# Whitetail Land Consultant - Recommendations!



## GKCalls.com (Aug 2, 2012)

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone has used a whitetail land consultant in Michigan and if so who? 

I have 50-acre parcel that I would love some help on, and I have had a few different people tell me to contact a whitetail land consultant. 

Any information would be great - Thank you all in advance


----------



## bkearney19 (Mar 31, 2013)

Hey GKCalls.com, give Jake Ehlinger a look. He is amazing. His website is here: http://habitatsolutions360.com/


----------



## cakebaker (Sep 13, 2011)

Top ten percent. Scott Hunter.


----------



## ckosal (May 20, 2013)

I have heard great things about Jake E. I have watched his videos too. I used Jeff Sturgis. He is very knowledgeable. My only beef was he is also very busy and has a million sub projects going on. He was very focused when he was on property. Very focused/intense. We walked every inch of my place and he didn't say much until during the end. His recommendations were great. But, I think, in retrospect I could of read most of it here. 

There is another guy I had come out as I saw his add in Woods N Water. Michigan Hunting Land Specialist or something like that. Super nice guy. But, he is different. Although he advertises habitat consultation, I found that he knew no more than I did about ideas to improve my place. But... His value was he actually does the work. So, I hired him for several days of work to clear areas, cut some trails through dense areas. He was a work horse and that was very valuable to me. Jeff is very knowledgeable but doesn't do the work anymore because he is so busy with his other stuff.


----------



## DROPTINE (Feb 22, 2001)

Jeff Sturgis designed my property and i could not be more happy , he is the real deal .


----------



## GKCalls.com (Aug 2, 2012)

We have hired Jake Ehlinger and cant wait for him to come out!


----------



## gunfun13 (Jun 13, 2003)

You won't be disappointed


----------



## TrailMarker (Dec 8, 2012)

I had a pretty barren small plot of land with some deer hunting quality when I bought it, it was open field with a couple fencerows, but deer were bedding on the higher ground near the fencerows. I hired a consultant, and consulted with my friends, and did a lot of reading online. What I have now is pretty cool, a work in progress, a bunch of ongoing maintenance (if you choose to do it) and really good hunting, with bucks showing up much more frequently now.


----------



## Luv2hunteup (Mar 22, 2003)

GKCalls.com said:


> We have hired Jake Ehlinger and cant wait for him to come out!


Good choice, I’m glad to hear he was able to fit you into his schedule. I’ve toured his property, see if you can work that in.

Your next hardest part will be finding time to implement his recommendations. Don’t procrastinate!


----------



## TrailMarker (Dec 8, 2012)




----------



## specs (Feb 18, 2006)

TrailMarker said:


> View attachment 298184
> View attachment 298185
> View attachment 298187
> View attachment 298186


Wanted to hire Jake E. then heard he didn’t travel anymore to do habitat consultation outside of SE MI. Thinking of going with Jeff Sturgis. Can’t seem to find anyone else that provides comprehensive plan.


----------



## Liver and Onions (Nov 24, 2000)

specs said:


> Wanted to hire Jake E. then heard he didn’t travel anymore to do habitat consultation outside of SE MI. Thinking of going with Jeff Sturgis. Can’t seem to find anyone else that provides comprehensive plan.


Do some reading and do it yourself. Use the money towards equipment, seed, fertilizer, etc.
It isn't difficult.

L & O


----------



## ckosal (May 20, 2013)

I agree with that assessment. Jeff did a nice job of accelerating my learning. But, his plan was very high level and wasn't more than what people can help you with here. If the plan he gave me was really specific it might be a different story, but my written plan was very high level. Just some colors of areas for bedding, where to hinge cut and high level examples of places for stands. But it wasn't real specific. See my plan attached. You will see red lines for where stands could go, but the truth is it just like breaking the property in to zones not marked trees, runs, scrapes, rubs or anything. More of an equal distribution of where to put them in and have them come from the boundaries. 

The walk was the best part, but again, I am certain you could create your property map and post it here and ask for ideas and you will get 80% there.

People pay these guys for a reason. But, if I had to summarize the greatest value it isn't the ideas of what to do to my property or the map (it isn't acutally worth much at all). For me, it was the acceleration of learning. In one day I did learn a ton. But, since then I see now I could of learned all of that reading the habitat forum here or one of Jeff's books (Steve Bartyalas book is good too). In fact, I think amateurs like myself could get you 80% of the way with just your map based on what we learned here and from these guys in the past and what is written here.


----------



## TrailMarker (Dec 8, 2012)

I think habitat comes one day at a time. I have changed my mind 100x - the choices I would make in 2008 would not be the same in 2018.


----------



## northwoods whitetails (Jun 23, 2009)

Jeff Sturgis 
Jake Ellinger 
Randy VanderVeen


----------



## Stuart P (Jul 12, 2017)

If you need some forestry mulching done we do that and have worked with Jake Elinger. He highly recommends our services for deer trails, food plots, and brush clearing.


----------

