hunting

Wildlife & Range Management

Rangelands occupy about 47% of the world’s land area. They characteristically are unsuited for cultivation, but produce forage for livestock and wildlife. In the US, rangelands occupy about one-third of the country – much of it public land in the 17 states west of the Mississippi River. Management of Range Vegetation Range vegetation is managed…

Poaching

Illegal, uncontrolled harvest of wildlife is known as poaching and it threatens the survival of wild animal populations. Today we’ll discuss poaching and its negative impacts on your wildlife. Unfortunately, poaching is more common than you may think. A lot of times you will find evidence like pictured below: this is a male deer who has…

Trophy Deer Management & QDM

To expand upon our last post of the role of harvesting wildlife, one of the ways that wildlife managers can manipulate hunting to influence wildlife populations is Trophy Deer Management and Quality Deer Management (QDM). These obviously relate specifically to deer populations, but these large herbivores are one of your biggest revenue streams and need…

Wildlife & Harvest: Part II

In a continuation of our last post, where does hunting (or harvest) fit in? When properly managed and regulated, harvest (be it hunting, trapping, or fishing) can be used to take the place of some forms of natural mortality. Harvest should be a replacing form of mortality, it should replace some of the mortality which…

Wildlife & Harvest: Part I

Now its time to go over your personal feelings about hunting with a fine-toothed comb. Harvesting animals is one of the wildlife managers most useful and effective tools. Before we get into how harvesting (hunting, fishing, and trapping) fits into your tool belt (and your feelings about it), lets discuss the reasons why. In most…

Types of Wildlife Mortality

As a follow up from the last post, today we’ll go over the different types of wildlife mortality. There are many different ways your animals can die, when we discuss these ways, you can see how to prevent these types of mortality as much as possible. Starvation and Malnutrition: Starvation is death or debilitation caused…

Wildlife Mortality Concepts

There are many types of mortality that wildlife can succumb to. Mortality is merely the cause of death; some being normal and others abnormal. Today we will discuss the differences between the two and the general concepts of mortality that can damage your wildlife populations. Normal Mortality vs. Abnormal Mortality Normal Mortality: Types of mortality…

Migration

We’ll finish up our discussion of movement with the second type of movement: Migration. Migration is a periodic movement involving a round-trip! There are two types of migration: Altitudinal Migration: animals migrate relatively short distances up and down mountains out west e.g., big game (elk, mule deer, moose) – their “summer” and “winter” ranges Latitudinal Migration: animals migrate a long distance;…

Wildlife Nutrition

Wether you’re managing 1,000 acres in food plots, or only have a small area you want to make more appealing to your neighborhood wildlife, knowing what nutrients an animal needs is the first step. Its important to remember that animals in good condition generally have higher reproduction rates and are more resistant to all forms…

The Basics

Do you enjoy watching wildlife at home? Perhaps you’re a hunter or land owner who wants to make your property better for whatever species interests you. Maybe you have nuisance animals that you need to take care of, or perhaps you just want to better understand the interconnectedness of the world around you. Never fear,…