You’ve finally found the lease that suits what you were looking for and closed the deal for less than you expected to spend. Now you are left with money you had planned to drop into locking down a property. So now what do you do with this extra money you have set aside for hunting? Let’s take a couple minutes to look at some great ways to spend that leftover money.

Who’s Hungry?

One way to spend that leftover budget is to help the herd out with food sources or improving the ones already established.

Applying the money towards food plots can obviously bring great return on money well spent. With the money leftover you can purchase seed needed to plant food plots to attract the local deer herd. Establishing food plots can help keep the herd healthy as well as become a target area to harvesting a few whitetails. If you don’t have the equipment to establish food plots you can always use some of that money to contract a local farmer with the equipment to implement these food plots for you.

Don’t have the area to implement food plots? That’s ok, there are still ways you can spend your money to add or improve food sources. Another option is purchasing a type of growth enhancer, such as a “root gel” to apply to mast trees to increase production. Applying this enhancer to the tree dripline (make sure leaves and debris are removed first) of mast and fruit trees will help ensure a more consistent production. Adding to selected trees throughout the property will provide more food for the herd and if you are hunting in a harsh winter area this will help fatten them up to stay healthy throughout the cold months.

Whether it’s adding food plots, enhancing the habitat with fertilizers or root gels or even planting some fruit trees, it’s all about feeding and keeping the herd healthy and satisfied.

Picture Perfect

Lights, Camera, Whoa who’s that deer?! Cameras are a great way to spend some leftover cash. With technology these days there are all sorts of options out there from brands like: Covert, U-Way, Moultrie, Cuddeback, Wildgame Innovations and many more. With these options you should be able to find one that fits your needs and suit your budget leftovers. Choosing a camera though can be tough, almost like a woman shopping for heels, or even worse, us guys shopping for the right pair of boots. There are infrared cameras to bulb flash, SD card capable to SIM card activated cameras that can send text photos to your cell phone or email address. Making investments like these with your leftover cash can pay off year after year.

Gear Up

Need a new stand or blind? How about that new scent eliminator suit? Then maybe you need to gear up. Seeing how we are covering spending leftover money from a lease you just got, maybe grabbing some stands/blinds might be a smart choice.

Get out on that new lease and find the setup trees or grounds and figure out what setup will best put the odds in your favor. If you are traveling any sort of long distance to hunt it, choosing an easy packable, space friendly setup might be the way to go. Stands like: Lone Wolf, Millennium, Muddy and others are all great options. My personal favorite travel setups are a couple of Lone Wolf Alpha II hang-ons with Lone Wolf 4 piece climbing sticks, as well as a couple of Millennium M-25 hang-ons with Ameristep Non Typical Rapid Rails. These are my personal preference picks, but you will need to figure out what works best for you according to your property layout and personal preference. One piece of advice that has helped me, is to find local dealers for the products you are interested in and ask them to demo the products you are interested in. Some dealers will allow this and some will not. By “demo” I mean setting up the stand on a demo pole that’s able to securely hold your weight (if the store has them) or a tree out next to the parking lot. The whole purpose is to see how easy the stand is to setup, checking the standing platforms for amount of room, also check the noise feedback from the platform (noise=blown opportunity), and let’s not forget testing the seat out. Hints why I have two different brands I like for hang-ons. One is easy to setup, light and still comfortable. The other has a seat that I can feel comfortable in for those all day hunts.

Either way you go, do the research on your property to see what best suits your layout and preference. There are many options out there other than what I use that work very well, so do your homework and test them out if and when possible.

Knowledge Up: The Curve Ball

You may laugh when I say this and think I am joking but guess what! I’M NOT JOKING! Get a subscription or two or three. Subscription to what? Magazines! There are lots of great articles and hidden secrets/tactics that these magazines are releasing every month. Think it’s not a great idea? Think again, in fact by the time you’ve reach this sentence you’ve read 894 words so far giving you tips on possible ways to spend left over budgets. Sharing tips, tactics, strategies and ideas is exactly how we learn how to hunt with better odds in our favor, other than trial and error.

Some of the magazines I subscribe to are: Outdoor Life, North American Whitetail, Field & Stream and North American Hunter, but there are tons of others that are informative as well. I myself enjoy reading about strategies and tips. Learning things by reading these magazines filled full of articles can give you knowledge on how to do things differently, products with their pros and cons, even strategies/tips that have failed so you know it might not be the best idea to attempt that particular strategy. Knowledge up during off season and learn how setup tips and products might enhance your odds. A twenty dollar subscription for a year worth of monthly tips and tactics can be the homerun swing that just might help you bring that big buck home for that final winning score.

 

In the end it’s all about putting all odds possible in our favor. Do your research and see what ways best suits you or your group to invest extra funds into and hopefully that extra little bit will turn into a major pay off.