Today's episode is long overdue as sit down and shoot the bull with our friends Jared Van Hees and Brian Halbleib of the Habitat Podcast. We talk about Jared and Brian's individual journeys in the oudoors as well as the how the Habitat Podcast got started and how it's grown into the one of the most popular podcasts for hunting and habitat management while creating a sense of community and brother and sisterhood amongst their followers. This was a great conversation that you'll surely want to check out!  ..read more

It's fire season! Last weekend, Erich came down to Rockin' Chair Ridge for a weekend of habitat work, specifically conducting some controlled burns! In this episode, we recap the week and the work we completed. We burnt old field, pollinators, and a clear cut, and we discuss how each burn went, the goals for each, follow up management, and and how we expect the habitat to respond to the fire.  ..read more

In today's show we chop it up with Jesse Knox, host of the Beast of Burden Podcast, owner of Dbl Tree Habitat Inc., and our longtime friend. We have a great conversation with Jesse about managing habitat professionally, his journey in the outdoors, and taking ownership and responsibility for his home farm. We also talk about how he's restoring an oak savanna on his home farm as well! Jesse's passion and enthusiasm for wildlife and habitat is genuine and contagious, and you can feel it in this episode!    ..read more

Big bucks down! November was good to the both of us, and in this episode we share the stories where we each tagged a mature buck ..read more

In today's episode, we chat with Kyle Larberger of the Native Habitat Project about the importance of native plants and managing native habitats. Working as a private forester, Kyle noticed a disconnect between landowners, hunters, and habitat managers and the habitats they manage, and set forth to educate all demographics on how important native plant communities are for wildlife and how to manage your property for ecosystems, not singular species. This is a great conversation you don't want to miss! Native Habitat Project Website Native Habitat Project Instagram Native Habitat Project Podcas ..read more

Concerned, upset, and motivated by the decline of the wild turkey population across much of the country, professional trapper Casey Shoopman wanted to make a difference. So he went to work. The result was 119 raccoons removed from one 20-acre field in 10 days. Listen or watch this podcast to hear Casey's passion for wildlife, turkeys, trapping, and making a difference. This is the mark of a true conservationist - making a difference and doing it for the right reasons ..read more

In today's episode, we're talking with Jared Van Hees and Al James about the launch of their new seed company, Vitalize Seed. Al and Jared share with us what motivated them to start their own seed company, and what makes Vitalize Seed different from other seed companies on the market. Placing a focus on soil health and conservation, Vitalize Seed makes diverse seed blends that help build healthy soil, and benefit all wildlife species from bucks to birds to bees and everything in between.  ..read more

We were recently asked to give a presentation for Pheasant's Forever and Quail Forever of Illinois about how to manage your property for whitetail deer as well as upland birds like pheasant, quail, and ruffed grouse. We discussed how managing deer and upland birds are similar, as well as the differences between the two types of management. We also talk about removing the ceilings and labels we put on ourselves as wildlife managers and looking at the bigger picture of wildlife management.  ..read more

In today's episode, we're catching up on our new YouTube series, "Our Way of Life" discussing the videos we've put out so far and the ones to expect in the future! We also talk about Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), what the future of CWD looks like across the country, and what we can do as hunters and wildlife managers to combat it. Finally, we talk about the recent news that the buck harvest exceeded the doe harvest in 2021 and the ramifications and consequences of such a statistic ..read more

In today's episode, we talk about the new video series coming to our YouTube Channel, "Our Way of Life." We talk about what kind of videos we'll be creating, what we're hoping to accomplish with them, and what you guys can expect from our channel in the future. If you haven't already, please check out our YouTube channel below and subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfjOVyRF0b1OKPnL7yzkUNw ..read more