Efforts lead to success for New Yorker

By Ralph Nitchman

         In August 2000, my wife and I purchased a 104-acre parcel in upstate New York. At that point, I was an average hunter who had read about quality deer management in magazines. I had bought into many of the ideas, mostly because of the larger bucks that QDM can produce.

         Since I was a teenager, I had dreamed of killing a trophy buck. But after buying my land, my reasons for practicing QDM has expanded beyond tagging a trophy to include improving habitat for whitetails, turkeys and other animals. Before owning my land, I didn't have a place to practice QDM and knew no one who did. I had no idea where this would lead me. But I have no regrets, and it has been an exciting adventure.

When I bought my property, it consisted of a swampy area, an uncut hay field, a small piece of wooded mountainside and two smaller fields undergoing succession by shrubs. There were already some nice bucks in the area. A neighbor had killed a respectable 10-pointer and a smaller 10-pointer the first year. Still, most of the bucks were yearlings, carrying their first set of antlers.

Getting to Work

         I began my QDM program by planting two fields with two and three acres of Imperial Whitetail Clover. I had taken the soil samples, and with my experience of working on a farm as a youth and teaching Agricultural Science in high school, I had a good understanding of basic agricultural practices. My soils were quite acidic, with pH ranging from 4.6 to 5.2. The previous owner had not limed or taken proper care of the soil. I put out two to three tons of lime per acre on my fields, hiring a local ag business that sold and applied lime.

         That first application brought the pH to about 6.0. The Imperial Clover germinated and thrived, though the improvement was far from ideal. The next year, I again called in the lime truck and added another two tons per acre. Meanwhile, I began work to reclaim a secluded five-acre field, which also had low pH. I limed it heavily. By the third year, I put down my final lime application on all the fields. Six months later, my soil tests revealed improved pH — about 6.5 to 7 — on all the fields.

         Even at first, the Imperial Whitetail Clover I planted had done very well, even in the lower-pH soils. The improved pH level was ideal. At spring green-up and late August, I apply my fields with 300 pounds per acre of 0-40-10 fertilizer.

         When I bought the farm, I also bought an old 68-horsepower diesel tractor. I began to add equipment as fast as I could afford it. First was the medium-duty brush hog. By the way, one of the biggest mistakes was cutting too much brush. Deer love brush and need it for bedding areas. In one field, I cut all the brush and created a great food plot that left deer with no nearby thick bedding areas. That was a big mistake. Now, the edges of that field are uncut, and I have planted trees and encourage thick growth.

         The past three years, I added a york rake, three-point spreader, three-bottom plow, 12-foot cultipacker and 14-foot boom sprayer. My local farmer lets me borrow his 12-foot disk when I need it. Other than that and a drill to put my seeds directly into the ground, I think I've finally obtained all the equipment I need.

         I use a commercial walk-behind broadcast spreader that I push to sow small seeds, such as Imperial Clover, Alfa-Rack and Winter-Greens. I believe I have a lot more control over the thickness of the application when I walk behind the spreader and watch the seeds hit the soil. It's more work than using a tractor or a drill, but a tractor is not nearly as controllable, and the drill is expensive. I use the tractor and three-point spreader for larger seed, such as Imperial PowerPlant.

         I get great results sowing my seeds that way. Initially, I simply disked the field smooth, spread the seed, and then dragged a chain-link fence with a large board across its end to plant seed. I also planted half the Imperial Clover in fall with winter wheat or rye. In spring, when the weather is still freezing and thawing, I went back over with the remainder of the seed. That frost seeding did a great job of putting seed into the soil. In late May or early June, I cut the wheat or rye down, leaving a lush, dense clover. Now I disk, smooth with the cultipacker, spread seed and run over it again with the cultipacker.

The Imperial Clover and Alfa-Rack were great foods to boost deer health and attracted deer in spring, summer and into November. They just did not work as well after November snows, December and the rest of winter. That's when Imperial Winter-Greens is a great choice.

         Meanwhile, I learned to plant my fields in strips. Rather than one large five-acre field with one great crop in it, I mixed it into strips 30-feet wide. I plant corn, then Imperial Clover, then Winter-Greens and then Power Plant. While on stand, I contemplate how to plant the field next season.

         “How can I improve it?” I ask. That might be the best part of managing fields for deer.

         I planted apple trees my first year, and they are finally beginning to produce a few apples. This past winter, I released six mature apple trees along field edges by heavily pruning and fertilizing them. I planted 27 apples trees and seven pear trees the past two years. I have tried to enhance my woodlands by planting oaks with protective cages around them. In addition, I planted 100 Northern cedars, better known as arborvitae. I grow them in five-foot-tall concrete-wire cages. Whatever plant parts grow through the six-inch squares of the wire are for deer to eat in winter. The inside portions remain alive and let the plant regrow in spring.

The Fun Stuff

         My Whitetail Institute food plots became an instant magnet to deer. A neighbor has a bow stand on the edge of a field planted in Alfa-Rack, and he said, “I can get a doe any night just by going over to that bow stand!”

         He’s pretty much correct. On four of the past six opening nights of bow season, he has tagged mature does. My most productive stand is on the two-acre field where I mistakenly brush hogged the dense cover. We took four antlerless deer in 2006, and a few years ago, we shot six deer in one day.

