Extreme Deer Habitat

09/26/2024

I am pretty sure nothing else in a kids world can beat this. https://fb.watch/uRhfNS3eKo/

09/11/2024

With habitat season ending it is time to think about our goals for buck harvest this season. I seldom end up shooting one myself just because of my threshold for trigger restraint but I like to think about it. Understanding the life cycle of a whitetail buck can help you set those goals for your area. This is from a presentation on the life cycle of a whitetail buck I did to a fishing group a few years ago.

Most Michigan hunters have never seen an adult whitetail buck in the wild. BUY THE BOOK: EXTREME DEER HABITAT: https://extremedeerhabitat.com/buy-the-book/Th...

09/11/2024

The things we do to create great deer habitat.

09/11/2024

My neighbor recently had his woods logged but it is not going to be nearly enough to encourage daytime deer usage. This kind of canopied woods is the last place you are going to find a grownup deer in daylight. On the other hand, deer are moving about in my heavy cover all day long. This (providing regenerative growth with a chainsaw) is the number one thing you can do to improve deer hunting on a small property.

08/19/2024

I should listen to myself more often. Well, at least it’s not a severe case…

03/17/2024

This is the 11th and final video in a series comprising a discussion between Jim Brauker and Jim Ward while walking Jim Ward's 137 acre south central Indiana...

03/16/2024

Part 10 of my video series, A conversation about deer habitat with Jim Ward. In this segment we discuss his pollinator field, how to manage cool season grasse3s, and how to manage oak trees. To many landowners are afraid to cut oaks, but to have good oak timber growth, and especially good acorn production, it is necessary to make sure trees are spaced appropriately. Too much competition is bad for both timber and acorn production. You have to cut oak trees to grow oak timber, and you have to cut oak trees to grow acorns.

This is the 10th in a series of videos comprising a discussion between Jim Brauker and Jim Ward while walking Jim Ward's 137 acre south central Indiana white...

03/16/2024

Part 9 of my video of my conversation with Jim Ward about his deer property in Indiana. This video shows what I consider to be the most perfect deer food plot I have ever seen.

This is the 9th in a series of videos comprising a discussion between Jim Brauker and Jim Ward while walking Jim Ward's 137 acre south central Indiana whitet...

01/18/2024

Part 8 of my conversation with Jim Ward about deer habitat. This one is mainly a discussion regarding the importance of cover and browse. So many books, magazines, and consultants focus on food plots as a central theme in deer property management but they are NOT the most important thing.

In order to have an optimal deer hunting property, cover and the associated browse are the most important thing. Food plots are useful but not necessary. Cover is absolutely necessary to good habitat. But we go on to discuss how to properly design food plots for maximal daytime use in combination with heavy cover.

This is the 8th in a series of videos comprising a discussion between Jim Brauker and Jim Ward while walking Jim Ward's 137 acre south central Indiana whitet...

01/16/2024

Part 7 of my conversation with Jim Ward. Scent control, scent control, scent control.

This is the 7th in a series of videos comprising a discussion between Jim Brauker and Jim Ward while walking Jim Ward's 137 acre south central Indiana whitet...

01/13/2024

I am thankful for all of the support in 2023, and am excited to head into 2024 with so many great clients, and connections who have played a vital roll in Legendary Habitat’s network of professionals.

Now is the time to start designing and developing your property for next season!

I am currently booking clients through 2024. If you are interested in being on my winter/spring schedule please contact me soon, as spots are limited.

What you get when you Hire Legendary Habitat:

-One of few full-time whitetail consultants in the country, who can provide a flexible timeline of consulting, and habitat development.

-Someone who truly cares about your success and will be available long after I visit your property.

-We are not sponsored by any given product or company, and will give you unbiased feedback and recommendations based on real world experience and knowledge.

-Striving to learn more through continued education, both in the field, and in the office.

-Someone who will understand your goals and objectives, and create a habitat plan around those.

-Has personal experience with many habitat and hunting challenges; extreme hunting pressure, small properties, poor soil, etc... and knows how to help you find solutions to those problems.

-A team; when you hire Legendary Habitat you are now connected to a network of other professionals.

-A comprehensive habitat plan that is easy to understand, edit, or share with other hunters in your group.

