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Tough Times

Central Iowa

Central Iowa

Life Member
The tough times of winter are upon us and the deer are doing all they can to get any form of nutrition they can. Locust pods and standing crops seem to be a favorite right now. My Turnip plots after a hot start in November went cold with the ice of early December. Today I checked a couple of plots and had to chip through two inches of solid ice under the snow to get to the still green rye and highly nutritious purple top turnips. I think this will be a tough winter on the herd. I believe the large amount of bucks shedding is a direct correlation. Usually at this time of year these plots would be tore to no end. This year the sign is very limited. Plenty of food they just can't get to it. Hopefully the forecasted warm temps. Will ease the burden.
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<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The tough times of winter are upon us </div></div>

Just imagine being a bobwhite quail... /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/crazy.gif

Looks like plenty of warm weather will make it easier on wildlife (and old guys like me.. /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/blush.gif /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif )

I would add that this time of year is when having natural browse available is very important. Look at the sprouts and shoots in the edge feathering thread...they can always reach them with the exception of ice covering.
 
They're doing the same with one of our alfalfa fields. Deer are tough animals though and can survive very harsh conditions. I was out bowhunting the other night and a 1.5 year old 8 pointer came cruising through just before noon and he was eating the leaves or whatever they are off one of the cedar trees in the thicket I was hunting.
 
Warm temperatures in N.E. Iowa have came at an opportune time.

My Turnips were not being hit at all due to the ice and snow.
I had the farmer drive thru them Sat. to break it up some.
Checked it out Sunday morning and they were already digging in it. Sat it last night and had a button (I think) and a nice 120-130" eight at 30 yards just devouring the turnips. Pretty neat to see. He got a pass for this year.

I checked my other plot yesterday afternoon and they were hitting it real hard. I was going to hunt it later in the day but as I was walking to it the valley erupted with deer.
I counted 14 in all (bummer) day late dollar short. I will hunt it the next three weeks though. /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

Thank goodness for the warmer weather. It changed their patterns but dispersed the deer to more areas so I can be more doe effective. /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif
 
The deer were hammering my turnip plot when we had the snow and cold temps, now they are back to the corn fields.
 
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