John's Journal...


Hunt and Harvest Mature Buck Deer Every Year with the Same System That Produces Championship Football Teams

Day 3: Stick with the System and Don’t Focus On the Results to Produce Mature Buck Deer Where You Hunt

Editor’s Note: “Stay with the process, get better every day, do everything right each day, and the outcome will take care of itself,” is a gospel Coach Nick Saban, head football coach at the University of Alabama, preaches to his football team daily. Each year, his teams produce the opportunity for being champions. The result of Saban’s gospel has been three national championships and three SEC championships. This type of philosophy also will produce older-age-class deer year after year for hunters.

Click for Larger ViewClick for Larger ViewBesides putting your feeder close to a bedding area, and where you’re going to plant your green fields, continue to feed your deer when you're taking soil samples and preparing your property to plant green fields in the spring. Remember as long as you provide food, a bedding area and a sanctuary, you can pull mature bucks to your property from surrounding lands. Think about how you'll lay out your green fields to make sure that you have plenty of food for the deer from spring until the end of deer season. Your food plot management program will be a major reason for holding the mature bucks you’ve pulled in to your hunting land from neighboring properties. Be sure to consider all the different types of green field plantings available to you.

Look at the land where you plan to put your green fields as three separate mini-farms. In the center of the green field close to the feeder, plant a perennial like some type of clover blend to provide food for your deer all year long. Make sure that you do an effective soil test on this perennial plot to supplement the soil with the right amount of lime and fertilizer before you plant. Plant two different types of spring and summer crops on either side of the clover patch. Plant an early spring crop first. Then plant your late spring and early summer plot on the opposite side of the clover patch. Do soil tests on each section of the green field where you’ll be planting different crops, as often various parts of a field are different in their mineral content. Then you’ll know you have the right amount of fertilizer and lime for each crop you'll be planting. While you're preparing your fields before planting time, the stolen bucks still will have corn to feed on before you put in your early spring clover and late spring crops.

Click for Larger ViewClick for Larger ViewYes, this green field program requires a lot of work, time and money. But to produce a championship football team year-after-year, the University of Alabama Athletic Department and Coach Nick Saban put in so many hours and invest plenty of money to produce the best football players and program they can. When you're luring in older-age-class bucks from neighboring properties, you're going through the same type program that a championship football team uses to get five-star athletes. You're trying to lure the biggest and best bucks onto your property by giving them what they want and need. For your deer to be the biggest and the best bucks of any of the bucks on surrounding properties, this program has to be continuous. Just like a football program has to work with five-star high school football players for 3 to 4 years to produce All Americans, you have to commit to a deer management program that will last at least that long. When those football players arrive on campus, they have to be housed, protected and fed until the games begin in the fall. The mature bucks you lure in at the end of deer season also will have to be fed, housed (provided a bedding area) and protected (provided a sanctuary) until deer season begins in the fall. However, if you, “follow the system and not be concerned about the results,” like Coach Nick Saban produces championship football teams, you'll be able to produce older-age-class bucks to hunt and take on your property every year.

To learn more about deer hunting, you can get John E. Phillips’ Kindle eBooks, “How to Hunt and Take Big Buck Deer on Small Properties,” (John’s latest book), “How to Hunt Deer Up Close: With Bows, Rifles, Muzzleloaders and Crossbows,” “PhD Whitetails: How to Hunt and Take the Smartest Deer on Any Property,” “How to Take Monster Bucks,” and “How to Hunt Deer Like a Pro,” or to prepare venison, get “Deer & Fixings.” Click here on each, or go to "www.amazon.com/kindle-ebooks, type in the name of the book, and download it to your Kindle, and/or download a Kindle app for your iPad, SmartPhone or computer.

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About the Author

John Phillips, winner of the 2012 Homer Circle Fishing Award for outstanding fishing writer by the American Sportfishing Association (ASA) and the Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA), the 2008 Crossbow Communicator of the year and the 2007 Legendary Communicator chosen for induction into the National Fresh Water Hall of Fame, is a freelance writer (over 6,000 magazine articles for about 100 magazines and several thousand newspaper columns published), magazine editor, photographer for print media as well as industry catalogues (over 25,000 photos published), lecturer, outdoor consultant, marketing consultant, book author and daily internet content provider with an overview of the outdoors. Click here for more information and a list of all the books available from John E. Phillips.

Tomorrow: You Have to Build Bodies and Train the Athletes or the Deer for the Most-Productive Programs


Check back each day this week for more about Hunt and Harvest Mature Buck Deer Every Year with the Same System That Produces Championship Football Teams"

Day 1: Start Scouting the Day after Deer Season Closes
Day 2: How to Legally Steal Your Neighbor’s Buck Deer
Day 3: Stick with the System and Don’t Focus On the Results to Produce Mature Buck Deer Where You Hunt
Day 4: You Have to Build Bodies and Train the Athletes or the Deer for the Most-Productive Programs
Day 5: Hunt and Harvest Mature Buck Deer Every Year with the Same System That Produces Championship Football Teams

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Entry 803, Day 3