Ever want to read a deer’s mind. Of course we all have, but I really would like to know what deer thought the first time they ventured out of the Tiger Ridge swamp and found a lush 2 acre Whitetail Institute food plot where in past years nothing but mature hard woods existed?
The DDH Tiger Ridge project is 2 ? years old as we enter the fall of 2007, and before we check up on the progress lets take a look at the original 4 goals established 2 ? years ago:
2. Plan a logging operation
3. Create immediate hunting food plots
4. Devise and stick to long-range goals (or as I’ve said a million times; be patient)
Tiger Ridge is very different today then it was in the spring of 2005. A plan, hard work and patience have resulted in unprecedented results…but again, “Tiger Ridge wasn’t built in a day”!
There were not any “physical” changes to the landscape in the first year. The entire first year was devoted to walking the property, studying aerial and topo maps, planning and mapping where we would place sanctuaries and food plots. Might sound boring, or like overkill, but go back to our original 4 goals and consider what we accomplished in year one;
1. Four sanctuaries have been designated. The entire 80 plus acres of cedar swamp, nearly 40 acres in the southwest corner, 10 acres along our eastern edge and a small section in the far northeast corner. In all we have nearly 135 acres devoted to sanctuaries area that we will never enter during daylight hours, and only enter after dark to recover a wounded animal. In addition, we have designated old logging roads, and cut paths for hunters to approach and enter all stand locations in a further attempt to minimize human disturbance.
2. A five-year staggered logging plan was mapped out. The majority of trees over 14” on stump will be cut over the next five years. Phase one (approximately 40 acres) was cut in the winter of 2005/06.
3. Two small hunting plots, and five larger destination plots were mapped out. The location of each determined after carefully examining their location(s) in relation to the sanctuary/bedding areas, prominent fall wind direction (NW), and amount of sunlight/slope direction.
4. We’ve been patient!
YEAR TWO: 2006
The hard work and physical changes to the property began early in 2006. The first step was to mark all of our food plots for the loggers to remove trees. It was quite impressive and rewarding to see the big “holes” develop in the middle of the mature timber stands. Our big surprise came in the spring after the snow melted. We had no idea how many boulders were in the areas we had hoped to plant. It was impossible to remove all of these boulders from the areas we had clear-cut. Plan B. We made the most of what we had by shaping plots within the cleared areas and using the rocks, and additional debris from stumps etc to create barriers. These obstructions would dictate how deer entered and exited the plots from the sanctuaries and bedding areas and ultimately make our stand placement much easier.
The local high school baseball team was hired to pick rocks and clear debris from the plots (Check with your local school when you need work like this done. You will almost always find teams or clubs looking for work to fund trips, new uniforms etc.).
You must check your soil! Ph levels are very important and our test didn’t produce any surprises as Central Wisconsin soil is very acidic and we needed lots and lots of lime. Fertilizer was also applied and the soil was re-worked to ready for planting. TIMEOUT: Don’t plant until your soil has been properly limed, fertilized and the proper seed bed has been prepared. This is the true hard work that requires time and patience. Planting is easy, and if the preparation has been done right the results will be rewarding.
The Whitetail Institute of North America is the exclusive seed supplier of Tiger Ridge. Not only does WI have an impressive line-up of seed/forage choices, they are very accommodating and helpful. If you choose to plant food plots I strongly urge you to use WI products and pick up the phone and ask them for help and advice along the way. “Whitetail Nutrition Is All They Do”.
You have two major choices; early forage/late forage and perennial/annual? In the first year of a project it’s best to test different seeds. Even with the extensive amount of time and effort some of our plots were a little “rough” and we feared the rocks would “grow” out of the ground after the first frost. This made Imperial No Plow any easy choice. It’s easy to plant and contains a mixture of seeds to attract deer all season long. We also chose Imperial Extreme for the very same reasons. Make no doubt about it though, my favorite forage of all time is Imperial Clover and we made sure the “Horseshoe” plot was well prepped and ready for my favorite seed.
As you look at the attached TR map, the following were our first year plantings:
North Oval: Imperial Clover and Extreme Horseshoe: Imperial Clover and Extreme Banana: No Plow Arrow Head: Extreme West Wing: No Plow Secret Spot: Imperial Secret Spot The Landing: No Plow
There is one thing you can’t control with food plots; RAIN! The spring/summer of 2006 wasn’t kind to us. We finally received some rain in August and were shocked by how well our plots took off.
The CuddeBack cameras were monitoring each food plot within days. Rather then me trying to explain the results, please click on 2006 Tiger Ridge CuddeBack photos.
While you’re at it, click on 2006 Tiger Ridge Video Footage to watch the project evolve, and see footage of several impressive deer.
The only real disappointment in 2006 was the fact that we only harvested one buck, a 4 ? year old 156” 9 point that yours’ truly was lucky enough to ambush as he tried to sneak from the swamp sanctuary to the Horseshoe plot on early October evening. There were plenty of close calls, and a couple of misses as well, and 4 bucks over 140” that I know of shot within a mile of TR.
YEAR THREE: 2007
Quite possibly the single-most dramatic change and best news for “Tiger Ridge” actually took place over time from 2005 and into 2006 but will ultimately effect the project beginning in 2007 and beyond. Since the beginning of the project we have been working with adjacent land owners to adopt the same management practices as DDH. Trust me; this has not been easy, and will never be easy for anyone. It takes time, effort, understanding, education and evidence to convince land owners that QDM practices are best for our habitat and whitetail herd. The good news is that thru lots of hard work, demonstrations, and evidence we have been able to add 8 land owners/leases to the “Tiger Ridge” family beginning with the 2007 hunting season. These additional 8 land owners/leases represent approximately 1600 additional acres that will practice the same QDM theories of wildlife and land management practices that DDH has implemented for it’s original 200 acres. This is great news for our project. We’ve proven that you can dramatically change the “hunting landscape” with only 200 acres in just 3 short years. This proof now leads us all to bigger and better things…when it comes to QDM….the more the merrier!
As we move forward from 2007 and beyond our articles and TV coverage will continue to focus on our 200 acres, but don’t be at all surprised to read and view additional success stories from the adjacent 1600 acres that we now call “Tiger Ridge”.
Fine-tuning would best describe what took place on the original 200 acres of Tiger Ridge in 2007. Another 20-25 acres was cut over the winter and lots of early spring work liming and fertilizing the perennial food plots and replanting areas that held annuals the previous year. The best surprise were the areas we cleared in the winter of 2005/06 for food plots but were unable to plant. These areas shot up with new growth and now provide an additional browse source as well as dense cover directly adjacent to our food plots. We also enlarged the size of the Secret Spot and Landing plots and loaded them up with Wintergreen for late season hunting. The West Wing plot is now a combination of Imperial Clover and Wintergreen. The biggest change for 2007 is the Arrowhead plot which is now loaded with corn and soybeans…. it’s not in nice pretty rows, but it grew nonetheless and we think it will be a dynamite spot later this fall.
You can watch the progress of Tiger Ridge each and every week on Deer & Deer Hunting TV. DDHTV airs each week on The Outdoor Channel Thursdays at 1:00 PM, Saturdays at 11:30 PM and Sundays at 5:00 PM (all times are CST).
Also new this fall will be live video updates from Tiger Ridge. Beginning in October you will be able to view video featuring past footage and live hunting footage from the 2007 season by clicking on 2007 Tiger Ridge Video Clips.
