Upstate Obsession
- Thread starter Elkaddict
- Start date
I’ve been fly fishing out west (never lived there except California in High school) for 40 years.
Would still say a parachute adam’s is the best fly ever developed. I’d go with an 18 tho if I had to pick.
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Would still say a parachute adam’s is the best fly ever developed. I’d go with an 18 tho if I had to pick.
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I just got back from the bighorn. Like the green, numbers are WAY down. I’d be surprised if there are 500 fish/mile in that river. Sad. What’s left are hefty tho.
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Elk, next time you’re out that way, check out the Duschene if you haven’t already. Different game, small stream, no floating; but big browns that love dry flies. We went skiing out there a month ago and I skipped a day of skiing to chase them. Glad I did.
Those are some great looking Browns!!
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Those are some great looking Browns!!
Sent from my iPhone using Deer Hunter Forum
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Elkaddict
Well-Known Member
I’ve spent some time there, and yes, in good water years, it can be a quality experience. If you’re out that way again, Rock Creek has lots of fish, but quality is hit or miss. Just be mindful of reservation boundaries. That’s sad to hear about the Bighorn. It’s been on the bucket list for a while. I don’t mind reduced numbers if quality is good and competition from other anglers is minimal. That’s a great fish!
Keith Nehrke
Member
We fished out there for many years, and the key to the upper Green (at that time, before the fires) was to walk a couple miles from the bottom access upstream. Of course, walking gets you solitude most places out West. Most days, there was a window where the drift boats would float through, but in general that was a fairly short period, and we'd simply eat lunch then and wait for the catfish to start rising again. Most guides float through around the same time lol. One of our good friends works for Trout Unlimited and does stream surveys - it's sad that so many places have reduced numbers, but good to hear that the quality persists.
Elkaddict
Well-Known Member
Keith, one of the changes with the reduction in numbers is fish aren’t stacked up along the banks like they used to be. They tend to stick to the deeper runs on the upper section. Of course, when they’re looking up, there are always fish bank fishermen can access. Water levels are so low this year that wade fishermen can access both banks
Elkaddict
Well-Known Member
We all know the dangers of letting equipment sit idle. This tractor sat idle for 2 weeks. Never saw this before..... I made the mistake of showing the wife. She demanded I not use the tractor to protect the poor morning dove. I put together a shade producing old piece of equipment and parked it two feet away and moved the nest. The dove sat on the tire stareing at the nest for several hours but had yet to sit on the eggs when I had to leave. Size wise, it’s a pretty small dove....probably her first clutch. It will be interesting to see if she returns. The Mrs. isn’t happy.....
Elkaddict
Well-Known Member
Every year, within a 3 day window, I see an exodus of snapping turtles on the move to lay eggs. I saw 3 but only had my iPhone with me for this picture. I came across one crossing my driveway the was garbage can lid sized. I ran to the house to grab a camera but it had disappeared. I saw another very large one a few miles down the road but couldn’t stop. This one is laying eggs in a corn field.
Chainsaw
Well-Known Member
Great camera work Elk. The extremes are drastic for sure. One doe has chosen our "lawn" to hide her fawn so we have seen her visiting for a few days-really great. On my way to our cottage yesterday AM saw a doe standing bewildered and concerned looking in a just recently mowed hay field. Three hours later the doe was there again cautiously step by step approaching to within twenty yards of an eagle eating dinner on the ground.
Elkaddict
Well-Known Member
Time for another update. As I’ve posted in the past, we got creamed by an infestation of Lambsquarter last year. It was so bad I killed off 3 acres of brassicas because a virtual carpet of lambsquarter was growing and was soon going to shade out the the brassicas. Consequently, we planted 9 acres of RR beans and corn to try to knock it down while still growing some winter food. Because the infestation was likely to further spread, I knew I’d need a more effective way of spraying (my Atv mounted boomless sprayer simply wasn’t applying uniform coverage). I was fortunate to find a 3pt 80 gallon 20’ boomed sprayer (I continue to be astonished at how disrupted the supply chain has been). The difference in uniform coverage is significant.Conditions were finally dry enough for planting the last few days of May and the first few days of June). I got everything planted without too much drama. Shortly after planting, we got 3” of rain in a few hours. Although the plots are fairly flat, run off was severe enough to wash out large swaths of a couple plots. The deluge also blew out a couple different culverts so neatly it’s hard to believe it wasn’t done mechanically.
You can see the 24” culvert back in the woods.
A 24” and 12” culvert were insufficient for the deluge. I lost about 6’ of rock base here.
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Elkaddict
Well-Known Member
So far, I’ve got picture of a couple older bucks (41/2 or older). I know both of these bucks and am interested to see what 8 more weeks of growth brings. Nothing many of you will be impressed with, but for our genetics and infertile soils, these are quality deer. 
This buck had double eye guards last year as well.
This one looks like he might have an extra point growing on his left base.
This buck had double eye guards last year as well.
This one looks like he might have an extra point growing on his left base.
Elkaddict
Well-Known Member
The curse of too much rain continues. We’ve averaged 2-3” of rain per week for a month. Plots are waterlogged and hampering growth in some areas. I overseeded 3 acres of corn/beans with brassicas yesterday. Tried to time the planting in advance of a steady rain. The stead rain turned into 11/2” deluge…with another 1/2” forecast. I figure a bunch of the seed will wash away, but enough should survive to make the efforts worth while. I intentionally reduced my corn seeding rate and upped my beans in these plots (seed was all broadcast). The idea is to creat lots of food within the cover of corn. We’ll see how it works out. I’m hoping 9 acres of corn will provide the cover/food to suck in and hold more of the local deer. Crossing my fingers….
Mennoniteman
Well-Known Member
Yes, we're getting a lot of the same. It all hearkens back to when I started the thread "another dry year?" and we were all comiserating about the lack of moisture for spring planting season. God probably thought, I will show them guys some real moisture.
Elkaddict
Well-Known Member
Trying new things in the plots that are outside typical approaches has been on my mind. As noted above, I reduced somewhat my corn/bean ratios (decreasing corn to 20,00 per acre and increasing beans to 1+ bags per acre) to increase food variety within my plots (I also top seeded brassicas last week). It will be interesting to see the results. My prediction is more deer will choose to bed in the corn/bean/brassica mix. I also suspect it will increase buck movement as bucks attempt to scent check these areas.
Another recent project from last year is really paying off. In July of 2020, I planted clover and oats notwithstanding the conventional wisdom that summer plantings invite too
many weeds. To combat the weeds, I tripled the amount of clover I put down (ag supply bin seed is cheap). My idea was to have the clover be so thick as to shade out the weeds. As the attached pictures how’s, the results were great as this is the cleanest clover plot I’ve ever grown (I have not used any herbicide). I’m going to attempt a test by planting 1/2 of my home plot today in oats/heavy clover. I’ll then plant the other half with rye/clover Labor Day weekend. It will be interesting to compare next summer.
Anyone else experimenting with “outside the box” methods in their plots?
Another recent project from last year is really paying off. In July of 2020, I planted clover and oats notwithstanding the conventional wisdom that summer plantings invite too
many weeds. To combat the weeds, I tripled the amount of clover I put down (ag supply bin seed is cheap). My idea was to have the clover be so thick as to shade out the weeds. As the attached pictures how’s, the results were great as this is the cleanest clover plot I’ve ever grown (I have not used any herbicide). I’m going to attempt a test by planting 1/2 of my home plot today in oats/heavy clover. I’ll then plant the other half with rye/clover Labor Day weekend. It will be interesting to compare next summer.Anyone else experimenting with “outside the box” methods in their plots?
