Deer must love sunflowers
- Thread starter WTNUT
- Start date
Fat Lab
Yearling... With promise
Thank you, they definitely were! That was opening day which is the Saturday before Labor day and it was HOT. 90 Degrees with hardly any breeze but the birds didn't mind! We ended with a little over 100. First day back in the field and everyone was a little rusty to say the least :D. The bird to spent shell ratio was embarrassing!
Fat Lab
Yearling... With promise
Makes you think your barrel is crooked some days! Are you an avid duck hunter also?
Catscratch
5 year old buck +
Lol, I actually had a shotgun with a crooked barrel once. I was awfully happy to find that out!
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wiscwhip
5 year old buck +
Used to be many years ago, but got out of it when I moved to the city. Hunted 58 days out of a 60 day open season many times. Dang youngsters in the family are bugging me to start going again, apparently they want an "old timer" to show them how it's done.;) Thankfully I still have all my old gear in the basement and all my calls still hang on lanyards with my turkey gear. I still have about 10 boxes of steel shot for both my 3" 12ga and the 3-1/2" 10 ga, so the only expense I would have are licenses and a new set of waders, as I can't imagine those would be any good after not being used for almost 15 years! :eek: Shot a lot of geese at Horicon Marsh in past years as well.
Fat Lab
Yearling... With promise
I'm sure there were a few choice words between the time of not knowing and finding out! :D
Catscratch
5 year old buck +
Careful with that old steel shot. I had some rust up and basically turn into slugs. Couldn't figure out why I was missing easy shots. Took a shot into the water and there was no pattern. Cut one open and it was all rusted/stuck together.
The crooked barrel gun heard a lot of confusion and curse words.
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The crooked barrel gun heard a lot of confusion and curse words.
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wiscwhip
5 year old buck +
Thanks for the very important tip catscratch! They have been stored in basically ideal conditions, but I will maybe cut open one or two from each box to see if that is an issue. And yes, between a crooked barrel and steel shot coming out of the barrel in chunks, I can see how it would be easy to miss!
Fat Lab
Yearling... With promise
HAHA! Dust them off and show them a thing or two! I love to bird hunt period. Doves and ducks take up the majority of my time in the fall. Unless its a wood duck with occasional diver hunts on the coast, birds in SC are pretty scarce. I travel out west for a few weeks each year chasing birds from Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas. Not sure I could go much past Kansas without freezing to death considering cold here is 30 degrees haha!
wiscwhip
5 year old buck +
We hunted late season divers in both the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers and had to break ice just to set decoys many, many times over the years. Lots of times the channel was the only open water. Had a choco lab pup that we took along for the ride one morning and she decided to just jump into the 28 degree water to chase a log sticking out of the water. Needless to say I had to go in elbow deep to get her out and then we had to pick up and leave with my parka wrapped around her or I'm afraid she might not have made it back to the dock. I used to pheasant hunt a ton back in the day as well and I have a young man(fresh out of the 82nd Airborne) who I mentor for deer hunting that wants me to start doing that again as well, so this fall may be a "refresher course" for this "old" man.
Fat Lab
Yearling... With promise
W were hunting a lake in Oklahoma 2 seasons ago, my pup was 1 1/2 years old then and fresh out of training. It was 9 degrees with a 30knot wind and sleeting. We shot a 3 man limit of Mallards and Pintails quickly but the first retrieve he made, when he got back to heel his whiskers and vest were froze solid. Thankfully we had a buddy heater in the boat and got it set up where he could thaw out in between retrieves. It still worried me. Pheasant is something I haven't ever done as we don't have any here but it looks like a blast! Maybe you can get him on a few and hook him! Sending thanks for his service!
Catscratch
5 year old buck +
Lots of ducks in Kansas. We hunt teal early, puddle ducks mid season, open water divers when it's cold, and then big old mallards during the late season migration. Lots of variety if you're willing to change tactics.
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Fat Lab
Yearling... With promise
No doubt there's a ton of birds. Would love to do some dry field hunting but the door knocking technique doesn't seem to produce much luck to an out of stater.
Jeff Holley
Yearling... With promise
I planted sunflowers mixed in with milo or grain sorgum a few years back. 25% sunflowers to 75% milo. Protected with a plot saver fence. I had an area about 100 sq ft that was not under the fence. It got wiped out. I dropped the fence when the milo was 3 ft high. Sunflowers hit the flower stage and within a week every single head had been eaten.
I've had them in every fall mix I've ever done since that time.
This year I put then down with my buckwheat 4-5 weeks ago. I cut a bunch of smallish junk trees and laid them in a row down the middle of the plot in an attempt to protect some of the sunflowers early on. I've not been to the farm in 3 weeks but am anxious to see how they are doing.
I love sunflowers, but not as much as the deer do.
I've had them in every fall mix I've ever done since that time.
This year I put then down with my buckwheat 4-5 weeks ago. I cut a bunch of smallish junk trees and laid them in a row down the middle of the plot in an attempt to protect some of the sunflowers early on. I've not been to the farm in 3 weeks but am anxious to see how they are doing.
I love sunflowers, but not as much as the deer do.
Tap
5 year old buck +
I add brassica around early August. Remember, my sunflowers are protected with an E fence. I broadcast brassica around the time I take the fence down and let the deer in. As the deer thin the sunflowers, the brassica are getting exposed to the sun.
chummer
5 year old buck +
Sunflowers are the single most preferred thing I plant. I might get a handful of flowers. I love the idea of planting them with brassicas. They never get more than 2' tall anyways, so it is like you are getting two plots in the space of one.
