What happens after the habitat plan is delivered?

In this episode of Design. Build. Hunt., Josh sits down with returning guest and client Emerson Chew to walk through two years of real-world implementation on his 40-acre South Georgia property.

This isn’t a highlight reel—it’s an honest conversation about:

What Emerson tackled first after getting his plan

How travel corridors, access, water holes, and fire changed deer movement

Mistakes made, lessons learned, and what didn’t work

Implementing habitat work with limited time, budget, and equipment

When food plots matter—and when they don’t

Why patience is the most underrated habitat tool there is

If you’ve ever wondered whether a habitat plan actually works when a real landowner puts boots on the ground, this episode answers that question clearly.

This is what progress looks like when the plan gets followed.

Check out this episode on YouTube!

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Hunting pine plantations in the South comes with its own set of challenges—tight visibility, rigid timber schedules, and landscapes that can feel monotonous if they’re not managed intentionally. In this solo episode, Josh breaks down one of his all-time favorite projects: a 600-acre southern pine tract designed from the ground up for predictable deer movement, quality bedding, and high-value forage.

Josh explains how to work with the realities of timber rotations and revenue-producing stands—leveraging first and second thinnings, prescribed fire, strategically staggered burn rotations, and purpose-built bedding and forage units. You’ll learn why pine properties can be incredible hunting ground when managed with intention, how to place food plots and travel corridors that actually get used, and why “checkerboarding” your timber stand may be the missing ingredient to daylight movement.

If you hunt piney woods—Georgia, Alabama, the Carolinas, Mississippi, Louisiana—this episode is packed with practical design, access, and hunting strategy you can use right now.

Watch it on Youtube here:

https://youtu.be/n6L0_idTA68

To learn more or book a consultation:

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Episode 3 of our Habitat Design Review Series takes us to one of the toughest parcels we’ve looked at yet—a wet, flat, lowland tract that demanded creativity, discipline, and some strategic restraint.

In this episode, Josh and Sam break down how to approach a marshy, dense, low-lying property with almost no topography and very few existing high-odds setups. From reading subtle elevation changes with 1–2 ft topo maps, to carving travel corridors through endless cover, to deciding which parts of the property simply aren’t worth hunting, this episode is packed with real-world design lessons.

You’ll hear:

Why lowland parcels “lay themselves out” once you understand their limitations

How to create predictable deer movement where none exists naturally

The role of mowing and selective clearing to form pinch points

Access timing: why the season matters more on wet ground

How to build complementary stand setups around small, shade-tolerant kill plots

Mistakes most landowners make on flat, wet properties—and how to avoid them

If you’re dealing with marsh, swamp, flat timber, or wet fields, this episode is right in your wheelhouse.

Want help with your property? Visit WhitetailPartners.com to learn more about custom habitat design and on-site consultations.

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Hill country presents some of the most complex challenges in whitetail habitat design. Between steep ridges, narrow benches, rugged drainages, and unpredictable access, many landowners struggle to crack the hill country code.

In Part 2 of our Habitat Design Breakdown Series, we analyze a hill country parcel and show how to create high-odds hunting opportunities—even when most bedding is on the neighbors.

We cover:

Hill country is challenging, but when you design around deer movement, not property boundaries, you can create some incredibly consistent hunting.

To learn more or schedule a consultation, visit WhitetailPartners.com.

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This episode kicks off our Habitat Design Breakdown Series — a multi-part dive into how different habitat and terrain types influence design, movement, and hunting strategy.

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This week on the Design. Build. Hunt. podcast, Josh and Greg dig into one of the most overlooked problems in deer hunting—overhunting your stands.

They unpack what “pressure” really means, how to recognize the signs that you’ve hunted a stand too much, and what to do to protect the integrity of your property. From access routes and wind management to understanding your property’s tolerance level, you’ll learn how to hunt smarter—not harder—and keep your deer calm, consistent, and killable.

Whether you manage 30 acres or 300, this episode will help you understand why restraint and timing are two of your most powerful tools.

🎧 Presented by Whitetail Partners — helping hunters design properties that hunt better and produce more opportunities every season.

👉 Learn more or start your own habitat consultation at www.whitetailpartners.com

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In this episode of Design. Build. Hunt., host Joshua Raley sits down with Whitetail Partners consultant Scott Christison to unpack the transformation of Scott's Minnesota property.

Scott walks through the exact steps he took to bring his Whitetail Partners plan to life: cutting timber, shaping bedding areas, building access trails, and rethinking how deer move through the property. The result? A once-random deer movement pattern turned into predictable travel, increased daytime activity, and a property that continues to improve.

Whether you’re starting from scratch or refining an established property, this episode is packed with practical insight on how to make your ground easier to hunt and more attractive to deer.

Learn more about Whitetail Partners consulting at www.whitetailpartners.com

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The pre-rut is where big-buck dreams meet reality. In this episode, we unpack why discipline, timing, and knowing your property’s limits make the difference between consistent success and blown opportunities. We cover how pressure builds through morning hunts, why food-source setups shine in the evenings, and how to match your tactics to your ground—whether it’s 10 acres behind the house or 300 acres in farm country.

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October can be one of the best, or one of the most frustrating, months of the year in the whitetail woods. In this episode, the guys unpack how deer behavior shifts from early October through the so-called “lull” and into the prerut. They cover why movement feels inconsistent, how to balance limited, smart aggression with long-game patience, where water and fresh sign fit, when mornings finally make sense, and what to fix in the off-season to make next October better on your property.

If you want help dialing in your October plan or property layout, reach out to us at www.whitetailpartners.com.

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In this episode of Design. Build. Hunt., we’re breaking down how to make the most of October cold fronts. We talk about when it’s worth getting aggressive, when to hang back and observe, how to approach mornings versus evenings, and which food sources tend to shine right now. Most importantly, we look at how to read your ground and your specific buck so you’re hunting with purpose.

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