Grow the Hunt

Prescribed Burning

For hundreds of years the use of fire has been used as a key management tool in forests. Using fire for habitat management is known as prescribed or controlled burning. Prescribed burning is beneficial and cost-effective. In fact, many species of wildlife depend on fire. Controlled burns remove the build up of combustible material on forest floors. They also help stimulate the growth of new grasses and vegetation that provide cover and food sources for a variety of wildlife. Many legumes require the seeds be scarified before they will germinate; prescribed burns help accomplish this, increasing the chance legumes will germinate. Burning also acts as a fertilizer. When built up organic matter such as leaves and pine straw are burnt, it releases nutrients back into the soil, helping fertilize new growth.

Forest animals benefit greatly from the food sources and habitat made available after prescribed burns. Hardwoods and shrubs quickly resprout, offering a buffet deer can easily reach. Burning also increases the number of insects on the regenerating forest floor, which have proved valuable to turkeys and upland birds such as quail. Burning also creates desirable nesting areas for turkey and upland birds.

There are many different ways to execute a prescribed burn. Breaking areas into small blocks and burning them on a rotational basis will give you many different stages of growth on your property. Ideally, you want to burn a section about every three years. This will leave you some sections for cover and bedding areas while the others provide new food sources.

It is important to contact your local forest service office for laws in your area, and what permits are needed to perform a controlled burn. They can also tell you when and what type burn will be the most effective for your desired management goals. Many times the forest service can perform a prescribed burn if you do not feel comfortable performing one yourself. You can also contract with private companies to perform the burn for you.

Planting for Spring Food Plots

-By Randy Cooper

It seems that we are going from one extreme to the other with the weather. Last summer, here in Georgia, we were in a severe drought that hurt native vegetation, mast bearing and soft fruit bearing trees and bushes. Gardens withered up and died because of the lack of rain and the endless heat. Food plots really took a hit for the same reason. Vegetable gardens were exempt from the watering bans but not food plots for wildlife. They suffered and most didn’t produce very well.

So far this year it seems to be turning around. We’ve had regular, good-soaking rains as well as some of the most violent weather I have ever seen here in Georgia. A couple of weekends ago we had 22 confirmed tornado touchdowns in less than 16 hours. They even hit downtown Atlanta, which had never seen a tornado in the city’s history. It’s been crazy.

Anyway, it’s time to plant food plots for the spring. So far I’ve prepared my places by doing a total kill using herbicide through Moultrie’s Deluxe Boomless sprayer. It really works well and I’ll talk about my experiences with it in a future entry. Prior to spraying, I took a soil sample and adjusted the PH in the soil by broadcasting pelletized lime with my spreader, also a great tool from Moultrie. The amount of lime you put out depends on the results of the soil test. In my case I put out about 350 pounds for the half-acre sized plot I’ll be planting. I did this back in January to give the lime plenty of time to leach into the soil to have its sweetening affects.

I fertilized the plot with a common 10-10-10 all-purpose fertilizer and worked it in by tilling it under. I’ll do this one more time before planting.

For spring and summer I’ll be planting a combination of iron and clay peas, several rows of corn, two kinds of clover with different maturity times and chicory. I hope for plenty of rain resulting in a large yield. This combo will have lots of protein for does that will be fawning, for the fawns after weaning and for bucks growing their new antlers. As things get out of the ground, I’ll be using a monitoring cage that will allow me to tell how much use the new plants are getting. This is a good combination and it will be interesting to see how well the deer like it. I hope for rain and no more droughts. I’ll be preparing several different size plots the same way on this property. Time will tell if all the work will pay off. I’ll say a little prayer and keep my fingers crossed.

Wild Hog Hunting, Swamp Buggy Style

-By Brandon Wikman

The sunshine state has a mess of gators, flocks of thriving turkey and an abundance of whitetail deer, but if you want something you can hunt all year round... hog hunting is where it’s at.

There are several methods of hunting these swamp ridden, smelly creatures, but I was fortunate enough to do it in style: swamp-buggy style. For a typical Floridian hunter, this vehicle is just another form of transportation through the flood plains and marshes of the central backwaters, but for me it was a totally new experience.

With over 3-ft tall tires, a 350 Chrysler engine, equipped with no brakes and fully wrapped with green metal construction, the swamp buggy was made swamp tough. We drove through green fields and tall, grassy plains in search of hogs. Since the platform lofted the driver and passengers10-ft off the ground, we had a vantage point that let us see distant stretches of land and easily locate a small group of hogs.

