In the example above and below my client used native regeneration, Egyptian wheat, brassicas, and soybeans to offer a great combination of food and cover to pull deer past a high quality stand location, and into the center of his ag land that he is in the process of converting to a combination of a high quality food and cover. At the same time these established lines of movement effectively “bridge” the gap between his east and west wood lots, effectively keeping the focus of the local deer herd towards the center of his own parcel, instead of towards his surrounding neighbor’s land. Where the line of cover and food snakes towards two distant points of woods and finally into the woodlot to the west, numerous highly defined stand locations have been created. By adding several well-placed waterholes the “Line of Movement” is futher enhances, along with the adjacent stand locations!

Every parcel is different, as are the combinations of appropriate food and cover options, but a common theme among the parcel designs that I find are the most effective, include various similar lines of movement opportunity.

Just a short write-up (I will expand much more in an upcoming chapter of my next book ), but a few points to consider:

*High quality summer food sources (alfalfa,soybeans,clover) = high doe numbers, especially when combined with

adjacent high quality stem count habitat fawning cover. *Doe family groups have a much smaller home range than mature bucks *If you have high doe #s during the summer…those does often stick around into the fall *High doe #s carried into the fall take up space that mature bucks could otherwise take over

Every wonder why the sex ratios seem so unhealthy? It may be because a much higher % of bucks are living on your neighbors during the hunting season, where there may be less food…but there is quality cover that is not over-run by doe family groups.

Not surprisingly I don’t see a lot of does during the summer months on my SW WI lease because we are surrounded by high quality food sources on neighboring parcels. Until it gets into December and later, our antler-less populations remains fairly stable, but our buck population explodes! I believe it explodes because we offer more cool season forages and bedding cover…but at the same time we haven’t created a summer “Doe Factory” so when bucks are making their late summer moves to fall ranges, we have the space to collect them. This was the same on my UP of MI wilderness parcel, where the summer ratio would go from 3 mature does for every antlered buck…to 1 mature doe for every 2 antlered bucks in the fall.

Looking at the 25-30 different bucks we get on film in SW WI it would appear that we carry a ratio of more bucks to does and one could concluded that was what the area holds. Instead, we have neighbor that rarely see a mature buck, instead experiencing poor sex ratios.

I believe you can choose whether you promote a “Doe Factory”, or Cool Season Mature Buck hangout. And when you think about it, if you are the one holding the cool season buck population, your ability to promote a QDM herd is extremely high…and an outstanding opportunity to have a major impact on the local herd with 1, small parcel.

Ask yourself…are you creating a “Doe Factory”?

Anyways…food for thought

BTW, I have clients in 14 states this year, basically Nebraska to Delaware and north…very cool to see these concepts hold true over a very large area. Each parcel is a “scouting trip” and I feel extremely fortunate to be able to do what I do…and being able to described what I am seeing, to you guys. Hope the habitat season is going well!

By Jeff Sturgis, www.whitetailhabitatsolutions.com

While in the middle of a 7 day client trip in IN and MI, I have really enjoyed the IN visits! Every parcel is so drastically different, even within the same state, and these parcels were no exception. The balance of food and cover is one of the greatest challenges I love to diagnose, and matching that diagnosis to my clients personal resources and goals is a fun part of the puzzle as well! The above client, located in northwest IN, had 2 parcels of

varying needs and drastically different sizes. In a nutshell, the 35 acre parcel on the left needed a LOT more cover and a LOT less food…with a heavy emphasis on the micro-management of bedding areas. The parcel of over 300 acres on the right needed a much higher definition of bedding areas with various types and levels of habitat improvement with less of a priority of the micro-management of bedding. Also, the parcel on the right needed a much more defined direction of food usage for dictating deer movements across a very large (by small parcel standards) landscape.

Due to the client’s habitat experience level, in particular an extensive farming background and profession, certain areas required much less explanation than typical…with fewer overall notes and description than some.

