Land & Legacy - Sportsmen's Nation

Ever wondered how wild turkey populations became available in your neck of the woods? You may need to take a moment and thank this week's guest, James Earl Kennamar. This gentleman was at the helm of conservation and re-stocking efforts with his  long term position at NWTF. James Earl was the spearhead of re-stocking and expanding the turkey population beyond the native range. During the podcast, we discuss the process and challenges James Earl faced throughout his career. Much of this can be boiled down to the lack of solid research as well as common misunderstandings of wild turkey ecology among the general public. Sit back and listen to the wonderful stories of growth and expansion of the wild turkey. James Earl is a conservationist and land manager at heart. He is welcome on this podcast anytime to discuss the usage and benefits of prescribed fire, logging, TSI, and early successional habitat. We hope you enjoy this spring turkey season, but be sure to thank James Earl as that gobbler closes the distance.

During this podcast, we sit down with Steve Barlow of NWTF and associate Travis Rogers of Corteva. These two gentlemen represent large groups actively working to increase the conservation footprint around the country, but specifically within power line and gas right of ways. These clearings transect large blocks of timber and offer great opportunities for diversity. In the country, over 14 million acres of right of ways exist. That is a huge resource that offers an incredible amount of land to positively impact game and nongame species. Currently, large land management companies are using mechanical means to keep the right of ways cleared. However, experience tells us that woody regeneration will come back in quickly. So Steve with NWTF and partners like Corteva are demonstrating that appropriate herbicide applications to control the woody resprouts will increase biodiversity on these 14 million acres. In essence, NWTF is putting early successional plant communities back on the landscape in a big way! The gro

Sit back and prepare yourself to be challenged, encouraged, spiritually awakened, and educated. This week, we sit down with the renowned Dr. Sanchez who is a hunter, outdoorsmen, father, and a powerful man of God. For many years now, we have discussed the deep connection between our time in Creation and how that helps to repair us and lower stress. Finally, our guest has the science to prove it all! We discuss in full detail how and why time in the outdoors is necessary to manage stress levels. Consistent exposure to nature can lower stress levels and heal our minds. However, this all comes with a balance of family time. This isn't an excuse to not be present at home or in the office. Dr. Sanchez discusses how a proper balance in your life of time outdoors will improve relationships and focus. We hope that this podcast fuels you to look critically inside. There is no doubt that we all have a passion for the outdoors, but we must ask ourselves, do we have this in balance with the rest of our lives? If we are h

We want to officially welcome you to our latest project, Burr Oaks Bluff! This farm is about to get a major facelift. This week, we discuss this 288-acre farm in the Loess Hills of Western Iowa with the new owner Brenton Feucthenberger and his team. Burr Oaks Bluff is a dynamic property with tillable acres, burr oak savanna to be restored, barren hillsides, native grasses, forbs, and shrubs. The property also has a beautiful pond situated among the Loess Hills. The plan for this property will be to take it from its current state and do a total rehabilitation of the landscape. Once that is done, the property will be offered again to a new owner to enjoy and create lasting memories with. This project will be full of updates as we see the transition unfold over the next few years. The Burr Oaks Bluff property is utilizing the full gamut of Land & Legacy services. So we are thrilled to bring this to your attention. If you have any questions, please go to www.landandlegacy.tv and send us an email!  Land &

The excuse of I don't live in Iowa or Kansas anymore doesn't work. Big deer can be produced anywhere across the country! No matter the state, the resources are present on the landscape, they just need to be managed in a way to produce the results you are looking for. A developed age structure in a whitetail herd is difficult to come by in many portions of the country. The number of older bucks in the herd is simply less in states like West Virginia or North Carolina, but that does not mean that buck cannot get big in North Carolina or West Virginia. We are simply scratching the surface on how big deer can get and what states can produce superior caliber deer. If you have any doubting friends, be sure to share this podcast with them. If you know anyone who feels limited by their area or state, share this podcast and start a co-op! Change the game and change the habitat in the process! #ForLoveoftheLand  Land & Legacy is Powered by Simplecast

This week we find ourselves in the great state of Iowa! the hunting heritage is strong here in the state. But to make the hunting better and to improve the land, it is important to understand the basic principle that you must subtract to add value. Most farms we work do not have the existing habitat in place that you can simply begin to manipulate disturbances to improve habitat. First off, in most cases, things must be removed. This could be closed-canopy timber, cool-season non-native grasses, or even invasive species. Once these are removed or subtracted, then the fun of adding species can begin! Land management does not always make sense when it comes to math, but when adding value to the landscape, it is often necessary to remove species before adding any! Thanks for listening, be sure to share this with a new follower this week! #ForLoveoftheLand Land & Legacy is Powered by Simplecast

When it comes to land and wildlife management there should be very little cookie cutter techniques. That's due to the ever changing landscape that we get to call home. There should be a change in your management from what ecosystem to the next or from one state to the next. The principles of replicating nature and using nature as our model are the same but our focus of plant communities and layout may change to support the local wildlife and their needs. That's why we don't follow any ratio or stats that claim each property should have Blank% of cover and blank% of food plots. Those ratios create a landscape with less diversity and less diversity is a loss for everyone. Have you ever heard the claim that a certain amount of your food plots should be clover or 50% of your timber needs to be converted to young forest? We break those down and why you should be focused more on what the stressful period of the year is for the wildlife and how you can help the wildlife during that period of time. Because if you're

