Land and Habitat Chat with Brady Bradley

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All right, guys. Welcome back to another Land and Legacy podcast. Here we are.

Brady Bradley. We're rolling down the road. We're heading south. Oh yeah.

Heading south to the mid 70s for the week. And I honestly like, you know what?

I'm kind of ready for spring. Man, I'm a little excited. I'm a little excited because it's been

you know, so up and down here in Missouri. It's been all a cold hot, cold hot. Now we're getting seven

days of rain. Right. We're heading head and head rain seven months.

But yeah, we're going to go, we're going to go south and land to the cottonmouths and I'm excited.

I'm sure we'll probably see some. They're going to be just waking up. But it'll be that time

where it's like consistently warm and enough. That's where the tornado went through right there.

Consistently warm enough that they're out and about. But you know what? It is what it is.

There's always something in the Mississippi Delta that's going to bite you, sting you,

make you swat after them. It just is what it is. But guys, welcome to the podcast. I'm excited for

this podcast. We've got quite a few updates in some announcements. And then we've got just kind of

this more laid back approach to this podcast, just some more conversational considerations of hot

button topics, if you will, that that braiding I'm going to cover as we're moving down the road. But

just some updates. First and foremost, hopefully you guys have been catching up with the new

landbeats on YouTube, whitetillproperties.com. Or you can give me white-till properties on YouTube.

A lot more landbeat content is rolling out every couple days. There is a new video. So be sure to

check that out. But we also at the beginning of this year launched our Wealth Strategy Service.

And that has done very well here at the beginning of the year. We're having

5, 6, 7, 8 people kind of coming through getting the first roll out, let's say, of that program.

We're constantly refining the approach. And it's working really good. Ryan Eldridge, who is part of

the lane legacy team there, doing a fantastic job. And I'm very excited for where we're at.

And just a reminder, we're taking about 20 people throughout the entire year to go through the

program itself. We want to make sure that this first year as we go through and launch the new

service that we're not growing too fast with it. And that's what we want to make sure that the

quality and consistency remains the same throughout each and everybody, each and everyone that we

work with. So if you're interested in that Wealth Strategy Service, please email in, there's a tab,

a brand new tab on the website that you can click on, read through that information, give you a lot

of additional details about what it is, the purpose of it, and how the steps and phases work for

that new program itself. But it's helping a lot of people in different parts of the country,

landowners who are looking to improve their business tax strategy around recreational land.

So appreciate everyone who's been interested in that and encourage more people to do so. And if you're

not ready for the program itself, we are offering a workshop for the Wealth Strategy Service,

the one day workshop in Su City, Iowa this year, where we're going to be covering a ton of

different topics, but kind of going through those phases and looking at your personal situations

and kind of walking you through what the program is, how it works with people and just opening up

the doors in your mind to new opportunities out there. So you can definitely check that out too,

that is at shop.lananlegacy.com. That's where all of our workshops etc are located at. So I guess

with that update too, we have like two, there'll be three spots left for the Huntworks Land

Legacy collaboration and that one's going to be hosted in southern Iowa. There's only just a few

spots left for that one. That is going to be an incredible event going to a, right, you've been on

it, killer farms. Awesome farm, killer farms. And so yeah, we get to pull the curtain back on

on a few farms that have been absolutely productive killing slammers each and every single year.

You're not going to want to miss that one's kind of like our very detailed Hunt Strategy Habitat

workshop for the year and then we also have the collaboration workshop with Heartland Bowhunter.

And that one is going to be held in June and we're talking more Habitat techniques like really

teaching the hands on of how to become skillful with all the different Habitat techniques that we do.

So you're going to have tools in your hands and you're going to get to work out there on that

workshop itself. So that one's going to be definitely fun. And so for that one, if you're

interested in it, you've got to go over to heartlandbowhunter.com or rate as you get onto the web page,

bam, there it is, right in your face, click on it and see us there. It's always light bulbs that

go off Brady. Like you know, like when you get some time in the field with landowners and hunters,

just with the way that we prioritize education and value it, the light bulbs that go off

in these events, it's like it's encouraging, it's fulfilling for us, but like it's encouraging

to see like what they're learning, they can go home and take these key aspects and go apply it

elsewhere. Yeah, I mean that's always so neat, you know, because it's a they come into it.

