Looking dry in Mid TN still…
Food Plots Well... how much did you get?
- Thread starter megalomaniac
- Start date
BSK
Well-Known Member
Back to zero rain for West TN in the 16-day model forecasts.
Worst conditions in 20 years for me. July drought put clover dormant, rain in Aug got it going again & Sept drought had it looking like a desert... Spent more on herbicide this year than ever & most look like they've not been sprayedat all. Planted 20 annual plots on 9/8-10 & some are still hanging on & others not so much. Have 12 that have been disked & cultipacked for 3 weeks just waiting on rain before seeding. Haven't spread a pound of fert yet. Don't even want to think about how much $ so far & afraid that I get to do it all over again in Oct IF we get rain. Probably just overseed all with wheat or rye & run cultipacker over it IF we have immenant rain in forecast. There is not a single nut on our 3500 acres. I hunted 3 afternoons this week & couldn't believe the number of squirrels on ground searching for last year's nuts & already cutting pine cones. Afraid it's the perfect storm & gonna be a tough winter for our wildlife. One 2 acre clover plot that has a lot of shade & has done pretty well considering, has been decimated in the past two weeks. Had 20+- deer on it every day this summer & they've finally overwhelmed it the past 10 days, might be 1/4'" tall now.
Last time we had these conditions was 2018 or 19 and bucks were dropping antlers by Christmas.
What was also strange is that the 3 afternoons I hunted this week I saw 13 bucks, 6 does & 6 fawns. 6 of the bucks were 3-1/2+ and four of older ones were still in a bachelor group. That's just flat weird for us, usually plots are doe meccas for us in early fall.
Last time we had these conditions was 2018 or 19 and bucks were dropping antlers by Christmas.
What was also strange is that the 3 afternoons I hunted this week I saw 13 bucks, 6 does & 6 fawns. 6 of the bucks were 3-1/2+ and four of older ones were still in a bachelor group. That's just flat weird for us, usually plots are doe meccas for us in early fall.
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BSK
Well-Known Member
You just described my situation to a T. Summer crops, total failure. Fall crops, total failure. Acorns, total failure.
Waiting on rain to top-sow everything again, but if we don't get rain in the next few weeks, we're in deep trouble with the end of the growing season upon us. Deer are hammering what little growth we got out of the Sept. 7-9 planting. It will be gone in another week.
Total disaster. Expect the worst year we've had in the 37 years we've owned our property, and 2019 would be hard to beat with its drought and hurricane damage in late October. Didn't kill a deer that year.
Deer 1
Well-Known Member
Thinking about adding a watering hole instead of plots this time.
DoubleRidge
Well-Known Member
Checked on one plot yesterday that shows mixed results...this plot is one that was planted early.... originally got great germination.....long story short.... shade side of plot is in clover....and what's growing is getting hammered.... middle portion of plot is in barasicas and it's spotty... but they are hanging on...4 to 6" tall and the deer are hitting them hard....upper portion of plot is in cereal rye....which was green....but now it's thin and weak looking....overall not very hopeful that there will be anything left in this particular plot by November...the way it's going...along with the weather forecast...I'm guessing it will be eaten to the ground....I'll likely hit it heavy with wheat and hope that some of the barasicas hang on till the next rain...not much choice at this point.
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
Mine are barely hanging on... they need fertilize, but I'm glad I didn't put it down 5w ago, as I have a suspicion I will be replanting everything.
Now wishing I hadn't killed 4 acres of native vegetation ( coralberry, briers) to convert to food plot. It's just 4ac of burnt up vegetation, and STILL haven't had the moisture to plant seed.
This drought came at the WORST time
Now wishing I hadn't killed 4 acres of native vegetation ( coralberry, briers) to convert to food plot. It's just 4ac of burnt up vegetation, and STILL haven't had the moisture to plant seed.
This drought came at the WORST time
Cotton crop failure in TX
My deer plots are dirt piles right now. But I try to keep things in perspective.
My friends and family in West Texas are in dire financial straights. 4 inches of rain since February. With inflation, electricity is up 20%, diesel is $5, seed is out of sight. My best friend has $700,000 invested in a section of irrigated cotton right now. He will have to make 2+ bales to the acre to break even. And he has the best crop in the area. There will be bankruptcies by the score this year.
From the article...."With a regional production loss of about 65%, Hudson said the region could face a $2.1 billion loss in total economic activity and more than 17,100 job cuts across the region. Even with crop insurance, that loss would only slightly decrease to a still-detrimental $1.2 billion and about 9,200 job cuts."
BSK
Well-Known Member
Can't believe a few of my plots are sort of hanging on. Must be living off the morning dew. But only growth is on shady side of each plot.
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
Getting crazy dry past month at home in south MS... we normally don't plant plots down here until mid Oct... strange year for sure, as we had rain at least every other day from June till mid Aug. Then it just stopped. Yard is dying, azaleas are all wilted.
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BSK
Well-Known Member
Long-range models starting to hint as possible rains in the Oct. 13-18 period. But we shall see. I don't bank on anything until the models show something inside 7 days.
JCDEERMAN
Well-Known Member
Same here. I have never seen more deer and turkeys in the 23 years we've had our place. While that was the objective going into transforming the property into this, man….our fall plantings just can't keep up. If we had rain, we'd be in abundance of food. I give it another week, and it'll likely all be wiped out.
JCDEERMAN
Well-Known Member
That's what I've been told - morning dew has been (somewhat) of a lifeline and has been heavy at our place. Thank goodness it's stayed cool. It does help that ours was drilled. Shady spots are about 3 times higher than sunny spots.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Starting to see indications from two of three main long-range models of a wet period moving in starting Thursday, Oct. 13. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
X10
wildlifefarmer
Well-Known Member
I hope you/they are right. I'm planning on spraying Wed 6 acres of clover firebreaks that is now barnyard millet. Then top sow wheat and rye jnext week rain or not. We will not have a chance to plant until mid Nov.
Everyone need to do their rain dance and wash their cars!!
BSK
Well-Known Member
And as soon as I posted that the next model runs look very different. Still a chance of some precipitation between the 13th and 18th, but not the solid rain that had been predicted earlier.
WilcoKen
Well-Known Member
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I am seeing this in Wilson County as well. Usually by now it sounds like rain in the woods I hunt. Not this year. I do see a few still on the branches but they are definitely not dropping. Hoping some stronger fall winds get them to start falling. I've seen 1 doe in 4 sits and she was just passing through. Going to move to field edges til I start seeing acorns on the ground.
Rain gage available, needs new home. No longer needed in SW TN. 