This week is all about chicks, as in how to increase brood survivability on your property. Quail and wild turkeys can nest in many different locations and in varying types of vegetation with adequate success. So if they are nesting successfully to sustain a population why are numbers dropping? In this podcast we address the most crucial timeframe for both quail and wild turkeys and what they need on the landscape. Once a turkey poult or a quail chick has hatched the average rate of survival is roughly 25%. This is a result in many cases of poor brood rearing habitat. Everyone forgets about how important weeds and flowering forbs are in the life cycle of young game birds. Upwards of 70% of their diet in the first weeks of life are protein rich insects. Without insects and the right habitat to support insects, they will not be recruited into the adult population. We also address the reasons behind wet springs and how that impacts nest success and brood rearing capabilities. If you love to hunt birds and improve

Every state has the potential to grow top-caliber deer. In most areas, the natural resources are already present on the landscape to produce great habitat. However, it’s just in the wrong form. That is how we help assist landowners to shape the landscape on a way that improves the land but also produces results. This podcast walks you through that exact situation as Jason from Western Michigan tags a 163” whitetail on his home turf. Despite the many challenges in getting deer to older age classes based on hunter densities across the state and liberal bag limits, it can be done! Adequate cover and security is the key to making this happen. During the podcast we discuss how a logging operation, invasive species removal, prescribed fire, edge feathering, and patience paid off. If you are interested in learning how to manage the landscape and hold big deer on your property, this is the podcast for you! Enjoy. Learn. Share!  Land & Legacy is Powered by Simplecast

Being our on the road a lot during this time of the year, we begin to see many different habitat types that are struggling and begging to be managed in a better way. During this weeks podcast, we discuss the recent observations from the field. We cover states like Illinois, Indiana, West Virginia, and Ohio. In addition, we pose the question, what if we only managed for big bucks. What would the landscape look like, what would be the priorities of our time when on the property? How would this affect the overall health of the property? Would the land increase in diversity or would it diminish as we begin to fear working the land? We answer all these questions and continue to support why managing for diversity and managing for plant communities rather than for specific plants is far more rewarding and healthier for the land. We hope you enjoy and share with someone new this week! Enjoy. Learn. Share!  Land & Legacy is Powered b y Simplecast

On this week's podcast, we discuss our recent observations traveling from Kansas to West Virginia. We saw farming landscapes, bottomland, CRP, and thousands of timbered acres. These observations will help you to look critically at your property so you can influence it greater making it more attractive for wildlife. First and foremost, improving and restoring the landscape is important. Wildlife need a home, not an insufficient place to simply survive. We are looking for all wildlife to thrive, this can only happen when each acre is addressed! Despite the landscape changing in appearance and land use from the recent states we visited, deer still were present, but just because a species is present, does not mean it is thriving. Thriving habitat and wildlife means diversity of species that occupy the 3 to 6 ft. range is present. As we cover more properties in the next few weeks, be sure to follow along and learn through the eyes of Land & Legacy. We will teach you how to examine, critique, and improve the la

Trying to keep a mature deer on your farm for as many days as possible is a goal many hunters try to obtain. Others wish to lower the amount of deer they find dead from "winter kill" or from predators. Landowners also find themselves in a stand still and what else to do to improve their farm. All these scenarios or problems can be solved with the technique we call "fragmenting the farm."We we start out looking over an aerial image we try to coordinate different habitat features or plant communities and look at their arrangement on the land. So many times we will find vast acres of one habitat feature. That could be large amounts of mature timber or overgrazed pasture with no shrubs around. There are many types of food resources and types of cover that deer and many other game species use in a year that it's easy to overlook some of them. We take a look at a simple technique to add diversity to your farm. Fragmenting your farm will add more year round benefits to create a property that provides benefits from J

Have you ever heard a deer hunter speak about needing to kill more coyotes and a few months later complain about having too many deer? Or better yet a self proclaimed conservationists complain about native weeds taking over his non-native food plot? One that hurts the most is the process of taking a highly diverse, highly beneficial grassland or old field and plant it in a monoculture food plot. SO many problems here that can be solved with a little deep thinking. Must Kill Management is a huge problem arising in deer management across the country. A hunter loses focus on drastic complexity of the land and focuses solely on deer. When a single species becomes the focus many other will suffer, and some animals have suffered long enough. We discuss some of the worst practices we find with "Must Kill Management" with this podcast. Remember, just because it's management doesn't make it good! This podcast is meant to open our minds and create positive thinking to look at the land in a new light that lowers stress

