Want bigger bucks and a healthier heard?

[ACEarcher]

Say you own your own land. The hunting is good, but you want better. You want your own little Pike Co. IL. Would you ever (consider) hire a wildlife consulting firm to manage you land? Of course a contract would be made up and certain parameters would have to be meet. You would have to own a considerable amount of acrage inorder for it to actually work. The firm would have their own farming equipment, cameras, biologist, statisticans, etc. Results may take time, but change will be evident.

[mudmarlin70]

I would think it would be tough to sell in Eastern Pa or NJ Adam. Just not enough property to a single owner or even co-ops.

Upstate NY or maybe western Pa or West Virginia......yes.

Good luck with it though!!!

[ACEarcher]

Nah, it's not a business aspect just a topic of conversation. Yeah Western Pa has that really fertile soil and rolling hills. Most places on Eastern and Central Pa don't have anything like that.

Typically you'll see a lot of these companies in OH, IL, WI, IA, IN.

[erhino]

i own 30 acres + still dont think thats enough to keep the herd here. part of my property is on a powerline + that is were i plant for the deer. i have owned it for 6yrs with very little hunting pressure + i still dont see great #s or great bucks. they have so much property around them + food at there disposal that u cant krrp them in one area. I also have land owners around me that wont let smaller bucks go by.Thats one of the main reasons i wouldnt get into a program like that.I would be spending my money to fatten them up + grow nice racks for everyone around me

[Ole 20 Point]

If I owned something like 500-1,000 acres I'd consider such a consultant. As noted in the posts above, this type of management wouldn't work at all for much smaller tracts of land...just a waste of time and money. That said, we do try to work our small pieces of property by keeping apple trees and oaks cleared and trying to maintain some thickets for cover to at least attract and hold some of the deer in our area.