I am Jesse Knox. I was born in Lapeer, Michigan. My family and I moved to southeast Iowa of Van Buren county in 2004 where we lived on a farm of 132 acres. My father was Paul Knox, a passionate whitetail deer habitat manager and conservationist. Paul Knox was well known on Iowa Whitetail.com, QDMA, Outreach Outdoors, and Michigan Sportsmen. Paul was known as Dbltree as his username. My father posted thousands of pictures and detailed posts about how to manage whitetail deer from food plots to TSI. Paul helped thousands of hunters achieve their goals as habitat managers and hunters. My father started his own business focused on habitat management called, Dbltree Habitat Enhancement INC

Unfortunately, my father was diagnosed with ALS in 2013 and passed in 2014 leaving the business to me and the farm. I was a young 20 something year old that had a lot to sort out. I made a lot of mistakes, but I chose to learn from the mistakes and take ownership for the mishaps. Mistakes are powerful lessons and hopefully from my mishaps I can teach others not to repeat these mistakes in habitat management. I have 12 years of experience in creating food plots, prairie establishment for both CRP and private use, and Forest Stand Improvement practices from Crop Tree Release, Invasive Species Removal, and prescribed fire.

When I first took over my father’s business I did not appreciate conservation as I do today. I am an active hunter chasing after anything I can. I love archery hunting for whitetail deer, but I have an obsession for dove hunting. Our 132 acre farm is my playground of conservation. We have been extensively managing the habitat to leave a better legacy for tomorrow. As Doug Duren says, “It’s not our land it’s our turn”. I have a deep love and passion for restoring the oak savanna on the farm. My focus is beyond the next big buck, but hyper focus on the next baby white oak that will grow to replace the massive wolf oaks on the farm. I am focused on hearing the haunting sound of a quail covey call and the simple “beep” of a woodcock. I consider myself a student of Aldo Leopold and encourage every landowner I meet to pick up a copy of “Sandcounty Almanac” to become aware of the actions we make today, which can impact the future and leave a lasting legacy.

I have been married to my wife Jessica (32) since November 1st 2015. We have two children Teagan (4) and Kacey (21 months). My family is my drive to always do better and be a better man than I was yesterday. My wife and I live on her organic family farm. The farm raises organic soybeans and hay. We help everywhere we can from planting the crop, making hay, marketing crops, sweeping the shop, whatever needs done we try to help. Family is my number one priority and conservation is a close second. My children are a daily reminder and encouragement of building a strong lasting legacy for a better tomorrow.

Iowa Counties: SE Iowa