Jeff Sturgis

shaman

Member
Look, I don't want to sound like I'm bashing Jeff Sturgis and WHS. It's probably just me. I made a point this winter to hit his Youtube channel on a regular basis and make a studied effort to really try to grok what this guy has to say. My head was swimming when I started, and it still is.

Let me explain. I've got 200 acres in SW Bracken County, KY. It has 40 acres of pasture. The rest is a combination of hardwoods and cedars. We've had several windstorms since I took ownership, including a small tornado in 2008. It knocked over a bunch of trees, and added to the already abundant cover. We get a few monsters coming through, but most years an 8-10 pointer is our best. There are gobs of deer. I try to keep my doe happy and let them prosper; they return the favor by acting as bait for the bucks during the rut. Our deer camp is happy. We do all right for ourselves. Last year 5 of us got 4 bucks of with 3 were 8 pointers. Everyone who wanted one, also took a doe. This is Zone 1 of KY; the area is crawling with deer and the state lets you take 1 buck and as many antlerless as you want.

So here is my problem: Sturgis talks about doe factories, buck vacuums, and all sorts of eccentric terms he's made up. He sounds like he knows what he's talking about, but it ends up being what I'm doing turned on its head. He seems like he wants to limit the doe, and run around with a chain saw, and plant elaborate food plots and acres of switchgrass.

For one thing, as I said previously, I try to make my doe happy. I probably have a dozen or so on the property at any time. I'd be hard-pressed to keep them off. I've normally got 1-2 mature bucks resident. More roam through, especially during the rut, but 200 acres is not going to hold much more than that number. We have adequate cover for gobs more deer than we have. In fact, when the shooting starts in mid-November the deer all run onto our place. That's when we do the bulk of our deer hunting. We hunt squirrel and such in the early fall and fill the freezers with venison when gun season arrives.

I don't do a lot of cutting. I plant a food plot maybe once every 5-6 years. The family doesn't run a lot of ATV's or anything like that, but we do camp on the property right up to the start of season. The crazy thing is that a month later, some of the biggest bucks we'll see in the year are cruising through that campground. In fact, there are large bucks that come up to the house and stare at us. If you had to classify what I do, I would have to call it "benign neglect." I'm letting several fields lay fallow. Some of the older pastures that are too hilly to hay, I've let revert to red cedar.

What am I missing with Jeff Sturgis? Is he full of beans, or am I just being dense?
 
I think that there are too many property types to get locked on what one guy says to do. You are in Kentucky, I’m in Ok, what works for me may not work for you. At the end of the day, you need food, cover and some water for wildlife. What type of cover depends on where you are at. Some guys like hinge cutting for cover, some would rather have and squirt and let ground level brush grow up. I sure wouldn’t let too much if your older every back to ERC. I’m trying to get rid of every cedar on my place. They choke out moisture and sunlight with little return for wildlife. What I enjoy is taking out undesirable or invasive trees and burning. Those are my 2 favorite type of habitat management practices. Doesn’t mean they are right or would work for someone else. But I sure enjoy it
In regards to Sturgis or whoever else is a YouTube wildlife habitat consultant. They get paid from clicks, viewers and property visits. People love the idea of food plots on their place. I think they push what people want to hear. Not that food plots don’t work, but deer love native forms and browse. That just isn’t as exciting for consultants to push on TV.
I watch his stuff from time to time. It’s better than watching mainstream TV. I just get a chuckle out of the fact the he has invented or coined every phrase, method 20 years ago...

If you can get people out in the woods working on their place, more power to you. It beats anything else. Just have to find out what works for you.


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Spot on fellas. NorthJeff used to post on QDMA forum, he'll use 5000 words to say what I would yay in 20. You just can't shoot big bucks without Jeff's guidance. I don't buy it and I've always said to take care of the girls. Leave the best dominant girls in particular, harvesting their kin. Make good food that lasts into the late winter and big bucks will hang around longer. I can more relate to Don's sanctuary ideas other than not being able to set foot in or otherwise use your land for anything but deer.

G
 
I don’t listen to any of those guys. They overly complicate what should be common sense - deer need age and food to get big. That’s it.

I read something once on another forum (Facebook maybe) where Don Higgins was talking about his soybeans. He was insistent that his beans could only be sprayed with glyphosate while numerous real farmers explained to him that there are tons of herbicides labeled for use on soybeans. Don literally had no clue. How can you sell and market something while knowing so little about your own product?
 
Access dictates a lot...but here's my simple advice, that I believe most everyone would have agree with: Heavy TSI / FSI on your SE, S, and SW facing slopes (West facing as well if access is good for it). Open the canopy up and let the sun get to the forest floor. Immediate food and bedding. On a northerly wind / colder days, they'll bed on these slopes. On NW, N, and NE slopes, you can keep a more closed canopy forest as they will bed on these slopes on the southerly wind / warmer days.

I have some personal preferences as well, but this should benefit most folks.
 
Interesting thread. After 10 years of doing this stuff I've come to lean on our own understanding of what works with habitat improvements. Each property is unique. Early on, I did whatever I read others were doing. Hinge cutting comes to mind. Prolly will never do any of that again. Any TSI in our hardwoods is now either hack n squirt or cut down and treat stump. Pines are always in a state of management either thru repeated fire or thinning.
 
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Deer are very adaptable creatures. They’ve adapted to what you have there. They live, work and play on your land. If you change things they will adapt to that over time. If you put a sub division right in the middle of your property they will adapt to that. When a place has a good amount of deer, I concentrate on pinch points and being able to get good shots at most deer. More on hunting and not as much on habitat manipulation.
 
I just use cornholer and deer crack. That seems to work every time.