Kind of know what to expect, but but really no landowner really knows what to expect to come

on their property. And then when that all home moment hits that it all just kind of comes together

and clicking and they can see it in a whole new perspective. They hear about Timberstain

improvement. They hear about Hackenscourt. They hear about edge feathering, but they don't know

what it's supposed to look like. Like that that's that's there's a lot hundreds of videos on on

YouTube through the landbeat that like we showcase it, but like people want to be immersed in it.

If you want that immersion type experience come join us in the field whether whether it's at

the Huntworks workshop or it is the Heartland Bowhunter workshop in Northeast Missouri

in southern Iowa for the Huntworks one. Like those are perfect golden opportunities to get yourself

in the field learn. Like it's an investment into you being a better land steward, a better hunter,

a better woodsman, a better habitat manager. So I not everyone may be able to do a consultation.

Yeah, totally understand that. This is the opportunity to learn at a very a different

different rate, right? So like yeah, I just encourage anybody who's interested in that come get

hands-on experience. Yeah, that's essentially what it is. But Brady, we've been we've been

we're not probably going to cover all of them, but everyone in legacy has been kind of shaken,

moving and grooving and covering some ground going a bunch of different a bunch of different places.

But you've had some new projects start up and some more kind of coming and on the way. Where have

you been at in the world? Well between real estate because a lot of people may not know either they

you're a white-tailed properties real estate agent yourself in western Missouri. So you've had

that on top of a bunch of different land legacy projects and whatnot. Oh man Matt, we've we've

been all over. I mean I think it was a couple of weeks ago. I was a consultation at Arkansas

the next day in the Flint Hills of Kansas. Yep. The next day after that Northeast Missouri on a

timber harvest. Next day after that I was in the central Missouri on a timber harvest there and

back down to Arkansas for another you know property evaluation. I mean it's just it's full

border right now. I mean you know this time of the year is just absolutely crazy always but this

year it's it's pretty excessive right now and and now we're headed to Mississippi. The opposite

direction yes. Now it's it's been it's been incredible. Last week I was in South Carolina all

week and worked with three different great landowners. A couple of revisits a couple new folks and

it's just really cool to like go to one area and then within like 45 minutes of we've got three

different actually four or five just of people I didn't visit but have visited within the past four

or five like just really good practitioners like they get it they're invested like and and

I'll say that's marked my words there will be a southern workshop at one to two of these farms.

One particular landowner in the future and he knows who I'm talking about we preface that

conversation down there last week but it's like give this farm two years two more growing seasons

and it is dialed it is it is it is ready to be showcased and walked and immersed and

it's going to blow the pants off people because it's like I don't see that in the south like I don't

get to see that type of detail that type of thought that type of really approach and and just

like yeah it's just so it's so pine production mindset down there it's like I just want to pull

my hair out sometimes but it's like no sure there's pines on the property like you walk in it and you

know you know this farm is meant to kill deer yeah and it's like fantastic fantastic he tells me all

the time he's like I drink the cool aid I was said yes you did and I'm so glad because this

is working and it's amazing so that was that was definitely a fun trip but North Missouri I think

three times this year and two or three farms each time up there Iowa Kentucky Kentucky next week

and then what's the end of next week Kansas for a couple days on a on a on a great track with

another great landowner new purchase for him Florida's coming up like it did just

Alan's been all over in all of these Adams been out to his his favorite Oklahoma and Kansas

several times in Missouri today and he's going to meet up with Alan next week on a large track

in southern Alabama it's just every which direction yeah and I love it and we're blessed to be able to

do it and call it um call it work and be passionate about it still it that's other things like

someone asked me the day he's like how did you get into this like I was like dude I got to be honest

with you like this is all I've ever done yeah like I I that's the that's not normal I get that

and then like I I'm so grateful for it was like man out you know doing this for different

company many years ago and then had my struck out on her own and God's blessed us and like

allowed us to be successful with it and call this full-time forever it's all I've ever done yeah

and uh it's it's it's it's truly amazing to look back like okay now we've got a team

around the country that's that's doing these these same things um and assisting the

land of legacy it's like it's just just crazy yeah but we work with so many great people and

except people that are very excited about owning land the legacy that they get to leave with it

the opportunities that recreational land affords them from an enjoyment standpoint and it's like

whoa I get like I I pinch myself sometimes sure like we're on the road today road warriors

everything a week um but like what a one awesome opportunity is to be able to do this and call

it work and yeah um support our families around it cage and uh cage reminds me just about every day

how jealous she is and uh she called me this morning she said I don't even want to talk to you

