Dan O.

Somehow I figure that you're being overrun with pheasants and turkeys but it would be nice to hear that the deer are using them.

Dan O.

lunchbucket

Yes Dano. we are waiting anxiousley for the sunflower report.

farm hunter

Hello guys - I haven't been around much - sorry if I missed a couple resonses, I'll look through and see what I missed soon.

The Sunflowers were interesting - but the were no where near enough cover to hold and hide deer - and the deer knew it. Not that we didn't see a few deer in and around the sunflowers - we did - but mostly I think because they were flanked by 1-1/2 acres of corn. We got about 50" of snow this December - and lost almost all of it by Christmas. The Grasses in the feild went flat and while the Sunflowers stood (many of them anyhow) - they dropped their leaves and offered very little overhead cover - at least compared to corn.

I have no pictures to post - but if I get up to the Farm this weekend - I'll snap a couple shots.

I will say though that the sunflowers were excellent for Turkeys, songbirds, and attracting predators like Coyotes and Fox. The Seeds stayed in the heads until about Mid December - the birds really had a field day. I never did see any evidence of deer eating the sunflower heads. Of course just because I didn't observe it - doesn't mean they didn't.

My opinion is that Sunflowers offer a cheap cover solution, and offer great Early Fall forage and cover - especially for small game. I would not plant them instead of corn again - though they could make a good companion crop to corn (like a border - or separating blocks of corn) - but care would have to be taken not to spray them.

lunchbucket

I don't think sunflowers will replace corn for cover but I sure do like to watch the birds. I think we will find the seeds will give us some more to talk about this next spring.

Dan O.

Farmhunter; it's good to hear from you. You'll have to switch over to turkey hunting. It's a good excuse to hunt in the spring as well as the fall. Did the coyotes show up to go after the birds or did you also help out the racoon and rabbit populations?

Dan O.

farm hunter

Dan - I hope to get on the board a little more as I plan next spring's plots - I always feel welcome here - and learn quite a bit.

Its hard to imagine our coyotes any thicker than they are now - but I think we might have - we sure didn't kill any - I shot at two during shotgun season - missed them both.

I've been messing around with one of those Deer Cam's - lots of fun -
Here's some of what we have:



Lunchbucket - Oh to be sure the "volunteer sunflowers" will be VERY heavy next spring. I plan on Round-Up ready corn for the plot this year - So hopefully the sunflower plot doesn't come back to Haunt me. I do think that I'm going to put sunflowers as a border and a shooting lane next year though - hopefully the overspray from the roundup will not get them - We'll see.

farm hunter

These Pictures will give you an Idea of how the sonlfowers/corn fared thus far into Early January. All the corn and all the sunflower seeds are GONE.


This is how the same spot looked in August.

lunchbucket

Are the birds hitting the standing heads now?