Drought Conditions

Drought situation in Southern Iowa is bad. My biggest farm has gotten 0.4 inches since June 1st. 6 acres of soybeans ruined. Yesterday marked the third time in 3 weeks the weather service has issued a flash flood warning...not watch...warning, and ended up barely wetting the ground. every storm system that comes across Nebraska or up from Missouri breaks up before it hits southern Iowa. I have checked 3 year round creeks that typically have 10-12" of water in the dead of summer....all 3 are bone dry and cracking. Corn leaves are all curled, beans are burnt. Talking to locals, this is similar to drought of 2012, which was a terrible EHD year. It is not looking good. The worst part is I can do absolutely nothing to save the deer. This summer I have 30-35 bucks over 130" on camera. If EHD hits 70% or more could die. I am very very nervous about the next month and a half.

 

Sad hearing of all the drought conditions across Canada down through your neck of the woods. Where I'm at has luckily had adequate rainfall this year so far.

 

Hell the farmers here would have been happy to send some of the rain we got this year your way.

 

Things were starting to get bad here as well and chances weren't great in this last front. Luckily we had about three inches this morning. It saved about five hundred acres of my beans. Some will still have to have more rain before they are made but this got us closer than we were.

 

I can't imagine being a grain farmer in southern iowa right now. I planted a measly 6 acres of soybeans and it made me sick to see $$ down the drain. They wont' even make pods at this point. And I can't afford to reseed the entire 6 acres in brassicas...seed is cheap but Nitrogen gets spendy quick. A good friend of mine owns a lawn care business. He said this year his income has dropped 70%. No rain...no yards to mow. Yield on crops I would imagine has been greatly affected.

 

I'd go ahead and plant the brassicas and not fertilize if need be if you start getting some rain. Those beans should have fixated some nitrogen that will be usable if they didn't set pods.

 

You unlike them don't qualify for refunds or assistance given the drought...I have a feeling a lot of farmers will be filing for assistance this year in your area.





I bet you still grow bigger deer than 80% of us here LOL!



:D

 

I had no idea it was so bad just one state over - it was looking like a recipe for EHD here as well but beginning since about mid-June it's been raining buckets about 1x per week.

uhhh, tyni ... got news for you:
http://wiredtohunt.com/2013/06/03/t...-a-boone-crocket-buck-you-might-be-surprised/

Hoosier state is (as of 2013) #1
I think I read somewhere that KY eclipsed in 2015 but my point stands.

 

That is % of total harvest....

....ask Jordan...he moved from Indiana (had solid ground to hunt) and is now in Iowa...TRUST ME DIFFERENT WORLD!

 

SHHHHHH!

In all seriousness, the more I study deer the less I consider what record books say. Wisconsin for example...has more deer in Pope and Young book than anywhere. Lots and lots of those entries are 125-160". Everybody in WI who shoots a 125 puts it in the book because hunting pressure is so high. People in IA and KS don't usually put a buck in the book unless it really big. I know dozens of locals that have literal piles of racks from 125-150" that have never seen a record book. I hunted WI public land once...it sucked. Hunters everywhere.

 

YUP! Kinda like if someone shoots a 135 in Michigan vs someone shooting a 135 in Iowa....one is an accomplishment...the other most likely not so much (if all things are similar like age and such of course)

There is a reason this Hoosier boy is buying pref points for Iowa to hunt their PUBLIC Land...

 

Here in NW Iowa isn't looking the best either. Granted we are not as bad off as you are down there, it's still an issue. Our crops could definitely use a few inches of rain. Praying we all get it.

 

Yep, and you know at least one more than you knew about.

 

True, but there's a HUGE difference b/t PY and BC...and Hoosier public land is probably more pressured- smallest percentage of public land in the country.

I get why...not much public to be hunted in Indiana.

 

Hoosier National in the southern part of the state is pretty huge...however just not amazing quality mature buck wise.

 

It has been just the opposite here in PA. Lots of unstable weather patterns. Heavy rains, flash floods, then a few dry days, followed by more showers. This has been the norm since around May.

 

Central IL was starting to get dry in my area went almost a month with out a good rain maybe a tenth or a sprinkle then we got almost 2 inches last week hope it keeps the food plots going!

 

It is huge, and gorgeous terrain. I used to hunt down there when I was at IU (99-03.) Think I saw one deer in the woods.
I also used to hunt Huntington County public and private. On private I saw some nice 120-140" bucks but never got the chance on anything over 100". Public land I'm pretty sure I only ever saw 1 buck from the stand, and he was not even PY much less BC. Huntington Resevoir used to get pounded by hunters both bow and gun seasons.

 

He situation is dire here. This is a 90 day rainfall map.



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Guess where I live? I'll give you a hint. Its red


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