My client in southern IN began with reading about the flood warnings for the immediate area. A problem? No way…just made for some very cool ATV rides through the woods! The propert was over 600 acre and featured what I have run into on several parcels of this size…there was not enough food to support the acres of cover. On any parcel, a certain # of acres of cover needs to be supported by a certain # of acres of food…whether that food is in the form of food plots, orchards, mast, browse, etc…it needs to be of high quality and defined or the parcel lacks overall in the amount of “effeciency per acre”. At the same time, the parcel featured large portions of open and mature hardwoods that although remote, hidden, and untouched…just not enough of quality or defined cover.

At the same time the landowner is just getting into an extensive food plot and habitat program…new/used ag equipment, new chainsaw, bobcat, etc., so a different level and type of notes were needed, in particular a “timetable” of prioritized habitat improvement events.

I hope you enjoy a glimpse into what goes into a visit with my clients. My designs are drawn and written with you, immediately after scouting your property together. There are absolutely no “cookie cutter” layouts that work from parcel to parcel…the service is a very personal to both my clients and their parcels. Also, as long as my phone has a signal…I email your design to you before I leave for you to do with what you want; share with friends, post online… it doesn’t matter to me, it’s yours, and there is nothing better than being able to get started immediately with a solid plan as soon as I leave. 

*”Cheating the Wind”-Using thermals and significant topographical features to your advantage
*Using FOOD to position does, and then bucks for daytime bedding opportunity.
*The Do’s and Dont’s of hunting staging areas
*Waterhole Creation and Stand Placement Strategies
*The “Risks and Rewards” of hunting food plots
*Bedding area concepts and creation strategies
*”Connecting the Benches” for hunting and habitat strategies
*”Post-Sunrise” stand entrance stratagies
*Access, Access, Access….and much, much more!

Located in SW WI, this 2 day workshop features the rolling topography that houses the Giant Monarchs of the Mississippi River Valley. Food sources and bedding areas hidden by 200-400′ changes in elevation create challanges for both access and stand locations, but also produce incredible results with an effective habitat and hunting design in place. During the past 12 seasons over 20 mature bucks have been harvested with an average age of over 4 years old out 15 different stand locations. Come find out how the wind has been cheated, where the mature bucks bed, how they travel, and both how and when they were killed.

Where: Coon Valley, WI
When: Saturday May 4th, and Sunday May 5th
Time: Sat. 10-6, Sun. 8-4.
Cost: $600.00, which includes the 2 day workshop, workbook, 2 copies of “Whitetail Success by Design”, lunch for both days, and rolls/coffee during the morning hours.
Deposit: $100

Act quickly to reserve your spot today…class size is limited! Also, plan to bring your outdoor gear, 1/2 of your time each day will be spent in the “deer woods”.  Local lodging is also available for couples, families and any who attend but plan soon because the area is also one of the top trout fisheries in the Midwest and rooms fill fast.

Starting with 3 clients in northern WI between Christmas and New Years, followed by 5 clients in southern to central lower MI the next weekend…the old truck is now up to 322,000 miles! Maybe time to get a new one?

In lower MI my client and I ran into what I fear will be a common and recurring theme throughout the season; EHD killed deer. With deer numbers

substantially reduced in many Midwestern location, its a great time to look at re-shaping your deer herd for the better, if needed.

1. By defining and separating both bedding and feeding areas, you can set the table for enough separation of the various whitetail groups; Doe families, dispersing immature bucks, and mature bucks. A 1/2 acre of highly improved daytime bedding cover can house a doe family group of several deer. Dominant doe family groups can and will take over large bedding area so by keeping your areas small and defined, you begin to se the table for housing all 3 groups of deer.

The same goes for food too! This is not to say that large destination plots are not effective, only that the need to be broken by strips or islands of cover. Elevation changes within food sources to hide deer from one another also serve a similar purpose of separation. Increased definition and separation = lower stress levels and the lower the stress level on your property, the higher the potential that you will attract the most stress wary group of deer; mature bucks!