-Consulting packages that range from standard, all the way to the most advanced consulting service available today.

To contact me, or for more information visit our website: Legendaryhabitat.com

12/22/2023

There is a storm on the horizon of the deer management world in Michigan.

In order to understand what lies ahead it is wise to consider what history has to teach. I think everyone who wishes to consider options for improving deer hunting in Michigan will not be able to fully engage in the conversation unless they understand the history of modern deer management. It is best understood by reading "Deer Wars" by Bob Frye. And by reviewing the data from recent efforts in Michigan related to Mandatory Antler Point Restrictions (MAPRs).

In 2002, Pennsylvania was a one buck rule state with the worst buck age structure in the country and a yearling harvest rate of 80%. In the following years it was completely transformed by the implementation of modern deer management approaches as defined by Pennsylvania
Wildlife Commission biologist Gary Alt.

Those of you who have been involved in the battles in Michigan and have decided it is an impossible task to accomplish real change have not seen anything until you have absorbed the story of Gary Alt and modern deer management in PA. He was, without question, the most hated man in PA history, at least since the lead-up to the Revolutionary War. He suffered death threats, character assassination, and a host of other travails and hurdles but succeeded in radically improving deer hunting in PA with the adoption of rational antlerless harvest approaches and statewide Mandatory Antler Point Restrictions.

The approaches adopted there serve as a model of the most recent advances in managing deer. I cannot believe some of the criticism I have heard lately, with people saying that the data from very recent evaluations related to MAPRs are "outdated". In fact, the data from PA which started MAPRs in 2002, or that from Leelanau County, Michigan, DMU 045, which started MAPRs in 2003, or that from the Northwest 12 counties of Michigan, which started in 2013, or the data collected for the Lower Peninsula Deer Management Initiative in 2014, are without question some of the most recent evaluations we have had of this modern deer management approach. And the results are overwhelmingly favorable.

I am currently exploring the mood of various people in this state who have been involved in the Michigan Deer Wars in the past to see what the mood is. I am inclined to think that people are fed up enough with the nonsense, and motivated enough by the huge successes in areas where MAPRs have been tried, to re-engage with a new effort.

However, it has been several years since we have had an initiative, during which I am sure very talented and motivated younger (or older) people who have not engaged in past efforts may wish to volunteer to help improve deer management in Michigan. If you are so inclined, please drop me a PM and describe how you might be able to help. While I am not the right person to lead such an effort, I know some people who are, and I am here to lend my support to whoever wants to engage in an effort to get statewide MAPRs implemented. If you are interested in OBR implementation, by all means go for it. But I will not waste any of my time promoting something for which there is no valid evidence whatsoever of utility.

Meanwhile, if you want to be the leader of this effort, you are the wrong person to do it. Whoever wants the job cannot possibly know how painful their life will become. So, if you are so inclined, you are not ready for it. LOL. Whoever leads this effort will have to be coerced into doing it. And I know she good elbow lock moves.

12/20/2023

The various charts I have shown in my posts on this site were NOT CREATED BY THE DNR!. These data sets were collated and charted by me and others in the deer hunting community. If you had to depend on the DNR you never would have seen any of it presented in an understandable format.

I say this because there are some who seem to think that I am parroting information coming from the DNR. I am not. A group of activist hunters who wanted change in Michigan got together back in 2013 and formed a group called the LPDMI (Lower Peninsula Deer Management Initiative). It consisted of a large group (of about 15 members) of committed hunters comprised of landowners, QDM practitioners, public land hunters, hunters who have given up on Michigan and were hunting out of state, and hunters like me who enjoy fantastic hunting in Michigan and want to help achieve it for every hunter in the state, and especially those on public land who get, by far, the greatest benefits from Mandatory Antler Point Restrictions (MAPRs).

I was the guy who collated all this information and put it into presentable form. It was buried in various bureaucratic spreadsheets and we, the LPDMI, everyday hunters and avid advocates for improved buck age structure, shoved them under the noses of the DNR and NRC and forced them to deal with the facts.
Tony Smith and I drove hundreds of miles around the state over several months in 2022 (as did many other members too numerous to mention) to promote these data and presented it to hunters in every corner of the state under the requirement by the DNR that it be explained to all the state's deer hunters. If any of you question my commitment to this, understand that I had to spend hours in a vehicle alone with Tony listening to him rattle on about all his great hunting trips and how many inches he has as a member of the seven hundred club (look it up).

