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UGUIDE

UGUIDE

Active member
Just rolled into camp with a load of seed on to plant cover crops behind harvested winter wheat.....

Problem is....the wheat is not coming out easy. Wet wet wet.

The locals cannot remember getting this much rain in August.

Soil texture is like mud when usually it is dust this time of year. The weeds are winning the battle this year. 2" in the rain gauge upon arrival. Puddles in the road.

Not sure how the new broods like this but too much water is never good.

We'll see what the weeks delivers......
 
WW is barely coming out back there?:eek: Corn has already been chopped once after the wheat out here.
 
I would think most broods are of enough size to handle a little wet weather..
it can only help late summer growth for cover....and help avoid the dry, dusty conditions we usually see for the opener.
 
Chris. Would you expect the corn harvest to be later this year ? If so,how much ? Wondering how this will affect the seasons hunting. Thanks.
 
I have talked to a guy in Jones county and his corn is 8ft + tall. Says he can't remember the last time cover looked this good. Most of the rain there has come in the last 3-4 weeks. He can't get his WW out because it is raining every couple days or so. Not huge rains, but good light soakers. The high temps are in the 70's and 80's. If the hens were still nesting, I would say this cool wet weather would be bad. I can't imagine this cool moist weather is stressing them too bad. He is saying the broods he sees are huge 10-12+ birds. Last year with 100+ heat and no rain he was seeing 2-3 chick broods. I think this year might be something special in the right area.
 
carptom1 said:
I have talked to a guy in Jones county and his corn is 8ft + tall. Says he can't remember the last time cover looked this good. Most of the rain there has come in the last 3-4 weeks. He can't get his WW out because it is raining every couple days or so. Not huge rains, but good light soakers. The high temps are in the 70's and 80's. If the hens were still nesting, I would say this cool wet weather would be bad. I can't imagine this cool moist weather is stressing them too bad. He is saying the broods he sees are huge 10-12+ birds. Last year with 100+ heat and no rain he was seeing 2-3 chick broods. I think this year might be something special in the right area.
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You are right Carptom, you need moisture to have chicks and cover. Like everything else moderation is the key there are late hatched birds but I agree most birds are pretty good sized by now.
 
Headin west said:
Haymaker,
How are things looking out your direction?
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The cover is great but we are getting dry. Cool weather is good for polination, but we need a rain and then some heat. Unless things change alot and soon there will be corn standing at the beginning of season. I see chicks, hard to tell how good the hatch is because of all the cover. I believe it will be good probably not a record.
 
Nasty-G said:
Chris. Would you expect the corn harvest to be later this year ? If so,how much ? Wondering how this will affect the seasons hunting. Thanks.
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You never know but I would say yes because it was late planting and not quite as hot as last year. things are behind in general if you look at USDA reports but then some data is behind last years record early harvest but ahead of the 5 year average.
 
I just clipped about 25 acres of a cool season nesting mix last night. Broods are definitely good sized now but I also have come across some small ones just barely able to lift off and not fly far.

The cover is tremendous and i should have clipped this when i clipped rest of stuff on the brood contest. Needs it though. 12" western wheat grass lying under 6' kochia.

I also added another set of bells on each drop chain on the flushing bar and it is really good at getting things moving in front of the machine.

They now have a great fear of Santi Claus......jingle bellss jingle bells......
 
It is a shame you cut some of the best habitat you could ask for in trimming the weeds. I told you that the grass would be growing underneath them. You have your plan but my opinion you would have done better leaving mother nature alone. The grass is coming, the weeds would have just fallen over in the spring, it may be a little weedy for a couple years but the grass will take over. Three years for grass is my experience.
 
Bob said:
It is a shame you cut some of the best habitat you could ask for in trimming the weeds. I told you that the grass would be growing underneath them. You have your plan but my opinion you would have done better leaving mother nature alone. The grass is coming, the weeds would have just fallen over in the spring, it may be a little weedy for a couple years but the grass will take over. Three years for grass is my experience.
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You do your thing and i will do mine and we can keep the shame out of it.

