Bartylla's Whitetail Plans / Property Improvements

07/23/2024

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07/23/2024

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Bartylla is a top private-land whitetail manager in North America & offers free tips daily

02/02/2023

So, let's wrap this string of overwinter chores up with one I actually do before the ground freezes. That's collect soil samples to be tested.

A soil sample is merely a collection of soil from the planting location. Every co-op/feed/seed dealer I've been to provides soil samples. Most send them to professional labs and get the results back in a couple weeks.

The most user friendly test reports start by asking what the planting will be. They then provide the exact levels of all sorts of stuff in the soils, along with exactly how much lime and fertilizers to apply to hit the planting's sweet spot.

The less user friendly reports merely tell us everything we need to know about what the soil offers. Some of these can be tough for inexperienced to truly understand. Luckily, most any legit co-op/feed/seed dealer is more than willing to interpret the results and tell you exactly what you need of each for the intended crop.

So, how does one collect soil samples? Start with a food grade plastic (I use quart ziplocks) or paper lunch bag and a large spoon (let's just keep all the spoons I've lifted from the silverware drawer to ourselves, please) or small trowel.

At squarish 1/4-1 acre plots, I merely collect samples a handful of yards in off the 4 corners and 1 from the center. On larger plots, I just add a few more centrally located locations.

The goal is to get an average of what the dirt a couple inches under the surface has to offer. So, I want to dig about 3-4" deep (not deeper than roots will reach) and get about a half of a quart of dirt, total, from evenly spaced sampling sites across the plot.

Obviously, we keep each plot to one sample bag, not mixing the soils from different plots. Each plot requires its own test.

My advice is to do a soils test every single year on each plot. If one does so, they WILL save money at offering the best growing conditions pH and fertility allows.

I personally tend to get soils tests done every 2 years, which is nudging the issue further than it should be. That said, even being willing to nudge stuff, when it gets to 3 years, it's a lock I'll be testing the plot, as I find I hit the mark WAY better when I have a clear target to aim at, and doing so also allows me to track stuff like how my organic matter building attempts are progressing (hint: it's slow, but it should consistently be nudging up, not down).

As always, take the good and merely pitch the bad on the way out.

10/18/2022

Today's is as straight forward as it gets. When creating mock scrapes, seriously consider offering extra lick branches in the area.

As you will see in the video, this 6.5 year old stud of an 8, sees and smells the mock scrape he's looking at from a slight distance, only to turn towards the cam at the last seconds on the video in the comment below.

What you don't see, as the cam is too low to pickup anything but his chest and neck, is him tearing up the dirt under the lick branch right above the cam he's looking away from in this picture.

Weird and confusing way of saying, the mock scrape fired him up to scrape, but he wanted to make his own, rather than work the already scented mock scrape I created, that he's staring at in this pic. Offering extra lick branches around our mock scrapes ends up inspiring even more scraping activities than often would have otherwise occurred. I have 4 sets of pics of this buck working the lick branch right next to the mock scrape, but he has yet to work the juiced mock scrape a single time, despite it obviously inspiring him to scrape.

Offering doubles is a little difference maker.

10/13/2022

10/12/2022

10/10/2022

Going to be pretty quick tips all week, as I have a ridiculous amount of stuff going on, which is today's tip.

Part of what is happening today/this week is spending time with the wife. Non hunting loved ones don't pause their lives because the rut is right around the corner. Good, bad or just plain ugly, the rub is that some of us have a challenge not feeling torn between loved ones and stand time, PARTICUARLY during the stretches we love hunting most.

Now, I emphatically suggest not casting aside the loved ones for hunting time. I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm betting I won't be laying on my death bed, wishing I'd spent less time with the loved ones and more time hunting, alone.

However, even being supremely confident of that, there's still that pull of the stand that's whispering in my ear the entire rut and on good late season hunting days.

So, I'm doing what I can to spend time with the loved ones, now, when that pull isn't as hard or as strong. I try to do that every year, and it seems to help the balancing act. Maybe it'll do the same for you all with your non hunting loved ones, as the biggest buck in the world isn't worth any of them, ever.

As always, take anything of value and pitch the rest, my friends.

09/30/2022

09/29/2022

09/27/2022

09/26/2022

Today's points are quick and easy. If you are going to have friends and family hunt the stands you hang, they'll never complain that a stand was too well marked and easy to find in the dark or that it was too easy to get into.

Even if you really don't care how easy it is for them to hunt and get into your stands, and I'd sure hope most would, having friends and family stumbling around the deer woods in the dark and taking everything they've got, simply trying to get into the stand, well, neither is the friend of low impact hunting.

As always, take the good and pitch the bad!