Early Season Hunting Plans

0:00This is the Lanolaxi podcast brought to you by white-tail properties real estate We're your host Adam Keat and Matt die This is your weekly resource for habitat management Wow life management and recreational real estate. We hope you guys enjoy the show Welcome back guys Lanolaxi podcast Adam and Matt here we're headed down the road Coming back from white-tailed properties Pitsfield, Illinois home-based home-based basically yep Once again we're on on a road Driving down and getting to see some country I think this is the obviously the calendar is now into September and so we're driving down the road and it looks like oh wow okay dear season is here bro or very close you know because of the conditions that were under it's not anything new to be into September and

1:05be dry but this dry we've had two-week spell of hundred degree heat index if not real temp and so like corn and the humidity's dropping into 20% so like we've seen combines running chop and corn or cutting corn which is a little early compared to other years so it's like to those years yeah okay it's with cherry and drying at a faster rate due to the environmental conditions yeah but it's not out of reason necessarily or or or not atypical but like we're driving down and big blue little blue iningress in the median and road ditches are seated out you know and it's like oh wow road rod starting to pop starting to get that yellow flare to it bone sets really turning white it's like all those fall colors are starting to set even in some like the sumac and stuff it's starting to turn some of the black gum sass frass it's like whoo then you get into those arcs where we drove and it's like oh that's trees that are losing

2:06leaves and like dying because of the drought drought stress hard work and the stress it is interesting though to think about we went to we went on a Mule deer hunt that cloud banks aren't over there yeah I'm a little exciting we went on a Mule deer hunt at this time oh man yeah sure dead years ago years ago I was like wow many many moons ago yeah yeah that you know about hot that was hot too sand hills Nebraska all we did was hike and get sand in places we didn't want to sweat and sleep in a tent and thunderstorms stories no there's the stories but like you said I you know after years and years of essentially this very similar conditions it's not as scary going through it right now it's like oh my gosh what are we gonna react oh my gosh what's going on it's like pretty

3:08typical yeah those two shall pass before you know we'll be going in training to move yeah right it's just honestly come to expect it but I think this is the best thing that we've that we've done and adapted well to it though is is do that early plant early brassica yep and know that okay hey most of these and it's still shocking because we're seeing oak trees in our area literally stress and stress out completely browning out early September not good that just again gauge of how dry how heat stress is but we have brassicas that have lasted through that because they got enough early rain all the moustache deep root taproot and they are surprisingly doing I'm not gonna say well but they're hanging on whereas wheat a crimson clover something like that you would plan to early we weren't even looking at looking at a brown field compared to green

4:09patches and as soon as we get higher air moisture some do's in the morning because we haven't even had that no and if we get two tenths three tenths of rain and some thunderstorms that are kind of forecast in the next six seven days ahead of season those are gonna perk up yeah I feel like they're stable the last ten years have have showed me that the growing season is April to early August and it's like okay there's a rain chances if I'm gonna invest time and money moving forward like next spring you better believe there's corn going in the ground heavily fertilized in April and I'm going all in on that you know and and and soy beans and then I'm doing brass because in July and it's like anything after this I'm plus clover I'm lucky if if if if we get I'm not

5:10expecting a rain in August of September but if so all adapt and I'll plant something but that's just that's just living on you know a house money living on a prayer if you're getting if you're getting rain in late August or September it's just like yep that was unplanned that was a godsend but you know what we'll take it and so that's how this year once again is just driving that nail home of going okay don't don't don't plan on getting any moisture the last ten days of August and the first part of September right right yeah it's just not expect don't don't expect it and don't even plan for it yep and so it's like literally do not plan for it plan against it yep I'll just go early with the brass because late with the cereal grains and try to shift everything into spring planting with corner soybeans or doing perennial clover or even a early spring like frost-seating heavy if have to but like I'm gonna try to do

6:13clover at the tail whenever we get rain I'm gonna try to have clover on a ground yep yep because this window of time is terrible for establishing food pots it is and and and again we can wish it's one way but we know it's probably gonna be different if we're given different cards we're already set like what's the worst case scenario our brasskas get bigger yeah because we got more rain in August okay or we establish the the wheat and the oats over top of it earlier okay it's it's like there's not really a fault in it yep like there's not a problem if that happens so yeah it's just you know looking and expecting hey curveball and then getting thrown a curve ball and knocking it out of the park alright I'll plan for that so that that's really what the current situation from like a food plot standpoint but we also know in our area things also are probably about to change given the fact that we had