PS. where I spot clipped it earlier this year there were no weeds at all. Just pure grass. I should have clipped it twice instead of once.
 
carptom1 said:
I have talked to a guy in Jones county and his corn is 8ft + tall. Says he can't remember the last time cover looked this good. Most of the rain there has come in the last 3-4 weeks. He can't get his WW out because it is raining every couple days or so. Not huge rains, but good light soakers. The high temps are in the 70's and 80's. If the hens were still nesting, I would say this cool wet weather would be bad. I can't imagine this cool moist weather is stressing them too bad. He is saying the broods he sees are huge 10-12+ birds. Last year with 100+ heat and no rain he was seeing 2-3 chick broods. I think this year might be something special in the right area.
Click to expand...

The weather is not cool enough that it would hurt anything besides chicks that were a day or two old. Some drown in a flash flood?Possible but as of yet those have been very localized. If seeing those big broods while there is plenty of moisture is great.
 
UGUIDE said:
You do your thing and i will do mine and we can keep the shame out of it.

PS. where I spot clipped it earlier this year there were no weeds at all. Just pure grass. I should have clipped it twice instead of once.
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Yeah, you may get lucky without mowing but it's a very slim chance. I can't imagine with that amount of cover that warm seasons could ever take hold.:)
 
Uncle Buck said:
The weather is not cool enough that it would hurt anything besides chicks that were a day or two old. Some drown in a flash flood?Possible but as of yet those have been very localized. If seeing those big broods while there is plenty of moisture is great.
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Yep. 70's and 80's are very good temps for pheasant chicks. If night temps are getting too cool though that's another issue. So far so good, though an area in ND saw some patchy frost a week or two ago. Obviously that's no good for very young chicks in that area. Over all conditions have been very favorable for a second nesting attempt/chicks in many parts of the Midwest.

This could be a very good year for wild pheasants.
 
Interesting comment "you may get lucky by not mowing but it is a very slim chance." I will disagree with you till death and I would challenge you on that the weedy stuff will give you better habitat than the mowed weeds/grass. The grass will choke out the weeds, just give it time. If you don't mess with mowing those first few years the habitat will be much better than when you have mowed areas with grass just starting. Also the tall weeds will catch more snow for spring moisture but will make those high energy seeds from the weeds available for the birds and that is what I thought he was trying to help. The dynamics of getting grass to grow can be manipulated to help the birds, your hunting and other animals if you open your eyes. If your trying to create a golf course look your missing oh so very much. Hopefully, he included some forbs. I wonder just how much habitat work you have done 1pheas4?
 
Bob, what do you do when FSA calls you and says a neighbor of yours reported seeing abundant noxious weeds on your property. Says you need to clip them or spray them or they will dock your CRP rent or the weed board will come and take care of it and add it to your property taxes???
 
Spot spray the noxious weeds or just clip the biggest concentrations. Communicate with the NRCS office, sometimes it is just too wet or other factors are involved but by communicating with them they know you are aware of a problem if it exists and your trying to move forward to rectifying the problem. The fellows that I have worked with have all been understanding if there is noxious weed problem with conditions attached. Though, the law is the law and you need to address noxious weeds. I've never had a noxious weed problem thru out on a new grass planting beautiful Kochia and some other broadleaf weeds was what I encountered. Now when I had over a half section of a wetland flooded for two years and it finally dried up that was a different story. Canadian thistle I was infested with. I had to hire a spray plane and wrote some substantial checks for chemical and application.

On inspection where I had a bunch of kochia and broadleaf weeds growing the Canadian thistle couldn't compete on my observation but the grass could and was observable underneath and came on as those first few years progressed.

I have often thought the best financial expense to reward on number of pheasants compared to grassland, food plots and tree belts would be to just disc up ten acres double fertilize and stand back and watch the Kochia grow. The birds just love the stuff to nest in, eat and use for winter cover.

I still like that you are doing something to help.
 
Bob said:
I have often thought the best financial expense to reward on number of pheasants compared to grassland, food plots and tree belts would be to just disc up ten acres double fertilize and stand back and watch the Kochia grow. The birds just love the stuff to nest in, eat and use for winter cover.
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I agree. Got a king size spot behind the lodge and they love it mid winter.
 
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