At no point in these many public presentations, attended by DNR biologists and NRC members as well as by many hunters was the data in the presentations or the literature we created questioned by any of the biologists. It is right, it is true, it is accurate, and it is serves as powerful evidence of how much age distribution of bucks in the harvest can be changed by a simple change in regulations.

There was no other approach considered at the time that had supporting data to indicate it would improve things. The observations from the MAPR counties is something that a scientist only runs into occasionally even in a long career like mine. It is just a rare thing to have such resounding data that clearly cannot be contested.

I am calling for all hunters in Michigan who really care, to get behind statewide MAPRs and let's change Michigan into the number one state for destination whitetail hunters.

Attached is the presentation we did at all those sites in Michigan. This was put together by hunters for hunters. it is data we mined from the DNR spreadsheets because they were not about to present it in any cogent way.

Please, if you want to improve deer hunting in Michgan, look at this presentation that reflects how a large number of some of the most dedicated and experienced hunters wanted to improve deer hunting in Michigan. This diverse team looked at every possible strategy and threw out everything except MAPRs as not having enough data to support moving forward or as not being feasible for various reasons. I see nothing that changes that.

The Lower Peninsula Deer Management Initiative (LPDMI) presented information about their Antler Point Proposal at 14 venues during June and July of 2013. Th...

12/14/2023

If your deer hunting experience on your property this year was not spectacular, check this out and see if can help with your goals.

Are you frustrated with your deer hunting? Take a look inside the book EXTREME DEER HABITAT. BUY THE BOOK: https://extremedeerhabitat.com/buy-the-book/This...

12/14/2023

Posted here is perhaps the best example of the result of passing young bucks anyone has ever seen anywhere; Leelanau County Michigan implementation of a 3 point on a side Antler Point Restriction in 2003.

Here we have an example of a rare, overwhelmingly positive result from a regulation change. This is the change in harvest of yearling and 3.5 and older bucks as a result of MAPRS.

These data are so stunning I am 100% certain they could be used to bludgeon our way to success at improving statewide deer hunting. The LPDMI was a true success in that it achieved majority support from hunters. It could have been used as a lunching pad for a new effort. It only failed because of unrealistic hurdles placed before it by the NRC. Those hurdles could be and should be overcome.

In the face of these unbelievable, unexpected positive results, it is truly bewildering to me that anybody who claims to want more mature buck hunting in Michigan would not become an activist to bring together all committed hunters behind the one and only thing proven to work in this state. In addition to these data from Leelanau, we have even more rapid and equally stunning success in the other NW 12 counties.

What are we doing?

12/04/2023

The December rut--as real as real can be. Most hunters hang up the bow and firearm at the end of the Michigan deer season. Hunter numbers drop precipitously after November 30th, yet I look forward to the 2nd week of December every year because I know I have a high likelihood of seeing them get extremely active again starting around the 8th of December.

This is the time doe fawns come into estrus if they have reached a sufficient body weight of 60-70 lbs. or more, and any adult does that got missed in November come back into estrus. Things can get very intense at this time.

But this is a phenomenon that is very region dependent. If you live in a northern climate without a lot of browse and no agriculture, the woods may remain pretty calm because the doe fawns do not reach a sufficient body mass. But still, it is worth getting out there because if even one doe goes into estrus you may see a large concentration of activity in a small area.

At these times it is unwise to hunt traditional buck spots like buck bedding areas or transitions areas. They will be smack dab in the doe bedding, feeding, and travel areas. Here are a couple of videos I have made in different years during the December rut to show how this works.

The December Rut. It happens every year. I sometimes hear hunters speculating about the December Rut in my home state of Michigan. I don't have to speculat...

11/21/2023

A video of deer breeding just 10 yards from me, and a discussion of the MYTH OF THE RUT LOCKDOWN and the MYTH OF THE OCTOBER LULL.

Many hunters believe there is a time during the rut when deer do not move as much during the rut. The theory most often espoused is that there are so many d...

11/09/2023

The facts have been thoroughly checked: We can’t manage genetics of wild deer and produce measurable change. A new study help bury an old myth about cull bucks.