July 2010 Updates page 12
27 July
Waterfowl
We've been fighting flood water all summer, but still doing our best to get some feed planted for the ducks.
A photo of the north side of the south wade-in area in Henry B. It was planted to millet in late June, but was covered with flood water for over a week. A small part survived, so we replanted and it looks like we have a very huntable stand.
Henry A, Blairstown Lake drained for only the second time in many years. It was also planted a while back and covered with water a couple of weeks later. The green growth is a combination of water grass and japanese millet that amazingly survived. We replanted as much as we could without getting our four wheeler stuck. The remaining mud flats will be planted with a hand seeder, compliments of map master TJ.
Linn A
A break in the dam on the north side of the West Lake in Linn A. The hole in the dam has drained 75% of the pool the last 2 years, but our plans are to patch the hole for the third time and hope Parsons Creek and Mother Nature cooperate.
A view from the West wade-in # 7 facing # 8, volunteer millet, smartweed and natural vegetation.
Our plans are to mow a few pools and move blind # 7 back into place if we can reach it with a tractor. The field is much larger than it appears from the levee (approx. 40 acres).
Wade-in # 9 as full as it has ever been. We suspect beavers might be working on our side this time. This lake serves as holding water to move to # 5, 6, 7 and 8 this fall.
A view from the south facing the north between # 7 and # 8. If we are not able to repair the dam we should have enough water to get by like we did last year, but our plans are to take full advantage of the holding water we have to work with.
The south side of the East Lake # 3 was developed several years ago. The dam was cut by flood water and repaired last fall. It might be an out of the way spot to look into for those that like to hunt wade-in areas.
CRP
"...U.S. Department of Agriculture will hold a general Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) sign-up Aug. 2 to 27...the first in the program since 2006; it is designated General Sign-up 39...4.5 million acres of CRP contracts are set to expire Sept. 30; 10.9 million more acres will mature in the next two years.
USDA announces new CRP sign-up By Paul A. Smith of the Journal Sentinel July 26, 2010
From the USDA web site what a general signup means:
"Land currently not enrolled in CRP may be offered in this sign-up provided all eligibility requirements are met. Additionally, current CRP participants with contracts expiring this fall covering about 4.5 million acres may make new contract offers. Contracts awarded under this sign-up are scheduled to become effective Oct. 1, 2010."
How It Works
Not all current CRP contracts will be renewed they must compete fresh with any new land offered. This may very well mean current honey holes may go away.
Contracts awarded this year will be for spring 2011 planting. Two years after an effective planting native grass CRP will have wildlife benefit. At the third year managed grazing and harvest may begin. It may then be grazed or harvested every three years. The start date of these contracts is October 1, 2010. Meaning that payments are made for winter 2010 - 2011 when no conservation value is achieved. It also mean that October 2020 the contract ends meaning no hunting value for the 2020-2021 hunting season. (Past USDA practice has allowed CRP participants to fully harvest, graze or plow under CRP land during the last growing season of the contract in preparation for the next spring's planting). This makes a ten year CRP contract viable as a hunting resource less than 50% of the contract's life.
26 July
This group hunted 4 days together throughout the entire season in 2 different regions without hunting the same farm 2 X's.
30 July
Took Kelly for a walk in the park quick hunt and ended up with a limit in an hour and a half. She pointed and retrieved all of them. She even pointed two on a 3 ft. lead on the way back to the truck.
Wow, great picture, thank you from all that see it!
29 July
CRP
Your Association has a certain level of inflow of new members from a variety of states inclusive of misinformation. CRP seems to be a source of recent increased attention amongst upland bird hunters. Some of which impact all Association hunters.
One misconception that surprised us after all these years is the belief among some hunters that CRP land is public land. The belief is that anyone that has land in CRP must let anyone who wants to walk on and hunt it. This has been the "excuse" of trespassers and hunters who have inquired about our hunting reference tall grass lands. The answer is this is not true. CRP land is private land with all rights of trespass to the landowner to exercise as he sees fit. Those found hunting without permission are illegal and should suffer the consequences.
