Hunt2Prove
On the Hunt for a Better Version of Ourselves, the Forests We Steward, & the Wildlife we Love!
The Wild Turkey & Thanksgiving
If you were to Google “Wild Turkey Symbolism” you’d find that one word, Abundance, continues to repeat itself. This is more than ironic given the fact that just a few short decades ago, Wild Turkey numbers weren’t anywhere close to what we are fortunate to experience today or what the first settlers experienced centuries ago as they roamed through some 290 million acres of the Southeast dominated by Longleaf Pine: forests that had been managed by natives who understood and appreciated the importance of prescribed fire and the role it plays for wildlife, especially the Wild Turkey.
Today, I think about the first Thanksgiving – what it meant then, what it means now. Like a lot of you, I’d like to go back in time to experience this “New World” and these new friendships that were taking shape. In the blink of an eye, after that first day of celebrating an abundance of new relationships and a world filled with abundant populations of wild animals, things changed. Over-hunting and a loss of habitat in the wake of industrialization would lead to many negative changes across these American lands. That was the case for quite a bit of the 18th and 19th centuries. And, to make things worse, the fear of prescribed fire that spread like wildfire in the early twentieth century, left the future of the most significant symbol of the Thanksgiving Holiday in extreme jeopardy.
Through it all, the thought or meaning that surrounded the first Thanksgiving somehow survived, even in the midst of decimating many of the native peoples who had helped to shape the lands and wildlife populations that we would come to love and call our own. I’m glad it did. Today, as everyday, I am thankful for my family, friends, landowners, and for the wildlife that I love, especially the Wild Turkey. Every time I am lucky enough to take in the grandeur that this majestic bird encompasses, I think about its meaning to me and, moving forward, the new-found meaning of abundance that I recently came across. May your Thanksgiving be filled with an abundance of family, friends, good health, and wild things.
Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!
Visions
The “Rock Garden”, Fall 2019It’s that time of year when things seem to move slower for a kid; when “visions of sugar plums” and presents begin to “dance in their heads.” I remember being so excited for Thanksgiving with my family – It meant Christmas was just around the corner and I could see all of the toys Santa was going to bring and the stocking full of candy he’d leave on the way out. Nowadays, I see things a bit differently. After all, I have become the big man with a beard myself. I still see the presents and stockings filled with candy just as I did when I was Savanna’s age. Now, though, I see how I’m going to arrange them under the tree and around the house so that they have the desired effect of making my kids as happy as they can be.
The Feller Buncher is on the Way – August 29th, 2017When I first took my wife to walk across what we call the “8 Acres” she wasn’t impressed. She couldn’t see what I could. In fact, she didn’t even want to buy it. As we walked through the 85+- Year-Old Hardwood/Pine Forest I explained to Kim where everything would be – the pond, the house, the driveway – you name it, I could see it. My wife on the other hand could not.
Some Changes Happen All at Once. Some Take Time
For reasons that I can’t readily explain, I’ve always been able to see such things in my head. It’s part of the reason I jumped head first into the world of edge habitat creation back in 2011. I had a truck, a Bobcat T-250, and a vision that included the best wildlife food plots you’ve ever seen. Since those days of being an ever-broke visionary with the dream of creating a North Carolina with bigger White-tailed Deer and gobs of Wild Turkey, I’ve been fortunate to work for some wonderful people and have a support system that encourages me to continue chugging along and charting my path. That’s exactly what I was doing when I agreed to buy our 8 acres from Mrs. Davidson.
Bombs AwayThe first thing I did once the deed was recorded was find a logger. If I was going to paint the picture in my head, the canvas first had to be cleared of the majority of the trees that were keeping that from happening. The pond that I saw in the valley that bisected our property north to south couldn’t happen, the yard where my kids could play, the homesite where Kim could have her dream home, the “rock garden” as everyone who makes jabs at my horticultural inclination likes to call it, or the pole barn that I needed for my equipment – for all of that to happen, cutting trees was a necessity. The same is true when it comes to the game species that a lot of us like to hunt and the mountain of other wildlife that need Early Succession or Young Forest Habitat in order to thrive or, in some cases, exist at all.
