A year in the life of a farm

[elgato]

We are putting seed in the ground this week as well. Looks like the upcoming weekend holds some moisture so fingers are crossed. Been setting on this seed for over a month now..........time to roll with it!

Central La??? Where? We may be neighbors. And pardon my lack of public exposure but what is NAP field staff?

The drought is as bad as I can remember with the farm looking terrible. It's a dust bowl. If it doesn't rain this weekend I'm going to start feeding again. With a mantra of 100% nutrition 365 days a year we are falling behind now,

[Jtrisler]

Central La??? Where? We may be neighbors. And pardon my lack of public exposure but what is NAP field staff?

The drought is as bad as I can remember with the farm looking terrible. It's a dust bowl. If it doesn't rain this weekend I'm going to start feeding again. With a mantra of 100% nutrition 365 days a year we are falling behind now,

Live in Jonesville and own/hunt 500+ acres of WRP in Harrisonburg. I work pretty close to you in the Pollock area and make the drive each day.

NAP Field Staff..........I had a friend working for them and got to know and hunt with the guys that work for New Archery Products. I get to do some field testing with their broadheads, fletchings, arrow rests, etc.

Our deer sightings the first few weeks of October have been few and far between. I am guessing because of the dry conditions. I haven't hunted but a few times (I was in Maine moose hunting for opening weekend) but did run an arrow thru a hog last week. Our cameras and reports from next door show a lot of our deer have moved across the road to the neighbors where there is water. At this point, I am not sure there is a drop of water left on us. The ditches, canals and potholes are bone dry!! Praying for some rain soon!

Enjoy keeping up with you work on the farm and the growth of your herd. Great deer!

[elgato]

Loggers have finally showed up on the farm. Been trying to get them in for 2 years. They will do some first thinning on several young pine stands plus a small clearcut where wind damaged some trees a couple of years ago. Acreage thinned will be about 100 acres total coming from 4 different locations. We put cameras where they are cutting and deer will come in at night investigating the loggers work. They are curious animals.

With a full blown drought in progress the log trucks create a dust plume that looks like a mid eastern sand storm. Also nothing like have one of these trucks passing by while on a blind.

We are working as full time as possible to finish planting before the rain that hopefully comes this weekend. I've never planted this late but with moisture believe it will work fine.

Tonight I will sit in a stand for the 19th time looking for Rolling Stone. Hot dry weather have not made this easy as he seems to have gone completely nocturnal. Our bucks are showing no signs of rut yet and the hunting has been tough.

[elgato]

Recognizing that most folks would rather look at bucks this time of year than timber crews here are two of the best bucks we know of on the farm this year. Both pics taken last night as the mature bucks have all gone nocturnal.

Which one do you think is biggest? I'm going after the narrow one as he is the oldest and the wide one gets a pass.

[rtp]

I think I have to give the edge to the narrow one. I believe they are pretty close in score though.

[Dushon]

How old do you figure the narrow one is elgato?

[elgato]

How old do you figure the narrow one is elgato?

I think he is 7 . He is not an especially large bodied deer. I believe the wider buck is 6

[Jtrisler]

I would have to say the narrow buck in age. However, they are both pretty close in inches of antler.

The wider buck is impressive though!

[texas shag]

I also think the narrow once scores just a bit higher. His brows and G-4's more than offset the additional width of the second buck. That being said, from an aesthetics point of view, I like the wider buck personally. Hope you take them in back to back years!

[elgato]

I haven't seen a mature buck in 3 weeks. All the pics we have been getting have been at night. Then this guy shows up at 3:10 in the wide open! The predictable thing about deer is that they are unpredictable.

[BowtechKiller]

Good golly that thing is healthy as a horse^^^^

[Backwoods101]

Good golly that thing is healthy as a horse^^^^

[emoji15] ^^^^^^What he said^^^^^^^

[LastHurrah]

I haven't seen a mature buck in 3 weeks. All the pics we have been getting have been at night. Then this guy shows up at 3:10 in the wide open! The predictable deer about deer is that they are unpredictable.

What does a deer like this score? Body is huge!

[elgato]

It's the same 10 pt as in the pics above. The wide one. I think mid 90's maybe a bit more.Bet he weighs 250+

[LastHurrah]

It's the same 10 pt as in the pics above. The wide one. I think mid 90's maybe a bit more.Bet he weighs 250+

Thanks for the response and wow! Thanks for sharing.