Upstate Obsession

[KSQ2]

Fall colors are music to the eyes. You have quite symphony playing in that landscape picture. Nice deer too!

 

[Elkaddict]

Another season comes to an end. Being able to live on our upstate property during the pandemic was a treat. I got out for an hour or two 3 or 4x a week during the archery, rifle and MZ season (10/1 through 12/22). Archery was fantastic-I saw and had an opportunity at 5 different 41/2+ year old bucks. Most of the encounters were at 45-55 yds. Standing, I can make that shot 10 out of 10 times. Sitting like I was, it drops to 8 out of ten so I never released an arrow. I did pass several 31/2 year old deer up close. Rifle season started well after the peak of the rut and only one of my target bucks made an appearance. He was so broken up I decided to see what he’d look at next year. I passed numerous smaller deer, and one evening had 37 deer in one of our 6 acre plot complexes at the same time. MZ season only brought opportunities at does. Because of a 30” snowfall, most of the deer yarded up. Ultimately, on my last sit, the MZ belched fire and smoke and I harvested a dry doe.

We had real challenges in the plots with an infestation of lambs quarter. I believe my normal buffet plantings will have to wait for a few years while I use RR corn and beans. The lambsquarter actually out grew and swallowed up the brassicas under the modest drought conditions we had. Consequently, I calculated my brassica production at 25% of normal. This was offset by my best corn crop and very heavy acorn production.
Another challenge was the Covid brought heavier hunting pressure than we’ve ever had. Because I never heard a shot on our place, I haven’t checked the 30+ camera traps I have set up.... I need some of the snow to melt before I can collect cameras and review video footage. I will prosecute and sue any trespassers I can identify. I’m particularly interest in checking one boundary where some down state cops were hunting. They actually ran off a friend who had permission to hunt the adjoining property. There will be hell to pay if I catch them on video (that boundary has signs every 100’ or so when the law only requires every 660’).

I'm real interested in seeing how many of the older bucks survived. The property to the west of us sounded like a shooting gallery at times.

On balance, I’m pleased with the season. I had lots of opportunities and had some quality time.

l’ve got plans for next year in the works. I’m going to plant grain within 40 yards of our archery blinds. I’ve learned there really is no better draw during October on my place, including thick lush clover.

The only thing that remains is the RR beans vs. corn vs alfalfa decision to try to beat back the lambsquarter infestation.

I’ll have some quality time to debate the subject as I’m headed to TX for my annual archery wild boar/deer hunt in TX with my boys/ brothers/nephews.

 

[massey]

My deer like lambs quarter more than brassicas. Did you notice browsing on it?
Also, those mono cultures of LQ don’t happen every year. You need the right climatic conditions to get that.


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[Elkaddict]

My deer like lambs quarter more than brassicas. Did you notice browsing on it?
Also, those mono cultures of LQ don’t happen every year. You need the right climatic conditions to get that.


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Very little compared to the brassicas.

 

[Mennoniteman]

My deer like lambs quarter more than brassicas. Did you notice browsing on it?
Also, those mono cultures of LQ don’t happen every year. You need the right climatic conditions to get that.


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Your deer must be starving. I haven't ever seen browsing on lambsquarter. Or maybe it's an aquired taste. But I'm definitely interested and keeping an eye on it from here on out. If our deer start nibbling lambsquarter I will let a whole field go up in the stuff. It'll be the easiest food plot ever. Maybe even mix it with ragweed...

 

[Elkaddict]

You ready for some spring weather? We’ve had this kind of accumulation since late November. Deer aren’t even trying to dig for brassicas. They’re surviving off of abundant browse and what remains of 5 acres of corn. One of the reasons I’ve been reluctant to jump on the soybean bandwagon is they’d be all but useless.

 

[Native Hunter]

The depth of that snow is amazing to me. The big one we just had is melting off and we are supposed to be warm again this week.

I walked around yesterday looking for what deer were eating during the recent bad spell. I couldn't find anything browsed better than Japanese Honeysuckle. You could easily find the browse line where it climbed up on trees.

 

[Chainsaw]

I hope you get a thaw very soon Tom. Your food supply, planted and natural browse is really doing its job. Three months of that kind of snow levels would test any deer habitat to its limit. If this keeps up you will need to considering adding sidewalks for the deer to help them thru winter. The picture below was on News Junky, reportedly it was taken in the village of Adams, NY. Apparently the deer in Adams have learned that sidewalks are a great way to travel in the late dark hours when the snow starts to get deep.
Seriously though great job on your food program to help get the deer in your area thru this snow-filled winter.