7:15really good spring and summer rains until the end of July and we've got a white oak acorn crop and persimmons are everywhere and yep as it happens every single year those are going to begin to start to drop and so what does I think I think we kind of curtail that and get into okay what is your early season look like who are you chasing what's the setup kind of look like what winds are you expecting what's the approach to that to try and and be successful early out of the gate because you and I both kind of I think look at Missouri's season structure we're in similar seasons of life and then also we both happen to have a Kansas deer tag to this year so it's like yep hmm which which which which I can't remember it's one of the three somewhere there

8:15somewhere there yeah sure yeah it's West Missouri somewhere I don't know I have to look Gallorato so somewhere in there I yeah we both have a tag and that's kind of the the nolling at me going it'd be nice killing Missouri early because I'd like to be able to shift and go out there as soon as October one hits right and so like for me I have some deer that I have a history with and two in particular I'm still waiting a few others that have been somewhat on camera but not real and I think this drought has really caused some changes in summer patterns so I'm like okay you know Ackeren start falling they'll probably shift back and I'll and I'll see him one in particular I was a really nice book but he's been so inconsistent I don't want to put any cards on the table for him you know and I'm just like you know what if he shows up in six round of gun season great but what

9:16I'm hopeful for is there's there's two bucks one is not a high score but he's old I think he's five and a half that is kind of got a real goofy side yeah and goofy side meaning he could have some sort of a pedical injury that could lead to a brain abscess so it's like he could die randomly from a brain abscess yeah and so it's like well I'd like to kill him rather than him just die from a yeah natural and old do you think he is I think he might be five and a half he could be four and a half you know last year he ran in a bachelor group that had some deer that I thought were three and a half and he was bigger than they were so okay he's probably probably four but then he immediately shifted as soon as he's an open up okay and just left the farm oh he shifted off shift it off I don't have him alive in October November and so it's kind of one of those where it's like I think he's five and what was he last year like did he have the same pedical yeah same same injury smaller rack this year he's got a decent

10:21rack yeah he's got a really good side at the other side match you'd be like oh I think he's a nice bug yep yep but anyway and we just called him goofy and creative yeah real creative to me is like we go through this stuff for it's like I don't like I don't have to name but at the same time you're like I need to be able to communicate which deer we're talking about so he just goofy and then we have another book that is six and a half that I mean long history with this deer you and I watch this deer at two and a half two and a half as a mainframe 12 yep and I bet this storm what grunting up a storm yeah and we I made this joke I don't I think I made yeah I saw him like a week or two later filming your brother yeah we saw him seven times as a two and a half year old out of tree stands all over the farm and he's doing the exact same thing and his name is bugger because he's always been under our nose and he is

11:22on a portion of the farm that right now was very consistent but the soybeans that he was coming to eating are now focused on pods rather than leaves production yeah and so there's a lot of deer in there and so I think he's kind of shifting because the food is getting limited and here's where I'm counting on him the last three years okay I've watched this deer in mid-september shift to this one area okay and he goes he's on like a killable good area parallel ridges and the valley in between yeah right and two years ago he's four and a half and I had another book that I was focused on so it's just like yeah he's just four anyway I'm just gonna let him go and he was I mean as he's consistent as clockwork the student of the of those movements and you're like okay we call that

12:25part of the farm Kingsville yeah okay he's on Kingsville and he's there almost every morning or afternoon you've got really good scrape setup in there and used to you've to not good anymore oh no that's my problem oh no there was a a tree top that during the logging had fallen over yeah it was just this dead limb that was hanging down and that's what they scraped I thought there's a great vine in there too that was super good we tried it last year with some stuff yeah and didn't get the same consistency oh yeah and anyway I'm actually really thinking about considering taking that skid steer that we just got wrong right down the ridge to clear that road back out sure so they just naturally walk it yeah front of the horrible idea and then so he did that and then last year he was on that same ridge but he also went down right as soon as season opens up in fact I had daylight videos of him because we were also dry

13:25if you remember we got this little that little wet area on the south end of that field that we call north bottom yep he was down there and there's a couple scarlet oaks that were raining eckeren as soon as season opens up sure now you know that I have those really good brass cousin soybeans correct right there south of it and then he's historically been just above that field on that shelf right and so it's like early season there or Kingsville both of them I'm ready for mm-hmm we'll see what happens like pivot and be there at the right right I'm watching like a hawk going okay if he makes that shift I'm ready for him and then at the same time just north of that is where I've got the corn and and goofy so it's like somewhere in that valley I do rather kill which one would be better hands down he's a year older sure even though the other one probably well let's just say may likely shift off and may likely shift off booger is like