I don't know where you're going yeah and I ain't there yeah so that's funny yeah you hit it

on the head man that's some of the people we made is just you know just just amazing individuals

and then then getting to getting to be on some of these properties we get to see is a man it's

and that's incredible yeah definitely blast yeah it it truly is um but it just yeah constant

guys everyone who listened like thank you for listening and uh being loyal listeners to the podcast

and um just soaking in the information that we're blessed to blessed to be able to share because um

really this the podcast was the start of it the kind of the origin story of land and legacy so

it's just wild to think back it's like it it's almost like I mean we're we're nine and a half

years into this thing it's almost ten years it it doesn't seem like that it doesn't seem like

that at all I still remember the first time I met you and Adam and it's like man that that was

last week you know down in Arkansas a few last great years yeah that's for sure my joints didn't

pop as much yeah no that but yeah I know it's it's it's absolutely flown by my wife and I were

reminiscing we're so like right when we started land legacy her and I got married and uh so like

kind of the origin and and anniversaries and stuff like that's one it's easier for me to remember

um both both the dates and the times yeah it was like oh it all happened at one time yeah

I look back now I'm like I don't know how like you you talked yourself into it but like essentially

that time frame you you said it was okay to marry some guy who was like

just left the job and getting ready to go start something but essentially just flying by the

seat of his pants yeah I don't know that makes you dumb or just you really love me but I'll take it

whatever it was I'm thankful for it I think about I think about uh what Nicky and Emily's parents

must have thought with you and you and Matt Mary and them and you're both going at or you

went out of Mary and them and you're going both going out on this big leap of faith you know yeah

girls what are you doing you sure are we sure about this thing um and that's why I like

it this like literally I'm always thankful for it and give credit where credit is too but like

thank god bless us with yeah with the opportunity and the knowledge base to be able to do it um

because I tell it's my wife because she wants you heck she already knows she doesn't need a

reminder I'm like listen I'm not good at many things yeah but I do know this yeah and thankfully

we were able to pursue a career in this because if not I don't know I don't know I don't know

what I do what we would be doing but thank the Lord man but man there's there's I got a few

common like questions if you will frequently ask questions um that we get on on podcast

bread and they're and they're relatively hot but kind of type topics that um you know people

are just considering because they hear a lot of different information out there on the old

inner web and read this and read that or I heard a guy say this or what do you think about this

or you know and it's always like when someone says well what do you think about this and it's

always like one I'm going to be honest with you yeah I'm not going to I'm not saying I

I delivered in a educational professional manner but like I'm going to be honest with you exactly

what I think because I don't want someone to potentially like you know make a mistake or um you

know get set back because they had a wrong perception um or a wrong understanding of something

like you need to know what I know and how I've seen this work or not work and and and under

these certain situations and scenarios too because that also is hugely determined upon

if something is going to work or not going to work right um so that that is just incredibly

important like the the situation scenario so you know when we see stuff on social media it's like

a 30 second 50 second I can be five minute video I don't care yeah

but Brady you and I both know like there's no way in 30 seconds 60 seconds that

you're going to fully understand the entire situation that you know whatever idea or thought

process or technique it is this a match for it well maybe it worked in that scenario or maybe it

just failed in that scenario but you can't just write it off or think that that's the silver bullet

like that that's not how this stuff works here like we intentionally prefaced the podcast

about like the different places that we've been to just in this month like the next few months

we've got a lot in Pennsylvania we've got a lot in Virginia we've got um

Indiana we've got several in Tennessee I forgot I'm free and forgot about those

was there ever been a Tennessee we're going back like Arkansas a ton of Texas I'm going to text

isn't early April like that's a giant geographical range no and mixture of habitat types deer

densities vegetation types climates eco regions etc that like all matter what we're talking about

things so I just I just say when you're watching things like always understand before you make a

determination the context in which it's being talked about or the context in which something's

