wildlife biologist?

jim67

Eight Pointer
I was wondering if anyone ever had a wildlife biologist come out to their property to help with deer hunting habitat. Does it cost anything or is there a better rout? Thanks, Jim
 

curdog

Ten Pointer
Contributor
I've never had one out to my place, but I've worked with ncwrc biologist on other people's properties. The guy I've worked with through the years works for ncwrc but makes the recommendations for the nrcs cost share plans. Some of the cost share programs provide funding to improve wildlife habitat. EQIP,CRP and a few other programs pay pretty well, and the biologist can help you get a management plan in place.
 

jim67

Eight Pointer
Thanks curdog. I dont think a real management plan is going to work on my small parcel, and alot of hunting pressure around me, but I would like to know how to improve my property to steer the deer through mine more, especially later in the season when the cover is gone. I have tons of white oaks, revines with creeks, ridges.
 

lasttombstone

Kinder, Gentler LTS
Just call your area NCWRC Biologist and talk with him. He may be able to make recommendations and may be able to make a site visit. I have had mine here a number of times giving continuing advise as I move along.
 

Justin

Old Mossy Horns
I've never had one out to my place, but I've worked with ncwrc biologist on other people's properties. The guy I've worked with through the years works for ncwrc but makes the recommendations for the nrcs cost share plans. Some of the cost share programs provide funding to improve wildlife habitat. EQIP,CRP and a few other programs pay pretty well, and the biologist can help you get a management plan in place.

Which one?
 

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I have had one fish with me before, he caught his first striper in my boat, right after he went to work for the state.
 

SamCo89

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
We had our biologist come out, spent half a morning walking around the property with him.. another tech came out & was supposed to do the site plan, never heard from her. Landowner is a member of NWTF & got up with a forester through them.. took him a couple weeks to get us a 5yr plan.

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Trophybucks

Guest
If you have a small tract then pay close attention to what you need the most. IF you have heavily hunted areas around you then cover is the most important thing you can offer deer. They want some where to get away. Do some hinge cuts in the center of your property and resist the urge to hunt over this area....hunt the edges. Just a thought. Provide them what they are wanting the most and getting the least and you will have deer.
 

Ldsoldier

Old Mossy Horns
We had our biologist come out, spent half a morning walking around the property with him.. another tech came out & was supposed to do the site plan, never heard from her. Landowner is a member of NWTF & got up with a forester through them.. took him a couple weeks to get us a 5yr plan.

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There's only one or two stewardship biologists for the whole state, so Kelly stays pretty swamped.
 

TrickyTross

Six Pointer
I've never had one out to my place, but I've worked with ncwrc biologist on other people's properties. The guy I've worked with through the years works for ncwrc but makes the recommendations for the nrcs cost share plans. Some of the cost share programs provide funding to improve wildlife habitat. EQIP,CRP and a few other programs pay pretty well, and the biologist can help you get a management plan in place.

^^^^ The NRCS and local SWCDs are free conservation technical assistance. We work closely with every other natural resource agency and can help any way possible. No cost to you.

Obviously personnel from county to county and District to District is different. But even if we can't cost-share, we can help you develop a habitat plan at no cost. Been called out a few times to help people and when we got there they found out there was a lot of work we could do for them. Give us a call.


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para4514

Eight Pointer
Contributor
It is really best to let your land management objective direct who you get assistance from. If wildlife habitat enhancement is your primary objective then a wildlife biologist would be a good choice to lead the plan development. If income from forest production is primary objective then a forester would likely be who you should turn to for primary guidance. For agriculture production objectives there are several agencies that can help with assistance as well. If you have multiple objectives, as most folks do, then incorporating several professionals in planning process is a good idea. It might be helpful to identify and rank your objectives using a percentage system, i.e. I want to manage my land 40% for income and 60% for wildlife/recreation.

It is important to remember that generally speaking habitat management costs. The cost is directly related to management intensity and for which wildlife species you choose to manage. Either by sweat equity, reduced production or straight out of pocket expenses you will not be able to maximize profit and maximize habitat.

This has been one of my soapboxes for about 10 years now. The owners of the farm I grew up exploring sought help to improve habitat on 80 acres of soybean fields. What they received was a plan and contract to plant the entire acreage in loblolly pine on an 8 foot by 10 foot spacing. No food plots, no mast species and no fallow areas, just wall to wall pine. While this did provide about 5 years of good cover, as soon as the canopies closed habitat quality started to tank. Now little vegetation is growing on the forest floor and little can change until the contract expires and the trees get large enough to thin.

Know what your objectives are, know your limitations, get management guidance for professionals (public or private) that match your objective (and limitations), enjoy your property and the management process.
 

jim67

Eight Pointer
Thank you folks! I dont want to timber, as I have alot of white oaks, red oaks ridges with a few creeks. 19ac is all I have. The neighbor select cut a few yrs ago and its real thick around me in most areas, they bed in that, somewhere, but I also have a stand of young, medium to small poplars that could be cut and food plots, but Im not sure I want to leave them lay. Another option is hinge cutting, which I have done to a very small area. The biggest problem is I have to walk through the property to get to some of the stands, which puts pressure on already pressured deer.
 

jim67

Eight Pointer
I might add, I see deer alot while hunting until after gun season opens, then its a crap shoot. The deer are hunted hard around me.
 

para4514

Eight Pointer
Contributor
Your place sounds similar to my families property, surrounded by thick cover and at the mercy of neighbors to some extent. It sounds like you are doing some good stuff already. May want to release some of your dominate oaks if they are crowded. Cutting the trees around the dominate oaks will promote acorn production as well as let some sunlight reach the forest floor to promote understory growth. Depending on who you ask and what research you believe fertilizing the dominate oaks may help as well. Can't really hunt on a small scale anyway.