14:28tried and true he's there all the time but at the same time he's not hard to kill because he's all over yeah yeah and if he makes a if he makes a pattern shift nice it gets consistent like I can did let capitalize on it yeah yeah so that's the that's the two bucks for me that are that's the traps is ones on brass cuz yeah and one of the on corn yep and I'm just waiting for season open up and like if booger doesn't make that shift I'm going after goofy but if booger does make that shifts I've got a plan in place so yeah I could be from today to September 15th going back to the point it's goofy it's goofy it's goofy it's goofy and then all of a sudden no no it's booger so what what kind of like wind set up thermal set up are you needing looking for to currently let's say let's say chase let's just focus on on on the goofy deer cuz like yeah I need anything in west

15:31like what are the qualifiers let north conditions yeah west north and probably even get away with straight south I can't have anything east you know and I'm just kind of he's coming off a big east slope so he's like laying up in this kind of it's not necessarily a thermal hub but it's kind of a dent into the side of a ridge so a lot of pools and collects a little bit there it's it's cool in there it's got a northeast facing slope aspect to it so he's laying there and then walking right down into the cornfield and what made sense before hand or what what was making it very attractive is those soybeans were six inches tall leaves all over them right but we've gone two weeks with whether well no wind or no rain no moisture and wind with humidity dropping into the 20s and heat indexes triple digits and and in mind you're two like we're not in

16:31prairie soils I know like that like those conditions for some people not not many but some people are like yeah it's kind of normal guys yeah we don't have the soil complex with the whole moisture in that kind of condition so it's like that analogy I use with with the ground works is like you know that portion of your yard where it's like boy that spot dries out quickly that's like our whole landscape yeah where it's called a harsh environment if you're if your yard is great grass but then there's that one spot that dries out if you were to dig that spot up you would notice there's a lot of rock or just six inches down it gets hard packed that's kind of how our soil is it dries out very quickly and so anyway that's those soybeans have started making pods as well even though that I would suspect that to give a picture to people there might be six pods on each plant that's how short they are they've just been torched

17:31sure and then I did the brass because but the brass could just did not take very well at all just it's like they baked and then I've noticed that where I do have brass because the deer have all but dug them up eating them and so it's like a great vegetation yeah yeah and so it's on corn and corn how a lot of corn or yeah kind of corn for this it made really well for a grain just over an acre yeah it made really well so I should have corn outside of bears or a lot of raccoons which I had hardly any raccoons on that camera I don't know if they're just coming up the creek and avoiding cameras but I've had very little pictures of raccoons and outside of outside of anything major happening I should have corn for a while that's fantastic so corn early can definitely be overlooked but if it if you get it like before a corn start to drop

18:33I think it can be a fantastic draw but like when you don't have fall food plots or limited amount of them because of the lack of rain and drought it's like well yeah you know this is this is this can be attractive yeah it's like the corn is very attractive another scenario is I've got some water holes and they have planted duck potato yep or arrow leaf on them a handful of years ago yeah yeah and the deer are just torching that and so it's like you know if I were just putting a hey let's go kill a deer I wouldn't sleep on sitting over one of those water holes the wackadoger it that comes in these conditions absolutely but knowing where these bucks are it's like okay this is this is what I got to do it's kind of one of those like going back to the each and every year we get into September or like yeah it's dry it shows us this every year yeah at what

19:33that's what we say at what point do we say okay September is gonna be super dry let's plan around it plan accordingly you know oh you know like I need I want to put a okay early season bedding they like to bed here early in the season or or late in the summer because for what a reason it's cool let's find a way to make a water hole right here that's gonna catch enough water hold enough water to withstand the drought so now I have this early season water oh instead of trying to plant let's say corn or or soybeans because it's too small let's plant clovers and pour some pot ash to it you know to where it's gonna withstand the drought a little better than over brass soybeans sure and go okay I've got an early season attraction and with food and I also have an early season attraction with this water hole and just say okay I'm just I'm done going back to