been applied yeah before you make a judgment call on whether something is right real wrong

and it's just like we've got to sometimes slow down and caution to those people who you know

talk in absolutes or deer never do this this won't ever happen this always happens

those statements are just likely wrong yeah because it's not involving context it's not

involving you know that that's that might be applied to the situations that that person has

experienced but there might be a lot of other situations that like hey you haven't experienced yet

or in this context that actually does work like it's just and I like this is this is an outlier but

it's I've worked probably over 20 farms that have had this situation of like there's dog hunting

in the area who who in the Midwest expects there to be dog hunting no one yeah but like in in parts

of North Carolina in parts of South Carolina and in parts of the eastern half central and eastern

half of Virginia huge huge disturbance right that needs to be managed appropriately and understood

around the way you set up and operate a farm like you got to understand those aspects so like

again there's just there's no absolutes and nothing I think replaces referrals yeah right for

people like talk to people who've worked in those areas like does this all check out does this

all make sense like no it just it's it's vital it's actually absolutely vital but let's get into

some of those like conversational discussion points here hot top hot button topics okay so number one

Brady what do you think it's easier is it easier to buy a farm that's got matured to your

on it but has heavy invasives that would need to be managed invasive species or buy in a farm with

less age structure and solid habitat that doesn't have invasives that can like

be improved easier better etc what what do you think is better scenario or easier if you're

easier to find no not easier to find but just easier from like being successful on

I would in my opinion um I'd I'd much rather have the age structure yeah and I can deal with the

I can deal with the habitat side of it yeah the age structure side of it's a little bit harder

it's going to take longer to get to that point that I want yep see what I'm saying so

absolutely the age structure is already in place I can I can deal with the habitat those are

adjustments that I can make in a year or two yeah potentially and turn that farm completely on its

head and for the better uh-huh but having that age structure already in place being in the right

area that's that's hard to find very times very hard to find I don't disagree you know I think

someone would be like oh how dare you how dare you shut great native habitat I mean I mean

I like it just as much as the next guy yeah but but at the same time frame I know what like you have

a struggle either way we'll say that like you're it's you're gonna fight invasives you're gonna

it's gonna be difficult um you're gonna have to probably use obviously you're gonna have to

use herbicide you're gonna have to use mechanical means of reduction it's gonna take time

for you know for to treat it and then for the response to happen so you're gonna have challenges

there then the method of treatment the schedule all those things let's be realistic I mean if we're

trying to manage trying to manage a deer herd and trying to manage the habitat on our property one

of those things is running all over the place and a lot of times we're not we we call ourselves

the ultimate predators but let's be realistic a lot of times we're we're not that good they make

it through sometimes so but hey those trees that in those invasives they're not necessarily running

from us you know yeah they're spread and seed but we can take care of those um you know with a

couple methods where trying to completely change the herd dynamic it's nearly impossible in a

relatively short period of time well I think I think what the important aspect here is what is it

that I can change yeah so so when you have that going going to like the core root of the issues

there is like okay if you don't have age structure deer aren't naturally dying unless it's

EHD yeah something like that like like at exceptional rates that would cause the area to not have a

great age structure yeah it's due to hunters yeah it's due to hunting pressure and it's due to

neighbors and those things are out of your control so I like to look at things and say okay what can

I do how much sweat equity do I put into this place for it to work out or am I still relatively

at the mercy of other people and and the way that they choose to hunt and the way that they choose

to enjoy their property um yes that has impacts on you but like you can't really do anything about

that yeah like and and it is what it is but knowing that there's already an age structure in place

and the neighborhood is allowing deer to get to older age classes I'm instantly yeah

impressed yeah and attracted yeah I'm saying hmm well this battle is going to be a little bit

different because they're already there not to say that improving habitat won't have dramatic and

good big effects to attract deer there that absolutely will but if you're losing deer at a quicker

rate then what you would need to to be able to just support mature deer or enough mature deer on

the landscape to have increased odds at harvesting them like this is just a numbers game yeah like

the more deer that are a maturity on the landscape the easier it is to encounter them yeah that's it

like period so it I'm gonna have a higher success like you just need to go no going into it that

essentially you got you know two battles you can fight the invasives or you can be frustrated

and not have probably nearly as many harvest opportunity on the second option of less age structure

