Ryan Rothstein

It never fails to watch summer streak by in a blur.
Blame it on our climate in Minnesota, but most of us try to cram as much outdoor activity into a quarter of the year as is humanly possible. Maybe I’m imagining it, but it seems like people are just busier with life than they used to be, with summer months the pinnacle of the bustle. But time slows down for no one, and regardless of the tool you hunt with, your deer season is less than 100 days out at most.

It’s October 18, and the forecast is calling for highs in the upper 60s – more than a dozen degrees above normal – while the wind is forecast to blow from the southeast at a steady 15 to 20 miles per hour. Hardly ideal deer-hunting conditions for this time of year. And besides, your will to hunt took a hit after your sit two days earlier.

When we talk about deer habitat, most people’s minds travel straight to woods and forests. And while deer are often considered a forest animal, there’s actually not much for a deer to eat in truly mature, old-growth forests. That doesn’t mean these forests have no habitat value; they just aren’t the best habitat for whitetails.
Where whitetails truly thrive is in that tension zone between prairies and forests. It’s not a coincidence that the highest deer densities in the state of Minnesota mirror these areas.

When the month of May kicked off hot and dry in Minnesota, I became uneasy in a hurry. While deer here aren’t quite as susceptible to the worst effects of drought as are their counterparts in the southern United States, severe drought still has the potential to set back the herd in several ways.
Drought, particularly in spring and early summer in these northern latitudes, can substantially set back vegetative growth, especially for ground-layer plants. These also happen to be the ones deer are primarily consuming this time of year.

In my May 30 column, I made the case for fire being a critically underutilized tool when it comes to whitetail habitat management, particularly on private lands.
While I laid out why burning is a good thing, I didn’t get into the nitty gritty of putting fire on the ground. That’s where this week’s column comes in. Here’s what you need to know if such a fire is in your future.