight unseen off aerial photos rather than risk having someone else jump in and grab the property. This swell in demand was just ramping up and I could feel it very tangibly through the number of people who called me and asked me if I knew of any farms for sale.” My question is how does the land fever of 2006-07 compare to the bit of land craze that is going on currently? Obviously no one knows what the future future holds but do you have any predictions for the real estate market? Thanks, take care!View post →

How to Hunt Pressured Properties

Pressured Deer
What would be your approach to a property that gets shotgun hunted twice a year and has neighbors that are kind of into bowhunting but not real serious. Imagine the property being shaped like a 90 degree angle up and bending right. The bend would be the neighbors and I can hunt on each side of it. The property border on top is divided by a river so only have one neighbor to worry about. There is tons of ag fields on my own property and neighbors. I’ve implemented 3 food sources for this year on different areas to try and pull them off the neighbors if possible.View post →

Whether to Spray a Good Looking Clover Plot

Clover Plot
Bill, I had a area cleared after a clear cut. I planted red, white clover buckwheat and oats and peas. I recently hired a guy to bush hog it do to the maple and popular shoots. Now it looks so good i am worried about spraying round up and replanting. Lot of exposed soil still. should I just broadcast brassica wheat and little clover? Or spray and hope that I won't have to worry about regeneration in future? Thank you for input.View post →

Best Way to Plant Brassicas

Plant Brassicas
Hey Bill, wanted to get your input on your favorite method of planting brassicas. I plan on having three or so smaller 1/2 acre food plots in big n beasty scattered along the edges of CRP fields. This will be my first fall hunting the farm so there have not been any previous established food plots. I sprayed the three areas with glyphosate back in May and plan to spray them again this week. Hopefully I will be getting the soil sample results back within the next week as well. My question is which method would you go about planting these new plots with a thick layer of dead thatch on the ground? I’ve seen in the past you have burned the thatch off, worked the ground, and then planted. I have also heard of people broadcasting directly into the dead thatch and pray for rain. Luckily I have access through a local farmer for a tractor, disk, harrow, and cultipacker. There is also an option for renting a no-till drill through the local USDA office. Thanks for the input.View post →

Year Around Food Plots

Hey Bill, I hope this message finds you well. I have 2 questions for you. Now that you have stepped away from Midwest Whitetail and the sponsors affiliated with them, are there any major changes you are making to your bow setup, food plot seed, hunting attire, etc? Anything you’re excited to use that you may have not been able to in the past? Also, if you were going to create a plan for year round food plots, what would that look like for you? Thank you!View post →