Summer Habitat Projects That Pay Off in Fall

The work you do now during the summer off season can have a big impact on the fall hunting season. Clear your shooting lanes, give the deer herd shade and keep your deer feeders stocked to set yourself up for a success fall season. Check out our tips below and browse our arsenal of Banks Outdoors products to learn how your summer habitat projects can pay off in the fall.

Set Up Your Blind

Now is the perfect time to place your Stump blind on your property. Setting up your spot now will allow you to observe the area on trail cameras for a while before the season opens so you can gather information and plan your first hunt based on where and when you’re seeing the most activity. Our blinds are easy to move due to the ski base and steel hitch. You can hook it up to your ATV and haul it anywhere on your property. Our blinds have multiple windows that surround the entirety of the blind, giving you the option to take a shot from any direction.

Pre-Cut Your Shooting Lanes

Clearing out shooting lanes on your property during the summer does dual duty for hunting prep. It gives the deer herd plenty of shade now and sets up clear paths for your shooting lanes in the fall. The deer herd will be looking for areas of cover to escape the heat this summer. The fallen branches from trimming your trees can create excellent areas of cover for them to find shade under. Choose the trees you trim according to your Stump blind setup. Wherever you ended up placing your stump blind, clear out the trees across from the windows so that you can have a clear shot during your first hunting trip of the year. You can rearrange our haul away the extra fallen debris with our Trail Runner 62 Trailer. It comes with high-speed off-road tires and can haul up to 1,500 pounds.

Set Up Your Feeders

If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to start feeding the herd from a Feedbank Gravity Deer Feeder. Starting their routine in the summer encourages them to come to your property in the off season, visiting your feeders and observing your blind, so that they’re used to them by the time hunting season opens. Keep the feeding areas “safe zones.” You should still mask your scent when you visit, but plan to keep the area right on top of your feeder free of hunting in the fall. Hunt directly nearby, but not right on top of it. You need to keep some areas sacred so that the deer don’t start avoiding your property entirely because they don’t know which areas are dangerous and which aren’t.

As always, check your state’s regulations to make sure supplemental feeding is legal in your area before you put out a deer feeder or add minerals to your water systems.

Clearing shooting lanes in front of your Stump blind’s multiple windows, giving the deer herd shade, and providing them with consistent food are valuable summer habitat projects that will pay off in the fall hunting season. Check out our ever-growing lineup of Banks products to put in the work this summer and reap the benefits in the fall.

How do you manage your deer habitats in the summer to set yourself up for a successful fall? Let us know in the comments below!