Land & Legacy - Sportsmen's Nation

During this podcast, we review a recent successful hunt during the early bow season here in Missouri. This podcast reviews from start to finish the thought process from hunting location selection to shot selection and everything in between.This is year one for us hunting from tree saddles. Our goal is to give them the test on how useful and applicable they are to hunting private land as well. This podcast shows just how useful they can be even when you have a stand or blind already setup to hunt a food plot. Despite having pre-set hunting locations, the wind would have required a brand new set to have been hung and trimmed, but the Tethrd tree saddles was an answered prayer. In just minutes we were up the tree and set with deer and turkeys already in the field.The hunt ended in success as Adam tagged an adult doe. This was a great reminder to stay on top of antlerless deer numbers on a property. The balanced sex ratios play an important role in the great ecosystem as well as the effectiveness of targeting tro

If you have hunted long enough, you've heard or been apart of the common struggle that exists between cattle farmers and hunters. This tension can be broken when goals and understanding of pasture management and wildlife are discussed. It is very unproductive to have just cool-season grasses working for livestock. The number of productive growing degree days is severely limited when only cool-season forage present. You can get more out of you land and pastures with diverse plantings to capture more energy.These diverse plantings when adding in legumes to your typical grasses like fescue and smooth brome jump in the attractiveness and forage ability for whitetail deer. By adding species like red clover, alfalfa, and white clover to common fields, you can increase the draw and benefit wildlife will have on these acres. Rather than pastures being a void of game species, you can attract them to these areas with the appropriate forages that will benefit cattle as well.In addition to the perennial plants mentioned,

If you've listened long enough you know we love to experiment! We try all sorts of creative things when it comes to habitat and food plots. Hunting strategy is no different and for this year we are getting to tree saddles. There has been a buzz around hunting from saddles for the past few seasons. After looking into the system we connected with good friend Greg Godfrey of Tethrd and got our hands on these awesome pieces of equipment. It doesn't take long to figure out this system has extreme benefits to the open-minded hunter. This is not just a public land hunting setup. Each and everyone can recount times during past seasons when food sources change rapidly and you always seem to be one step behind the deer movement. This seems to happen often when acorns drop, or cattle get moved across a farm, or even in crop country when fields are harvested. It can be tough to be consistently setup for each and every pattern shift. However, with a mobile setup like the Tethrd Mantis and Predator platform you can be as m

Who knew that land management could be so much fun? Over the years we've been working to improve the Prairie Hollow farm and blend native landscape restoration with hunting strategies. During that time we've found some great ways to improve the land for all native species as well as improve our hunting! One of our favorite techniques if the landscape offers is glade restoration. Glades are a native ecosystem to the Ozark Mountains but can be found throughout other parts of the country.  These shallow soils are dry sites that are home to many unique and diverse species of plants and animals. Since several of our native grasses have long roots able to reach deep in the soil they can survive on our native glades creating grassland sites. These glades help create fantastic fall and winter bedding since they typically face into the west and south sunshine.We're using our glade restoration to not only improve the diversity on our farm but to improve our hunting! These glades will be some of the best bedding areas d

This week, we take time to sit down with Mitch and Dan from Cuddeback Trail Cameras. As you all know, we don't talk products vary often on the podcast. We have to be firm believers in the system or technology before suggesting others use the product. Well, we found a trail camera system to believe in with the Cuddelink system.After trying this system out for several years, we feel as if this system and technology is practical and super efficient! It has saved us countless hours, expenses, and did we mention time? Dan and Mitch cover the Cuddelink system from top to bottom. This full review of the system highlights the features, commonly asked questions, battery life, linking technology, and tech tips to get the most out of your system. If you are a nonresident landowner or are interested in surveying the most delicate areas of the farm, this system is for you.We hope you all enjoy the podcast! If interested in this system, be sure to check it out on the shop tab of the Land & Legacy website. Enjoy.Learn.S

Here is your pre-season pep rally! We take time this week to discuss how you should gauge the success of your season. Yes, big bucks are fun and play a role in our season, but there is much more weighing in on the success of a long hunting season. The outdoors is a medium or a way for you to draw closer to creation. Don't overlook the opportunities this season to understand the importance of being silent and listening!In addition, to determining the success of a season, we also discuss why you need to record your hunting observations. Each hunting season is an opportunity to learn more about what deer want to be doing on your property. These patterns or lack of patterns you are observing are strong indicators of the habitat work that needs to be completed on the property. We walk you through how to interpret these signs on your property. We will teach you to be intentional this hunting season and take a note pad to the stand with you. Learn more about your property and yourself more than ever this fall.We hop

How did you become passionate about the outdoors? For several of us at Land & Legacy is was upland bird hunting behind a bird dog. Unfortunately this tradition is slipping away and at a much faster rate than we may realize. What has caused the hunting community to lose so many hunters in such a short time? During this podcast we cover a wide variety of topics, including what we believe could help in getting more youth involved in the outdoors. Our passion for hunting wasn't started with cold sits in a treestand. We also discuss the population numbers for this fall, how to begin preparing for the season and what hunting season will look like for Frank this fall. Did you also hear about the recent Brown Trout that was caught in Missouri that was less than three pounds away from the world record? This podcast will cover that too! Our conversation takes a variety of trails during this recording and it's nothing you want to miss.