We receive reports of CRP being grazed or cut for hay as being violations of the program. While we agree that CRP in its original form did not allow for such practices it is permissible under the current USDA rules. This is the truth to the program:
Re-establish the CRP cover at their own expense if the cover failed as a result of managed haying or grazing,
Remove all livestock when the calculated AUM’s are utilized, but no later than November 12th for summer/fall grazing,
The annual rental payment shall be reduced by the number of acres actually hayed or grazed, times the CRP per acre annual rental payment, times 25 percent,
CRP contracts that had the managed haying and grazing provisions approved in the Conservation Plan on or after September 26th, 2006 will not be allowed to perform managed haying and grazing during the primary nesting and broodrearing season of May 15th - August 1,
The haying period was established as August 2nd to October 13th.
Not all tall grass lands are CRP. It is common for a contract to expire for any reason and the landowner lets the land fallow with the preponderance of cover being tall grass.
Scouting
...from one of the spots you told me about...my standards are higher from having been out there and seeing better bucks...This is just the biggest I got on camera...most of the places you told me about I would not have considered...
Thank you Steven for the pictures. Good luck.
28 July
...I usually try to send in a report or story on the season and would summarize the few hunts I did have this year as above average...Thank you so much for your hard work. I know good upland property is getting harder to come by and to hold.
I have attached an article I wrote and which was published in a couple newspapers. It's titled "Tending Our Fences" and addresses the issue of promoting our wonderful sport by reaching out to friends and co-workers who are non-hunters or even anti-hunting. Give it a read and if you think members would enjoy it, feel free to add it to the Updates page.
Hope to see a lot more of you folks next season.
Charles
Tending Our Fences
Mothers used to counsel their daughters: "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach." Heck, some moms may still dispense that bit of sage advice. As a liberated father, I have to say that I've encouraged both our daughter and son to develop their culinary skills. Growing up in small-town Minnesota, I learned early on that good food was essential for good relationships. When my mother had to restore peace with a neighbor over some errant behavior by my brothers (Ok, and occasionally by me), she would lead with her trump card: hamburger-macaroni hot-dish. Come to think of it, I'll bet a couple tons of that hearty meal would go a long way to quieting the ills of the Middle East. Somehow a full stomach just makes folks more agreeable and capable of reason.
As hunters, we often find ourselves at odds with people who take a dim view of our outdoor interests and passions. And some of those hunting opponents are pretty passionate about that dim view. As hunters, we have a varied arsenal with which to respond. We can talk of the joys of "just being out in nature" with our buddies and dogs; we can reason that the hunt is a conduit for family traditions; we can claim the essential role that hunting plays in conservation efforts; we can take a physiological evolutional stance and argue that humans have eyes mounted in the front of their heads and sport canine and incisor teeth for very good reason: we are predators…by our very nature we are born to hunt. Oh yeah…we can also rely on that age-old, middle-finger, obscene gesture to get our point across, although I doubt this strategy does much to promote our interests. Most of us have probably used variations of these tactics to meet the anti-hunting challenge. But let's not forget the incredible power of our mothers' hot-dish.
I spend a great deal of my non-sporting hours working in a university. It's no secret that the hallowed halls of higher education are not exactly deer camp. But I learned the lessons of my youth well, especially those taught by my mother. Each year my wife (whom incidentally wouldn't pick up a gun if it was made of pure gold) and I reach out to our non-hunting and anti-hunting neighbors and co-workers with a peace-offering: The Annual Wild Game Feed and Celebration of the Hunt.
Our first event was four years ago. We started small and informal. We simply extended a verbal invitation to our co-workers and next door neighbors. The responses varied widely, but did include a few offended comments like: "Wild game…do you mean…like deer? Did you actually kill poor little Bambi? Ah, no. We don’t believe in killing animals for sport…we certainly wouldn't eat them."
Well, we persevered in our efforts, thanked these folks for considering our invitation and told them we'd miss their company at the party. The fare that first year was pretty simple: venison chili and a casserole of pheasant, wild rice and mushrooms in cream of chicken soup mix. The entertainment for that first affair was also easy, but extremely effective. My wirehaired canine hunting companion, TJ, roamed among the party-goers and charmed one and all with her whiskered chin and warm amber eyes.
The second year we kicked it up a bit. To the first year's menu we added grilled mallard breasts and venison backstrap. TJ again worked the crowd while a laptop on the coffee table played a photo slide show of picturesque sunsets on the Kansas Flint Hills, dogs in training (academic-types are real suckers for anything that hints of education), and a few pictures of TJ posed with tastefully displayed bagged birds. Outcome? A good time was had by all. And we started to hear whisperings among non-attending friends and co-workers: "heard you had a party…gee…golly…sounds like everyone really enjoyed the evening." We could hear the longing in their voices. An invitation to our annual party had become a "hot ticket" item.
