THE $30 MANAGEMENT PLAN

Let Them Grow

Editor's Note: Neil Dougherty, the BioLogic Northeastern Territory Manager and Operations Manager for the NorthCountry Whitetails Habitat Development & BioLogic Research Center in New York, has been involved with habitat development and food plot research for the past 12 years. He's worked closely with whitetail industry leaders such as Dr. Grant Woods, Charles J. Alsheimer, Bob Foulkrod, and others. The 500-acre demo center developed by Dougherty has given him numerous opportunities for magazine and newspaper articles as well as appearing on National Public Radio and TV. When he gets the chance, Dougherty can be found chasing whitetails on the NorthCountry property with his bow.

Once you've increased the amount of food for the deer on the land where you hunt by creating wildlife openings, fertilizing and reducing the number of deer eating the food on the land and provided sanctuary so that the deer can grow to the older-age classes, here's the final step in the $30 deer-management program: practice trigger-finger management. "You can't grow older-age-class bucks and keep older-age class bucks on your land if you don't allow those young bucks to survive long enough to become old bucks," Dougherty explains.

Most hunters refer to trigger-finger control as one of the most-difficult aspects of inexpensive deer management. If you've taken any buck with antlers above his hairline in years past, then you may have an extremely difficult time letting 1-1/2- to 2-year-old bucks pass in front of your gun sights without squeezing the trigger. However, if you want to have older-age-class bucks with big antlers and heavy body weights to hunt, you've got to let those younger bucks walk. You must train that trigger finger to get excited about taking does instead of young bucks.

To learn more about Mossy Oak BioLogic or the NorthCountry Whitetails Habitat Development Center, contact Neil Dougherty at (866) 677-9625 or visit www.mossyoakbiologic.com or www.northcountrywhitetails.com.

TOMORROW: GET YOUR NEIGHBOR'S BUCK