Ok, now its down to brass tacks folks. I have had my plots done for nearly one month (9/14/02 planted). I put in Ladino clover with a Rye cover crop. I really got lucky, as one day after planting, it rained gently all day. We have had ample moisture since then. My plots are on the small side due to the rugged terrain.
They came up quickly and within two weeks the rye was 4-6" high with the ladino coming in nicely underneath. As I watched at least weekly the rye did not seem to get much higher. As I suspected the deer were beginning to hit it quite hard. Well this past week I was out archery hunting and noticed that the rye was virtually all gone. I am not sure whether or not the deer have actually pulled the rye out by the roots, but now the plots are polluted with ladino clover and not much rye. I planted the same combination last year and the rye got to atleast 10-12" high before the deer started mowing it and they never completely exhausted this plot of rye. It is a bigger plot of about one acre. I am just curious if anyone else has experienced this problem. I really should have put out baskets in each plot to fet a real handle but I did not. I was really anticipating good hunts over two of these plots during the rye growth, but now I need to alter my plans a bit.
If anyone out there has any constructive feedback I would love to hear it. Yeah Greg I mean "constructive". <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>
Kevin C.