SERVICES

PHIL'S FOOD PLOTS AND CONSULTING offers many services to you, the outdoorsman and outdoors woman. Here are a few thing we can help you with;

Wildlife Consulting
Habitat Management (Food Plots and much more)
Deer Density Reduction
Food Plot Seminars
Shooting Lessons
Shooting Clinics

Hello, welcome to the future of deer hunting, QDMA. My name is Phil DeJarnatt, President of the Heart of Illinois chapter of the Quality Deer Management Association and President of Phil’s Food Plots & Consulting. I have hunted deer all over; Central, Western, and Southern Illinois as well as Southeastern Kansas. I am a Wildlife Consultant; I grew up in the Heart of Illinois right here in the Peoria area. I have been fortunate enough to have visited several camps on the King Ranch in South Texas, as well as many other ranches from Kansas, Maryland, to Georgia. I have guided hunts in both Illinois and Kansas. QDMA works, it is all backed by biology, the articles in the magazine Quality Whitetails are written by; wildlife biologists, foresters, and wildlife consultants. People with passion for the outdoors, in Gods Country!
Illinois’s deer herd does need to be managed! However, we do not have a problem with deer numbers. Now, locally there are some problems with antlerless numbers, but I don’t believe the problem is as bad as people think. Yes, changes need to be made in the regulations, but not just for harvesting does. We need to NOT shoot young bucks, let them walk; we need mature bucks in our herd to help our rut be strong and intense. You just want one good rut; a second rut is not a good thing, its nature telling us, we have an out of whack sex ratio. With a good sex ratio they can get most, if not all the breeding done in the first rut. Think about it, you don’t want fawns getting bred later and born later; you don’t want deer months behind. This could be a reason why people see so many spike bucks? Still don’t shoot spikes, 5 1/2 years of eating and growing will do a lot. The ruts the past few years have weird from what I have seen.
The chances I propose;
Rule 1-On all state property antler restrictions of some kind, we need to make the state ground productive again. We have all this potential here let’s use it! Make it somewhere where people want to hunt, not just have to. With a few rules and time we could see massive changes for the better.
Rule 2- 1 buck season limit,
Reason: We have people shooting bucks because they can; they have 2 buck tags so they just shoot the first one they see. Wait for a trophy, it’s worth the wait. I have talked to consulting friends in Indiana, where they went to a 1 buck limit 5 or 6 years ago, it is working over there. A 1 buck limit is the best thing you can do for your deer herd. Would you rather shoot 2 medium bucks, or 1 big one? After all the most important thing; It’s not about us, or even shooting deer, it’s about being outdoors with friends and family, getting kids evolved in the outdoors, getting those kids out off the X-box and in the woods spending time with their parents or enjoying Gods creation, so we need to take care of deer and deer hunting so they will be around for the future generations! With proper management you will have to shoot a lot of does, so you can enjoy shooting the does and wait for a nice trophy.
Rule 3- Move the antlerless season from January to September or October.
Reason: Don’t put all the deer through the stress of the rut then harvest them after breeding, why make these bucks run themselves to death to breed does, just to shot the does after they get bred. That is probably hurting the rut also. Plus in January you get a lot of bucks with no antlers, getting shot because they are mistaken for does, change the antlerless season to September.
Here are just a few ideas that make sense, from a biological stand point. We are fortunate to live in God’s Country, Central Illinois. We have an obligation to make it the best we can, to see it to its full potential! Let’s make our deer hunting better today for tomorrows generation. With a few simple rules in place we can greatly help our deer herds and deer hunting. QDMA truly is “The Future of Deer Hunting.” Thanks for reading and God Bless!

I just bought a new farm, what do I need to do?!

Well, first of all congratulations on your new farm. That is the biggest step to creating your own outdoor paradise! Like anything you need a plan, you spent a lot of money on your farm you need to do the next steps right to see the best results.
-Step 1-Call a wildlife consultant and set up a management plan. Farms/hunting lands are so different, they need to be looked at individually and then have their own management plan set up, and then implemented. There a lot of government programs that can save you thousands of dollars, a consultant can help you use these to your benefit.
-Step 2 –The Consultation has two parts - After calling us, we will come to your farm, look at what you have, write some info down, take some pictures and discus your goals. Your goals are very important in this management plan. I would tell you to write down your goals and have them on paper when we meet. It’s your farm, what do you want it to look like in 20 years, you might want a healthy deer herd, we practice Quality Deer Management, QDMA truly is "The Future of Deer Hunting.” You might want a breeding population of pheasant or quail, or just enough doves for a couple good dove shoots. Generally I like to set up a plan that helps everything, get the whole ecosystem to work together. After all what do these animals need? They all thrive on similar things; Food, Water, and Cover. Then a week or so later we will give you a copy of the management plan, and discuss what you want to do next.
-Step 3- Implementation, actually managing the habitat, putting the management plan to work! Whether it is; food plots, tree planting, grass plantings, or timber management, etc. we can do it for you or you can do it yourself. It is totally up to you,
-Please don’t waste any time, call us today, Phil’s Food Plots & Consulting (309)229-6650! Now is the time to get it done. You can see, it’s as easy as 1..2..3 Lets make God’s country the best it can be, by using proven biological methods, we can manage your land to its full potential! After all it’s your money, make it work for you! Thanks for your time, and a Special thanks to all those who came to the Deer and Turkey Classic. It was great talking to you. Thanks and God Bless!