Some good news from the drought

From the Indiana DNR:

In the Wabash River, the drought is killing invasive Asian carp, which are a threat to native species. Asian carp prefer living in oxbows and backwater areas, which are drying up and leaving the fish stranded without adequate water. "At least Asian carp may not gain an additional competitive advantage over native species this year," said Bill James, chief of fisheries for Indiana DNR. "It might be a year where things kind of hold their own. Species like smallmouth bass tend to have higher reproductive success during low flow years."

The drought is about to kill a bunch of whitetail deer if they don't quit eating my garden up,I run'em off and they ignore me and come back. They've ate the tops off 4 rows of beans and all my sweet potato vines,waiting on the sweet corn to be the next casualty.

[QUOTE=kyfanatic;494181]The drought is about to kill a bunch of whitetail deer if they don't quit eating my garden up,I run'em off and they ignore me and come back. They've ate the tops off 4 rows of beans and all my sweet potato vines,waiting on the sweet corn to be the next casualty.[/QUOTE]

Glenn this drought is really stressing the deer. Between the heat and lack of good water and food, the bugs are eating them alive. We will find some dead mature bucks this year when we head to the fields, big Doe's and young ones to. I jumped a fawn the other day laying in a patch of weeds right in the middle of the creek..

[QUOTE=mhall;494185]Glenn this drought is really stressing the deer. Between the heat and lack of good water and food, the bugs are eating them alive. We will find some dead mature bucks this year when we head to the fields, big Doe's and young ones to. I jumped a fawn the other day laying in a patch of weeds right in the middle of the creek..[/QUOTE]

I have been thinking along the same lines Mark. It seemed we had a good fawn crop this year, but I wouldn't be suprised if we get another major EHD outbreak. If so, mature bucks could be few and far between.

[QUOTE=mhall;494185]Glenn this drought is really stressing the deer. Between the heat and lack of good water and food, the bugs are eating them alive. We will find some dead mature bucks this year when we head to the fields, big Doe's and young ones to. I jumped a fawn the other day laying in a patch of weeds right in the middle of the creek..[/QUOTE]


Yes,I know,it's been hard on everything.That's why I've been taking it all in stride,but there's a limit when it comes to my food supply.I've seen fewer fawns here this year than normal,there are several does that either lost them or are without. I have one healthy looking little spotted fella that hangs out in the field near my barn,but he seemed to be born later than usual for here.
The creek here is puddled up,been over 100 degrees for what seems like two weeks and we haven't had any rain until yesterday since late May.I've had to irrigate the garden,but the pasture,yard,and everything else is already brown. I noticed the big shagbark hickories are dropping the nuts before they are developed,going to be tough on all wildlife.

It's tough fellas. It seems we either have floods or nothing at all. Yesterday it rained all around us, north, south, west and east and we had about 20 drops. My place is getting ugly dry and so is alot of folks.
Maybe later this week they are saying we might get some, Lord a willin......

We got nice rain yesterday first rain in seven weeks I think it is to late for the corn but will help some of he beans. I live on the Wabash river on the Illinois side. I have not heard anything about the Asian Carp kill Tim but it would be one of the few positives of the drought. The river is so low they probably were covered with ticks.

[QUOTE]I wouldn't be suprised if we get another major EHD outbreak. If so, mature bucks could be few and far between.[/QUOTE]

The last bad drought we recovered two 170+ nontyp. bucks that fell to blue tongue. That was pretty hard to swallow considering the time and money i put into making sure they stay healthy. I would hate to see that again but I agree we're not too far off...

As far as the weather goes the abnormal is the new normal, I think that is what you can expect from here on out. jmo

I put a radio up in the garden last night hoping to scare the deers and coons away from my sweet corn which they are decimating,I also set two live traps on the other side of the garden.I guess the radio doesn't work on coons,I caught two young ones using an ear of sweet corn and a couple snack cakes my wife keeps around for the kids.Must have a sow and her family dancing in the corn to the music at night,as bad as I hate it,going to have to kill them,I don't want to haul my problem off to somebody else.

[QUOTE]I put a radio up in the garden last night hoping to scare the deers and coons away from my sweet corn which they are decimating,I also set two live traps on the other side of the garden.I guess the radio doesn't work on coons,I caught two young ones using an ear of sweet corn and a couple snack cakes my wife keeps around for the kids.Must have a sow and her family dancing in the corn to the music at night,as bad as I hate it,going to have to kill them,I don't want to haul my problem off to somebody else[/QUOTE]

One thing that has worked for me is take crappy old hotel soap and break it up a bit. Put it in a sock and hang them around the garden. It stopped the deer and rabits right away. No sign of anything gettin into it but not sure if we ever had a coon problem or not.

Soap will work on deer. So will human hair in panty hose, but you have to freshen it about every other week or so with new hair..