Approximately 100 years ago, whitetail deer in the Eastern United States had access to the best hard mast food source anywhere on the planet: 25 percent of mature hardwood forests were American chestnut trees. It wasn't until the Chestnut blight struck North America in the early 20th Century that effectively wiped out the American chestnut in its native range.

Chestnuts produce more mast per acre than any other native tree. They're also made up of 40 percent carbohydrates and 5 to 10 percent protein. Unlike oak acorns, chestnuts are "sweet" - they contain far less tannins than acorns, making them more palatable than other hard mast.

Today, hunters and land managers have a chance to return chestnut to their properties, thanks to the decades of work undertaken by the Chestnut Hill Outdoors to develop a blight-resistant chestnut. The result of crossing the most blight-resistant American chestnuts with the naturally resilient Asian chestnuts, the Dunstan Chestnut combines the vigor of Asian varieties with the high-quality mast produced by the American chestnut.

Planting these trees can, in the long run, greatly improve the carrying capacity of a piece of hunting property - not only for deer, but other game such as turkeys. The potent mix of high-energy carbohydrates and body-building proteins in chestnuts provide the key ingredients for deer and turkeys to enter the fall and winter seasons in top condition.

For example, does go into breeding season healthier, increasing both the survival rate and birth weight of their fawns. Turkeys get through the winter in better condition for the spring breeding season. Bucks gain body mass and have the energy to get through rut and the winter with less physical decline. When spring rolls around, they spend less time returning to top physical shape and get to put energy into antler growth.

Scientific studies have also shown that even deer that have never previously been exposed to chestnuts prefer them to acorns at a 100:1 ratio. If deer are leaving your land, chestnuts planted as tree food plots will draw them back. Chestnuts also produce strong crops annually, unlike most oak species, which tend to cycle through heavy and lean years.

If you are trying to improve the wildlife habitat on your land for the long term, Chestnut Hill Outdoors chestnut trees deserve serious consideration. If you plant them now, your habitat improvement becomes a legacy that will outlive you - and that's not something you can say about other food plots.

To find out more about chestnuts, check out the Chestnut Hill Outdoors web site at www.chestnuthilloutdoors.com.