Crops Gone, deer nocturnal, meat poles empty. 5 goofy years.

[Shoot2Kill]

To my original topic, crops gone in 3 of 4 areas and driving around those sections there isn't enough to feed a mouse, a tough winter means what ? The 1 swamp even with corn around was void of deer the past 3 winters where I looked for sheds for 25 years, could 240 see a 1 deer limit next fall, this winter may decide that, I'm preparing to provide additional feed for them already just in case it's a major struggle.

Winter food sources are huge in deer survial - can someone tell me why 98% of all fields you see are chisel plowed down to black dirt the day after they are harvested? I grew up in IA and rarely ever saw this. I'm not a farmer, can someone explain the reason for this in MN? What is the benefit? Doesn't the top soil blow away all winter when this is done? Around me there are very few actual food sources once the snow flies and so many fields have nothing to provide a field mouse let alone a deer population.

[Musky Buck]

I'm not real clear, it depends in my area some if it's a crop farmer or a dairy farmer, some likely like that black dirt in the spring will melt off faster, drying up sooner, less field work to do in 6 months, more time for decay and rot of the old stalks, the farms I hunt some years they do plow it under and other years it's left combined, either way could be a difficult winter for the deer in areas that they sometimes winter in they won't, they'll search out what best food source they can find, I'm a bit worried about next rifle season, this has been easily the most mature bucks I've seen gunned down locally, very few inbetweeners and very few inbetweeners seen, should mean not nearly as many good racks next fall but who knows, there is 1 county that really kicked out a ton of monsters and since that zone is still open I don't want to say which until season is done, but wow, 18 years in this county and have never seen anything close to what I've seen this year, they should have a down year somewhat next year as each hunting ground seemed to crank out a 200+ pound buck or two, crazy year and so many said they hardly saw a decent buck all fall, but doesn't matter if they are there in shooting light all the better.

[creepworm]

As musky buck said, the soil warms faster in the spring and allows residue to better break down and provide a better seed bed. Also, tilling in the fall allows the freeze thaw of the soil to better break down and mellow out the soil to fight compaction and make a better seed bed.

[Ferny]

Musky Buck, I have been hunting 410/239 for about 20 years. Here's what we've seen. Your chances for an adult buck drop off exponantially after the first day...period. I think the DNR has data to prove it also. There are a lot of variables like neighbors moving and driving deer, crops up/down, warm weather. You name it, it's different every year. We usually have 2-4 people hunting 200 acres and average 1 nice buck every 5 years. Normally we take 2 deer minimum per year. So far we have never been skunked. I've seen the zone go from doe permit, to 5 deer and now 2 deer, from 2 weekends to 9 days straight. It's crazy thinking about all the rule changes so far.

The land is a mix of CRP, river bottom, crops, and woods. We have it all. In the last few years we have put in a food plot, apple trees and started planting trees and bushes. There is also logging this winter. Hopefully it will pay off in the future with continued success. I don't know why we even hunt the second weekend. It's usually a struggle staying awake ;-)

Good Luck,

Ferny.

[Musky Buck]

Right on Ferny, lots of changes is right and I wish you luck with making changes to where you hunt to try something to improve it, that's kinda where I'm at with things, figuring what I can do to not only help the deer out but to help where I hunt, I've done quite a bit already, but there's more to accomplish and what stinks is every couple years there's a dog gone weather related catastrophe which just has me firing up the chainsaw to try to get things back to close to what it once was, 6 years ago straight line winds did major damage, 3 years ago we got that same event again and this summer on June 17th the tornado did even more damage, maybe that's messed up the deer some, they can not walk the trails they used to, way too much timber down and my chainsaw baldes are getting duller.

[Musky Buck]

Could start a deer not quite so nocturnal, thinking these colder temps are pushing them out of bed a bit sooner, have seen some lately, my t-cam still is showing all dark photo's but I'm optimistic for muzzy, will be tough to get a crack at an open sight mature 1, always is and that's likely why I still enjoy the pursuit.