         The food plots have involved work and definitely cost money. Still, it's worth it. It's awesome to look out in the fields during summer and watch deer pour into them. To see three mature bucks walk across the same field, as I did one early August morning this past year, is even better.

         Because my property is only 104 acres, I cannot expect to hold deer exclusively, though I still try to. I have worked to educate my neighbors on QDM, and to shoot does and let small bucks walk. One has bought into it, but another rejects it. A neighbor across the road enthusiastically practices QDM. In 2002, just two years into the QDM program, my friend Josh shot a nice 2-1/2-year-old buck. My neighbor who embraces QDM killed a large buck with a 19-inch spread in 2004. In 2005, good friend and fellow teacher Frank Grunseich shot the largest buck on my property at that time. He rattled the deer out of a swamp just before 4 p.m. during the opening day of gun season. The nice, heavy 8-pointer had a rack just to the ends of his ears. it was perfectly symmetrical — a beautiful specimen of what a well-fed buck should look like after 2-1/2 years.

         Also in 2005, fellow QDMer Jerry Moore convinced me to purchase two digital cameras. Even though I started late in summer, I took hundreds of pictures. We saw many good bucks that year, but none were mature. This past season was different. I had learned where and how to film deer on my property. The cameras went out in mid-July, and we identified four mature bucks with antlers outside their ears. Three frequented my property regularly. I attribute this to the food plots and habitat improvements I've made the past six years.

         The secluded five-acre field has become my honey-hole. A friend tagged an antlerless deer there during the opening night of the 2005 bow season. The field has a smorgasbord of corn, soybeans, Power Plant, Imperial Clover and Winter-Greens. My friend said the field was full of deer.

Fateful Night

         After that night, we avoided the field until the late gun season. With little pressure, a great food source, great bedding areas and the second rut, things looked promising.

The night of Dec. 9, I planned to slip out into a stand along the edge at the midpoint of the food plot. From there, I could reach almost the entire field with my 12-gauge. The field is surrounded on three sides by thick bedding areas and the mountain on the fourth.

         I quietly slipped into the stand at about 2:30 p.m., well before sunset. The wind was out of the west. Just as the sun went over the horizon, the steady winds decreased and then came out of the south, which is ideal for hunting that setup.

         It seemed like forever until the first doe entered the field about 4:30 p.m. She was in a group of three: two mature does and a fawn. Five or 10 minutes later, another mature doe entered. Five minutes later, another mature doe came, and later a sixth joined them. From behind me, I heard the distinctive crunching of leaves as deer approached. Remaining motionless, I caught movement as five deer passed beneath my stand and moved toward the field. I watched the group ease across the field and split up to consume their favorite food.

         I’m not sure whether it was the sound of crunching leaves or simply movement in my peripheral vision, but I looked to my left and saw a mature buck headed right at me. Moving quickly and with purpose, he turned 90 degrees to his left and walked to the field. He did not hesitate at the field’s edge to stop and check it out. The 11 antlerless deer eating seemed to be all he needed.

         My hands were already on the gun, ready for a shot. I slowly moved the gun to my shoulder and found the buck in the scope. He was walking through a small shooting lane. Not feeling comfortable about taking a walking shot and not being in a rush, I picked the next opening. When he entered the second shooting lane, one of the does bleated. He took two more quick steps, stopped and snapped his head back around toward me. I could tell that the 50-yard shot was good as he took off across the field with difficulty. He tore for the far corner of the field but disappeared in the PowerPlant about 30 yards from the edge of the field. Does ran past him and left the field. There was no sign of the buck. He was down.

         Later, my hunting buddies drove the truck across the large field to my area. Two remaining deer cleared the field, and I climbed down. We found the buck with no problem. The slug had cut his heart in half, yet he still ran 80 yards.

The 3-1/2-year-old 10-pointer was the largest deer killed from the property. Checking my digital cameras, I found eight pictures of that deer.

         The cameras told me there were two larger bucks on the property. The largest, a split G-2 10-pointer, was captured on pictures opening morning and a week into the season. My cameras are positioned to capture his movements after the season. I think both deer are still alive.

Conclusion

            The newest weapon in my management plan is a secluded boomerang-style food plot in the woods next to thick bedding areas and in the midst of heavy travel corridors. This past summer, I cleared a 100-by-25-yard area into a boomerang shape and planted it in wheat by late August. Remaining trees were downed in late December. That was a lot of work, and it produced more than 18 cords of firewood. Next spring, I hope to lime it, and then plant Imperial Clover and Winter-Greens. It is so much fun to manage property and see it get better every year. I also hope to build another food plot 150 yards away in the woods, in the shape of an S.

         During the past couple of years, my management plan has finally come together to create a property of which I've always dreamed. I believe things will continue to improve as I grow quality food, learn more about my property, determine new ways to hunt it and hopefully convince more neighbors to practice QDM by example and the regular harvest of large bucks.

         I look forward to continuing to use Whitetail Institute products on my property. They helped me to grow these quality deer. I also look forward to other products Whitetail Institute will introduce.

         I think the research and development put into each Whitetail Institute product makes them superior to others. Being a high-school science teacher, I place great value on that kind of research.