Hiring a consultant can drastically increase your ability to achieve your deer hunting and land management goals. No matter what your goals are, a deer hunting and land consultant is going to provide knowledge and insights that can deliver more success to you in the field.
If you are hunter that is passionate about reaching your deer hunting and land management goals then hiring a consultant is one of the best decisions you can make to take your hunting and land management skills to the next level. A consultant will help increase your odds at harvesting mature bucks, save you time and money by avoiding mistakes, and provide you with a plan to achieve your goals.
There is a long list of examples how a consultant can add valve to your hunting and land management strategy. However, here are ten reasons why hunters commonly hire a consultant for deer hunting and land management:
1. To kill mature bucks more consistently
Killing mature bucks is no easy task for most deer hunters. If your hunting tactics or property are not set up to put you in the game to kill the biggest buck in your neighborhood then something needs to change. You can’t continue to keep doing the same thing every year and expect a different result.
Hiring a consultant that has a proven track record of killing big bucks is a good first step towards turning your luck around so you can start killing mature bucks more consistently year-after-year. Look for a consultant with experience hunting on many different properties in several states. It’s also a plus to hire someone that has owned a few deer hunting properties themselves. Lastly, hire a consultant that is a bow hunter because those are the guys that know how to get mature bucks to walk within shooting distance from your tree stand.
2. To get a second opinion
You might be surprised by the number of experienced deer hunters that hire consultants. Some of the best deer hunters in the world like the Drury’s, Lakosky’s and Jordan’s all have people that they trust for advice and bounce ideas off them. Hunters and land managers that always seem to have great success at killing mature bucks every year are also the people that are constantly looking for ways to improve their deer hunting tactics and make their properties better.
Getting a second opinion and having a consultant find weaknesses in your hunting tactics and habitat plan can help take your game to the next level. Many times, a consultant will suggest a small change to a client’s existing plan or hunting tactic that ends up directly impacting the frequency of mature buck sightings. Don’t be afraid to try something new just because you are a veteran hunter. That’s how you get better!
3. To maximize income or return on investment
Every property is unique in how it can earn income. Cash renting tillable farm ground, timber harvests, mineral rights, and government programs like CRP are just a few common examples of how your ground can produce some income for you. Consultants can help you make important decisions that will impact how much money your property will make and how those decisions will impact the quality of your hunts. Lastly, a consultant can suggest other income stream opportunities to take advantage of based on unique circumstances that some property’s offer.
Now let’s talk about maximizing your return on investment. If you haven’t noticed, the valve of land and deer hunting properties has gone way up over the last few decades. One of the best ways to increase the value of a recreational property is to set it up for deer hunting. Hunters are always looking for property to buy for deer hunting. If you want to get the maximum return on investment out your deer hunting property, then prove that you can shoot big bucks on it. The way you do that is by setting your property up to kill big bucks and then going out there and doing it. Learn more about how to set up a property for deer hunting.
When you hire a consultant to set up your property there is potential that you could end up making money from the deal. If you decide to sell your property and it sells at a higher price because you made the improvements suggested by your consultant, then that higher price will most likely cover the cost of hiring that consultant.
4. To maximize quality of habitat improvements
There are several ways to enhance a property’s existing deer habitat or create new habitat. A consultant will be able to tell you where, when, why, and how to make these improvements. This kind of advice can be the difference between mature bucks using your property during daylight hours all season long or just having them pass through during the rut.
Consultants can also help make recommendations so that all of your habitat improvements are working together to increase your opportunities to kill mature bucks. They will look at everything from your bedding areas, entry and exit routes, tree stand and blind locations, food plots and feeding stations, waterholes, the equipment you use for all of these improvements, and so much more.
5. To manage the deer herd better
Many hunting properties aren’t very well balanced when it comes to the number of deer they carry and the amount of food that is available during specific times of the year. As deer hunters and land managers we want to increase our hunting opportunities for mature bucks while also growing a healthy herd. A deer herd that has plenty of food to eat throughout the whole year will result in bucks being able to express their full potential and grow their biggest rack.