2. Offer an orderly structure of bedding. Significant hunting season food sources flanked by high quality hunting season daytime bedding cover is the first step in attaining an orderly structure of bedding. Expect doe family groups to be housed within this first layer of bedding opportunity. As you travel deeper into your cover, away from the food source, each layer of bedding cover has the a higher opportunity to house a immature and then mature buck groups.

If that first layer of quality bedding cover can’t be found until the outer edges of your parcel…expect thos mature bucks to bedding on your neighbors.

3. Provide a “low stress” environment on your parcel.
*reduced hunter impact
*separate and define both food and cover
*structured orderly bedding pattern
*continuous flow and consistency of quality in your overall parcel improvements

By designing a more organized, separated, defined, and stress free whitetail parcel, the table is set on your property to be one of the most attractive in the neighborhood. By using a “trigger control” to mold and shape the biological herd dynamics of both overall population numbers and sex ratios, your property can now have the foundation for outstanding future success, even when EHD rares it’s ugly head.

I am in the process of traveling to another EHD hit state; Delaware. I am currently scheduled in 13 states through the end of May and hoping to add Louisiana and West Virginia to the mix as well! Stay tuned for more pictures and to Mark, John, Jeff, Kevin, Jordan, Jeff, Doug, and Doug…it was great meeting you guys and spending a day in the woods with you!

*1/14/2013 Delaware client’s EHD victim…

By Jeff Sturgis, www.whitetailhabitatsolutions.com

*Book your 2013 site visit by 12/15/2012 to receive a reduced fee of $1100 for the basic daily rate as it applies to the surrounding states and locations mentioned below. A reduced fee will still be applied to clients located outside of the typical single daily fee area of coverage.

Wow…it seems like 2013 is a ways off yet, but I am receiving a lot of calls for potential site visits several weeks earlier than normal. In the last week I began to schedule upcoming clients for portions of October, December, and January…
I just had to get my book publishing, marketing, and promotion accomplished first. And again…I appreciate all of the support, it has been overwhelming in a great way!

What I do is to help you design and hunt your whitetail parcel. Some of my clients have hired multiple consultants and what they tell me is they while some specialize in a few areas…planting food plots, creating bedding areas, planting various trees, shrubs, or cover…no one they have hired actually looks at the entire parcel as a puzzle, piecing together all the components of a parcel plan, in particular the where, how, when and why of bedding areas, food sources, timber management, water, cover, stand locations, lines of movement, patterns of use, paralleling habitat features…and ACCESS, ACCESS, ACCESS! That is what they tell me I do best. I’ve even worked for clients that have had me design a plan for their parcel, and then have used my competitors to actually come back and cut-in their bedding areas and travel corridors based on the design I came up with. As of 2012 I started cutting for my clients as well…and have enjoyed offering that additional service!

At the end of you site visit I spend at least an hour and a 1/2 to draw and write up your plan, on the spot! I do this with you, and with those who attend and am willing to continue to stay answering questions about the plan. No waiting, no losing precious details about the plan after writing it up a week or two later, instead, your plan is very detailed, personal, site specific, and fresh…while being detailed right down to individual trees for stand locations. Also, by spending so much time on your plan at 1 time, in 1 day, by both verbal and in print, your property design…as my clients can point out, will be lodged in my memory bank for many years to come!

I typically work with clients in around 10 different states a year, and the similarities in the patterns of deer use and movement is incredible. What has been consistently reinforced to me is that although habitat types, topography, climates, and soil types change…a deer herd still reacts, lives, travels, and feeds the same. Doe family groups live their daily lives the same from state to state, and so do mature bucks. And speaking of mature bucks, I design a parcel for you that I feel gives to you the best opportunity to attract, hold, and harvest mature bucks relative to your parcel’s individual constraints. But it’s not only the design of your parcel…but also how you use and hunt the parcel that gives to you your ultimate potential. I’ve been extremely fortunate to get to have dozens of opportunities, as well as to harvest mature bucks in multiple states, multiple regions, and multiple parcel types from private to public lands. Mature bucks are very reclusive, individual, and temperamental, however…it’s those traits that actually lead to their vulnerability and frankly it’s been my experience that the older they get, the easier they are to kill. I use that experience within the design of your parcel and it is a critical component to your success.