As we tore through the palmetto bushes, we stopped to take a look at some hog remnants. Destruction was the only word that detailed the mass obliteration of the once healthy forest floor. The landscape looked like a farmer dropped his plow, sunk blades deep in the soil and turned it over. Hogs dig up soil in search of bugs, plants and roots. The damage can be devastating, especially when a group gangs together to feed. This was the primary reason I was invited to hunt hogs for the weekend. Their overabundance destroys the ecosystem.

Evening began slowly closing as light faded. It seemed as if a hog alarm clock buzzed and all of a sudden, no matter where you looked, hogs were everywhere. It was literally hog heaven! I jumped off the swamp buggy after pinpointing a mature hog and edged my way across the field into a cedar head for my first stalk. On my hands and knees crawling through muddy slime, I cut the distance between us and the hogs remained completely oblivious to the fact that I was there. The mosquitoes were horrendous and left me wincing as I tried to remain quiet. It was as if a swarm of bugs scattered each time I took a step and crunched down a patch of grass. I propped my gun on my shooting sticks and smacked the crosshairs right on the shoulder of the plumpest one. They remained occupied feeding their face, as pigs usually do. I gently eased back the trigger and fired a bullet into the vitals of my first hog.

Trekking through marshy grasses gave me the chills as I walked en route to the mature sow. The thought of snakes, spiders or any other squirmy creatures that call this place home made me think twice about taking a few good photos with my prize. Thankfully, we were able to snap a few stellar photos, pick up the pig as quickly as we could and hop back on the swamp buggy.

Traveling to the land of hogs was a thrilling experience. Hog hunting is a great opportunity to get your son, daughter or the entire family involved in. It’s a high-octane, fast-paced, run and gun style of hunting, just the way I like it!

Take a Kid Fishing

With temperatures warming up, spring is the perfect time to introduce a kid to the outdoors. A great way to do this is to take them fishing. Here are a few tips for these outings that can keep your kids interested in the outdoors wanting to come back time after time.

• Go shopping for fishing equipment together. Let the child pick out their rod. There are many combinations available to kids. Many have designs or colors that are appealing to children and the shorter rods are easier for kids to handle. A small tackle box with a few select baits and floats complete the outfit. Keep the set up simple. Complicated equipment can discourage kids.
• Target areas that have a high likelihood of success. A small pond or lake that has been stocked with fish is a great place to try. Most kids are happy just catching a number of small fish such as bluegill. The success of catching fish keeps kids interested and makes them look forward to the next trip.
• Try using live bait to increase the chances of catching fish. Once a child has mastered casting, let them try using a simple bait such as a beetle spin. This gets them involved and keeps them from losing interest.
• Be sure to bring plenty of snacks and drinks to make the time outdoors more enjoyable.
• Most importantly, be patient. You may spend most of your time untangling lines or baiting hooks. Kids easily get distracted, they may think the butterfly or frog that they just caught is more fun than fishing. Just roll with it and let them enjoy the time spent outdoors away from TV and video games.

Educating Tom Turkey

-By Randy Cooper

This past weekend was rainy and cold, not great turkey hunting weather. After not seeing anything in the woods I started thinking back to a particular season about 10 years ago and the lesson a wise old Tom turkey taught me. My son and I had been hunting the “Leffew farm” for deer and turkeys for years. We had been told about this huge gobbler that was touted to weigh over 25 pounds and had a beard so long that he could step on it. To boot, he had spurs that were almost 2 inches in length. When the landowner first told me about seeing this bird one day while he was plowing a field I was skeptical. I told him “that would have to be some kind of record. Turkeys usually don’t get that big or old enough to grow spurs that length.” If it was true, he must be an old man.

Knowing there was a turkey of these proportions on the property set me on fire. I couldn’t wait for the season to start. I had been fortunate to take some really good birds on this place and my son Jeff had taken 3 jakes up to this point. I had hoped to call up a really good 2 or 3 year old bird for him. Jeff was learning to call using a slate and a mouth call. The season started and we were seeing plenty of hens and young birds but nothing we wanted to take home.

