Northern Hinge Cutting (video)

Here's a video from our last visit into the woods. You'll see just how we've begun to transform our property with many, and I mean many, hinge cuts. Our Northern border is slowly becoming a natural fenceline...which hopefully will lesson our neighbor "issues" we've been dealing with.

*Yes I realize there is a typo in video...oh well.

Good luck out there and God bless guys.

Why simply putting in food plots isn't enough...

If you've been a hunter for the past few years it's quite apparent the #1 craze among serious deer hunters is food plots. This infatuation is justified though to be honest. I mean food plots do so many great things for you the hunter as well as the deer you are trying to harvest.

They are amazing sources of supplemental feed that can provide great sources of protein and other nutrients pretty much year round, depending upon what plantings you do.

Perhaps the most attractive thing about them is your chances of seeing deer go up, albeit if it's yearlings and does primarily. You will see deer, typically, a lot more than you did before setting in a tree stand surrounded by no food sources.

However, there are a few dangers food plots can present that some hunters just simply over look, aren't aware of or simply don't feel is necessary.

The first, in my opinion, is the biggest. They ignore the deer's need to feel safe and secure when in their food plots. I get it, we see guys on TV hunting whitetails on field edges or right in a box blind smack dab in the middle of a food plot and we are simply naive in the belief that will work for us. Fact is those deer we see those guys harvest are either farm raised or extremely un-pressured whitetails (granted a few are rut-headed dumbies). I can atleast attest to the fact you would have never witnessed a mature buck using our food plot(s) a few years back during legal light. Reason? Not enough security to make them feel safe enough to use it before dark.



Now this can work and does for many guys, however how
many mature deer is this set up missing?
(http://dnrhcc.blogspot.com/2009_11_01_archive.html)

It's common sense and common knowledge amongst hunters like Randy Vander Veen (Whitetail Ambush Secrets) that if a deer can't see very far they're naturally going to feel safer. Hence the reason many guys that go about designing 1/4 acre food plots with sight barriers and edge thickening tactics see more bucks than the hunter who clears a big rectangle food plot that spans 10 acres...now there will always be cases where he will be successful, but if I were to place money on which would be more successful I'll go with the properly designed 1/4 acre (given both are say on the same property).

The second danger guys fall into is trying to hunt like the videos they see. How many times have we watched guys on videos set up right on the edge of a massive corn field or soy bean field or sugar beet field; and harvest a mature whitetail? I bet all of us have a time or two minimum, but that's not the real world of hunting. Those whitetails have been tracked and studied from a far for months, sometimes years prior to anyone hunting it. It feels safe because it isn't pressured, meaning it's going to behave differently than nearly every mature buck you and I chase after in our areas. SO WHY IMITATE SOMETHING NOT COMPAREABLE?

Stop taking the videos as biblical ways to hunt, and take them for what they are: entertainment. Sure you can learn how to maybe call, scent tactics or other aspects but honestly it needs to stop there (unless you've got the cash or the abundance of land to hunt like that).

The third danger is; too many guys ruin the plots by hunting them. PROTECT THE SAFETY OF THEM! Why hunt right on a spot you want the deer to feel safe in? I know the only time I'd every hunt or shoot directly into a food plot is very late season or if I have a mature buck using the plot and it's the only way to get in on him. Otherwise I'm hunting the routes in and out of the food plots...which as you've learned I encourage by hinge cutting and strategic plantings of bushes and trees. By hunting my property this way, deer continue to feel safe while they feed in the plots, something that will continue to bring them back time and time again.

So instead of immulating the videos start thinking from a deer's perspective. Don't make your food plots based on your thoughts, instead on a deer's thoughts. Doing that will lead you to doing everything I believe in and so do amazing habitat manipulation guys like Randy, Jim and Jake (Whitetail Ambush Secrets). If you do this trust me, you'll find yourself seeing more deer when hunting!

Hopefully some of this has sunk in and helped you in your future plans for your property. Good luck out there guys!

God Bless,

Ty

Wow...too many things to post at once!

Okay so I realize it's been awhile since I posted anything here, but it's not because I haven't been hard at work putting things together. Multiple postings, write-ups and videos are coming your way very soon! Here's just a snippet of the things just about ready for posting and things in the works:

-In the next video I post, I share how my father and I recently picked up a great small acre property to hunt...only 22 acres but we are salivating over it! I'm going to take you along with me as I pour myself over aerial images taken from online GIS like GoogleEarth and the likes. I'll also study the topographical make up of the property and make educated guesses at deer movements, all in an effort to speed up the scouting process once we decide to hit the property by foot.

-I mentioned above I have a video coming here soon, and it's going to show how much change our Northern border has went through. I shared in a prior video how we're closing off our Northern border due to illegal hunters and in an attempt to encourage deer to travel on our property differently. I'll also show how we've begun opening up trails through our twisted and tangled bedding area, once again with the intent to encourage deer bedding on our small acreage even more so.

-I have also requested a guest write up be done on arrow 101. Many of us find ourselves in the woods with archery equipment...but how many of us our confident our set up is what it should be? I've got an amazing guest poster working on a write up that I promise you will assist you greatly in getting closer to that set up where you can be sure if you do your part your arrow will do its as well.

-I'm also planning on taking a video of a visit some friend's want me to do to their hunting property here soon. I'll take you along as I make recommendations on how they can begin to get the most out of their property.

-Also I have a friend of mine who sent me aerials of their property a long time ago and I did a lot of planning on it, but realized the other day I made the mistake of never getting around to the sharing part of it. So I'll make a video explaining another property I've built an "idea" of how to build a whitetail haven.

That and so much more is coming soon! As always if you have any questions or comments you'd like to leave please do so!

Also if you have any great before and after pictures of some hinging you've done email them to me at tylanmiller (at) gmail (dot) com. I'd like to have some for my Habitat Manipulation 101 handbook I'm slowly putting together.

Thanks and God bless.