407: He Accidentally Shot a Buck in the Head, Then It Tried to Kill Him with Mike Hlavaty

Habitat Podcast #407 - In today's episode of The Habitat Podcast, we are back in the studio with Mike Hlavaty!

We discuss:

-Mike hunts a coal strip mine in Muskingum County alone at age 10, long before youth seasons or hunter safety.

-He and his brothers build ladder stands out of electrical conduit, hammering the steps flat and painting them.

-Mike crossbow-shoots a buck in the head the night before Ohio's gun opener, and it runs him over in the dark.

-He escapes by ramming the buck's head into a TV antenna tower, then waits it out from his stand for hours.

-An antler opens his neck up behind his ear, he's in the ER until 6 a.m., then goes back out and shoots a doe.

-Mike buys land with tillable ground so the farm rent pays 100 percent of his real estate taxes.

-A reappraisal tripled some of his property values, and he calls a tax on owning land a sin.

-U.S. Fish and Wildlife's partner program designs his wetland units, built on clay-core "mushroom" berms.

-His excavator bids nearly 50 percent under the other contractor and saves Mike a bunch on the build.

-In the spring his wetlands hold 500 to 1,000 pintails at a time, plus hundreds of swans.