On this week's podcast, Matt, Kyle, and Frank breakdown the steps it is going to take to convert an under-utilized farm in Kansas into a dynamic wildlife rich property. Currently, these parcels have several key elements to attract, hold and harvest various wildlife game species.On the podcast, we cover topics such as CRP buffers, managing nesting/brood rearing cover for quail, creating corridors for wildlife, timber stand improvements, cattle and grazing contract management, cover crops, soil improvements, water quality, covey headquarter establishment, cedar removal, prescribed fire, and much more. All of these elements with the appropriate layout will turn what appears to be game rich lands into actual dynamic, functional, and income-producing properties. Not every property in Kansas can produce giant deer, however, executing this habitat plan will get them well on their way!Be sure to share this podcast with those who can benefit from maximizing and managing the resources on their lands. Thanks for listeni

Edge Feathering has been lost in the weeds for sometime now but it's time you should bring it back. When we look for habitat or land management tools we usually go with the new fad or silver bullet. Hinge cutting has been on the scene for a couple of years now with major publicity, but what if we told you that edge feathering can provide more benefits to more species of animals? You might now believe that statement but let us break down all the benefits of edge feathering for you in the podcast to make you a believer. When we discuss the drastic difference between a person managing for quail and a person managing for deer it comes to no shock that edge feathering is a big part of quail management. Quail management requires a much more intense management plan. A good deer hunting farm doesn't mean great quail hunting, but a great quail hunting farm likely means a great deer hunting farm. We can learn a lot from quail management and if they have a tool to use that's beneficial deer hunters should listen up! We

One of the goals we have for the podcast is to help land managers prioritize their time. There are so many different ways that land managers can get side-tracked with gimmicks and time-consuming techniques that yield little to poor results. Time is too precious and habitat is too poor for mistakes or idol years in management to occur. Disturbances on the landscape create and manage diversity. For optimization of each acre, follow along with this timely podcast as we layout each technique month by month to keep everyone on track throughout the year. Get out your calendar or pen and paper to follow along with our yearly plan for the land manager. This podcast has been a long time coming, but as we begin to turn over a new year on the calendar, get the most out of your time and property. Prioritizing your tasks and completing them on time will make the impact desire on the landscape. Enjoy.Learn.Share! #ForLoveoftheLand Land & Legacy is Powered by Simplecast

Late-Season does not at all mean the best part of season has come and went. Some fantastic hunting opportunities are still out there for the taking. This week, we recap an incredible hunt Matt had recently. Two great looking bucks almost squared off at 20 yards in a food plot. This hunt was a great example of the power of quality forage at this time of the year, but also the better harvest opportunities with the aggressive edge feathering completed around this food plot. All the action took place within 20 yards, easy chip shot range if the bucks had another year of age on them. In addition, we review the near gear we tested throughout the hunting season. We provide our honest take, likes and dislikes, on the various gear such as, tree saddles, wool-based clothing system, new rifle cartridges, leather boots, bows and more! The best gear is the kind that doesn't break the bank, but provides reliability. We hope this gives you insight on where and how to spend your resources. Thank you for listening and we wish

This week's podcast Kyle and Frank go deep into the history of trapping and the complex dynamics of predator-prey relationships. Both Kyle and Frank are experienced trappers and actively trap predators each season, from coyotes, bobcats, raccoons, all the way to beavers and muskrats. With their biological research and extensive landscape management experiences, Kyle and Frank settle the argument of the implications of reducing predator numbers to improve game species such as turkey, whitetail deer, and bobwhite quail. There is not a direct correlation to reducing predator numbers and having prey responded with higher reproduction rates as this relationship is super complex. So with these research results, what does a land manager do to improve reproductive rates? The answer is simple, actively manage the habitat! If you want to evaluate your impact and make the largest positive impact on the property you manage, then devote time to habitat restoration practices. Trapping is fun and a recreational opportunity,

Prescribed fire is discussed throughout our podcasts. From the launch of Land & Legacy we always try to discuss the importance of native species and practices that replicate nature's natural cycle. Fire is a huge part of what shaped our environment and prescribed fire is an important management technique that should be implemented if you're in a landscape that historically had fire.Kyle Hedges and Frank Loncarich discuss their views on using this wonderful land management tool and how to implement this on your farm. There are many things about prescribed fire discussed in this podcast, so if you're considering the idea of using fire on your farm you won't want to miss this podcast! What should you expect to see following a dormant season fire versus a growing season fire? How will the wildlife react to the use of prescribed fire? How can you implement this effectively? These are all questions we get asked about the use of prescribed fire and they'll be answered during this podcast! Don't miss it!  Land &a

On this podcast, Matt is joined by Kyle and Frank to discuss an important common misunderstanding among hunters. There is a disconnect between hunters and land managers. Often times the amount of hours spent hunting can easily skew the observations and importance of certain habitat features of the critters you are chasing. The factors that influence deer during the fall do not make them persist the months outside of season. Without those vegetation types or components of the habitat, whitetails would not be as present on the landscape or as healthy. This too can be said for the wild turkey and bobwhite quail. Throughout this podcast, we discuss various scenarios in our hunting adventures where our hunting observations could have lead to poor management practices being implemented on the property. This podcast will save you time and serious frustration when managing your land. If we want to make serious change we have to look at the life cycles of each critter and use facts to guide our management practices, n