good habitat then you will on an area that's already got the deer yeah like already got good well

around an age structure you might be going you know kill a buck or two depending on state regs

there each year versus another might be every two three four years in which you're harvesting

and that's a reality and people don't like that and I think also the reason I if you will

propose and wrote this question in is oh which one like do you want to be successful every

single year like people don't understand the value of the herd aspect yes habitat management is

critical and very important man but so is having them like having them at the age in which

it's gonna trip your trigger and get you excited and that's different for everybody that's fine

but it's it's is the area already supporting that or are you going to wait for a neighbor to sell

out or someone to not lease this place or whatever that's a that's something that you can't really

control unless you got stupid money and hey that okay great I mean fantastic um but

that's not always the case and even then sometimes you don't have stupid money

people don't want to sell yeah okay it's just that one's that's a harder one to go into

thinking that I'm gonna turn this thing around even when it looks good has good habitat or

or has like I look at me like hey this has got great timber on it dude I can I can turn this thing

around super quickly and get um right the right mixture of quality habitat on this thing with big

crew in about six months and then just be maintaining I mean I love it but if there's if there's

no age structure there I'm not saying what's the point you should always right be a good

land store and do those things but if your goal is harvesting mature deer that's gonna be a

challenge and that's gonna be a frustrating challenge because what gets you is like man it looks

so good why is it not functioning it looks like it looks exactly like it should yeah well they have

to be there to you to be able to use that right well here's a flip side to that one would you

rather would you have a rather have a property with an over abundance of deer you're going out 30,

40, 50 deer at a time or easy to see or have a property with a relatively lower deer density

and your property is not being just completely hammered yeah and your food plots aren't being

hammered I mean that's the flip side of it because a lot of people they say huh I'd love to have

property I mean we've been on farms where it's easy to see 80 to 100 deer night yeah you know

and in the late season or you go to another property that has great success throughout the year

and maybe they're only seeing 10 deer you know I mean what what would you're there what are your

thoughts you know for a for land owner because on both sides of that we see it to where

they have an over abundance of deer but you can't even manage them because there's so many

yeah you can't even shoot enough deer that's a that's a yeah huge another problem yeah I'm going

on the the load of moderate yeah because one if I with quality resources that herd's going to grow

yeah if you want it to but it's way easier to grow a herd than it is to reduce the herd yeah

so and and and I say grow a herd as in sure numbers but but grow quality deer out of it

with one assumption yeah and the assumption is that it's not a low to moderate herd

because of excessive hunting yeah so like if you have a lower number of output of

funds per year in a high-hundred area like you need that to be able to get enough bucks to

alter a to class to shoot but if it's a lower to moderate number or herd density um and you're

not having overharvest then that's the sweet spot for for growing giant deer yeah versus way

overstocked high social pressure and a lot of times bucks are going to be on the absolute fringes

of that that core density yeah like the the quality ones that you're wanting to shoot so you

might have all the deer but you're but but neighbors and etc might be the ones reaping some of the

rewards of you know this this really dense herd um and that right there probably was a light bulb

to several people like oh man like I like I enjoy seeing all these deer but like every year

I'm not the one that's holding yeah the big ones and they get shot on my periphery well

hopefully you send us an email yeah because there's problems and you know we can help fix that but

yeah too many deer is absolute problem and a problem that I don't want to have now I mean now

with drone surveys you know with I mean it being able to fly these farms and and look at the

dear density on them yeah it's eye-opening you know we've seen farms where we wholeheartedly

thought there were far more deer on it um and right they fly and like oh man they're hardly any

deer there yeah why is that yeah um and then we've got other farms it's like oh my word we knew

there were a lot of deer but we had no clue there were that many deer yep you know what's their

biggest issue well we don't have enough tags right or you know and the other people on the on the

flip side of that um they may not have an overabundance of deer but they're still shooting quality deer

correct year correct um it's just a little bit different different

management techniques they're different goals I guess you could say and ultimately if you're

shooting you know some of these places they're shooting 70 plus dose a year and you're still not

even seeing the deer right right that's work it's work yeah I mean that's another full-time job

yeah absolutely is um let's see what's my other okay another question

Brady what's more valuable mine more enclosed honey blinds we're getting taking that same money