Getting ThereIt was late Summer 2017 when the logging began – August 29th to be exact. When the last load of logs was hauled away and all of the equipment moved off-site, the place looked like something out of a war zone – like a bomb had been dropped right in the middle of our little paradise. Funny enough, that “little paradise” didn’t exist yet. To get there it would take that “bomb” that is Clear-Cut Timber Harvesting. Today, 2 years later, still without a house and living in a 45′ camper, I can’t even come close to convincing my wife that we should move to a larger tract of land so we have more space. Believe me, I’ve tried. Everything I envisioned and thus brought to life, she loves! You don’t say?!?
This type of situation is something I run into with work quite a bit. Most folks are much like my wife – they can’t see what I see. Like the big man with a beard that comes in a few weeks, I have to have the autonomy to create, wrap, and place presents in such a way that the kids are happier than they ever thought they would be on Christmas morning. Trust me, it matters. When the objective is better white-tailed deer and wild turkey habitat I am good at what I do – And, the visions I have for each piece of land I am fortunate to steward, they work! Sometimes, the results happen almost overnight. Most times, though, it takes years of hard work and looking beyond the temporary eye-sore that comes in the wake of timber harvesting. At the same time, most folks don’t really know what’s good for them when it comes to improving their lands for wildlife. As hunters, we represent a very small percentage of the overall population. As hunters who moonlight as timberland and wildlife managers, we represent a fraction of a fraction. And, we also have to consider what’s best for the landowner moving forward. Is it best to let everything naturally regenerate where the rotation tends to be longer (50-100 Years) or is the right balance of monoculture planted pine and a more steady, predictable income down the road (15, 25, & 35 Years) also important? The arrangement of various habitat components and stages of succession, in addition to the timeline of scheduled management activities isn’t accidental. It’s also not something you can bring to life with the snap of a finger. Improving lands for your own home or that of a white-tailed deer or wild turkey takes three, very important things: patience, time, & money. Not to mention, hard work and the vision of what it will take to accomplish your objectives, be it yours or someone else’s.
At the end of the day, one of the toughest parts of our job is navigating in and amongst the different personalities we come across – helping them see what we see. It was tough that day in the 8 acre wood lot back in 2017 as Kim and I walked here and there. As I pointed to this and that and tried to explain what I saw (things I knew she would love if she’d give them a chance) Kim didn’t really get it or like the thought of spending a fair amount of money on buying the land and the work that was sure to follow. Now, she sees that I was right after all.
Turns out, I’m not just good at farming for wildlife!When it comes to life these days, I don’t see the visions of sugar plums I once did as a kid. Rather, I see the lands we steward as a canvas on which I can paint a masterpiece for wildlife. And, in the case of our 8 acres, a canvas on which I can paint a masterpiece for my family – one that is still being painted; one that will continue to produce memory after memory for us as we continue improving and building upon what we have. With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I am thankful for my family and for all of those who afford us the privilege of stewardship and the autonomy to do what is necessary to paint a more wildlife friendly landscape. My wife…she’s thankful she allowed me to bring that 8-acre vision to life. Just ask her!
Post Script – To see an aerial progression of the habitat changes on 340 +- Acres in Moore County, NC, check out the images below! Pay close attention to the silvicultural treatments that happen over this 5-Year Expanse of time. Also keep in mind the ones you can’t see, like Rx Fire and Waterholes for Wildlife. You can also see the changes to habitat that include supplemental improvements in the form of old fields and wildlife food plots.
Also of extreme importance is the new and improved carrying capacity this land has. In 2013, when I first came on the scene, the majority of this woodlot consisted of planted, loblolly pine. If we estimate that the collective 340 acres was producing an average of 100 lbs. of browse per acre (probably not likely), we’d have a total of 34,000 lbs. of browse produced per year or 93 lbs. of available browse per day. At that rate, assuming 1 white-tailed deer can eat upwards of 10 lbs. of browse per day, the entire 340 +- acres could only support 9 +- Deer! Now, fast forward to 2019. The acreage, pictured here is likely producing upwards of 500 lbs. of browse per acre with the opening up of the canopy and the introduction of prescribed fire. How many deer can it now adequately support? Around 46 +-! Are these numbers the gospel? No, the lands pictured here likely supported more than 9 deer on an annual basis when you factor in mast-producing trees and the supplemental feeding stations or corn piles. That said, since there are still mast producing trees and even more supplemental food available in the form of wildlife food plots, it is highly likely that this land now helps to support more than 46 deer on an annual basis.
CWG – 2013
CWG – 2015
CWG – 2016
CWG – 2018
Photos from the Wilder side of Life!
