About J. Wayne Fears

A rural landowner who owns several hundred acres, and plants 20 food plots each year, told me that every hunter he knew was his friend as long as deer season was open. However, once the season closes, he has trouble getting anyone to show up to mow or plant food plots, maintain salt licks, keep roads open, or help with other wildlife management chores.

Fortunately, a growing number of hunters are discovering the fun and fellowship that can be had while spending off-season weekends working on the land they hunt. In fact, many hunting clubs and other hunting groups now report that the work days are popular events at their property. The participants enjoy carrying out game management practices such as planting food plots, maintaining woods roads, aging deer jaw bones, calculating harvest data, and more. Others enjoy learning farming skills and the satisfaction that comes with doing physical work out in the woods.

The success of any property with a number of food plots on it will be determined by the willingness of all hunters to share the workload with a good attitude. That means when workdays are set, all need to attend and really work.

Carpentry skills come in handy when repairing permanent blinds overlooking food plots.

Getting your hunting friends, family members and/or hunting club members to show up and actually work on workdays requires that you lead the way. I once saw a hunting club that was organized by a man who appointed himself as the club’s president. He would set workdays and assign food plot planting duties to the members, but never show up to help do the work. This club lasted only one year. Having only a few people doing all the work on food plots (and everyone else showing up to hunt) is a guarantee for hard feelings. If you lead by example, it is much easier to get others to be involved in workdays.

Many successful hunting clubs have it in their bylaws that attending a set number of workdays is a must. Deer clubs usually have from four to ten workdays per year. Each day may be from six to twelve hours long, depending upon the workload. Some clubs state that if you do not attend the minimum number of workdays, you are expelled from the club. Other clubs allow the member to pay a “missed workday fee” if they miss a scheduled workday. This must be paid before hunting. Having an agreed upon fee for missed workdays works well for those members who have jobs that require working on weekends or who just can’t help for whatever reason.

Get Organized

Whether you are an individual landowner, a hunting club leader, or a lease holder with friends, always announce workdays at least a month in advance, since this gives participants the opportunity to schedule the time needed. Short notice usually leads to poor attendance.

	Many chores, such as making exclusion cages for food plots, require more than one person.

Know ahead of time exactly what needs to be done on the property and assign work duties to match the skills of the members. A member with welding skills may be assigned to repair the iron gates to the property, farmers with farm equipment may work the food plots, members with chain saws may daylight narrow food plots, carpentry skills may be needed to repair permanent blinds on each food plot, and so on. The list could go on, but participants are more efficient if they are assigned chores that match their skills. If they want to learn new skills, such as soil testing food plots, seeding, or constructing blinds, assign them to a work party that has the skills and can teach them without slowing down the job.

Have a Master Plan

I always enjoy working with a group of hunters or a hunting club on their workdays when the group has a good attitude and the day is fun. Many landowners and hunting clubs have cookouts as a part of a workday weekend. Good food and fellowship are great forms of motivation. Many hunters want to learn more about wildlife management, and workdays can be made a learning experience while getting a lot of work done. It is always more exciting to take a buck off a food plot you planted.

Get everyone who hunts the property involved in the wildlife management process. Their interest makes them more enthusiastic to work on the property.

In the case of a hunting club, working on chores is a good way to get to know all the club members and to learn more about the lay of the club’s land. You may be on a team that is selecting and marking new food plot sites. Doing that, you will probably see parts of the property you had never seen before. You may also find deer sign and a great place to hunt. Every time you work on the property, you are going to learn more about the land and the animals found there.

Many hunters tell me they enjoy going to the property on their own time to do chores. Often they will take family members to help and make it a fun day in the outdoors. One hunter I know takes his two teenage children to his hunting property several times each summer to fertilize native plant species that deer like to eat. It has created some excellent deer habitat. Moreover, the man and his children love doing the workdays as much as they do hunting.

A hunting club should also keep a list posted of the small chores individual members can do on their own time. While the chores of each hunting property will differ, here is a sample list of chores:

• Help write and establish a wildlife management plan for the property
• Select new food plot sites
• Clear new food plots
• Soil test food plots
• Plan food plot crops
• Purchase lime (if needed), fertilizer, and seed
• Break, lime, fertilize, and plant food plots
• Repair gates to public roads
• Daylight narrow food plots such as old roads or fire breaks
• Clear fallen limbs and trees from interior roads
• Clean out road drains

	During workdays, include an outdoor meal. Good food served outdoors helps get more help.

• Clean up camp and do repairs
• Cut, split, and stack firewood
• Clean out and repair blinds
• Check stands for safety and repairs needed
• Establish salt licks where legal
• Fertilize native plants such as persimmon, honey suckle, and oak trees
• Mark boundaries with posted signs
• Clean and repair shooting ranges
• Mark trails to blinds and stands
• Put exclusion cages in food plots
• Clean and equip the skinning shed

Of course this list could go on and on, depending on the property size, the number of food plots, the extent of the wildlife management program, and number of hunters involved.

Getting help for carrying out all wildlife management practices should be an extension of the fun of having a place to hunt deer. I have seen many private properties where a group of hunters pitched in to do all the food plot work, name each food plot, and take pride of ownership in the plots – sometimes even competing for the best producing food plot. As stated above, it is always exciting to take a buck on a food plot you helped plan, plant, and manage.