BLINDS

2003 was the year of the ground blind at the NorthCountry Demo Center. We tried a variety of models (pop-ups and rigid). Each time we set up a new blind, we sat in it that night to check out the deer's response to the new arrival. Yearlings and fawns all came within ten yards, while the older more mature animals held back just a bit.

Our favorite blind of the year was a rigid box model by Shadow Hunter. This beauty is truly the "Cadillac" of ground blinds. It's carpeted, insulated, wrapped in camo-clad aluminum, with amazingly easy to use windows that slide quietly.

To give the Shadow Hunter Blinds a true test, we set one overlooking a brassicas plot, while we elevated the another Shadow Hunter Blind over one of our browse cuts. As we all know, late hunting season can be brutal with cold temperatures, snow and wind. Single digit temperatures and nasty hunting conditions can really put a damper on the amount of time you spend on stand come December - Not with the Shadow Hunter! While our neighbors were sitting by the fire in camp dreaming of deer, we were seeing the deer, sitting in propane-heated, short-sleeve comfort in Shadow Hunter Blinds.

Shadow Hunter Ground Blinds are here to stay at the NorthCountry Whitetails Demo Center. “NorthCountry Whitetails “Tested and Approved”! For more information visit www.shadowhunter1.com

Archery Shop

     Most QDM enthusiasts are serious bowhunters. We certainly are.  In fact Craig has been in the archery industry for almost 25 years and Neil was literally raised with a bow in his hands, taking his first big game animal (a bear) at the tender age of 12. Any how, we know bows, we know broadheads and we know a good archery set-up when we see one.

We also know a good archery dealer when we see one and that’s exactly what we saw when we visited the newly opened Heritage Outdoors in Phelps NY.  Heritage is run by Mike Price a long time archery guy and world class (insert certification) coach. Mike has been in archery for over 20 years and has won his share of championships but his real claim to fame is the ability to help people become better shooters and bowhunters.

  Mike does this by offering state of the art archery gear at fair prices. 
He doesn’t sell junk equipment or fad products, no archery gimmicks,
just rock solid equipment from reliable manufacturers.  Equipment that won’t let you down when you need it most (like when that 5 ½ year old buck finally shows up)

But, it doesn’t end there.  Heritage has state-of-the–art bow tuning equipment to ensure a proper tune and set-up. They have indoor shooting lanes to try out your gear and three angle video camera gear to help you analyze your shooting form and style. Best of all they have Mike Price, who is without equal when it comes to setting up shooter with the right bowhunting gear.

If you live in the Syracuse-Rochester NY area you need to be a regular at Heritage Outdoors.  Besides offering top-of the- line archery equipment they have a beautiful and challenging 3-D outdoor course and all kinds of known distance targets set up for fair weather shooting.  Their indoor lanes will help you beat the winter doldrums and stay sharp in the off season.  If you hail from Albany, Buffalo, Erie or Binghamton you need to visit Mike once or twice a year to keep you and your archery equipment in tip-top form.  Trust us it will be worth the drive.
      Oh, we almost forgot, Mike, and the whole Heritage gang, speaks QDM. They get it! They are one of us.  Neil does food plot and habitat workshops for Heritage and they really know bowhunting and deer management.

Heavy Equipment

When Tom James toured our research facility late last June, we had no idea that four months later he would come back toting a totally new piece of equipment he called the Firminator.

Test one: We regularly over-seed our plots in early spring with clover and brassicas and decided this was a great time to begin testing our new Firminator. In years past, we have simply spread our seed with a hand spreader during the spring thaw, giving us germination rate of about 50%. Not this year. With our new Firminator, we were able to straighten out the implement's adjustable discs and lower them to cut a one to two inch deep slot in existing plots. The discs spread the ground while the spreader dropped seed evenly over a six-foot swath, which was

Test two: We took the Firminator to some bare plots and some with a thick base of sod. This time, we offset the discs to better work the ground and adjusted the dig to about six inches. In only a single pass with the four-foot trailing version we were ready to seed. We had never seen an implement as capable as this! Next, we put all three features to the test with the disc leading the spreader and the culti-packer firming the seedbed. Talk about perfection. We could see why Tom had named it the Fiminator, gawking at our newly planted plot with its perfectly packed seedbed. All we needed was a little moisture and we were ready to go. After some rain, as in test one, in days we witnessed 95% germination!

We were sure we had found the perfect all-in-one food plot implement. We know what it is like to put your hard earned cash and more importantly your time into a food plot. If you are questioning if other “all -in-one” implements are really doing what they claim or you are sick of having to create nearly perfect soil conditions in order to use your current “all-in-one model"; look no further because the Firminator is NorthCountry Whitetails “Tested and Approved”. To learn more about the Firminator visit www.thefirminator.com

The Perfect Food Plot Tractor?

If we had to design the perfect food plot and small property management tractor from the ground up it would probably look a whole bunch like the TC 40 DA from New Holland. Our 2006 model arrived early summer and our food plot work has been a whole lot easier ever since. In fact, our planting and all around utility work has been
down right pleasant.

Affectionately called “Little Blue” the TC 40 DA has more than enough muscle for any and all food plot work. We put in a dozen or so food plots in some of the nastiest rock infested clay soil in North America. Most of them were done with a 72” roto-tiller crawling along at a couple of miles per hr. Average time: 1hr. 15 min. per acre. As a test, we also did a few acres with a two bottom plow and an aggressive cutting disc. The tractor never bogged down, never heated up and never even thought about asking for a break.
“Little Blue” really shone on our smaller, irregular shaped hunting plots most of which are less than an acre. Unlike some of our bigger tractors, she handily wove in and out of the tightest spots leaving no spot “unturned”. Her front wheel assist came in handy when the going got tough crossing seeps, springs and pulling out of some pretty vertical drainage ditches. The same spots that have stopped much larger 2 wheel drive tractors in the past.

The easy to adjust 3 pt. hitch hooks up in a snap and the drive controls are highly intuitive. Hydrostatic drive keeps shifting to a minimum and gives you something useful to do with your right foot. These features are super handy for weekend enthusiasts who are more comfortable driving a pickup than a serious tractor. Don't underestimate the importance of easy to understand intuitive controls. They are really important when you get into “sticky” situations and brain forgets you aren't driving a pickup.

The Kunz Till Ease Model 543 is a chisel plow type ATV implement which does a remarkable job of preparing ground for planting. Adjustable shanks tipped with ground breaking shoes penetrate four to six inches into the earth to turn up and fracture the ground. The implement can be easily be pulled by a 500cc ATV the shanks remain firmly planted in the ground during use. Rocks and heavy soil are no problem for the 543 as no down cutting (as in disc plates) is required. We used the Kunz Till Ease Model 543 on a number of plots and found it to be a superior ground preparation implement. It prepares a plot much faster than typical ATV discs and is a major step forward in ATV food plot implement technology. We strongly recommend it.

The Kunz Rough Cut ATV mower is a NorthCountry Whitetails favorite. We used it so much during the 2006 season that we never got around to hooking up our tractor pulled rotary mower (bush hog). We mowed our lawn, mowed our food plots and mowed our brush (up to 2'') with this handy 18 hp, height adjustable pull behind. We used it more than any piece of equipment we had. Food plotters will appreciate the mower's off-set capability. You mow one pass, reverse direction and from that point on your ATV wheels are running on mowed ground. No more tire crush popping up two hours later. A simple adjustment and it runs as an in-line tow behind. Mowing brush and food plots is an important part of every habitat development program. This implement lets you get err done with your hunting ATV (350cc or better). We enthusiastically recommend this mower.

ATV's