Longleaf's Musings

Burning conditions have not been all that great in my neck of the woods for the last few weeks. Dry and warm. Last weekend we worked on the raccoons up at Blue Granite some more.

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I also got my oldest to go with me to listen for turkeys both mornings. That was the first time I have set him off in the woods in the dark on his own. We walked in together to the highest point on the property and I told him to go down one ridge to a food plot to listen while I went down the longer ridge to listen up and down the river.

It was fun to meet back up 30 minutes later to compare notes. He did well and described in detail the location of the 3 birds he heard gobble.

With it being too dry this weekend to burn any more I spent a few hours plowing more firebreaks and cleaning up some downed trees from Hurricane Mathew that were still laying across fire breaks at Rainbow.

Also checked on the burns from a few weeks back. It always amazes me how quick things start to come back. A little rain and this will be a sea of green in no time.

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Good times!
 
Burn conditions were horrible in the Lowcountry this winter as well. We had very few days with the weather we were looking for, and ultimately we tried to burn in suboptimal conditions twice - both burns were ineffective.

The warm weather woke up the longleaf seedlings, many of which are still in the grass stage, much earlier than usual, so now we can't burn anymore. Our forrester said that when the candles harden off in April he may be able to burn. I hope so because there are thousands (millions?) of slash and loblolly seedlings trying to compete with the longleaf.
 
Cutman I feel your pain.The other complicating factor with the early warm up that we have this year is the ryegrass. It is really popping up quickly now with these warm temps and it will stop a fire quick. It seems like the cover reaches a point where the woody vegetation shades the warm season grasses but still allows the ryegrass to get established each spring. Those areas end up being the ones that need to burn the most and they have the least amount of fuel to carry the fire.
 
Looks like some great property. Hats off to you carrying the workload of two places. I can hardly manage one. Great thread! Nothing like getting the kids involved.
 
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