I’ll never forget the first time we encountered the huge gobbler that I named, “THE BOSS.” I knew where a good roost tree was and so Jeff and I headed for it literally feeling our way down old logging roads and through an open pasture with a creek running through it. As the sky grew pink we could hear hens making their soft yelps. As it got lighter I heard about the loudest gobble I think I’ve ever heard coming from the tree. I waited as long as I possibly could before they flew down to make my fly down cackle and start yelping like an aggressive hen. If the Boss was in that tree I wanted him to turn around on the limb and face me after hearing my calls. This way he would pitch off in my direction instead of away from me and by that I would have my best chance of calling him the rest of the way in. I had set out my mating pair of decoys and all was ready. We were well hidden sitting side by side against a couple of cedars at the edge of the pasture.

The hens began flying down. There must have been a dozen of them. By now the Tom was gobbling every few seconds. He finally flew down and as soon as he hit the ground I started a long string of yelps and cutting to try and draw his attention. He double and triple gobbled every time I called but he wouldn’t come an inch. I guess there is something to the old saying about “It’s better to have one in the hand than 2 in the bush.” This old bird fit the description Bud Leffew had given me and I knew I was looking at “THE BOSS.” He was no dummy. He stuck to those hens like glue. We spent the entire morning following him everywhere he and his flock of hens went. I knew the land well enough to be able to put a move on him two times that morning by guessing where he was going and then circling around to get in front of him and set up to try to intercept as he went by. Both times I couldn’t call him away from those hens. He was surrounded and I couldn’t get a clean shot for anything.

One of the times we circled him, we actually crept out onto a power line that I suspected he would be crossing and sure enough a few minutes later he and his flock of girlfriends popped out about 100 yards away up hill from us. We watched through binoculars and saw something I never thought I would ever see. I actually saw him mate 2 hens there in the opening. We left there that day tired and sore from all the running through the woods. We were amazed at the huge turkey we had seen and had the opportunity to follow him unnoticed and peer into the life of a true Boss Gobbler to see how he acts and what he does.

I was so infatuated by this monarch of Leffew’s farm that I did something really stupid. I was working the 11pm to 7am shift and on my last day I got off that morning and drove two and a half hours through downtown Atlanta traffic just to get to the farm and try for this old Tom again. I reasoned that even as henned up as he was, when those hens went to nest at about 10am he would be all alone and looking for a girlfriend. That’s when I planned to make my move. I finally got to the farm and got into position by sneaking along the pasture fence in the woods. I knew where I thought he would be cruising the pasture. I set up just inside the woods about 25 yards. Compared to the lit up pasture, the woods were dark. I got completely ready because I knew that when you make your first call a turkey could be right on top of you and pin you down. Then all you can do is watch. I had my gun up on my knee and my mouth call in. I started by yelping and went right into some aggressive cutting. I was cut off nearly as soon as the first note came out by a loud gobble. I cut as hard as I could, yelped loudly about 6 times and then became quiet.

In less than a minute I could hear him spitting and drumming. From where I sat looking out into the pasture, there was a small knoll. As I watched, I saw his huge, beautiful fan first come over the knoll followed by his brilliant red, white and blue head. In the morning light, all of his iridescent colors were beautiful. He was a wonder to behold. “THE BOSS” walked right up to the pasture fence and like most gobblers are so good at doing, that’s as far as he would come. It was a barrier that he could have flown over but he wouldn’t. He paraded back and forth. The whole time, I had my sight right on his neck and was just about to pull the trigger when I thought. “Now that I’ve got his number, I’ll wait until next weekend and bring Jeff back and let him kill him.” I just watched this special turkey strut for me for about 5 minutes. He got disinterested and turned around, took a couple of steps and flew across the pasture away from me.

We went back and hunted him hard. We would hear him gobble one time and then he would shut up and never gobble again. I did everything I could think of to trick him into gun range but we never saw him again. That old bird was woods wise in a way that we can’t even begin to understand. He was suspicious of a bird calling that he couldn’t see. He seemed to know a decoy was fake. It was like he was making conscious decisions. He made all the right moves except one. I should have killed him that day when I fooled him into gun range. I wanted Jeff to have the same joy I’ve had so many times and I didn’t pull the trigger. In doing so, I “EDUCATED TOM.” He became call shy and wouldn’t come to anything I tried. That legendary turkey with the long hooks probably lived to a ripe old age and became a good supper for a coyote or a bobcat. Take some good advice, just like hunting a cagey old buck that’s seen a few hunting seasons, these turkeys are as slick as they can be. If you have an opportunity at a big Tom, you’d better take it. You may not ever get another chance.