and getting betting cuts done oh man those hunt and blondes are comfortable man what a

company and warm comfy and warm lovely too when you got us in there a lot of season I'm going

on bed and thickets I'm going bed and thickets all day long isolate and bedding thickets can be

can be I'm I should I should probably change that day just offering distinct secure cover yeah

and I say that because it doesn't have to be like a timber deal yeah but um just like

offering that distinct quality dense cover that is going to securely hold deer during daylight hours

consistently like that is without a doubt without a doubt the most important aspect that

majority of farms right out of the gate don't have one of the farms in north Missouri

significant I worked it was like whoa I'm barely going to have to um I'm barely even going to have

to you know recommend bedding thickets the way that was cut previously to bind um now again

if if it was I wouldn't have done it the way that they did it or should be the previous owners

necessarily did it but they didn't do it for the same purposes so it's like okay well hey that's

fine we have excessive but positively excessive um dense cover on the way like we're okay I mean

great well manage this um and the other portion of the problem that hadn't been cut they own

previously what was cut like probably say probably 12 14 years ago yeah high stem count a lot of

oak regeneration is like okay let's throw some fire in that yeah but um

bully it's like you guys are going to hold some deer and yeah I was just like all right like this

this I am extremely excited about walking into a farm that's going to be offering this and

we don't have to create it right away so yeah what wonderful change of pace because we just rarely

ever see that yeah I mean rarely do we say oh well let's just put fire on it you know right yeah

right it's always get a saw in here some some kind please open up some canopy please put some

structure on the ground um but but yeah it's like man you know four thousand dollars for a blind

4,500 I just look at that I'm like man that's that's like

you take eight acres of eight acres of bedding cuts that one completely changed

easy your property and your your hunts overall the hunts themselves yeah I'll continue you know

change like that that's the most important aspect of the bedding cuts is like most of your most

vulnerable during the rut you know like you you want to carry over and secure more bucks from

getting shot yeah have cover like this isn't just even the hunting side of things it's if you

got an age class structure thing um cover bedding cuts yeah it's so it's like okay so you so you

hunt out of a pop up or you hunt out of a nagum tree stand or whatever for for two more years

dude lay off on the blind put in the habitat put in the right cover of course where begins the

next question totally another podcast um but like you gotta know those things you gotta you gotta

know the importance and the value of it but like people like the comforts of of or the the look

in the feel of hunting from the enclosed blind that's great that's cool but wouldn't you just

rather be more successful wouldn't rather the farm hold more hunt better hunt more consistently

like that that's what you're essentially when you're making those kind of decisions those are

things that you're you're uh you kind of sacrificing in a way it's like you know if you're on a

budget which you know to some degree everybody is oh yeah you you start to make these decisions of

like which is which is important you know what comes first the cart or the horse well

it's good to have blinds but one if they're not in the right places and they're not going to be

successful where they're on the farm because the deer aren't there or they're not they're consistently

well then I would suggest that like you do the cuts first then you're gonna know exactly where

they're at yeah yeah I mean hopefully you're tagged out for you even need to sit in it absolutely

it's still 80 degrees in November I mean you don't even need to be in a blonde right then

right yeah so yeah I mean that that's so true I mean we see it you know and and I think a lot of

people don't think the impact they don't know the impact that they can make without amount of money

you know they think it's going to be far more yes expensive to to put a betting unit in or

or you know to spray a field uh get the cool season grasses out of it right I mean it's just

but it's it's minuscule a lot of the times compared to you know the price of four blondes I

mean man am I goodness that's that's a lot twenty five thousand dollars actually I mean they're

not going down um but hey you can get a chainsaw you can go get a tank of chainsaw fuel and some oil