I’d love for you to take a look at my blog/article writings as well as my new book! I’ve attempted to deliver to you exactly how I look at a parcel or hunt, and what goes into the overall plan. I’ve also attempted to define the concepts I’ve developed and used for many years whether it is in hunting whitetails or designing parcels, including:

*Depth of Cover
*Food and Cover Balance
*Bedding Layers for Mature Bucks
*Critical Food and Cover Timing
*Cool Season Bedding Cover
*Analyzing the Structure of Whitetail Habitat
*Predatory Access for Mature Bucks
*Morning Attacks for Mature Bucks
*Recognizing Stand Conditions for Mature Bucks
*Low Stress Deer Herds
*Creation of Deer Movement
*Establishing Patterns of Food Plot Use
-And many more!

If you would like me to visit you and your parcel to save you years of learning and expense…I’d be happy to set a date for your visit in the coming months.

This is a very personal service and over the years many of my clients have become not only great clients, but also close friends. My plan is designed to fit your parcel only. No 2 parcels are alike, and every plan is completely different from the next. Does your parcel need more cover, more food, or both? I diagnose that balance for you and offer a plan of attack. To be honest, even 2 neighboring parcels could have a drastic difference in the balance needed to the point that I cringe when I hear the blanket prescriptions of the various “schooled” percentages needed for either food or cover. Every parcel is so different that it is more important that the components of design and hunting need to be applied accurately, than if they are even applied at all. Some of the best parcels out there are 5 acre chunks of habitat sandwiched in-between neighborhoods, parks, and golf courses and they haven’t had bedding areas, food plots, or habitat changes, planted, constructed or manipulated in any way. Instead, they are “human-free”. I can assist you in your quest for “perfection”, but the trick isn’t to have the most perfect looking food plot, bedding area, or field of native grasses, but instead…the components of parcel design and hunting need to be accurately applied to your parcel in a logical pattern relative to your parcel’s individual needs so that you can achieve the correct balance of human influence without the deer knowing you are involved in the process. If mature bucks can live and grow old on a 5-acre neighborhood chunk…imagine the possibilities with 10 acres, 20 acres, and 40 or more when the components of parcel design and hunting practices are accurately applied to your parcel.

Depending on the size of your parcel, I visit with you and the hunters that use your parcel walking over your parcel, getting to know your parcel, and then designing your parcel during the day and by evening. Due to the variety habitat type and terrain a parcel of 80-200 acres of woods or more will often require an additional day of which I do reduce my overall daily fee. Parcels within all of MI and WI require the stated basic daily fee which already includes travel expenses, as do portions of northern OH, IN, ILL, northeastern IA, and eastern MN. I do fly to you if needed, at which a basic 3-day reduced fee is required, along with airfare. I’ve been able to avoid the cost of airfare when multiple parcels are available to visit within a reasonable driving loop…saving me time, and you money.

Also, I will be offering my Habitat Design Workshops in portions of MI and WI during the months of March, April, and May. These workshops will last 2 days and include both field and indoor workshop time. Each will include a different theme and parcel type so that you can most accurately apply the concepts used on those parcels to your own. Also, within the class time will be included strategy sessions used to help you to develop a basic plan of your own parcel, through both small group and/or total group discussion.

My 2013 prices are as follows:

*$1250-Daily Fee for Site Visit and Design, or Chainsaw Bedding and Travel Corridors Cuttings, which includes a $300 deposit when a date is chosen.

*$500-2 Day Whitetail Design Workshop, which includes a $100 deposit when a particular workshop is selected.

*Seminar/Speaking Events Ranging from $400 to $1000 Depending on time of day, type of event, and location. I have always extended discounts to Deer Management groups and various Non-Profit organizations.

*My book, “Whitetail Success By Design” is $24.95 + shipping and handling.

