Erich Long – Drumming Log Wildlife Management

You just got done watching your favorite deer management web show on the internet and with a click of the mouse you turn to your email.  Just great, you think to yourself as you scroll through emails from your friends who keep sending you pictures of their food plots, mineral licks, and all those giant deer they have on their trail cameras.  You think to yourself, “Life isn’t fair. They don’t appreciate the things you would if you were so fortunate to have large tracts of ground, and big expensive equipment.”  Yep, life is a drag when you look at the glass half empty.

Don’t Feel Left Out of Deer Management

Yes, it would be awesome to have a big red, green, or blue tractor.  Yes, it would be awesome to have a Firminator to plant your food plots with.  Yes it would be awesome to be able to afford to pay people to help you with your deer management or your hog problem, but life isn’t fair. I’m here to tell you, it can be done!

Now, I’m a professional deer manager. I’ve been helping people manage their properties and achieve their goals for over 12 years..  I was even given the honor of receiving the QDMA Al Brothers Professional Deer Manager of the year award back in 2009.  I have been truly blessed to have some special people in my life guide me in the right direction and do the best I can in deer management. With all that being said, I feel your pain!  I’m one of you!  Let me tell you that I don’t have a big tractor; I don’t have a tractor at all.  I have to borrow one from a friend or rent one only if I’m caught up on bills.  I have to hand broadcast my seed because I don’t have a Firminator.  Broadcasting the seed wouldn’t be a big deal in a single food plot, but I have multiple plots totaling over 6 acres. The property I own is only 5 acres, but I am fortunate enough to have access to the 140 around it that the owners allow me to perform deer management practices on such as water holes, food plots, and mineral licks (which are legal in Ohio).

I know your pain and frustration.  I know what you’re going through wanting to play with the big boys and can’t, but I’m here to tell you that having all that is more of a headache than you can imagine.  One thing is for sure, you can produce big things on a budget with some patience, imagination, and being realistic with your expectations.

If you are a weekend deer manger like most of the population out there, just realize that you’re not alone in this journey.  If you have 20, 30 or even 50 acres to play with, you can be successful in managing your whitetails. If you think about it, you have to work harder than the big guy to produce anything at all..  You have to dig deeper in the bag of tricks to keep deer as stress free as possible. This means taking that 100 acre concept and condensing it to whatever you may own.  Yes, that means providing everything from native vegetation to soft mast producing trees.  It means, just because you want a food plot doesn’t mean you’re going to be able to have one.  It’s separating the real world from what you see on TV.  You have to come to grips with reality.  That’s harder than anything out there especially when your friends are sending you picture of what they have on their 250+ acres farms.

If you work hard enough, want it bad enough, do what you can either financially or equipment wise, you will succeed!  Is it going to be a 140, 160, or that buck of a lifetime? Probably not,  but it will be a buck that you are proud of because you did what you’re capable of on your piece of property.

So keep watching your favorite web show, learn what you can from it and don’t let outside influences make you feel inferior to the other guys that do this with a big budget.  Don’t feel left out because you’re not.  You’re one of many who do this every weekend of every month.  I’m one of you and that’s what makes us do this. Why? Because were are all deer managers in our own little world.

Thanks for being a deer manager!