February 2010 Updates page 8
16 February
From the early season
... I was in the woods the morning this photo was taken, just at a different stand. I have a stand about 15 yds from the rub you see in the photo. I put the stand in the area before the rub was opened up...
Thanks Rhett.
15 February
Quail
Mike Shares an article how the Texas Quail Unlimited Chapters left QU to form their own organization. Have a read about the Texas Quail Group. And, an essay on Bobwhite Quail worth a read.
Long Range Weather
Dan shares the following from
Beef Cow-Calf weekly.
Art Douglas Delivers 2010 Weather Outlook
Feb 11, 2010 10:16 AM, Burt Rutherford
The unusually cold weather in the central U.S. in December and early January wasn't caused by El Niño, says Cattle-Fax weather forecaster Art Douglas. “The causes appear to lay with the development of a strong stratospheric warming event in Siberia, which forced a deep stratospheric trough across central North America,” he says.
This four-week event has died, but the snow cover in the U.S. has slowed the typical El Niño-induced winter warming across the northern tier of states.. However, for February, Douglas expects the current El Niño to have more effect on weather patterns.
The current El Niño has peaked and should gradually weaken by late February or early March. “The timing of the demise of this El Niño event is critical to both the spring and summer forecasts for the U.S.,” he says, “with an early ending likely to deliver less rainfall to California and the Southwest, with gradual drying likely in the southern tier of states.”
Douglas thinks a strong split jet-stream pattern should persist into early or mid-spring across the U.S. “This will keep the northern tier of states warmer than normal, while cooler, wetter weather will stretch across the southern third of the country,” he says. Dry conditions are likely to strengthen in the northern Rockies and Pacific Northwest into at least early spring, he says.
If El Niño were to persist into late spring or early summer (a low probability scenario), rainfall could remain well above normal in the Corn Belt.
Douglas’ preliminary summer outlook calls for a gradually warming and drying summer weather pattern across the central U.S. into the Gulf Coast region. The summer monsoon in the Southwest might start a little later than normal, but then reach normal levels later in July and August.
The long-term warm water period in the tropical Atlantic continues to persist and combined with a shift toward La Niña, the Atlantic hurricane season is likely to be more active than normal, with a greater threat for land-falling storms in the Gulf Coast region, he predicts.
Good catch guys, thanks.
2010 Upland Bird Forecast
We have enjoyed a higher number of contributors to this year's furtherance of the 2010 upland bird forecast than last year. This season's weather was the most cited reason for increased interest in the forecast.
It is never too late to add to it and the more assessments received from multiple hunters covering different regions the more accurate it is likely to be.
This year's contributions have modified the forecast's presentation making it more comprehensive. Included were more narrow focused indicators and predictions specific to our three states separated by quail and pheasant.
There has also been enough recommendation to the effect we should not make the forecast available to non-Association hunters as it has been suggested it may increase overall hunter pressure in a region. Pressure not so much on Association land, but that surrounding Association land. We have heard indications to such effect before. We are leaning in that direction and may next year keep the forecast limited to Association hunters only.
Kansas Deer
We thought Kansas' latest change to the deer tags was well known and found out differently. That change is the Kansas' deer tag application month has been moved from May to April.
12 February
My mom or dad (John and Karen Burks) usually gives you an update of our trips each year, but they thought it would be good for me to give the update this year. This was the second time in the last three years that I got to make the trip out with my dad. My mom and dad went out opening week, but came back early due to the snow storm that hit. My dad and I went back over Thanksgiving and had a great time.
On the first day, we arrived in time for a few hours of hunting and found one covey of quail and got to chase around singles. We flushed up a bunch of turkeys and it must have confused my dad as he proceeded to get completely turned around and we lost track of the truck. I learned that I better pay attention to the map!
The next day, I was able to get two pheasants and one quail. We didn't find a lot of birds, but the weather was great, the dogs did well, and I felt good. The next day was even better. We stayed in birds all day long. We found six coveys and took 1-2 out of each covey. We flushed a few hens, but didn't get any pheasants. We even found one of the coveys beside the road on our property. The last day was the slowest day. We only found two coveys – one in the morning and one in the afternoon. However, we were in turkeys all day. Dad said that we'd be sure to get a turkey tag next time.
The last time that we went on Thanksgiving week, we learned a lesson that there would not be any place to eat on Thanksgiving Day. So, we went prepared with a grill and some steaks. We weren't with family over the holiday, but I had a blast getting to hunt birds in Kansas with my dad. I can't wait to get to go back again. I've included a few pictures from the trip.
Thanks Josh