Please contact me for areas or states that do not include the basic 1-day fee, and for larger parcels to discuss the overall fee. Also, I will contact you when I can devote an appropriate amount of time to personally speak with you! I hunt A LOT, it’s part of my profession, especially during late Oct/Nov/early Dec. However, I love to email and text from the deer stand…and even carry an extra battery. I am often writing or hunting where calls are not possible at the time…but my cell works for texts or emails. I also do not return calls while with other clients, and I will frequently call you while on the road traveling. I enjoy talking to you about your property, and hope that you continually keep in contact after the visit. Some of my closest friends are previous clients…and that is one my favorite parts about my profession! I have many previous clients that would be happy to talk to you if you need a reference…from many different states. I am also on Facebook, and have both personal and professional pages-don’t hesitate to send a request!

I also accept credit card payments for deposits or site visits via paypal.

****If you book your site visit for 2013 with a deposit by December 15th, 2012 you will receive a reduced fee to the 2012 price of $1100.00

By Jeff Sturgis, www.whitetailhabitatsolutions.com

I am so proud of my son! We had a 1/2 hour walk up into the hollow, and I was pretty wore out, let alone Jake. Jake has always done great hunting with me going back to when he was only 1 years old. At the age of 7 he took his first all day sit with me on public land in the hills of PA, and now at the age of 10 he was certainly ready!

Less than 2 hours into 1st light Jake’s buck popped up out of a deep-cut drainage running down the center of the hollow, and started walking away from us at about 80 yards. Jake has always been a great shot and when he started steading the .270 WSM I felt very confident he would have his first buck.

At the crack of the shot the buck kicked, ran up to our right, stopped less than 40 yards away…and tipped over. Jake and I must have hugged for 20 seconds and I could tell he was crying…tears of joy streaming down his cheeks.

Awesome…memories to last a lifetime, and to be sitting right beside him, well, I am one proud dad!

A well deserved nap in the blind with daddy…

By Jeff Sturgis, www.whitetailhabitatsolutions.com

I am now also contributing to Wired To Hunt, which can be described as:  “The deer hunting blog for the next generation. Focusing on deer hunting news, stories and strategies”. Mark Kenyon has been including various blog articles from my site for his “Friday Morning Mashup”, and also puts together an outstanding web TV show, featuring episodes every other Monday throughout hunting season. I invite you to continue along with this article by clicking on the provided link, and while you are there, check out the great site, collection of articles, and various episodes Mark and his team have put together!

For my first Wired To Hunt article, I would like to share with you some recent success I experienced on 2 hunts, in 2 different states, using the same 3 tactics that you can take advantage of within this amazing cold front taking place this coming weekend.

Couch Success

I was at a taxidermist shop a few days ago and a pretty good hunter explained to me that he was going to be sitting that particular night, but that it was “pretty poor conditions” so he didn’t expect much. My thought was, “why hunt”? When I enter the woods, I expect success and if I don’t, I have found that it is better just to sit inside, on the couch. Here are two reasons why:

Each stand has a perfect time of the year, a perfect time of the day, and a perfect set of weather conditions, to sit in. When a particular stand is used, use it with the expectation of a very high measure of success and then move onto the next stand. In the first 14 sits of the year this year I used 11 stand locations in 2 states, so it probably doesn’t come as a surprise that the two bucks and 1 doe that I harvested came from stands that were being used for the first time for the year. If I don’t expect an opportunity when entering a stand, I don’t hunt.

By not hunting stand sets during less than desirable circumstances, those stand sites tend to improve the longer they are not used. In my experience each sit deteriorates that location’s potential while on the other hand you can let those same spots age like a fine wine! How do you do that? It’s simple…sit on the couch. Your “Best” stand may be burned out after a couple of sits for the rest of the season. However, you most average of stands can be turned into your next “Best” stand simply because you have neglected to use it for the entire season and you have allowed it to “age and improve”.

