May 2012 Updates Page 3
8 May
New Waterfowl Lake
We just acquired a new lease for a 12 acre lake in Cass County Missouri for duck and goose hunting. Prior to construction we were able to contribute feedback to help enhance the waterfowl hunting.
What’s unique about this lake compared to most open irrigation lakes is it was built on a wooded pasture and the only trees removed were those in the way to build the levee.
The lake is holding good water right now, but still has 5 feet to go before it reaches the overflow pipe which will really spread the lake into the trees.
On paper the lake shows 12 surface water acres, but in person it appears much larger. When the lake is full it will fill a ditch for over 100 yards that is surrounded with crop and this year the crop is corn.
One point we brought up to enhance the hunting was open late season water. Since the pump on the lake runs off electricity, turning the pump on and off will be as simple as the flip of a switch like we did in Holt County. The cost of the pipe for a bubbler is minimal, so they have agreed to install one. Right now, placement of the pipe is not 100% final, but we're almost sure it will be positioned in the open pocket of trees marked on the photo above.
Waterfowl hunting has become more and more competitive over the past 10 years. It is obvious food is a major key to success. In the past we have not planted the mud flats in Cass B. Since we acquired this new lake we were given the green light to plant the mud flats on the lakes in Cass B. There was a unanimous vote that TJ will be in charge of running the hand seeder over the mud flats in July!
7 May
Quail, Pheasant and April 2012 Rainfall
For the non-bird hunter April begins the season that is anticipated for reproductive success indicating what kind of fall hunt that may be anticipated. None will quit hunting due to a bad forecast. All look forward to just how good it will be.
The theory behind the April 15 - 30 rainfall indicator is to capture the earliest hatching period of pheasant and quail. It is the observation the first of the eggs are laid around the very end of March to the earliest of April. Give the birds time assuming an egg laying rate of 1 to 1.5 per day to take 10 to 15 days to lay a nest full before starting to brood. This brings an April 8 - 15 start brooding time. Incubation at 21 days sets the earliest of the hatching right at the end of April.
Using the entire last half of April for rainfall measure is a pessimistic valuation. That is given the greatest likelihood of the earliest hatching is the last week in April. It is also assuming that the southern MAHA regions, that which gains longer daylight periods earlier than the northern regions, are more likely to be effected during this time period.
The shorter analysis is that the April rainfall indicator is taken into considerations as a refinement. It does not carry the same decision weighting of where to hunt as does May and June rainfall. It is those two months that pheasants will nest and brood chicks to quill feather age. That which protects best from adverse weather effects. Quail will nest and brood from the end of April through August to September. The strongest evidence of the Bobwhite Quail's repetitive nesting are the juvenile coveys found in October and sometimes as late as November.
For April 2012 is appears all of Iowa and Missouri is on a positive track for improved over last hunting season hunt quality. Most of Kansas, the exception being southeast Kansas, is similarly on track for a good quail and pheasant hunting season.