Great Hunting Often Depends On Proper Planning

By Author: Westervelt Wildlife
Total Articles: 42
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The seasoned hunter understands, and the less experienced learns quickly that successful hunting is not a given every time you visit a hunting lodge or district where hunting leases and opportunities are offered to the public.
Everything depends on proper planning right from making sure your rifle or gun is in perfect condition to choose the ideal destination. For the hunting lodge owner, or the owner and his manager that want to attract the business of hunters (and yes, millions of dollars are spent every year on their favorite pastime, actually a passion for many) planning is equally important: they need to have good habitat management plans in place.
This means the habitat or land where the herds roam and live, needs to be welcoming to the deer or other prey in terms of offering them the shelter, food, and water they need to want to remain. If conditions are not favorable, the animals will simply move on. This, of course, is to the detriment of both the hunter and the landowner.
So, before there can be any talk of successful hunting trips and great memories being made by hunters and their families or ...
... mates, landowners have to make sure they have done everything to offer their hunters good buck and does, where the latter is allowed to be shot as part of a responsible culling program. This can only be done when the habitat is conducive to offering the deer and other animals what they need.
To this end, many landowners that offer deer hunting (and other) leases to the public will employ the services of a good wildlife management consultancy to make sure plans are in place for raising quality herds. In the Southeast of the US – famed for its great white-tail deer hunting opportunities in states such as Alabama and its highly considered Black Belt, for example - it is often found that leading lodges employ the services of managers and experienced wildlife biologists to ensure the habitat is looked after and animal herds thus raised to offer hunters the best.
When plans are put in place, various issues have to be considered, and patience is key, since creating the ideal habitat does not happen overnight. It can take a few years to introduce new management principles, and sometimes longer to correct what had been previously neglected, such as proper food plots and edge vegetation. Proper planning includes several considerations that need attention to be paid to. This manager or consultant will look at the available – or lack of – forest vegetation, fields, and food plots necessary for the animals to be healthy and in great condition.
The principal areas that must be looked at are water, food, and space to move around and feel sheltered throughout the year, every season. It is important to remember that deer will be recovering from winter stress in spring, such as a shortage of nutritional agents, does need good nutrition for developing healthy offspring and to encourage good lactation for newly born fawns; the fawns need good protein food to develop and supplement mother’s milk, the buck needs antlers to develop.
This means the manager or biologist need to know where to make sure the herd has ample good food, either in the natural vegetation or food plots. The mentioned issues refer to spring. What about summer when the herd develops, and autumn/fall when the animals have to stock up for the winter season? For the food sources to be what deer needs, the manager or consultant has to look at various issues about natural forests, food plots, hard and soft mast such as buds, fruits on trees, berries, nuts, seeds, and acorns. Vines and shrubs are further examples of food sources for deer. This is one aspect. Water and availability are further considerations.
The above is a starting point for understanding the importance of good habitat that lends itself to having deer raised successfully on a specific tract of land. This is the reason so many landowners call in the services of good managers, wildlife biologists – experienced wildlife consultancies.
About Us
At Westervelt Wildlife we manage more than 600, 000 acres of hunting leases across a few states in the southeast of the United States in conjunction with our main activity, which is timber production. Our expertise allows us to manage our activities to incorporate good management capabilities with high-quality wildlife practices and excellent hunting opportunities for the enthusiast. We have been known for many years for the hunting leases we offer and the wildlife services that we believe form the backbone of proper, responsible hunting activities. We are proud of our history and the ethical behavior we are known for in terms of the land and wildlife that we are responsible for. For more about us, please visit https://westerveltwildlife.com/.