Hunting season is upon us again. It is time to prepare your patches and work on stands. Less disturbance to your game will make for more productive hunting. Below are a few tips that may be helpful.

Typically, tractor noise does not bother the wildlife. Most of the time a tractor is a signal that there is food or will be food soon. We recommend trying to keep activity to a minimum in the spring to help young birds and fawns get a little age on them and leave cover. By mid-summer, roads should have been mowed roads once. If you don’t mow a couple of times in summer, small saplings and weeds take over.

Many of us have hunted the land for some time and know the general pattern of the game. This way we do not have to do a lot of scouting. The use of cameras that send pictures to your phone lets you see the activity with no disturbance. “People pressure” has a huge effect on game movement. Try not to over hunt a stand and do your best to utilize wind direction to your advantage.

Now that August is here, check your stands. We like a work weekend for several reasons:

• Everyone gets together for a great time, and everyone is involved.
• We all have our projects to get done and it gets done in a timely manner.
• It is high impact but only for a couple of days.
• It is early enough that the game have time to settle back down and get used to any habitat changes.
• Stands should be checked for stability, bees, and limb removal.
• Roads should be mowed again, and downed trees, limbs, and low hanging limbs can be cleared for better access and view. If you have a stand that needs standing back up, there is enough help to do so.
• Spraying game patches with herbicide a few weeks prior to work weekend allows time for weeds to die. This makes it much easier to harrowed patches the first time. You may want to take soil samples as well. Remember, one man on a tractor is not significant disturbance.
• This is a good time to be sure your gun is still sighted correctly. There are a whole host of reasons to know your gun is sighted correctly. For this article, shooting your gun 20 times the day before the season opens is unnecessary disturbance. It is also not very thoughtful to your fellow hunter.

Well managed woods and patches provide significant food. If you feed protein or corn, larger feeders or spin feeders cut down on activity in the woods with less disturbance. A good clover field will have ample browse and much higher protein than corn. This helps keep the herd a little healthier.

Now your property is prepped for hunting season, and you can do one more “short” work day to get patches planted and revisit stands. This should happen in late September and then try to stay away until opening day.

We do a fair amount of walking and use golf carts to help keep down noise and disturbance. Sometimes we must drive to the stands. All these points are geared to minimize disturbance and enhance the chances of harvesting a trophy. There is no one best way to accomplish the perfect desired outcome. It is more important to use and enjoy your land how you wish. Always be safe, be patient and enjoy a great day in the woods.