Wet Years ....... Racks

[FarmerDan]

Here in the South - well south of the mason dixon - claiming a wetter year implicitly means it was preceded by a hot dry year. In hot dry years we tend to sit around and drink lots of beer rather than hunting. This results in a decreased buck harvest allowing the old boys to get older. The wet year is cooler and more huntable. Less excuse to sit around and drink beer. Out we go to shoot the big boys we only talked about the previous year. Beer drinking resumes at dark. The breweries have nothing to worry about. You will find no correlation between gallons of beer consumed and number of big bucks harvested! However I’m sure we will start a thread asking if anyone else has seen this connection...

Oh, come on guys and girls! Why so serious? Isn't there something more delicious to debate - like Redmond Salt. So, does it go well with pretzels and mustard?
And, remember, you cannot prove a hypothesis. You can only disprove the NULL hypothesis.

 

[Catscratch]

Here in the South - well south of the mason dixon - claiming a wetter year implicitly means it was preceded by a hot dry year. In hot dry years we tend to sit around and drink lots of beer rather than hunting. This results in a decreased buck harvest allowing the old boys to get older. The wet year is cooler and more huntable. Less excuse to sit around and drink beer. Out we go to shoot the big boys we only talked about the previous year. Beer drinking resumes at dark. The breweries have nothing to worry about. You will find no correlation between gallons of beer consumed and number of big bucks harvested! However I’m sure we will start a thread asking if anyone else has seen this connection...

Oh, come on guys and girls! Why so serious? Isn't there something more delicious to debate - like Redmond Salt. So, does it go well with pretzels and mustard?
And, remember, you cannot prove a hypothesis. You can only disprove the NULL hypothesis.

Hey, you got a chuckle out of me with that one! I was going to reply but wanted to wait for Jack to post that Zima is better to drink during dry yrs than FatTire. ;) Speaking of Redmond salts... I wonder if it can be spread with a leaf blower?

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[Mortenson]

I spray Zima (it's been coming back) out of my leaf blower at pool parties.

I'll take a wet year over a dry year for overall animal health, here anyway.

 

[FarmerDan]

I spray Zima (it's been coming back) out of my leaf blower at pool parties.

I'll take a wet year over a dry year for overall animal health, here anyway.

Did I hear someone mention a wet bar?

 

[g squared 23]

I feel like bigger racks are generally more expensive to come by, whether that means buying them more protein pellets or purses


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[jackpine]

A couple years ago we were registering my sons buck and the guy that was there aging the deer commented that the buck was a 2 1/2 year old buck and that the rack would have been larger if we hadn't had such a late greenup that spring. This was an 8 pt we were registering but it was a basket without much mass. He said it was consistent with other deer he had aged that year. I'm not sure if that would be due to the lack if minerals or nutrition in general that the deer didn't get that year.

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[Bowsnbucks]

First - I wasn't trying to prove anything - just asking for anecdotal input. I'd read something by the Wensels some time ago - and I think they were pondering the "wet year" theory in that article.

Second - Whip and g squared 23 are men I'd like to have a beer with !!! ( posts #2 & #25 ) Lots of fodder for discussion.

Farmer Dan - I think you have figured out the secret to life in the hunting community. My camp may not set records for deer killed, but we have lots of dead aluminum cans - in ANY year !!! It's always wet around the cabin.

Keep the ideas coming !!!

 

[FarmerDan]

[QUOTE="Bowsnbucks, post: 182288, member: 74" ........I'd read something by the Wensels some time ago - and I think they were pondering....
[/QUOTE]

See, that's the problem for a lot of us. Reading! Sometime ago I saw a sign on the side of my friends desk. It said something to the effect.....I've read so much about the bad effects of eating and the bad effects of smoking and the bad effects of drinking that I've decide to give up reading!

 

[Baker]

Fun read here!

Rainfall and antler growth have a very tight correlation in certain parts of the country! I can speak directly to deep south Tx/Mexico where I have lots of experience. The correlation between spring and summer rainfall to antler quality is well studied scientifically as well as simply a casual look at all the buck contests in the area. Wet spring and summers produce better deer. It can even be tightened up to say the March/April rainfall is the biggest contributor to antler quality . There is a lt more to it than that but suffice to say that spring and summer rainfall has a tremendous impact on that years antler growth ....even with extensive supplemental protein feed in place as many ranches have.

Ex. On my ranch along the Rio Grande River we have had 5" rain from January thru the end of August this year. Even though we had a wet winter last year and even though we have a protein feeder every 150 acres over thousands of acres the overall bell curve of quality will be down this year. Certainly there will be some great top end bucks and without question the overall quality will be much higher than unfed ranches nonetheless overall quality will be down measurably ...a direct result of rainfall.

Contrast that to the farm I live on in La. Spring summer rainfall isn't near as critical as we can always have enough crops and quality feed to assure all nutritional requirements are met for the entire herd. Once you get past about 16-18% net protein intake year round any extra simply doesn't add much value. Far more important then is age structure to see top end production.

Now lets all go have a beer.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Now lets all go have a beer.[/QUOTE]
Pretty good sign-off, Baker !!

 

[bigbendmarine]

Hopefully the admins won't slap me for the post... but... well... just couldn't resist sharing in light of the thread title as well as it being the time of year "buck fever" is kicking into full swing!

Guy who did the song actually works for FWC (Florida Wildlife Commiission -- our state game warden system), is responsible for scoring antlers submitted for the state registry, and it's his wife who's front and center in the video thumbnail. And appreciating there are likely more Wisconsin members on the forum than folks from Florida, strikes me as funny that they are cheeseheads... he's a Tallahassee native but think she's originally from Wisconsin.

 

[wiscwhip]

^^^ Sconnie Nation!

 

[Bowsnbucks]

After watching this video, I just made a scrape in front of the bedroom door. My bald spot is bigger now that I made a rub on the bannister post.