On July 20th 2013 Jim Brauker and Jake Ehlinger presented a workshop on hinge cutting at the Quality Deer Management Association’s National Convention. The workshop covered the basics of safety and control as well as fundamentals of the 3 main types of hinge cutting for deer habitat. Bedding, Barriers, and Transitional Zones. This demonstration was […]…
A lot of hunters can tell you why they see less deer while hunting as the season progresses. The most common answer is “Hunting pressure causes deer to go nocturnal.” But not as many hunters can tell you how to decrease this problem of hunting pressure. Many believe it’s decreasing the number of times they […]…
By Randy VanderVeen No! Stop! Don’t do it! You’re going to ruin your hunting property if you do. That’s what you should say to any hunter who is about to mow his big overgrown CRP field. You have to admit, CRP fields don’t look very beneficial for deer from a food point of view compared […]…
For most hunters, if they’re going to hunt from dawn to dusk, they usually wait until one of the rut phases in November. But if you happen to have great deer habitat like Jim Brauker, you’re likely to see deer moving all day as early as October 22 like he did this year. Lots of […]…
Watching deer from the barn. I love to sit up in my barn, where I have a picture window in the second story, and watch deer behavior behind the house. It is amazing what you can learn by watching their behavior and how they use the property. In this video I document a doe and […]…
By Jim Brauker October 1, 2013 Every year I try to harvest a doe during the first few days of antlerless season. I like to get one in before I start serious buck hunting. But the problem is that being a small property hunter, if I make a mistake, and a deer makes it to […]…
by Jake Ehlinger I’ve come to realize that there are so many mental and tactical decisions I make before I finish with my scent control procedure, that I now understand that I may take many of these for granted. Because I’ve been doing this for a long time, I thought I’d do a quick over-view […]…
Can you list all the reasons why mature bucks move around on your property during the day of the hunting season? There’s a lot more reasons than just feeding and chasing girls. Knowing all the movement forces and when they’ll take place ahead of time will help you stack the odds in your favor instead […]…
Have you ever heard a deer hunter say, “I never enter my deer sanctuary.” Well if you’re fortunate enough to have a deer sanctuary, the worst thing you can do is to never go in it. Why? Because trees break and fall causing deer trails to become dead ends. New trees and brush grow fast […]…
Improving deer habitat 30 years ago was a rare concept for owners of deer hunting property.Jake Ehlinger was a whitetail habitat pioneer in SE MI starting in the early 80’s when there were only a handful of deer in his area. Through hard work and trial and error, Jake now has multiple mature bucks living […]…
