Theres a difference in managing for natural warm and cool season forage, and just letting everything growup in woody brush head high like twra is doing with its wmas
Right.
I wasn't understanding the magnitude of exactly what everyone was complaining about.
I mean, I've noticed the area being let-go recently, with many areas growing up to where they're impassable.
I took my Son out there to scout/setup for the juvy hunt a couple weeks back. There were 2 areas that I'd planned on checking that have been great in the past. I wasn't able to access either one with the truck, like I always have before. So we came back and picked up the 4 wheelers to get back in there. There were several large trees across the road, and they had been there for awhile.
Anyways, after we got around all that, the plots that were always sewn with winter wheat and clover had grown up, head-high with briars. There were a few hog trails meandering thru here and there, and after we busted our way thru 300-400 yards of briar thicket, and checked for deer sign, without finding any- we came home.
I'd checked 2 additional areas prior to those, they both were lacking deer sign as well. Keep in mind, I've hunted out there for over 20 years, and never seen a lack of game in these areas like this.
Maybe when guys stop applying for Catoosa quota hunts, someone will change their mind about how it's being managed. ? Of course by then, it will require much more labor to clean the areas up, and may require a dozer instead of a bush hog.