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He claims that he invented throw and grow food plotting 35 years ago, and is 100% convinced his way is the best way. A bit too arrogant for me. I’ve watched his videos and haven’t picked a whole lot up. You’ll get more out of habitat forums IMO. If you’re happy with the use of your land, then keep on keeping on. Or change some things up and see what happens. But keep it enjoyable and stay on budget.


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Cedars are good in moderation. I love scattered CPR in fallow old field settings. A thick cedar monoculture becomes a deer desert at times. I want a doe factory. I tried to read Sturgis' book, I couldn't do it...
 
I’ve read all of his books and watch a good many of his YouTube videos. I agree, his arrogance is hard to deal with at times but I do pick up something occasionally. Really the only reason I read or watch any habitat stuff (podcast, YouTube etc.) is to get the gears turning. They’ll occasionally mention something that relates well to my property.


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I like to pick these folks brains...and pick up little bits and pieces where I can. Some folks are a little full of themselves or seem to be more focused on pushing "magic beans".... But the needs of the deer all remain the same....food, age, security. How you get there and how you apply different theories and the like is all up to your and what works best for your property and your abilities....

I always wanted to put several of those types on a property and give them the same information and then see what each come up with....
 
Look, I don't want to sound like I'm bashing Jeff Sturgis and WHS. It's probably just me. I made a point this winter to hit his Youtube channel on a regular basis and make a studied effort to really try to grok what this guy has to say. My head was swimming when I started, and it still is.

Let me explain. I've got 200 acres in SW Bracken County, KY. It has 40 acres of pasture. The rest is a combination of hardwoods and cedars. We've had several windstorms since I took ownership, including a small tornado in 2008. It knocked over a bunch of trees, and added to the already abundant cover. We get a few monsters coming through, but most years an 8-10 pointer is our best. There are gobs of deer. I try to keep my doe happy and let them prosper; they return the favor by acting as bait for the bucks during the rut. Our deer camp is happy. We do all right for ourselves. Last year 5 of us got 4 bucks of with 3 were 8 pointers. Everyone who wanted one, also took a doe. This is Zone 1 of KY; the area is crawling with deer and the state lets you take 1 buck and as many antlerless as you want.

So here is my problem: Sturgis talks about doe factories, buck vacuums, and all sorts of eccentric terms he's made up. He sounds like he knows what he's talking about, but it ends up being what I'm doing turned on its head. He seems like he wants to limit the doe, and run around with a chain saw, and plant elaborate food plots and acres of switchgrass.

For one thing, as I said previously, I try to make my doe happy. I probably have a dozen or so on the property at any time. I'd be hard-pressed to keep them off. I've normally got 1-2 mature bucks resident. More roam through, especially during the rut, but 200 acres is not going to hold much more than that number. We have adequate cover for gobs more deer than we have. In fact, when the shooting starts in mid-November the deer all run onto our place. That's when we do the bulk of our deer hunting. We hunt squirrel and such in the early fall and fill the freezers with venison when gun season arrives.

I don't do a lot of cutting. I plant a food plot maybe once every 5-6 years. The family doesn't run a lot of ATV's or anything like that, but we do camp on the property right up to the start of season. The crazy thing is that a month later, some of the biggest bucks we'll see in the year are cruising through that campground. In fact, there are large bucks that come up to the house and stare at us. If you had to classify what I do, I would have to call it "benign neglect." I'm letting several fields lay fallow. Some of the older pastures that are too hilly to hay, I've let revert to red cedar.

What am I missing with Jeff Sturgis? Is he full of beans, or am I just being dense?

........I vote "full of beans"

bill
 
You guys are making me feel better.
About 10 years into owning the place, I had a fellow that lived about 10 miles away confide in me that our ridge system was known for having gobs of deer, but few shooters. That was about right, too. Oh, there'd be the occasional monster. However, we had pretty much settled into the the idea that any 8 pointer seen was about the best that we were going to see.

Things changed dramatically about 5 years ago. The neighbor to the north moved out. He'd been dumping massive amounts of corn into a feeder close to where our properties met. My guess is that once he left, the larger deer had to seriously work at sustaining themselves. That next autumn, I had 8-10 pointers showing up all over my fields. They've since dispersed, but we' do see more antlered deer.

The other thing that has happened is that almost all of the land surrounding our place has been sold to deer hunters. One group is out of Iowa and they have a website and sell hats and such. Another calls himself a "Big Time Deer Hunter." I don't know what that means, but it beats having a bunch of drunks running around the woods. We're starting to see food plots springing up. The bottom line is once the neighbors stopped feeding corn and stopped shooting anything with antlers, life got good.

Me? As I said previously, I keep my doe happy, and I don't pester them too much. They're used to us. We're used to them. I try to lay off shooting the matriarchs. We've also got a few decent spots on the place where they prefer to bed, and we largely stay out of them.

I was bothered by Sturgis. Somehow all that was wrong. I'll stop worrying now. Thanks all.
 
I want a doe factory too. I want the does to bed on my ground. I'm hoping his statement on doe bedding in one of his latest videos is accurate! Paraphrased...... "all you have to do to create doe bedding is plant a switch grass screen between a food plot and the cover and the does will bed right behind the screen."

I want the screen for access so I'm planting it as soon as the snow melts. Hopefully the does line up behind it.
 
I want the screen for access so I'm planting it as soon as the snow melts. Hopefully the does line up behind it.

I hope you ain’t holding your breatho_O It has been my experience that deer do what they want to do much more than what we want them to do.

My management is handicapped by either too little acreage (on my own place) or too little control (my lease). My best bet as I see it is to raise the best food that I can and be judicious as to what I shoot and when I hunt.
 
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