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John O’Brion, What it takes to build a healthy deer herd

Welcome to another episode of Whitetail Rendezvous. This is your host Bruce Hutcheon. We’re heading to Wisconsin today and we’re going to meet with John O’Brion, owner of Grandpa Ray Outdoors and he’s got a lot of exciting things happening, and the biggest thing, I think he really knows about nutrition for whitetails. John, welcome to the show.

John: Much appreciated, and thanks for having me here today.

what it takes to build healthy deer

Bruce: Well, it’s a pleasure to have somebody that really knows what it takes to build healthy deer. So we’re just going to jump right into that, and tell us about the genesis of Grandpa Ray Outdoors, and then we’ll just go and talk about, all the things that you’re presently doing in the business.

John: Yeah, Grandpa Ray Outdoors was started officially a couple of years ago as a means of raising money for youth hunting and education of disabled youth, hunts. But the roots of it actually started 1991, which is when I began my nutrition consulting career and so a lot of the things that I have worked on, and different products that I’ve formulated, and invented over the years are basically the basis of the program that we’ve got before us right now. And so I’ve been involved with ruminant nutrition and whitetail nutrition for a long, long time, and it’s my passion, and now it’s basically becoming a full-time job and career and also a way to give back. And I’m doing it in memory and honor of my grandpa, who basically influenced my career and the path I’ve taken right now.

Bruce: Let’s talk about youth and disabled youth. Whered that passion come from?

John: Yeah, growing up I grew up on the family farm in south central Wisconsin, and my grandpa who is named Ray where I got the name of the business Grandpa Ray Outdoors, he worked as a dairy crop and beef farmer. But yet when he wasn’t farming, he enjoyed hunting, whether it be deer, ducks, pheasants, trapping, and so that’s where I got a little bit of my influence early on, seeing him doing a lot of these things.

And as a result when I was, for sure involved, I was able to hunt and even though the first few years were pretty lean and I wasn’t very successful, even back then I did enjoy being out in nature and the peace and quiet. So yeah, he really influenced that passion and even the last couple of years, a few really interesting have happened, and basically like I said, I started it in his memory and I really appreciate everything he did, and that’s where we’re at today.

Bruce: Great and we’re going to talk about some upcoming announcements at the end of the show. But let’s jump right into nutrition, and why that is so important for our deer herds.

John: Yeah, as I mentioned, I grew up on a dairy farm and I was the guy that I loved feeding animals, but yet I wasn’t the person that enjoyed milking cows, and even when the feed salesman would stop around back then, I just wasn’t that big a fan of it. So when I went to college, I actually was more fascinated, and into helping people, and doing the nutrition end of it on the feeding end. And so when I started my career out of college as a ruminant nutrition consultant, I found myself with some really interesting herds.

Early on as I mentioned, I actually was involved with some nutrition with one of the first deer farms in Wisconsin that had some really unique deer. Then just forwarding ahead a little bit over the years I actually did take a job as a formulator and nutritionist for the distributor. And so I was involved with doing a lot of product development, involved with a lot of nutrition work, whether it be for deer farms or even products for the wild deer herds out there.

I’ve always had a passion with taking the natural approach, and so a lot of the products I’ve invented over the years are sound nutrition-wise,

I’ve always had a passion with taking the natural approach, and so a lot of the products I’ve invented over the years are sound nutrition-wise, sound science and about doing things as natural as one can, and not about having fancy packages or a fancy name. But just basically sound nutrition that’s economic and that’s based on science.

Bruce: Let’s start in January and walk through the whole year about what kind of nutrition passionate whitetail hunters should be giving their herd within the confines of state regulations, and all those types of things.

John: This being brought up the point was state regulations because as many are aware, things have changed, and so in state where I live in Wisconsin, deer mineral and baiting and parts of that are banned on probably about half the state right now. And so the one thing that is becoming more and more popular is the use of food products, but then there are a number of states throughout U.S. where you can use pretty much any product you want.

That’s the thing that’s interesting too is that I’m consulting with more people throughout the United States is how different the rules and regulations are. So for me, the program that pretty much I’ve got in front is you’ve got to be flexible and look ahead because so many people just think about the moment. So as you brought up early season nutrition in January and February…I’m going to back up just a little bit…that’s where food crops and having great fall nutrition to have these deer healthy and good fat reserves built up going into the winter is the way to start.

And then when you get into the cold, winter months, in areas where it is legal to add supplements, there is certain supplements that I’ve come up with that are healthier based on sound science versus so many people just wanting to throw corn out there, which isn’t a good decision for deer. Then also moving ahead into the spring, that’s where part of the program with the food plots and deer minerals where it’s legal, and that so many people are missing the boat on, a lot of little things that aren’t really that awful expensive to do.

where my focus is trying to educate people on looking at this as a 365-day a year program where we have forages out there that they can eat and consume as many days a year as possible

That’s where my focus is trying to educate people on looking at this as a 365-day a year program where we have forages out there that they can eat and consume as many days a year as possible, and then all these other little added supplements and parts that you can use to fill in the gaps at the different times of year when that nutrition is really needed when the animals are under stress. So that’s why I keep using the word program and that’s what we’re trying to push is a complete yearlong program.