Author: Steve Bartylla
One of the greatest challenges in habitat improvement is figuring out what to use, when to use it, and where. Frankly, with seemingly countless options and “experts”, it can be more than a bit overwhelming for many, when trying to lay out the best improvement plans.
As with most anything, I sure can’t promise to be able to solve those issues for anyone. That said, I can share how I approach at least part of this dilemma.
As with anything I share, just please realize that almost everything has a range of how well it does or doesn’t work for each of us. Between habitat, area, our own personalities, our strengths, weaknesses, knowledge, ignorance, and so ridiculously many more factors, things simply will work differently for most all of us. Each of us needs to find our own sweet spots.
It’s my sincere hope you all can take anything of value you find in how I approach most anything and merely pitch the rest.
The Dilemma
With that, we are both blessed and literally cursed, today, in one specific way. When I was cutting my teeth on habitat improvement, every bit of info I could find was both precious and nearly as rare as a pink unicorn that sneezes rainbows. Pitifully few not employed by the state or feds in wildlife had ever even thought about improving habitat just to allow the animals to truly flourish and make hunting efforts more effective.
Back then, Barry Wensel and some others had put together a video on Tips and Tricks, now retired wildlife biologist John J Ozoga and a handful of others conducted research that was both invaluable and, if one could connect the dots, helpful in those endeavors. Towards the end of my beginnings, Michigan’s Tony LaPratt even started selling improvement services and shared a handful of golden nuggets with me at dinner after shows we’d both spoken at. In true Tony fashion, it was just pieces, but they were plenty easy enough to run with on my own.
Today, there are I’m not even sure how many 24-hour TV channels dedicated to “hunting”, an internet overflowing with “experts,” numerous books on the subject, deer expos in some state every weekend from January to April and every other neighbor knows all there is to know about all of this stuff. If you don’t believe me, just ask them and they’ll be more than happy to tell ya how much they know!
Quite frankly, when I look things up these days it almost makes my head hurt. It’s info overload, with a bunch of great stuff, a bunch of worthless, and everything in between.
Bringing Order to Chaos
Making sense of it all begins for me by viewing habitat improvement techniques and the little “tricks” we use in that and hunting exactly like tools in a carpenter’s toolbox. To be a very effective carpenter, having a whole bunch of various tools helps a ton. If a person has even done much handyman-type carpentry, they likely learned very fast that most any project can be made easier or harder, merely by the tool used to get it done.
Along those same lines, a carpenter would never try to use all the tools in the box to simply hang a picture or even more complicated construction projects. They match the best tools they have for the job at hand.
I want an overflowing toolbox. Within reason, I want to educate myself on all the various habitat improvement techniques and hunting tricks I reasonably can. It’s entirely possible and even probable that I’ll never use some of those tools, but they can be near invaluable when you need them, often making the difference between success and failure.
There truly are near countless ways to skin the proverbial cat, but often one or two ways are way better than the rest. Learning about the various techniques and tricks is a great first step in building up our toolbox.
Next, I simply use what I refer to as the common sense test for a lot of this stuff. If it doesn’t make a lick of common sense to me, it better be free and super easy or I’m not likely to give it a shot at all. The more effort and/or money it will cost, the greater my need must be and the more it better make common darn sense for me to give it a shot.
Furthermore, I’m going to stick a toe in the water, rather than diving in the first time. If I’ve never done a tree planting for cover before or am unsure of how well it will achieve my goals in a specific situation, odds are I’ll be planting 500 or less that first go around, not 10,000. If creating a bedding area using any method, I’m only doing a handful or a much smaller overall area, until I’ve tasted success or have a chance to alter and try again.
A perfect example is that I’m trying new plantings every year, but it’s grains, Trophy Clover, Fall-Winter-Spring, and Honey Hole that I KNOW I will be planting the most of, as they are proven winners. The new plantings are small and above and beyond what I’m counting on to meet the resident deer’s needs. If a new planting exceeds expectations, its next year’s planting will likely increase. If it’s untouched, I’m obviously not planting that again, at least not in that area.
Finally, as my own mother drilled into my head growing up, if they gotta jump up and down, flailing their arms around and scream, “Look at me! This is who I am!” well, if they were really all that, they wouldn’t have to act the fool.
I find that applies both to how seriously to take someone and a product. If it sounds like they’re over-promising and too good to be true, I’m likely holding off until/if ever someone I trust gives it a thumbs up.
Conclusion
Truth be told, I see the glut of info these days as being way more a blessing than a curse. Without a doubt, it can be frustrating trying to weed through the glut of info and methods out there, seemingly everyone claiming theirs is the best since sliced bread.
However, having face-planted near countless times over the years, both trying to figure it out on the fly and following what was promised to be sage advice, at least the methods outlined above help sort the wheat from the chaff and get me further, way faster than when info was near nonexistent.
