Food Plots, Cameras, Planning, Management - that is about everything this post could say summarized to the fullest degree, but that isn't worthy of a blog post in my opinion. So, let's elaborate.
THE DRAW
We had a group of two (2) bowhunters fail to draw their non-resident archery tags in Zone 5 with 5pts each (I confirmed points visually prior to draw). Everyone else drew, including one (1) lucky guy coming in Late Muzzleloader season who had 1 point. How lucky!
FINAL HEAD COUNT
Including the two guys above who didn't draw that probably should have (getting tougher!), we had one individual have a unfavorable situation arise that is not going to let him come in November for his archery hunt, so we are down three (3) total archery guys. That means I have at least space for one (1) new archery hunter in Zone 5 for Oct/Nov 2024. We are now sitting like 45%/55% bow/gun for this year. Not bad!
FOOD PLOTS
We had our plan for soybean plots being planted, and they were no-tilled after mowing and spraying. Due to a miscommunication with people involved, they didn't get sprayed again until last week (August 20th), so there is some weeds. Luckily, that weedcover has protected the plants from grazing, so all should be good there. We also have some food plots being bought back from the land's farmer, so that will help us tremendously. We just completed our brassica blend and winter pea food plots via no-till after mowing and spraying. These are not a variety we can respray, so we need rain to make them boom. With an unusually hot week, heat index in the 105-115 range for a few days now, a weather system should come off of it. We need some good rain! Then, we will be set!
TRAIL CAMERAS
Likely my lengthiest topic, I replenished my Spartan GoCams and added a white flash to see what all the hype was about. So far so good. Bucks are starting to relocate, which is normal during the velvet shedding phase of the year which will go on now through the next week or so. Then, they are hard-horned! Deer populations are equal or slightly better than what I saw last year, and I think that is due to a mild winter and a very healthy & wet growing season so far this year, which also helps the antler development! I have a few Tactacams that I am trying NOT to put out because I've had nothing but headaches with them. So, I will be adding non-cell cameras to my arsenal and getting them out soon. With the trail cameras we are running, I am anxious to see what shows up by time late October and scrape season arrives. Can't wait!
PLANNING/MANAGEMENT
I am in the process of emailing all of my current hunt-year archery hunters about their farms assigned to them and our approach. It will be a fun time to get looking at aerial maps together over a Zoom call over the coming weeks. I must admit, this year has been a tough one financially due to inflation costs rising. Our 2025 prices are higher to better accommodate such, but I'd love to drop them down if November's election can produce an optimal result for our economy. Yet, I had one hunter offer to pay a bit more to help offset some additional costs we've ran into, which is greatly appreciated! If anyone else is willing, please let me know. This is not manadatory whatsoever, but it is welcomed. As deer patterns start to change over the next month to 45 days, we will be working to lock-in on specific new areas (if any) on our farms when it comes to stands and blinds. Should be fun!
That is our late summer update for now. Can't wait to see some hard-horned bucks making their rounds. Stay tuned!
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