I mean you can even go buy brand new chainsaw if you want and everything to go with it and then

go out and implement a one acre or two acre three acre bed unit across your property you know

in multiple spots and or hire it or hire it because you don't you don't know what you're doing

that's fine or for the cost of you know a couple blinds like do you get a plan yeah get no exactly

what you're doing yeah on a given farm so like you've got you've got an idea of how to make it

better don't just you know essentially throw darts at the wall and be like well

I've got blinds hope the deer here yeah no don't hope that they're here it will I mean it'll

change the property I mean we we've seen it from we've seen it all across the country I mean

from our south as you can drive as far north as you can go I mean we've seen it yes and uh

until you run out of trees out west and then yeah then we just make it a different way yeah you know

so um I mean it's just it's it's so beneficial so beneficial yeah and uh people need to see that

when you experience it people need that comparison yeah well when you experience it's like man

wish you haven't done this years ago no question like no question man

um so what's more valuable new skid steer implement or improved access road system to solve your

hunting problem yeah I think that's a given but I think though too and I know someone sitting there

well I could use that implement to make the road I mean showcase sure absolutely maybe it's not

that but I'm just saying essentially for the for the price tag of a new implement dude there's

quite a bit of dosing that could happen on a given farm that like changes your road system and

changes your access to be able to you know reconfigure how you approach a property yeah like

and and I don't think that everybody gets it how important and delicate the road system is

into the overall strategy of the hunt the farm and how it's going to operate it's like

into several farms and it's like all right talk with me through before we even see the farm like

just digest with me like what's the lowest hanging fruit blah blah blah what's the problems

of how do you access this how do you go around that and it's like quickly you get into it's like

I can I know what the problem yeah I mean my gosh you had to drive right here but you're hunting

here yeah you do this are you drive through these two fields to get to that one well no no wonder that

you're having problems and you know air quote nocturnal activity or you're not successful here on

these and it's like bro it's it's the access but dosing in some new roads and maybe some boundary

or like this creek that you thought you couldn't cross you have to cross like you like hold off on

the implement let's get this figured out first and then you might figure out you don't even need

the implement you you need well something like well I could write off I can write off that

piece of equipment well guess what if if you understand the farm it's got a business purpose

you can write off improvements and if you don't know how head over to well stretch

and we'll teach you but like that's that's the sign of it it's like

you everyone can can identify typically problems or or or excuse me

they can talk about the symptoms right we come in we provide like here's what you're dealing with

like here's the problems of the farm here then the solutions to fix that like everyone can talk

about symptoms and super important to know of course and talk through but like that's what our

job is is to find the holes in the bucket fill them as quickly as possible and you know move on

about the day but oftentimes some of these some of these issues aren't habitat related some of

neighbor related some of them this and that some of them either they're they're access issues

they're hunting approach issues they're another big one is their trail camera issues like

these deer are here but you're the strategy is is is not in place to document what's happening

on the farm so it's like giving you misleading information of what's actually occurring and you're

going off that but like you're hunting over here but all the activities right over here yeah yeah

trail camera placement we see it so much oh man you're my word you're just ten yards off or you

may be a hundred yards off right the funniest one is one of our clients was a really tall individual

and I remember looking at some of his cameras when we're walking the property and they are

hitting me all in the forehead you know yeah it's like you're deer walking around under the

dang camera you know tips of antlers yeah he's like I'm just not seeing many deer well it's

because you're seven foot tall and you're putting them at your chest all the deer walking across

you're looking at the birds in the sky yeah we just looking at turkey's roosting of trees that's

funny yeah I thought that was funny I had to throw that one in the yeah I mean yeah it's just

like that I mean well and I just tell tell people all the times like listen think of the the trail

camera as as a hammer like it's a tool it's in the tool belt yeah I can build things but I'm not a

builder like I don't do this every single day but you know I can I can hold my own yeah but I'm

as good as everybody else okay same thing with a camera you can give five people bunch of different

cameras and say go put them out yeah and they'd all put them in different places yeah absolutely

they'll get then different information so they'll have different information they have different

perception of how and where and what you would do right from a standpoint of approach that to hunting

so like it's skews your information so you get you gotta know you've got you've got to be able to

know but maybe yeah maybe maybe it's not maybe it's not the implement that you buy maybe it's just

10 12 extra cameras get some more eyes in the sky out there 24 seven bacon given you information

sending you information like that's that's vital yeah we got we got one more here okay same the

best for last uh-oh what's more valuable not using the herbicide on food plots and struggling

to grow food fight weeds or use an herbicide to produce quality forage and fighting invasive in the

woods 100% in the woods well let's use it in the woods it's use it in the use it in the fields and

in the woods and the fields in the woods yeah but creating habitat ultimately not really not

relying on that failed food plot to feed my deer or my turkeys I mean if you're relying on that

oh man um I it's gonna be tough especially the last four years it's done nothing but

no rain dry and you're planting a fall plot you might as well just be throwing seed out there on

the ground for the for the birds I mean it's yeah it's been horrible well if you're relying on that

food plot to hold the deer on your property your your season probably hadn't gone very great

that's a couple years right right and it's like I've seen unfortunately

like the downside of food plots have gotten way too complicated like one in the last you know