20:36what I did in 2006 yeah I'm going from 2015 to today it's done the same thing I'm gonna plan on it doing the same thing yeah and pivot from the typical normal 45 to 60 days before your first frost is when you plant wrong yeah like no that's bad advice yeah what so you can plant and waste your money in time yeah yeah I'd rather just know and ensure I catch rains with a with a drought tolerant crop that boars a good taproot naturally normally yeah down to get some moisture and then well even if it doesn't grow as soon as you get some moisture or do's it's sustaining and growing from there yeah I'm going that route yeah I'm sure I'm done with the Labor Day eight way expectation yeah yeah late dog is Labor Day no not happening anymore I'm sick of it so that's kind of my

21:38plan early season yeah and I'm gonna try to shoot some do's in September right start start that process whack those things and move on and I you know I've got a manage hunt tag that goes in effect late October the first part of I don't know if I said that on the podcast yet but basically in Missouri you get two buck tags well with this manage on I get a third tag and then you add by first there oh I shoot it out first yeah so you've got that and then I've got that tag for Western for going west and so I you know I won't be as I'll shoot goofy in a heartbeat and try to get tagged in Missouri to focus on those other other places yeah so what about you what is your early season strategy so I got I got feelers and cameras out in the four different places

22:39that I have to hunt but one of them always holds early and regardless it's it's always had bachelor groups on it but this year it's had a big change it had been it's now been leased out yeah and there was corn on the property or portion of the property and it's been cut for silage yeah in a substantial amount of acreage and so in the drought it's like you know fall food plots they wouldn't be doing good but but now I've got basically cut corn everywhere in silage is is relatively messy when it comes to yeah comparatively speaking to combining so there's a big giant draw there however it's a large field yeah difficult to bow hunt so I'm focusing on the transitions in between that because there are three to four bucks yeah that I got my eye on it said you

23:45know what I think I would probably I would definitely kill a couple of them the other ones are borderline but if they want to walk out and put on a good show early I probably would whack them too yeah so I also got portion of that half acre food plot did the brass because early sprayed out mid July seeded late relate I mean late July and then kind of top dress a little bit more it was a little bit heavier that's what I wanted to broadcast into originally right after it was sprayed out but got decent germ I can say then came back top dressed it got another rain or two on it and those are up but they've just pretty much stalled yeah again I'm not disappointed by that I'm shocked at how hearty given the stress that was been on I'm pleased with that so that's been yeah fantastic so they're there waiting and they're in a really good spot from

24:48a standpoint of transitioning deer from a block of cover through the corner of a field and into basically a big bottom field so that is is super exciting because yeah I can I really plan I'm playing thermals heavy there there some bluff walls and some some some natural pinches that just make the entry and exit into that field and then into a larger field really nice and tighter you wouldn't look at it and see on a map and be like oh wow yeah it's it's the it's small enough and it's defined enough that it really steers them into this portion of the plot and I'm gonna say right now majority of nights throughout a week there's a shooter in there at you know within within light but there's great scrapes and on the good thing too it's really

25:49close to water there's some deeper holes there that the sustained water and it's a transition into a larger destination plot but also there's some big oaks on the edge and we have some acorns and so it's like okay they've already opened up a scrape I heck I I did that probably in late August the stab was kind of a licking branch and they're starting to work it they're starting to hit it and you know the amount of bucks that are in there it's just one of those like there's a lot of scent right there because of the pinching nature because of how they go out there when it oaks and they're gonna start dropping at any moment especially I feel like the ones on the field edges they get a little bit more wind they get shook a little bit more mm-hmm those things could like I said could could drop and even though brass because our moderate I have I've got acorns right there adjacent to it too with it with in bow range

26:50show yeah that's exciting and then really just again lighter wind speeds and southerly and westerly is what I really kind of need to get into that area but we've got that forecast right now a bunch could change right between now and the first couple days of opening of of both season here however that that that looks pretty promising um yeah and then there's a whole another side to the other part of that property and it's got a couple deer on it too that if I if I needed to we get wind shifts I can go to the other side of the property and really be in two to three other deer most likely as well as like you know I know they're a wage not necessarily top that I would be like oh man they're gonna be the best ones but regardless have another tags and yeah I've got a busy fall ahead just family stuff going on and and some trips and what we're

