Rhino Posted March 25, 2014 Report Share Posted March 25, 2014 I spent the week last week working on the farm in Missouri. After returning home it took a few days for my sore legs to recover. Been catching up since then at home. We frost seeded ~42 ac. in our clover mix on 22 food plots. We just about doubled the number of food plots we had previously including taking over some of the less productive tillable acreage that was being farmed and we staked and flagged those areas. Met with our farmer to show him those areas along with where we wanted him to leave standing crops for us this year. Added mineral to our 14 mineral licks. Did a controlled burn on ~80 acres too. Did various other chores that needed to be done. A lot of those just seem to slip my mind now...all seems to run together. Never seems to be enough time though. Woke up early the 1st morning to listen for turkeys gobbling. Heard several but they didn't gobble much. The 2nd to last morning we woke up early to listen for turkeys gobbling again. Big difference from ~6 days earlier. Heard about 10 gobbling while relaxing with a cup of coffee or 2 from the porch. Several pretty close that worked their way toward some hens sounding off close by. They're getting right! Did a little scouting and picked some new stand locations. The sad thing was, while scouting we found the remains of 3 bucks. Reported them to our local conservation officer. The biggest was ~155 class main frame 10 point with a mule deer kicker off a G2. He appeared to be an EHD kill that still had some velvet left on the rack. One of the others appeared to be a mature 9 point based on his mass and exceptional main beam length...~145 class. The third looked like a 3.5 year old 8 point. No velvet on the other 2 so hard to say what caused their death. There was nothing but bones left on all 3. We may have to make one more short trip before the April 21st opener of turkey season to do some more chores. If I do, I'll try to time it where I drive from there straight to Kansas for the turkey hunt with Tim & others. My buddy can fly home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted March 25, 2014 Report Share Posted March 25, 2014 The Fun/Work Never Ends! Shame to lose those bucks Al. Did you have any tc pics of them? Just a guess, but possible they were shot by hunters on a neighboring property and not recovered? And yeah you are right the work never ends, seems each year there is more to do than the last. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted March 25, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2014 Shame to lose those bucks Al. Did you have any tc pics of them? Just a guess, but possible they were shot by hunters on a neighboring property and not recovered? I hear ya William. Concerns me finding those 3 on the limited amount of land we had time to cover. The 2 mature bucks were ~300 yards apart along the same creek. As far a trail cams pics...the 3.5 year old 8 point may be one of 3 tall tined 8's we got trail cam pics of last year. They all looked very similar...tall on tines but thin on mass & about the same spread. Found him by our mineral lick in the burn area. Didn't have any pics of the other 2 bucks. The main frame 10 with the mule deer kicker was found in a creek right under our north line fence. I know our neighbor to the north there didn't shoot him. He and his sons are the only ones that hunt his property and they don't bowhunt. I have pics of a buck similar to the mature 9 but the one I have pics of has his left G4 broken off and he's smaller. The one I found has a right G4 broken off so no pics of him. I think he was either a very late season hit & lost or winter kill (my best guess). There was still ~1/2 the hide on his skull and he still stunk pretty bad. He has exceptional main beam length. When the odor passes I'll measure them but I think they're close to 25". I'll try to remember to take pics of them next time I'm up there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muff Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 WOW food plots already....we still have tons of snow and the ground is frozen stiff.....and they are calling for another snow storm tonight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bowhunter97 Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 Dang man, im fixing to put in a spring food plot myself and the deer down here are already growing some bone back Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbHunterNY Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 you mild weather folk... always getting to start our to do list before us northerners. although i have started some of my list. sorry to hear about the bucks. probably 10+ percent loss in higher age class bucks right there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogdoc Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 wish i had the nerves to do a controlled burn. Gotta love frost seeding. No soil disturbance thus less weeds!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colorado bob Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 It's not work if you are doing what you love to do. Looks like a little slice of heaven there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 The Fun/Work Never Ends! While looking for sheds found a little 7 here i watched back in our early seasons Al, may have passed on him during the archery season. Would have guessed him to be a 1.5 year old, could have been something nice in a couple years. Figure he got shot during the gun season on a property that is leased out. Stinks to find one you passed up. Controlled burns of fields are not to bad Todd. Can cut a break around the area you want to burn or you can also burn the edges first, then catch a calm afternoon. Burned off our clover plots before planting them this last time around, still ended up with some crab grass finding its way back. Got to hit those plots with clethodim soon. Need to fertilize then soon too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted March 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 you mild weather folk... always getting to start our to do list before us northerners. although i have started some of my list. sorry to hear about the bucks. probably 10+ percent loss in higher age class bucks right there.I wouldn't call what NE Missouri had a mild winter. Certainly milder than NE NY. Keeping my fingers crossed we don't find anymore mature buck remains this year. wish i had the nerves to do a controlled burn. Gotta love frost seeding. No soil disturbance thus less weeds!!!Did the controlled burn with our forester and a professional burn crew. We played the part of 2 of the grunts in the burn crew. Safer than a couple of rookies trying to control it. Yep...gotta love frost seeding. Easy compared to the alternative. One area we frost seeded we could never have planted later since it's at the far SE end of a tillable field (only access is from the W side) that's close to 1.5 miles long. Couldn't have done it if the ground hadn't still been frozen either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevebeilgard Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 It's not work if you are doing what you love to do. Looks like a little slice of heaven there. yep. i agree. most of us wish we could do the same work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redkneck Posted April 2, 2014 Report Share Posted April 2, 2014 Too bad about the dead bucks Al. Was one heck of a winter though from Canada to the coast no doubt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.