It's easy to get on a piece of ground and start thinking food plots and how to make more of them. Food plots are a great hunting strategy and attraction, but it's important to never get to focused on them. Last winter Adam assisted the guys at Sunshine Legacy Farms with their habitat management plan and it's taken them in a whole new direction! Having defined bedding areas is an important part of a hunting strategy, but what is proper bedding? Is woody saplings 10 or 15 feet tall adequate bedding? Or a stand of warm season grasses? After a few hours of running a chainsaw in parts of their farm the change was obvious. It became even more obvious when he began to drive by and notice the defined trails leaving the food plots and headed towards the bedding thickets. This work came full circle when Russell made his first walk into one of the bedding thickets to observe the large amount of beds and browse from the deer utilizing the work he made back in the winter. During this podcast Adam and Russell discuss what

Often times there are various grey areas hunters find themselves in. Hunting is a unique combination of strict legal hunting regulations and a code of ethics to help guide decisions. Despite these boundaries to provide hunters a moral compass, there are still situations that arise where people seem to have a flexible code they follow. In this podcast, we discuss various highly debated discussions that hunters may find themselves in. Often times these situations are focused around public land where hunters from all walks of life with varying skills and hunting styles collide and share the land. We ask questions like, 1) If you’re hunting public land and you find an unattended treestand, is it okay to hunt from it? 2) It is okay to share trail camera pictures of a hit list buck from your buddies camera? Be sure to let us know what you would do in each situation. Post your thoughts on these situations on our corresponding social media posts. We encourage you prior to the season to play by the "Golden Rule

A long overdue guest finally joined us on this week's podcast. Dr. Craig Harper of the University of Tennessee Extension discussed his recent research devoted to understanding acorn production. We encourage you to grab pen and paper, an aerial of the property you hunt, and turn on your "listening ears". We hope this week will further open your eyes to proper timber management techniques. Dr. Harper's research was recently shared in the latest version of Quality Whitetails. This article reviewed the 10-year study conducted on acorn production and common techniques used to increase acorn production. The study found not all oaks are created equal. Genetics of the tree are strong influencers for the productivity of the mast the tree will annually produce. They found that 40% of the trees will on average produce 70% of the overall acorn production. For years, folks have been trying to improve the quantity of the mast produced by fertilizing under the canopy of trees. This research crushed that myth and p

Dove season will begin very soon and it's a great way to get the whole family outdoors! We sit down with Land & Legacy Consultant Kyle Hedges who has spent year tweaking and understanding the art of managing the land to attract dove during the key times of dove hunting. Whether you have a small tract for recreational use or a large farm for whitetails there is room to create a great dove hunting spot! Over the course of the years Kyle has managed some of the most popular conservation area in southwestern Missouri. During the opening two days of season hunters have averaged the harvest of 1500 or more doves. The man knows a thing or two about how to make a hunting hot spot for doves. Is the secret plot soybeans, wheat, millet, or sunflowers?? You'll have to listen in to find out how what he prefers and how to manage the plots. We cover a wide variety of topics on doves, including when to hunt, how to hunt, other ways to hunt doves, Migrating birds versus residential birds, and how we prefer to cook them! T

On this podcast, we discuss the strategic plans set in place for a few of Seth Harker's finest deer on the lease. This property over the years has produced some giant whitetails. The habitat has been managed well and the amount of food available is insane. However, just because you grow big deer, doesn't mean you harvest them. During this podcast, we touch on several tips and techniques Seth has used to seal the deal on mature bucks with a bow in his hands. Seth explains in full detail why people often miss out on harvesting mature deer. They all have their weakness, we as hunters just often don't know enough about the deer and its habits to take advantage of those weaknesses. Even if a season goes by with tagging a specific buck, you should have gained valuable information that will mean success the following year. In addition, we talk trail cameras and how they have helped hunters kill deer, but at the same time, how they have interfered with people killing deer. Not every deer takes the same path daily. Re

One of the goals that we have set out to achieve with Land & Legacy is to change mindsets when it comes to managing the land. The current model of land management is tainted and skewed by placing improper value on food plots, mineral, and supplemental feeding. This has tainted the extreme value associated with managing our natural resources. This podcast is devoted to sharing the success of one Land & Legacy client in Ohio. Todd Watts has been managing his property for 3 full years now. When he first set out to make improvements, like most, he focused solely on food plots. Todd shares how he found some success with this, but he knew it was only limited. The next steps he took was to focus on converting hay fields into crop fields. Again, this only added more temporary food on the landscape. this further improved the farm from the beginning, but still left major voids in his plan. This farm was missing one of the key elements necessary to hold and grow big deer, cover. Without cover, deer will still o

