Thermal Deer Consulting

10/09/2026

Go Get Them Youth Hunters! 🦌

Make those memories!

Folks, this is what it's about. I could never shoot another big buck again and be perfectly happy because of the joy I got from this hunt.

He got super lucky that day, and if that buck would have taken one extra step, none of this would have happened.

As someone who helps people with deer strategy, I'll be the first to admit you still need a little luck on your side.

It was the greatest hunt of my life, and I just got to watch.

This one hunt made the countless hours of hard work worth it. I'm just glad Caleb felt the same way.

The first year I purchased this property, we didn't see a single doe from the stand the entire bow season.

It's possible to transform a property into a place where a kid can shoot their first deer, and a dang nice one to boot!

Any property can get better. It's not always easy, and it doesn't happen overnight, but it can happen.

Best of luck to all the youth hunters out there!!!!

10/08/2026

Deer crave apples in October.

This dang tree had a great crop, and a storm toppled the branch over. The apples weren’t quite ready so I left things be.

It didn’t take the deer long to figure it out. They not only gobbled up every apple they stripped all the leaves.

A couple HUGE tips are:
-Protect the trees from voles, rabbits and DEER
-Plan to ensure the trees will have full sun and air movement 20 years down the line.

Apples will struggle to grow fruit growing next to other trees like oaks, that grow taller. Keep the apples in the open-this is critical for fruit development.

Invest in easy growing species like: Freedom, Liberty and Wolf River.

Strategically placed apple trees are a long term investment and can be another incentive to hold and get a mature buck to fall for our trap.

Give us a call-we can help plan things like this to make your hunting better.

10/06/2026

There’s a big push for buckwheat right now—
And that’s great—it’s a great plant.

I see a lot of people growing it by itself, and that’s fine. But buckwheat alone isn’t giving you the most for your soil or the best bang for your 🦌.

Look how much smaller the roots of the buckwheat are compared to the rye it was growing with. Do you see a difference?

That’s without counting how much more plant the rye is eventually going to put out compared to the buckwheat.

Folks, grassy-type plants like rye, oats and sorghum should really be grown with buckwheat. These plants will feed your soil in a much different way than just buckwheat alone.

Growing these plants to not only feed deer, but feed your soil, will help cut down on fertilizer, make your plants tastier and more nutritious to deer, and ultimately save you money.

If you want to understand my next level of strategy, the buckwheat in this plot seeded itself.

Ya, buckwheat that costs $80 a bag cost me nothing. I planted buckwheat here in May and grew my own seed. All I did was run it over with my drill when I seeded the rye in August.

Check out in the comments how I saved even more 💰👇

10/06/2026

The Green Ambush Plot Secret
When mature bucks are cruising heavy acorn drops, they won’t just walk out in the open. In this Short, see how setting up a green ambush plot creates the perfect interception point to stop giant bucks within range.

10/05/2026

If you’ve ever struggled to connect with that monster buck that was teasing by your trail cameras, or he’s only visible from a distance:
It might not be your fault.
He might not be onto you.
He’s just doing what old bucks do-be unpredictable.

Most of the time these bucks are just so darn random, there’s no other way to explain it.

They will bed right next to your food plots.
They will bed right up to roads.
They will bed far back in cover.

They will bed entire evenings during the best cold fronts.
They will move a 100 yards 2 hours before shooting light ends on hot days.
They will walk the way we expect them, but they often go opposite.

They have no problem eating weeds, grasses or anything that we don’t plant for them.

I could keep going on and on about how random big old bucks are. But one thing they need is to feel safe-they might not bed deep into the timber but the habitat needs to give them some type of security.

The thing is if you have evidence a big big is using your spot-he’s gotta get lucky everyday, you only gotta get lucky once.

Get out and hunt!

Think you can pattern a mature 5-year-old buck with trail cameras, ...

10/04/2026

Add the Irresistible to Your Fall Plots

Cereal rye and oats aren’t irresistible deer food.

But they ARE the backbone of my affordable fall food plot strategy.

So instead of replacing them with something that cones with a seed tag, I add a little irresistible to the mix—and I do it thoughtful strategy.

It starts with sunflowers, yes sunflowers!

Just look at these plants. The deer absolutely hammer them.

And here’s the best part: these beaten-up sunflowers are nothing more than black oil sunflower birdseed—the same stuff you’d put in your bird feeder.

I know these sunflowers aren’t going to make it all the way to seed. Deer browse will beat them up, and eventually frost will finish them off.

But they don’t need to make it all the way.

Their job is to add something irresistible to an otherwise pretty basic rye-and-oats plot from germination until frost. And I didn’t have to overpay for “food plot” seed to do it.

I don’t stop with sunflowers, either.

Farmer-bought soybeans. Yellow peas. Buckwheat.

These can be food plot GOLD when mixed into an affordable base of cereal grains.

You don’t need every plant to survive until November. You need different plants doing different jobs at different times.

Give the deer something they really want. Keep your cost down. Add diversity. And understand, you’re adding plants that give you better soil system for future plots.

10/03/2026

The Food Plot Timing Mistake Most Hunters Make
Food plotting isn't cheap—so why let deer wipe out your plots before hunting season even starts? The goal isn't having the prettiest 2-inch plot in August; it's stockpiling enough high-tonnage forage so it's still waiting when you actually need it in late season.

10/03/2026

Why Acorns Ruin Your Hunt (And How to Fix It)
Think an acorn drop is an automatic win? Think again. When oaks dump everywhere, buck movement scatters, making mature deer nearly impossible to pattern.

In this video, we break down why a heavy acorn drop ruins traditional stand locations and the simple shift you need to make to get back on big bucks.

Subscribe to Thermal Deer Consulting for more deer behavior strategies and habitat tips.

10/01/2026

Watching a mature buck during a recent cold front reminded me why I love doing this.

This old boy stepped out into a fallow field, fed for about 100 yards out of his bed, and then did something most "experts" claim never happens-he laid right back down in the open grass and weeds, 30 minutes before last light.

Even wilder? He traveled with the wind, turned around, and bedded facing directly into it with zero cover behind him.

Textbook hunting rules say a buck like that needs thick cover way more than this and something protecting him from the back. He simply proved the opposite.

I see it all the time on property evaluations: big bucks don't play by the rules we think they should follow.

How many times have you caught a mature buck bedding somewhere he "wasn't supposed to"? Let's hear it.

09/30/2026

The Cereal Grain Secret for Late Season
Cereal grains like winter rye and oats are incredible for building fast tonnage, but if deer hit them too early, you lose your late-season food source. Learn how to stockpile rye and oats properly so your food plots provide high-tonnage forage straight through hunting season and into winter.