Bayou Outdoors | Unafraid to Change

article by Dan Chason

With hunting season on the horizon, many of us are bush hogging, cleaning lanes and getting ready to plant food plots.  This year is a new year and your hunting objectives should include the possibility of change.  We hunt the same stands in the same places, using the same methods, same transportation to and from the hunting area and usually end up with the same results.

The place I hunt was established as a hunting club in the 1960s.  There are deer stands there that came over on Noah’s Ark.  Our property as well as the adjoining property has been on a 130 inch program for many years.  The problem was we weren’t seeing good results as we were seeing lots of 120 class deer and only an occasional true 4 1/2-year-plus old buck was seen.  Our cameras showed they were there, but we knew we had to change our strategy.

For years, corn feeders abounded and was supplemented by rice bran as we can legally feed deer in Richland Parish and have been blessed to have avoided the dreaded CWD in our herd.  In 2022 I was joined by my good friend Scott Self who had a like minded attitude.   Neither of us pulled the trigger that year but did see some decent bucks.  One thing we changed was how we accessed hunting areas.  Come the end of September, we avoided using gasoline powered UTV’s and went strictly with electric golf carts.  Now this required road work as most golf carts don’t do well in the mud.  We parked and walked which is something we had not done consistently in years past.  We started new food plots, as well.  We change over to a Buck Mix from TP Outdoors and didn’t hunt the stands on food plots nearly like we did in the woods.  This year (thanks to landowner) we changed out old stands and added new ones in new locations.  I’ve hunted this property nearly 30 years and placed new stands on new lanes that we cleared and concentration was on deer movements witnessed through the year.  This culminated in Scott taking not just one trophy but two.  A 162-inch 12-point in muzzle loader season and a 148 inch 8 point in rifle season.  True to form I let two good ones get by me but I was very happy to have seen them.  This was all due to not being afraid of change.

The other factor was food.  My neighbor puts out enough food for the deer to feed half the deer in Richland Parish.  We made the decision and in 2023 we doubled the amount of protein, bran and corn we fed the critters.  This was a financial decision that paid off.  Last year we put out 6,000 lbs of corn and 8,000 lbs of bran along with protein.  We held the deer that were going next door to the Super Walmart and eating.  You can’t have convenience store offerings when the neighbor is putting the groceries to them.  We had lush food plots, stayed out of the woods and had a great season.  Let me give you the things we did in a list:
•More variety in food plots
•Heavier and consistent offerings in corn and bran on the ground at all times
•No UTV/ATV traffic
•Avoiding going into woods after hours for any reason via ATV/UTV
•Looking and scouting with cameras in alternative areas
•Not overhunting one stand or area, and  rotating stands
•Concentrating on weather patterns, full moon is my favorite.  Hunt 10-2pm
•Hunting natural food early in the season.  Looking for new feeding areas with browse and cover
•Staying at the camp and not driving into area before shooting hours
•Staying strict on size limits of bucks and only shoot mature bucks
•Only shoot does prior to rut.  We only take one doe apiece for camp meat

It is not an easy thing to do.  It isn’t easy to sit and watch a herd of deer and see horns but never pick up the rifle.  The only way to have big bucks is to let the little bucks grow up.  That means everyone who hunts, and exceptions are few and far between but those exceptions have an effect on your deer herd.  Big bucks are like big bass, they are a solitary creature who are smart and get more educated every year.  If where you hunt isn’t offering the trophy you seek, stop thinking they aren’t there.  The problem is how the property has been hunted.  Not changing simple things will affect your success and you have to think outside of the box.  It is not an easy thing to do, but you and anyone who comes to hunt must be on the same page.  Over my lifetime I have killed an 18 wheeler load of deer.  My pleasure today is sharing that with friends, family and associates.  The problem with deer hunters is that it becomes a contest.  There isn’t enough money in the world to make me want to shoot a small buck as I get as much thrill shooting a doe. Make the commitment to manage your property and that takes time.  We are just now seeing the results of an effective deer management program.  But if you open the gates and stop managing it and don’t make the changes, you won’t see different results.  Remember this in life and deer management:  If you don’t drastically change what you have done in the last 5 years, the next 5 years will be exactly the same.  Just like fishing, catch and release for a good day on the water next year.  If we all adapt that mindset, there is ample opportunities for everyone in what we call the Sportsman’s Paradise.  Happy Hunting.