 

[Elkaddict]

Dave, I chuckled at your sidewalk comment. I’ve been taking the big tractor and making trails with the tires from the edge of the bedding areas to the plots.... Perhaps it’s not making a difference but at least I’m trying.... I’m upbeat about the forecast as we are looking at 2 consecutive days in the 30s for the first time since November. Looking forward to a little less of the white stuff. Turkey season is now only 67 days away. The thunder chickens are also in the corn daily.

 

[Jon]

Dave, I chuckled at your sidewalk comment. I’ve been taking the big tractor and making trails with the tires from the edge of the bedding areas too the plots.... Perhaps it’s not making a difference but at least I’m trying.... I’m upbeat about the forecast as we are looking at 2 consecutive days in the 30s for the first time since November. Looking forward to a little less of the white stuff. Turkey season is now only 67 days away. The thunder chickens are also in the corn daily.

I do the same, anything to reduce stress! Let’s hope the weather helps, it started raining tonight south of Syracuse


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[Elkaddict]

Time for a bit of a spring update. Although we are still getting hard frosts, spring is here! Surprisingly, even with the colder weather, the turkeys shut down the last week of April (season starts 5/1). I haven’t heard a gobble or seen strutting activity since the 24th. I see turkeys everyday and have called hens and jakes in but the long beards have disappeared (I watched 12-15 all winter and early spring).

Spring hasn’t been a total bust as I made it out west to fish with my boys/brothers on Utah’s Green River. While numbers are down, over 5 days, the quality was better than it has been since the late 80s. Our last day, I had 14 over 20” all on dry flies. It was my best day on the River and the guides top 3 in the last 10 years. To top it off, we saw elk, moose, deer, antelope and bighorns that day. Here are a few pics:

 

[Chainsaw]

Turkey activity has been quiet here also. There was a lot of visible activity in early April but mostly quiet since then.
Looks like you and your group had a great fishing trip Tom! Love those stream banks with no people. It is such a contrast to what we are used to.

 

[Elkaddict]

Dave, the river gets plenty of bank fishermen in the upper 10 miles. That’s also where the highest fish numbers are. I do all I can to avoid even floating through the upper section simply because of the number of fishermen/boats. Deep nymph fishing rigs are incredibly effective in the upper section.....but it’s not my cup of tea anymore. I fish dries or 5-7” long streamers. The lower river has a small fraction of the fish numbers (1/8th to 1/10th)....and pressure.

 

[Buckly]

Do you get to keep any of those? I’d be looking for a frying pan.

 

[Elkaddict]

Legally, a fish or two can be kept. We never have. Always hoping they’ll be bigger the following year. They planted the browns 30 years ago....and they’ve been self sustaining although the numbers go up and down as the river changes. The river has changed pretty dramatically. It used to be primarily a rainbow fishery and averaged 20,000 fish per mile in some sections. The aquatic insects have significantly changed and no longer support these numbers. I’d guess fish counts are down to 5-6000 fish per mile near the dam and 1/10 of that down where I prefer to fish.

 

[Mennoniteman]

Legally, a fish or two can be kept. We never have. Always hoping they’ll be bigger the following year. They planted the browns 30 years ago....and they’ve been self sustaining although the numbers go up and down as the river changes. The river has changed pretty dramatically. It used to be primarily a rainbow fishery and averaged 20,000 fish per mile in some sections. The aquatic insects have significantly changed and no longer support these numbers. I’d guess fish counts are down to 5-6000 fish per mile near the dam an 1/10 of that down where I prefer to fish.

Do they have any idea what drives the numbers of aquatic insects down?

 

[George]

Do they have any idea what drives the numbers of aquatic insects down?

Water demands, water temperature.

That is one amazing brown trout fishery. Tom I'm curious as to what dries you were having success with?

G

 

[Elkaddict]

MM, water flow is the biggest issue in my opinion. Years ago, flows were exponentially higher in the spring which scoured the bottom and blew silt out. The river used to have huge numbers of large scuds size 12 or 14. Today, they are micro sized...24. This resulted in behemoth rainbows. Interestingly, there are mayflies today that didn’t really exist in the 70s/80s. Also, it’s not uncommon to see small stone flies today and more caddis.
G, the predominant hatch in the spring are Blue Winged Olives, sized 18-20. This year, I lucked out when the river was full of flying ants for half a day. Had the fish looking up in a big way. Caught a bunch on various ant patterns. This happens a few times a year (it was the first time I’d experienced it in 30+ years).
Terrestrial patterns (grasshopper/cicadas/crickets) can be outstanding if the fish are looking up. Back when fish numbers were higher, attractor patterns always caught a few fish. Today, it’s different.

 

[George]

If I could only have one fly it would be a 16 blue winged olive.

G

 

[Elkaddict]

If I could only have one fly it would be a 16 blue winged olive.

G

For all rivers, give me a 16 parachute Adams.