Well it is almost summer here at the Lodge and as we patiently await trail camera pictures of our newly born fawns for 2017 we shall provide everyone with a brief status report.
Stand movements have been made per our previous post. I am excited about their locations for this year based upon movement patterns last year. The new portable hexagon blind is being moved into the northeast "coffin" corner later today and will hopefully help to finally close the deal on the big buck that has been evading hunters in that area of the property. Trails have been brush hogged a little wider in places for easier movement to stands.
Trail cameras are showing a changing doe to buck ratio. In past years I have been trying to reduce this ratio and I am cautiously optimistic from what I am seeing this Spring. However, it should be noted that there were clearly a lot of late born bucks that may not have established their own movement zones yet, so we will update this assessment in early Fall, when some of these younger bucks may no longer be in this area.
There has also been an uptick in predators at the Lodge. A decent sized bobcat is showing up on a regular basis and I am blaming him for a lower turkey population this year. I might even put a bounty on his head for customers this year of $100. Bobcat season runs from November 15-January 31. We are also going to conduct a "coyote cleansing" in the near future to help protect our new fawns.
Fall food plots will be planted later in July and will be a new mix of soybeans, wheat, radishes, and turnips, called Eagle Broadside, that should have groceries growing at different times to replace what is being eaten. This will hopefully extend the life of the food plots well beyond rifle season.
That is a brief rundown of what we tasks we have completed and which tasks are still to come. Please give me a call if you have any questions or just want to get more information about a future hunt. I am happy to help in any way I can.