This podcast comes at the time of highest anticipation! Fall is rapidly approaching and opening of bow season is just under a month away. September 15th opens the archery season for us here in Missouri. This podcast is devoted to the bucks we will be chasing this fall on the Prairie Hollow Property. We have some rich history with this lineup for the fall. Several encounters over the past seasons have helped us connect the dots on how we plan to harvest these bucks. Other data like trail cameras reveal incredible knowledge of patterns that we have picked up on over the past several years. These points all help us draw a clear plan together. During this podcast, you will hear exact plans that include times, food resources, winds, locations, access, and times to avoid certain areas. All these elements mixed together to allow us to develop our hunting strategy for the fall. We hope you will join us this week and sit back to listen to how past events with these bucks impact our land management and hunting decision

Would a fixed blade broadhead perform better on a shoulder impact than a expandable? We learn from an experienced blood trailing what his experiences have shown. Hindsight is 20/20 when it comes to taking the shot on a whitetail deer. We sometimes realize we should have waited or you should have taken the shot at a different range. We can learn a lot of lessons from our mistakes on shot placement. This week we sit down and talk with Kasey Morgan of Drury Outdoors who owned a blood tracking company for almost a decade operating out of Wisconsin and Ohio. During those years he learned a lot of things with shot placement on deer. You ask a hunter the question fixed blade or expandable, you'll get the same debate as Ford or Chevy. If we're honest with ourselves we know one performs better than another depending on the shot placement. We should all look for the perfect shot and make a quick ethical kill, but mistakes happen. Kasey discusses what angles he would avoid and what areas of the deer to avoid hitting. We

During this podcast, we continue the discussion on fall food plotting. Last week we covered the specific fall food blends we would be planting offered by Stratton Seed Company. To say the least, we are excited to get these blends in the ground, however, it is not a random selection of forages, but a strategic plan to optimize our success this fall with a bow. This week we dive deeper into the strategy behind how we continually plant successful fall food plots. We review the step by step cost-saving food plot planting techniques that we use each fall. Step 1 includes terminating the crop. Step 2 broadcast the seed. Step 3 involves rolling over the vegetation on top of the seed by several different means. If this food plot planting technique sounds simple, that is because it is, but we cover this topic in-depth to make sure everyone can comfortably plant a successful food plot this fall. Another large part of the podcast is devoted to different planting strategies that help make large plots hunt small. If you'v

It is crunch time for preparations for the fall of 2019. Summer is winding down and that means fall is just around the corner. It is not to late to put the touches on habitat work to make sure you have the best opportunities moving forward for this year and the ones to follow. Habitat work doesn't end for no matter how close to hunting season we are! In this podcast, we discuss all the last-minute tricks to complete for archery season that is just around the corner. This past week has been prep for our Missouri deer season so you will hear personal stories of bucks we will be chasing and how we will be using habitat management techniques to create bottlenecks and dynamite hunting locations. Techniques we are using include edge featuring, bedding area thickets, clover maintenance, mowing trails, improve access, and shoot your bow!!! We hope you are all excited with anticipation for deer season as we are! Make this a great season by improving habitat across the country with us! Share with us your success on soc

Seed is going in the ground as we speak! How can it be time to plant fall food plots already across much of the country. So this week in the spirit of fall food plot season, we sit down with Stratton Seed Company to review the fall lineup. Guess what...we talk about diverse fall blends because they provide the most attraction and tonnage! Keith Hammer of Stratton Seed jumps on the call and we break down the many blends offered by Stratton Seed. Many of these blends you may have heard us discuss, but with additional years of experience planting these blends, we have learned more about how incredibly beneficial each one is. The food plot world is swamped with gimics and advertising to improve antlers and huntabiltity rather than looking at food plot species individually and the benefit of them blended and achieving more collectively. Don't underestimate the value of blends and your time and energy, make the plants work for you, the wildlife, and soil! Food plots are no longer just areas to congregate deer, the

Technology has changed so many things in the world today. We can complain about it creating a society that's suffering from "Nature Deficit Disorder," or we can use it to our advantage! How many times have you wondered what weed is growing in your food plot? Or the type of tree that your favorite deer stand is hanging in? Looking for ways to get your children interested in the outdoors? This might be the podcast for you! Like many of you, we've always wondering how much rain our food plots received during the last thunderstorm. We've found the app that tells us how much rain feel on our farm. When it's time to plant food plot's it's also great to know just how big the area you're planting is so we can determine how much seed we need. We've got that app also. Whether you hate technology or not, using these apps will only make your life easier. Tune in on this podcast to hear Land & Legacy Co-Owner, Adam cover his favorite apps to use while he's working on his farm or assisting a client on theirs.

Turning small pieces of ground into great hunting is overlooked by many, but they're missing out! Smaller parcels of hunting land are great options for almost anyone, and you can get down to managing the square footage of the property. By managing on a smaller scale we can focus on making every square inch a beneficial product for the wildlife and the land. Whether you own 1000 acres or 15 acres there is always something to do to improve the habitat and ultimately make your hunting better. Join us for a new series of podcast where we discuss habitat management, conservation, and hunting strategies with landowners across the country! Are you considering a property consultation, but having a hard time justifying the cost? Maybe this format is for you! During this podcast we chat with Steve Schlenker from North Carolina. He lives and hunts on 20 acres in the fragmented landscape of central North Carolina. We're working to turn his property from a pass through property to the best 20 acres in the neighborhood! H