Some of Jeff McCallister's most treasured memories go back to the woods on Mule
Shoe Plantation.
He remembers hunting on his daddy's lap. He remembers being toted on that man's
hip as they tromped through the woods of their old Alabama homeplace together.
The feelings those warmly blurred boyhood images bring back are shared with his
brother, Jay. And today the two men credit those days with building a love of
wildlife, a love of family and a motivation to pass all of this on to their own
young sons.
"I can't tell you really how we got the love we have for this place, or how we
keep it," says the 35-year-old Jeff. "I just know it's a true thing, and it's in
us."
Mule Shoe is a 4,000-acre working farm in rural Houston County. It's planted to a
varying mix of peanuts, cotton, corn and soybeans. Jeff and Jay work the
third-generation operation every day. They've always been taught that it's their
job to care not just for the crops, but also for the abundant wildlife that call
the place home.
For the McCallisters, deer habitat is just as much a priority as a good cotton
crop. It's so serious that they have an annual budget for food plots and
supplementals-usually around $15,000.
They have about 200 acres of food plots for the deer both in winter and summer.
Deer also are fed minerals, and in the winter pelletized feed keeps the herd
healthy.
"January through March is a hard time for deer in our area," says Jeff. "There's
just not a lot of food we can grow for them. So we use FRM deer pellets made by a
company out of Bainbridge, Ga."
The pellets are key to winter feeding, but in the summer the brothers like to
plant lab-lab for deer. They round it out with some cowpeas and corn.
"The lab-lab produces good forage, and it's extremely high in protein," explains
Jeff. "The calcium to phosphorous ratio is 2 to 1. This helps the deer respond to
the nutrients in the plant."
But one problem with any kind of food plot is the heavy pressure deer put on it.
Jeff explains that they rely on temporary fencing to keep deer out of those
just-emerging plots.
"Without these fences we can't grow anything in the summer," says Jeff. "The
fence lets the plants get established enough to sustain grazing pressure."
It's a high-cost investment to only be used for three weeks out of the year, but
Jeff says it's also the key to producing enough food for the deer.
"We found that before putting up the temporary fencing it might take us 60 acres
of plantings to grow enough to feed the deer. With the fence, we can cut that to
20 acres to produce the same amount of tonnage," Jeff notes.
Providing such an excellent habitat for deer creates some challenges when it
comes to keeping the population in check. Right now Jeff estimates they have
about 300 deer on their farm. They keep that population healthy through work with
wildlife biologist Bill Gray.
Gray relies on the McCallisters to provide him with a record of every deer killed
on the farm. Each deer is weighed, and the jawbone is pulled to indicate the age
of the animal. The biologist can then gauge if the animal was at a healthy weight
for its age, and that helps him recommend how much the herd should be thinned.
It's common for the number of deer taken off of Mule Shoe to be in excess of 100
every year.
The McCallisters get help with that annual herd thinning from a number of
sources. There are those who pay to take a deer off the farm every year. And then
there are those who come for something more special-their first deer.
Jeff and Jay save the last two weeks of deer season for two special types of
hunters-children who have never killed a deer and the handicapped.
"We realized a long time ago that hunters seem to be a dying breed," says Jeff.
"We wanted to share our farm with kids and help them come to love hunting and
respect wildlife and the environment as much as we do."
But he stresses that a child has to be old enough before that first hunt to know
what it all means.
"I know a lot of people carry young kids and let them start hunting early, but my
dad taught us differently," he says. "We were not allowed to kill a deer until we
were old enough to understand that they are one of God's creatures. He wanted us
to respect the life of the animal we were taking."
This hunter's paradise isn't just for kids. During those two weeks it's also open
for the handicapped. Special hunting blinds are in place to make the occasion as
easy as it is special.
"Most of the handicapped people who come here are in wheelchairs," says Jeff. "We
installed a specially designed blind that's easy for them to access and maneuver
in, and there's room for the family of that person. We found out early on that
the families like to come and take pictures, keeping memories."
As those family members put their own memories down on film, it inspires Jeff and
Jay to keep the commitment strong to their own past.
"We stay as excited about this as we've ever been," Jeff says. "When you see the
deer you have helped take care of growing heavier and those bucks with bigger
horns, it motivates you. We're excited at what we can do, not just for the deer,
but for the people who hunt here. We know how blessed we are, and we want to give
back by sharing this with others."
As Mule Shoe Plantation continues making memories for hunters every year, it has
been named the 2004 Rural Sportsman Big Game Management Farm of the Year. The
award is sponsored by Browning.
For More Info
To find out more about FRM deer pellets, call 1-800-841-8502.
For more on lab-lab or to order seed, visit www.tecomate.com or call 1-800-629-4263.