401: How Janis Putelis Turned 50 Acres Of Big Woods Into A Whitetail Paradise

Habitat Podcast #401 - In today's episode of The Habitat Podcast, we are back in the studio with Janis Putelis!

We discuss:

-Janis cut every white pine off 20 acres and released the oaks hiding underneath them.

-Why 40 acres is barely enough timber for a logger to justify moving his equipment in.

-The US Fish and Wildlife Habitat Partners Program funded his 7-acre oak savanna restoration.

-Doing the slash and burn work himself credited against his share instead of costing $7,000.

-Ground deer used to walk straight through now has a bed every five minutes you walk.

-Sam Tumberg's buckthorn rule: mow it in spring, then spray the regrowth after July 4th.

-Buckthorn cut to the ground on May 15th was four to six feet tall by the third week of July.

-Roughly fifty trees dropped by hand turned a dead ridge saddle into a big buck's route.

-His dad is hunting the September 15th Wisconsin opener from a blind he built by hand.

-Deer refuse to travel his one long straight road but hammer every winding trail he cuts.