27:55building behind the scenes is like I would not be upset to tag early and and do that so that's probably where quite a bit of attention early is going to be for me and it's also man velvet's peeling on a lot and we're about to get this shift and bump when acorn start falling and some of the other farms they don't summer deer but they pick up through September and into early October yeah and like well something could shift and then I haven't seen all summer and really peaks of interest and go hmm okay well maybe maybe we'll slide into that but really my eyes are focused pretty heavy on on right now where I know it's a known food source because there's not much competition out there when it comes to green just based on the like set the conditions that we've had so yeah that's kind of my my approach if we get if we get that I'm gonna go hopefully

28:59make a trip or two westerly to to yeah it's crazy we're sitting here talking about corn as our early season where it's like yep here we are and it's like goes back to that comment I said is like I'm putting my eggs in a basket of early of spring planting for fall food because this whole plant August late August September is kicked our tail ten years in a row well it's not even longer I think also too it's uh everyone also thinks of the corn is like late like why in the world would you waste that why would the world would you you know manipulate that in any way or how how could you even think about corn early it's like well with foods limited you should see the power of it yeah like it's pretty darn good yeah as soon as the eggs are falling they're gonna pull off of it pretty quickly yeah so it's like it'll be a race for time going here's the corn it's what's happening right now with the temperatures we have

30:01and the weather we have like the thing that always really makes Akron's attractive early is a big storm to come through and blow a lot of Akron's out of the trees correct and so although it's dry I pray against that it's kind of like you know I went the rain to be nice and gentle and easy yes please rain but do it in this banner yeah not aggressive don't not yeah or give me three days to hunt this cornfield see if I can kill before and then after that you can let the Akron's rain like like crazy yeah but it is it's it every single year it's a race against that time and that clock to say okay how much how much time do we're we're gonna have before those other food sources that you are in zero control of really start raining in in our area and that's a massive change in deer behavior daylight occurrences unless you want to get back into the thick of it with them which and sometimes you can but in other places it's a lot harder early season to be that aggressive to get back in and hunt them sometimes in the

31:04oaks because they're bedded in and among them and guess what you got to be in and among them with the boat yeah so it can be it can be it's like a perfect scenario but that's a whole it's probably way too aggressive as a as a whole statement to just say correct you know and so that's the thing too is like early season I feel like if you could do in Missouri if you have a lot of Akron's a a big oak forest in your landscape going I need out valve I mean clover I need corn I need soybeans I need something that's early season attraction because as soon as the Akron's are falling the games over and I'm doing that from now until pre-rut and they're starting to go to thickets right right so yeah that's a that's something that's early season strategies for me and in trying to prep and go okay you know there's a few presuming outliers that I'll keep taps on sure sure there's water holes that I'm I'm monitoring I'm done I've done

32:08that you know oh it's dry what is the one best way to break a drought of course it's prey the second thing is put your trail cameras on ponds yeah put your trail cameras on water it's like leaving the windows down in your truck you want to make it rain put your trail cameras on on water holes and leave your windows down and it'll rain pretty much yeah and at this point we're desperate enough for it I'd say letter letter rain baby let's move some cameras yeah because what I would love like I said is a little bit of moisture make those breath goes pop yeah and and and draw a little bit more attention into into that into that field and plot that's been prepped and dialed and yeah but you know what again if it if it doesn't happen this is what I love about like the right place is it's still a really good like transition so you know chances are still super high so that's that's a huge bonus but between I mean what we've got a week I guess it

33:10opens up next week one week from where this recording yep and we've got chances we got thunderstorm chances and some rain chances between now and then likely the next podcast they hear we'll be hunting all right we'll be all right yeah yeah like that that's good yeah so you know it's like my wife every time she's like you know how close something is as she always uses like milk expiration as like this is how close we are to that like if the milk is expiring before we have to leave for this trip before we have this date or something set and it's like before this podcast release Adam we will probably be in a tree hunting yeah that's how close it is no doubt it'll be wonderful count down begins baby wonderful I haven't I hunted September you didn't hunt last year three years ago killed early didn't you kill the first nine sided to bow in September 15th killed September 16th boom so yeah we uh it's here and you know I

34:17I hope everybody has a blessed hunting season I hope they have they stay safe and we're in a safety harness yeah and tethered saddle yep but yeah no and please be engaging on social media let us know your guys success tag us I always love rallying the troops and congratulate it's it's fun to see client success but listener success as well out there and uh playing good yeah when clients start synonymous the photos it's like oh my gosh they're smoking I get to live yeah it's like I get to live through their successes too it's like that that's what makes it fun yeah all right guys job well we appreciate you listening each and every week well see you next week it'll be both season he called