A consultant will be able to offer management advice based on what he can learn about resources available to deer in your neighborhood and the deer population. A consultant can guide you on what type of food sources and bedding cover to offer deer so that you can maximize your deer health, rack size, and hunting opportunities.
6. To avoid making mistakes
A consultant can save you a whole bunch of time and money from making a single recommendation for your hunting property or hunting tactics. Many guys hire a consultant after they have already made “improvements” to their property, just to find out that they did something horribly wrong. How many guys out there do you think went into the woods with a chainsaw and cut down a bunch of walnut and oak trees with the hope of creating better deer bedding opportunities? Cutting down one walnut tree could cost you thousands of dollars.
Some mistakes cannot be undone without waiting decades to reverse them. A consultant is going to help ensure that you make improvements in the correct locations and go about implementing those improvements the right way. This is going to help you with your property’s return on investment and save you time and money in the long run.
There are so many examples of how a consultant can save deer hunters and land mangers money that the topic alone deserves its own article. That kind of value is hard to put a price tag on. In many cases, hiring a consultant pays for itself but you just won’t always realize it right away.
7. To have a plan drawn up for a specific property
The first step you need to take prior to hanging tree stands or making any improvements on your hunting property is to create a plan. Each property is unique in how it should be set up to create the highest odds of killing mature bucks. Sure, you might know to plant food plots or create bedding on your property. However, if you don’t lay out your hunting property so that all of these improvements are working together, then your hunts could end up being less enjoyable than if you didn’t even make those improvements to begin with.
Do your deer sightings seem to be fewer and fewer as deer season passes by? Or does your hunting property seem to get worse as year’s pass by? If you answered yes to either of these questions, then a consultant can help you turn that around. It all starts with a good plan. A consultant will be able to lay out an aerial plan for your property to show you exactly where to make improvements and where to hunt them.
8. To get advice on how to convert Ag fields into better deer habitat
Depending on which part of the country you are in, there are a lot of guys that buy hunting land with a portion of their property being a tillable field. If you own a farm with some tillable ground and want to convert some of it, or all of it, into better deer habitat then you should consider talking with a consultant before you make any decisions. This is another one of those topics that deserves its own article because there are a lot of different ways to go about converting a tillable field into better deer habitat. When you have a blank slate like this to work with you want to make sure you’re maximizing the potential of what this piece of tillable ground can do for you.
9. To get advice on how to convert timber areas into food plots
Clearing an area in your timber and opening the canopy is one of those big decisions that you can’t undo. You should have the confidence in knowing that you considered all the variables that make a specific area a great location for a food plot. Even if you are confident on a food plots location, size, and shape, chances are that you still might not consider something that a consultant would suggest to you. Get a second opinion on anything that you plan on doing that you can’t undo. Cutting trees is one of those things.
10. Because you're a new landowner or bowhunter
If you are a new landowner or bowhunter trying to figure out how to kill mature bucks on a regular basis, then hiring a consultant early on from the start will help you cut years off your learning curve. It’s more likely that you will avoid making mistakes as opposed to just diving right in and trying to learn everything on your own.
Let’s assume that you are one of those guys that jumped in and tried to learn things on your own. There is no shame in that. Honestly, that’s what most guys do. Maybe you already made some of the mistakes that I mentioned in this article or you are just not seeing the results you were hoping for. The next logical step for you might be hiring a consultant to help you improve your deer hunting and land management skills. Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. A consultant can give you honest feedback where you are currently at in your deer hunting and land management journey and tell you how to turn things around so you can start seeing the results you want.
Conclusion
If you can afford to hire a deer hunting and land management consultant, then you absolutely should. Even the great athletes, like Tiger Woods, have coaches to take their game to the next level. Consultants create so much value through the recommendations they give, that the cost of hiring them could end up paying for itself. Do you want to get better at constantly killing the biggest buck in your neighborhood? Do you want to avoid mistakes that could save you time and money? If you answered yes, then hire a consultant that can help you reach your specific goals. It all starts with a plan!
Here are a few other articles you might be interested in reading:
What to look for in a consultant for deer hunting and habitat management
When to hire a consultant for deer hunting and habitat management