We recently had our Sixth Annual Feed and lo and behold it even included the self proclaimed protector of the world's Bambis; and we had a Vegan in attendance this year. She did bring her own food, but she made a very nice contribution to our Celebration program (more about this later). Our menu has become quite a bit more extravagant and this year included seven wild game selections. Because most of our guests are unfamiliar with the various game birds and animals on the menu, our invitation includes an entertaining description. For example:
Woodcock: this migratory member of the snipe family is hunted in the northern states and southern Canada where it loafs in new growth timber and probes the soil for worms with its long bill. The "timberdoodle" is famous for its uncanny ability to anticipate the hunter's shot and for making the necessary evasive right angle midflight turns. Some disgruntled woodcock hunters swear that the birds' flight pattern is responsible for more damage to trees from errant shotgun pellet than the damage done to the trees by acid rain; other defeated hunters simply swear at the tricky little bird. Today's fare (along with a possession limit of tree limbs and bark) were bagged on a northern Minnesota hunt. Breasts and thighs of the elusive woodcock will be steeped in an Caribbean Jerk Marinade, shish-kabobbed with peppers and onions, and grilled to medium rare.
The menu favorite this year was "Rosemary’s Pronghorn" (recipe: marinade an antelope tenderloin overnight in a mix of fresh chopped rosemary and Dijon mustard. Sear the roast in olive oil and grill to 145 degrees. Baste the roast in a reduction sauce of orange marmalade and premium beer during the last 20 minutes on the grill; substitute any big game meat).
We now have two wirehaired hunting dogs (TJ and Berkano) who team up to entertain the guests. Who could resist their charms? The program for the evening has also developed over these years and is included here to give a flavor of the evening’s activities:
The Program
"In some traditional hunting societies, the Celebration of the Hunt includes the ritual of story-telling. The bravery and skills of the huntress or hunter are regaled and at times even embellished. The admittedly biased view of your hosts is that the forward-orientation of our eyes in our heads means that we are predatory by nature. Following this logic we need conclude that all engage in The Hunt. The only questions are the degree to which each individual endorses the role of hunter, actively cultivates that primitive instinct, and intentionally practices his/her skills.
Some of us spend nearly as much time hunting as we do working during the fall season. For some The Hunt means a once-in-a-lifetime encounter with a majestic stag. For others, The Hunt takes the form of the annual week in deer camp where knowledge of the wilderness, its animals, and family traditions are passed along to the next generation. Some of us hunt with camera and film (or digit), concealing ourselves in ambush or stalking close to "capture" a special image. Some hunt by setting rodent traps in the garage. Others participate in The Hunt vicariously by keenly observing the family tabby as it stalks the cloth mouse stuffed with catnip. Still others hunt by strategically descending upon the Wal-Mart "After-Holiday" sale and bagging for themselves or their families the very best of bargains.
Thus as we prepare for the Celebration of the Hunt we ask that you spend a few reflective moments in which you don the mantle of the hunter or huntress and consider your own personal experience of, and connection to this ancient and essential human endeavor. Be prepared, if called upon by your fellow celebrants, to tell your tale and honor this aspect of our very natures.
Embellishments allowed. Hell… Boastful exaggeration will be roundly applauded.”
One of the highlights at this year's party was a tale told by our Vegan friend, who by the way is also a dedicated dog owner. She described being out for a walk with her dogs (Jasper and Mia). According to the tale the two dogs teamed up to retrieve a large dead possum. Our friend described her understanding that the dogs were delivering the "kill" to the pack leader so she could eat first. She said: "I never thought I'd be part of a hunting party…but Charles, I think I caught a glimpse of what you enjoy about hunting with your dogs." She added that she accepted the retrieve and thanked Jasper and Mia profusely for their gift. After the dogs had wandered off in search of more gifts to bring to the leader, she laid the possum in the ditch and walked on. She said she was feeling a little dismayed that the animal had died or may have even been killed by her dogs. Then she realized: "possum" and she quickly returned to the site to find the dead possum had had already waddled off. She laughed as she said: "Jasper, Mia and I discovered catch and release possum hunting…it was really fun."
So the next time you encounter an outspoken critic of our great sport and are considering either making a well-reasoned argument or flipping a quick, obscene gesture, think again. Don't overlook the lessons of our mothers: a plate of good food is great for tending or mending our fences with our neighbors.