10 years yeah it's just this is way too complicated to produce quality forage um like let's simplify

the process here and produce quality groceries you know because that's that's the point of the

food plot is to attract deer with quality food to kill them and it's like when that's not happening

we're going down we're going backwards yeah that's that's not like functional it's not useful

think things are a huge part of like the system and strategy is is broken there so like we

we got to fix that um and so like we are I and I've seen it I've seen

nine times out of ten more failures of the no herbicide cold turkey you know situation

food plot regime then I have like I mean like like literally 90% and the let's say the one the

10% was a guy who just started doing it that year and you've been using herbicide yeah

it's like you generally in most places you can't go multiple years without some aspect of herbicide

on a food plot to do it yeah right and so it you got to know that same breath just like the

trail camera you've got to know when to use it like it's a skill it's a tool and also break like

the first say if I can limit it I will limit it yeah but I'm not going to eliminate it

I'm not going to pull it off I'm not going to pull it completely and remove it as an option right

but like I produce a lot of perennial plots and uh it's been two years I went two years

on some alpha stands where I didn't need it yeah and then they weren't even round up ready

which obviously round up I would be using it if I needed it but the fields didn't need it

so guess what I didn't get it like there's ways to go about the things but like I to save the

stand and to improve the quality when it was getting compromised I stepped in and then I used it

and I feel great about it from a standpoint of like that was the right call to save the food plot from

you know becoming compromised completely from its function and usage

and if you're doing annual plantings I think it's even more because your the ground is exposed far

more times you've got seeds starting you've got seeds coming you like it's it's it's it's important

to really consider that weed pressure and balance that with browse pressure too of summer plots

a lot of the blends have got like 60 70% of the you know crop in there is is is forage crop

and then other is structure and root system diversity et cetera which I totally get I understand

the purposes of of having those blends put together but when you've got a high deer density and they

go and they eat the good stuff and the only thing left is is less desirable or or not let's say

food quality or at least it's it's not forage during the growing season well guess what happens

you get better ground and you get weeds no that just is factual and and it's an expectation of

this is going to happen here and so if you don't have a plan for it within it's going to be a

compromise situation and then someone's going to wait wait wait delay and not do herbicide and then

you're going to build up a weed a huge weed presence crab grass goose grass et cetera those those

grasses that pop in the late June early July time frame and just persist produce a lot of seed

oh yeah and it's like take over yeah just use it wisely as the as a tool because if you're going to

use it in the in the timber like wait it's used yeah it's used there's some differences there on

soil activity et cetera this and that but like in the grand scheme of things the point is

it's a tool it it shouldn't be completely thrown out eliminated or if so then

quality food plots are practically going to be

literally it's just not going to be a reality not at all right it's just not going to be a reality

so um I just across the board right with all these questions the whole purpose is like me and

there's there's always a situation there's always a a balance there there's always a uh there's

always a balance there's always a there's always a should I eliminate no no because that's an absolute

like keep it on keep the options on the table just be educated on what tools to use

win win yeah or how you might spend money to accomplish different things on a farm like just know

what is important win it's not important to have a blind in place when you don't have deer

get the deer then get the blind then get the blind right um it's not important to have a new

implement that you're barely going to be able to use when you have a crummy road system anyways

like just again food for thoughts good conversations to be had but the point of it is is right

find the balance and and understand that there's a there's a there's a process and there's an order

and there's a procedure for these things that just make more sense right and it's not always follow

follow status quo from from whatever one else is doing it's like ah that that what's weight on that

let's know that that that's probably we need to do that yesterday yeah but far that chainsaw

yeah get the thing cranking um braiding anything else

four wrap up been a good conversation been good been real good um appreciate everyone listening

hopefully we'll see you guys at the workshops coming up here in May and June and then one

in uh august as well so check it out hope to see you guys there we appreciate your listening

and we'll see you here next week