Early in 2015 we made the decision to take a hobby that we were very passionate about and turn it into a service. Having talked with countless landowners about the struggles they were having with land management we came to realize there was a need for the services we would be providing.
With my father soon to retire and my son soon to be old enough to need summer work we made the decision to get our LLC and move forward with the dream of helping others with their land management practices.
My great grandfather was a farmer and owned a few hundred acres near their home here in Southern Minnesota and with the farm staying in the family for three generations we all grew to love the land. It meant a lot to us and we spent most of our free time during the Summer, Fall and Winter months working on one thing or another whether it be cutting buckthorn, mowing out of control willows, planting oak trees or creating food plots for the wildlife we always had something to do. It was fun seeing the progress we would make month to month and year to year.
Having had success with our own management practices it only made sense to make our services available to everyone.
In 2017 we decided to pursue becoming a dealer for Whitetail Institute of North America since we had been using their products for years and didn't have a good source locally for their products. There are other dealers in the area but none that have much of a selection or inventory, so spur of the moment purchases were usually out of the question.
We placed my first order in 2018 and stocked the shelves with products that had worked well for us in the past in this region. Our goal is to get every deer hunter and landowner in Southern Minnesota to plant one food plot. How great would that be for the deer?!?
In 2019 we decided to join the Banks Outdoors family. Dad had a passion for their products and with only a few big box stores in our area carrying a handful of their blinds we thought it would be a great idea to add their products to our retail side of things. Deer blinds and food plot seed go hand in hand with what we are trying to accomplish anyway.
Our goal of being a one stop shop for any and all land management took one step closer to being a reality.
2020 was going to be our “Big” year. We had a exhibit at the Mankato Outdoor Sports Show at the Civic Center in January.
We were going to have a three day open house for the Madelia Park Days celebration in July
We were scheduled to have an exhibit at the Steele County Free Fair in August.
All we really needed this year was to be found, people needed to know about us and attending these shows and putting ourselves in front of thousands of people was going to do that for us.
And then Covid-19 hit. Turned the world upside-down. Worldwide pandemic. Tough for a small business the way it is without something like this!
After all the closures and cancellations we decided to turn to radio and finishing our website. We got on board with KNUJ AM 860 out of New Ulm and have three radio ads per week and a Thursday call in at 9:50am each week. Thanks to 3Plains the website is going great and will launch in July.
Let’s see what the rest of 2020 has to offer!
As 2020 came to an end we were receiving inquiries for more and larger projects. We were getting contracts for roughly half of the proposals that we had sent out so we knew we had to add some equipment in order to complete the projects in the timeframe that was needed. As we stepped into 2021 we partnered with Truax to build us a Wildflower seeder and we purchased a new John Deere 4066M to run it. The tractor would serve many purposes but the seeder would allow us to do the "smaller" pollinator seeding projects that so many customers desired.
We also upgraded our ATV's from a 2005 Honda Rubicon and 2008 Yamaha Rhino to a 2020 Yamaha Viking 700 with a cab and tracks from Dranttel's for working on prescribed burns. This machine would allow us to access just about anywhere on any property anytime of the year!
In 2021 we decided to partner with Antler King after researching their products and finding out what they had to offer and the benefits they provided. We are happy to announce that we will be keeping a full supply of a handful of their products throughout the season!
In 2022 we started seeing more "Mid-management Plan" projects come through from customers for prescribed burns, woody vegetation removal and reseeding existing prairie. What we were finding out is the local offices in the past were not doing site visits to properties enrolled in easement contracts like CRP, CREP and a bunch of landowners were ignoring their contracts and not following the management plans that went along with them. Once these properties came up for renewal a site visit was conducted and found the property out of compliance with the contract and that there would need to be some work done in order for them to reenroll. We purchased an AFE Eco Mulcher and a Cat 299D3XELM to run it to assist these landowners in all of their land clearing and woody vegetation removal needs.
We also purchased a John Deere 5075E with cab for the larger reseeding projects and mowing maintenance that would go along with it. Since then we have seen more and more projects coming through from the Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Pheasants Forever, US Fish and Wildlife Service and local Conservation Clubs for habitat improvements. Now that we are getting into 2023 we are excited to see what this next year brings!
