Transformative Hunting Habitat Consultation: Cultivating Success on 80 Acres in Central Michigan

CASE STUDY

I was contacted in the late fall of 2014 by a landowner who has 80 acres in central Michigan, we set an early April visit date. He had been through enough disappointing hunting seasons and wanted to start making improvements that his entire family of hunters could benefit from. We spent the entire day together walking and assessing his property discussing all the different areas the good areas as well as locations that lack of good security cover, access and falls behind in early successional growth that can’t keep up with his local high deer density. We broke for lunch and discussed what Id seen so far that day and multiple details in how some minor changes in habitat management, access, hunting styles and frequency can produce impressive results on his 80 acres. We resumed our property assessment after lunch, and I offered my suggestions and critiqued their stand set ups and how and when to hunt them while taking dozens of photos along the way to use in their voice-over video plan.

We concluded my visit just before dark reviewing the info pack I brought along printed out in their folder and loaded onto the flash drive I leave with them for later reviewing. I wrote out a list of task they need to focus on right away and gave then an estimate as to when they would revive their plan and habitat design/layout.

This family of hunters have taken quite an impressive journey over the years, and I’ve communicated with them answering their habitat & hunting questions as things spring up and their habitats change & improve. Not only with their habitat and hunting styles but now reaching their goals in holding and harvesting mature older age class bucks. Now all of them are seeing and harvesting their best bucks ever!

Testimonial

FROM JEN SEQUIN

So thankful for the guidance from Jake at Habitat Solutions 360, LLC! We own 80 wooded acres in mid-Michigan. We are surrounded by farm fields, and it is a high-pressure area with many gun season hunters. We have 3 boys who all enjoy hunting as does my husband and I, and of course every hunter wants to shoot a mature buck, but it’s pretty cool to do it in your own backyard.

We worked with Jake Ehlinger from Habitat Solutions 360, LLC back in 2015 to develop a land management plan for our property, and my husband and sons have worked diligently in the off-season to make the improvements that Jake suggested. The results we have seen over the past 8 years have been incredible, including most recently my son and I harvesting 10-point bucks in back-to-back seasons.

We always knew that our property held many does, and towards the rut we’d get nice pictures of some good bucks at night, but rarely did we see them in daylight, and it was evident that they were just passing through, as opposed to living in our 80 acres. And that’s where Jake’s habitat plan comes in, he taught us how to structure our land so that the bucks feel comfortable moving around in the day and encourages them to stay here and not leave.

From hinge cutting, creating travel corridors, making bedding areas, having screening to/from your stand, creating licking branches and mock scrapes, planting food plots and creating water sources – My husband and my boys have transformed our property and greatly improved our chances of encountering mature bucks. Jake also taught us about scent-control, when to hunt the perimeter and when to go in the middle of the property, and he suggested that we have multiple stands in each area so we can hunt based on the wind.

All of these suggestions have been instrumental in our hunting success, and every year Jim and the boys chip away at another suggestion from our habitat plan — which is one of our favorite pieces of art, as it is framed and proudly displayed in our man cave. Thank you, Jake!"

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