The rest of the summer has been bad to say the least. This is the worst summer drought and heat that I have ever seen. All of the farmers in the area are hurting. The crops look terrible and are burning up. Not only has this summer been bad for farmers, it's also very hard on wildlife. Ponds, rivers, and creeks are drying up and it's harder for wildlife to find water. They get quite a bit of their water from vegetation, so that has been a problem as well. There are three components to a whitetail buck growing big antlers...genetics, nutrition, and age. Normally, a mature buck has no trouble getting the proper nutrition to reach its potential. This year however, most mature bucks will struggle to reach their potential because of the lack of nutrition. Food plots are struggling for most hunters and the crops are even worse. Because of this, mature buck hunters might want to pass on some of their hit-listers and hope they make it another year. My food plots are actually doing pretty well...the alfalfa is pretty thick, the clover is starting to fill in, and the chicory is doing amazing. I've never seen chicory so big. We just mowed and baled it for the first time this year and we got several round bales off of it. The weeds were starting to take over a little bit, but the mowing really helped. The deer have really been hitting it hard, you can see where they have been cutting the plants off. The prairie grass hasn't germinated yet, but that's normal because it usually takes 3 months. I am worried how it will fare with the drought though.
The heat has had a huge impact on wildlife viewing because the deer haven't been coming out until after dark. It's been a little bit of a struggle to see big bucks in the evening. Fields that I normally see "shooters" in are only producing small bucks and does. The big boys just aren't moving that much because of the lack of water and high temps. I have however, been getting some decent pictures of mature bucks on trail cams. I didn't at first, but I had some real nice pics when I checked the cams last week. I can only hope that we keep getting some rain here and there to keep the food plots going through fall. I am getting ready to plant my turnips this week and I hope that they grow well so the deer have a nice crop to eat during the winter. I still have a couple of stands to put up and cut shooting lanes for. Other than that, we are ready to roll for the fall. I said "we" because I just bought Michelle a Hoyt Kobalt, so she will be bow hunting for the first time in her life. I can't wait to get it down to Dead End Archery and get it set up for her so she can start shooting! It's going to be great to spend more time together in the great outdoors.
I really feel sorry for the people that live in cities or don't hunt because they have no idea what they are missing. I take it for granted sometimes, because I've done this my whole life, but I can't imagine not being a hunter or outdoorsman...and I can't imagine living in the city. You couldn't pay me enough to live there. It's one of the single greatest things you can do to help the environment and keep wildlife populations in check, not to mention it's just good clean fun. God put wild animals on earth for us to hunt...all of our ancestors did it at some point. Organizations like PETA try to take our God-given right to hunt away from us, yet they don't do anything to try to help keep wildlife populations under control. They don't even take care of domestic animals. Last year alone, they euthanized 98% of their dogs and cats in "no kill" shelters because they couldn't find homes for them. Uneducated groups like this are part of the problem with the world we live in. That's all I will say on this topic...for now. I think I will dedicate a post to this topic at another time...maybe during season. That's the beauty of having my own blog...I can say whatever the hell I want!! lol I hope everyone's food plots are doing decent and that you have all of your stands put up. Keep shooting your bows and pray for rain!!