Morning Bedding Activity

“Couch Hunting” has a lot in common as it relates to my personal success while hunting during the morning. Whether sitting in a stand for the first time for the year or hunting in the morning, 80% of my mature bucks have been killed using at least 1 of those tactics. When quiet, cold mornings follow warm and stress-filled weather changes with high winds, rain, or snow…it’s time to get in the woods! I have found 2 types of hunting when it relates to morning success, including: Those that kill a lot of bucks during the morning, and those that don’t. There are a few morning tactics that I like to follow to experience consistent success:

To read the rest of the article…click below and take a look at the site while you are there!

Designing Your Next Experience of Whitetail Success

By Jeff Sturgis, www.whitetailhabitatsolutions.com

This is the heaviest deer I have ever shot…a 220# bruiser I killed on Saturday morning, the first time hunting a stand after hanging it in late June. He is a mature beauty…complete with a missing right eye and 3″ scar. Did I mention that I love these October cold fronts…no matter when in October they occur? It was foggy at daybreak, 32 degrees and there was a good frost on my windshield. I was also full of hope when I went out that morning, because

I had seen mature bucks within 30 yards on my previous 4 sits by following the cold fronts…including MI as well!

I was hunting a long, thick and natural travel corridor between multiple bedding areas. This is a spot that is not productive during the early season but as soon as the pre-rut kicks in it is exactly the place I like to take a seat on a cold fall morning! I could see 2 scrapes from my stand, and it didn’t surprise me to hear this pig making a scrape and raking some trees about a 1/2 hour after first light. I was pretty excited to know that most likely a mature buck was near, and it didn’t surprise me when his big body was headed my way.

There was a steep hardwood face and rise to my south that was capturing my scent with the morning thermals, and to the opposite direction the slight bench gave way to a field of golden rod towards the inside hidden corner of an old horse pasture that extended up and over a ridge to the north. 3 cruising trails formed into 2 within 25 yards of my stand..and his travels followed the “script”, offering a 10 yard shot that I couldn’t resist. I believe he was so “jacked up” that he didn’t pay any attention to me drawing the bow as he walked to within 15 yards. My shot entered high in the lungs, and exited under the liver through white hair, with the arrow sticking a foot into the soil.

He bolted about 80 yards into the horse pasture, spun like a top…and died, while the morning thermals carried the fog towards the blue sky above. The pictures show where he took his last breath.

All in all a great hunt…and the 8th buck of 3-5 years of age i had the pleasure of watching within 30 yards this short season. I only hope my luck continues into my OH public land archery hunt…and the MI and WI gun seasons that follow. There is still a lot of hunting left and I can’t wait!:)

I hope that you guys have been able to sit these October cold fronts…they have been some of the best that October has to offer and if you follow them…they will reward you!

Friday October 12th offered high winds and approaching rain. Saturday the 13th and into Sunday 2″ of rain dropped and between the high winds, rain, and a continual chaos of noises within the woods, the deer were pinned down, stressed…and hungry. Deer are rhythmic pattern feeders, feeding 5 times per day, and when various opportunities are suppressed they need to make up for it! At the same time

increased stress levels equal a loss of energy so during a strong front deer are subject to a two-pronged attack of HUNGER.

Last weekends “double whammy” of hunger pains produced an outstanding reduced-wind feeding trigger for the “perfect” evening sit. It had been 4 days since the last quiet evening and the deer were ready! During the sit I was able to pass on 5 bucks, including the ones shown within this article, as well as 6 more! The two oldest pair were 4 and 5 years of age, and offered shots of less than 20 yards while both groomed each other and sparred for over a 1/2 hour. Another pair of 3 year olds enjoyed sparring 200 yards away and the entire evening of “all the boys” hanging out within the CRP and small food plots continued into the cover of darkness.

What a great sit…and a very precise set of Mid-October conditions to offer a predictable quality opportunity. The time to hunt these conditions is as soon as the front has passed, and the winds quiet down. Even if the following day is slightly colder, the majority of the wind and rain induced feeding triggers have passed with the first, quieter conditions.

Looking ahead there is another front passing by Thursday evening, another next Tuesday…and you can bet I will be sitting in a stand catching the next precision bowhunting opportunity!

By Jeff Sturgis, www.whitetailhabitatsolutions.com