Garden 2022

[oneshot]

17 hours ago, jdmidwest said:

27 when we stepped out for youth turkey season.  Needless to say, birds were not happy.

Know several Trapping to help Turkeys. Lot of Critters killed and throne in the brush. Guess AR people rather see this than giving them a use.

oneshot 

[jdmidwest]

6 hours ago, oneshot said:

Know several Trapping to help Turkeys. Lot of Critters killed and throne in the brush. Guess AR people rather see this than giving them a use.

oneshot 

I had that little speach with the Grandson on the way home yesterday after not seeing or hearing a turkey.

I pointed out the fields that used to have turkey in them back in the 70's and 80's in the afternoons.  An hour drive back did not allow us to see a single bird.

Coons, armadillos, possums, bobcats, coyotes, foxes are all on the rise.  Feral hogs.  Field management.  All takes a toll on the turkey birds.

[BilletHead]

34 minutes ago, jdmidwest said:

I had that little speach with the Grandson on the way home yesterday after not seeing or hearing a turkey.

I pointed out the fields that used to have turkey in them back in the 70's and 80's in the afternoons.  An hour drive back did not allow us to see a single bird.

Coons, armadillos, possums, bobcats, coyotes, foxes are all on the rise.  Feral hogs.  Field management.  All takes a toll on the turkey birds.

                     Correct. More game is killed by predators than humans. 

[Johnsfolly]

8 hours ago, jdmidwest said:

Coons, armadillos, possums, bobcats, coyotes, foxes are all on the rise.  Feral hogs.  Field management.  All takes a toll on the turkey birds.

 

7 hours ago, BilletHead said:

                     Correct. More game is killed by predators than humans. 

Weather plays a big role in turkey recruitment. Get a cold spell or rains during the hatching period can be as bad or worse than predation. I remember experiencing those cold and wet years when we lived in Columbia. Late summer poult counts were often less than 1 poult per hen.

[BilletHead]

4 hours ago, Johnsfolly said:

 

Weather plays a big role in turkey recruitment. Get a cold spell or rains during the hatching period can be as bad or worse than predation. I remember experiencing those cold and wet years when we lived in Columbia. Late summer poult counts were often less than 1 poult per hen.

          That I agree on also, but the predator correlation is their big time.  Not just for turkey but quail, songbirds, fawns and other small game. There has to be a reason MDC proposed and decided to extend furbearer seasons. There have been years especially in skunks and racoon population booms where distemper and other diseases shows up and it is nasty, and the critters suffer. Would much rather see a level-controlled population growth to help prevent this.  In so many things we are out of balance so do your part.

Furbearer hunting, trapping seasons to be extended in Mo. (msn.com)

      

[Johnsfolly]

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/health-science-environment/2021-11-29/missouris-wild-turkeys-arent-having-enough-hatchlings-worrying-scientists-and-hunters

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/health-science-environment/2020-09-28/missouri-turkey-researchers-scramble-to-understand-why-populations-are-shrinking

 

More on turkey numbers.

[Johnsfolly]

Extending the furbearer season is a great idea assuming that there are enough trappers and hunters harvesting these furbearers. If not then this extension would really only provide minimal control, which is a shame. It's been discussed on here many times that the rewards in the fur prices (a bit of sarcasm) don't justify the efforts. 

It needs to be part of the solution. Need to figure out how to get more recruitment for predator control.

[BilletHead]

19 minutes ago, Johnsfolly said:

Extending the furbearer season is a great idea assuming that there are enough trappers and hunters harvesting these furbearers. If not then this extension would really only provide minimal control, which is a shame. It's been discussed on here many times that the rewards in the fur prices (a bit of sarcasm) don't justify the efforts. 

It needs to be part of the solution. Need to figure out how to get more recruitment for predator control.

          Correct, 

  Just hoping the new season will give some of the hunters and trappers another excuse to be out doing something. I know it will give me an excuse to set some coon cuffs out by the garden and bird feeder and take out a few during boring times. Kind of busy other seasons. I will try to do my part and the rest of you please give the ground nesting birds of any type a break. 

[oneshot]

23 hours ago, Johnsfolly said:

Extending the furbearer season is a great idea assuming that there are enough trappers and hunters harvesting these furbearers. If not then this extension would really only provide minimal control, which is a shame. It's been discussed on here many times that the rewards in the fur prices (a bit of sarcasm) don't justify the efforts. 

It needs to be part of the solution. Need to figure out how to get more recruitment for predator control.

Yes when I was trapping killed thousands of animals. Some used for meat. All were used for fur which there was a good market.

oneshot

[ness]

Doing a little research about last frost dates here. I went through my notes and old posts here and found the following frosts/freezes after our zone 6 average last frost date of 4/15. Not a comprehensive list, just ones I made note of:

4/30/2011

4/22/2013

5/10/2014

5/9/2020

4/19-4/21/2021

4/19/2022 (31 degrees)

Here's a distribution of last frost dates I found for zone 6, where most of us are. So, average = 50% = 4/15. 70% chance you're good tomorrow or later, and 90% on 4/30 or later.

Frost	50%	40%	30%	20%	10%	5%	1%
Last	4/15	4/18	4/21	4/25	4/30	5/4	5/13
First	10/23	10/20	10/17	10/13	10/9	10/5	9/29

That frost on 5/9/2020 above was <5% chance. 

Peas, spinach, beets, carrots, radishes and Swiss chard are in the ground. Tomatoes, peppers, basil and about ½ the lettuce are under lights. 10 day forecast looks good, but based on the history here, and a little more patience about these things lately, I may wait a couple more weeks.