I have noticed that once poplar stands close canopy there is little habitat benefit in the understory. If you can figure a pattern which allow you to get to your stands without getting busted or busting your butt, I would say continue to work on thinning/clearing/hinge cutting some of the poplars. The fresh grown from the cut stumps will serve as browse and you may get some other growth to pop back up with the canopy removed.

While small tract can be a challenge there is a silver lining. With just 19 acres the property will not qualify for reduced taxes under the present use value system.(unless you have another tract that does qualify) This allows you to manage how you want without the fear of losing your tax break.
 

jim67

Eight Pointer
Your place sounds similar to my families property, surrounded by thick cover and at the mercy of neighbors to some extent. It sounds like you are doing some good stuff already. May want to release some of your dominate oaks if they are crowded. Cutting the trees around the dominate oaks will promote acorn production as well as let some sunlight reach the forest floor to promote understory growth. Depending on who you ask and what research you believe fertilizing the dominate oaks may help as well. Can't really hunt on a small scale anyway.

I have noticed that once poplar stands close canopy there is little habitat benefit in the understory. If you can figure a pattern which allow you to get to your stands without getting busted or busting your butt, I would say continue to work on thinning/clearing/hinge cutting some of the poplars. The fresh grown from the cut stumps will serve as browse and you may get some other growth to pop back up with the canopy removed.

While small tract can be a challenge there is a silver lining. With just 19 acres the property will not qualify for reduced taxes under the present use value system.(unless you have another tract that does qualify) This allows you to manage how you want without the fear of losing your tax break.

Great info,thank you. One thing, I am learning how to hunt this property, even after 8yrs of owning it,( im a slow learner), but I know I do need to move an elevated box blind about 30-40 yds, which would keep me from walking into to thinned trees, and only walking up-to the thinned area. Just stuff like than I think will help alot also.
 

jim67

Eight Pointer
Well guys, I called the wildlife biologist today. He called me back and said after deer season he would be glad to come out and go over the property. Very nice guy, I cant wait.
 

badlandbucks

Ten Pointer
Well guys, I called the wildlife biologist today. He called me back and said after deer season he would be glad to come out and go over the property. Very nice guy, I cant wait.
Good luck & let us know how it goes. I'm sure you will get some good info. Keep one thing in mind though....he will be looking at the property through a biologists eyes..Not necessarily a hunters eyes. Sometimes suggestions they make need to be modified in order to benefit a hunting scenario. Having awesome habitat is great...but if your plan doesn't account for how to hunt the property effectively using that habitat it won't do much good. Keep that in mind when deciding where to place certain habitat components.
 

jim67

Eight Pointer
Good luck & let us know how it goes. I'm sure you will get some good info. Keep one thing in mind though....he will be looking at the property through a biologists eyes..Not necessarily a hunters eyes. Sometimes suggestions they make need to be modified in order to benefit a hunting scenario. Having awesome habitat is great...but if your plan doesn't account for how to hunt the property effectively using that habitat it won't do much good. Keep that in mind when deciding where to place certain habitat components.

Good info. The guy is a hunter so that to me is a huge plus.
 

Eric Revo

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
We had a wildlife biologist come do a survey on our lease, it was 1300 acres in the shape of a J...he recommended that we kill at least 20 does per year without looking at our 10+ years of harvest records. I asked him, "based on what" ??? He said he had done a "track survey" on the way in.
That was enough for me, we didn't hardly see 20 does in a year with the neighbors killing everything they saw. He didn't take that, or the harvest into consideration. He also said he couldn't see a "browse line"..we are in Alabama, there isn't a winter kill with a lot of the green browse, so there's not a browse line unless the population is extremely over the capacity.
Gotta watch those biologists , sometimes they don't use good logic.
 

TrickyTross

Six Pointer
Never had any issues with a biologist from WRC. Our guy is all about helping with trail camera surveys, doing pellet counts, or whatever to best quantify the herds presence on the property. Biologist are like every other professional. Some are good. Some are just coasting. It's like hiring anyone to do work. Good experiences and bad. Part of it


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Johnnie

Ten Pointer
We had a wildlife biologist come do a survey on our lease, it was 1300 acres in the shape of a J...he recommended that we kill at least 20 does per year without looking at our 10+ years of harvest records. I asked him, "based on what" ??? He said he had done a "track survey" on the way in.
That was enough for me, we didn't hardly see 20 does in a year with the neighbors killing everything they saw. He didn't take that, or the harvest into consideration. He also said he couldn't see a "browse line"..we are in Alabama, there isn't a winter kill with a lot of the green browse, so there's not a browse line unless the population is extremely over the capacity.
Gotta watch those biologists , sometimes they don't use good logic.
I had a discussion with an NCWRC regional biologist once and it was similar to your experience. We were talking on the phone about an unrelated issue and the conversation turned to how many does do we kill, I said we have "x" acreage and he said "I'd give you "y" number of doe tags right off the bat". Heck, we had a long history of records and we were TRYING to kill half of the number that he recommended as a "start". Like you, he didn't know if we had 90 percent fields, water, whatever, he had a set number. I didn't bother him any more for his experience.
 
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