crops and wildlife

Brian806 · Jun 16, 2014

Walking my corn fields tonight since it rained alittle this evening! I swear i cant win for losing last year it was the crows that tore up my corn this year they didnt bother it much from what i see hardly at all! Now this year it seems to be the deer one field that thing doesnt have a chance thier just mowing it off the others have minimal deer damage so far! Its to early im sick of wildlife they just make me mad i have alot invested in my 40 acers well alot of money for me! 40 acers of corn isnt anything to a big farmer! Idk how your suppose to make it with all the wildlife beating on your crops! Maybe i should move out of western pennsylvania!

Dave H (MI) · Jun 16, 2014

Yes, the kings deer are getting to be a problem here too. I have been chasing them off the fields but they just run into the adjacent property and wait for me to leave. The soybeans in the back are heavily eaten. Corn is up by the road and not so much yet. I am thinking of pulling permits to take out as many as I can this fall even if I leave them dead on the ground. Just too darn many of them.

Brian806 · Jun 16, 2014

I hear ya thier! The amount of deer anymore is nuts! I drive 20 miles on interstate 80 each way five days a week to my job and i bet thiers 20 deer atleast a week hit on the interstate not counting the ones on.the other roads i travel! Those 20 are just the ones i see! Thiers just to many deer!

David G · Jun 16, 2014

Iowa really opened up the seasons the last few years, thinned them out pretty good. They encouraged doe tags.

GordoSD · Jun 16, 2014

For food plots you have time to replant with a 90 day corn. Up to 25 June.

BANDITFARMER · Jun 16, 2014

Years ago me and dad rented a farm that was over run with wild life, We rented it for 16 years and that last year was miserable mess, Lots of people hunting the place but they could never make a dent in the population. I guess the best way to put it is like this, If the deer and coons don't eat all the corn and the ground hogs don't eat the beans and the turkeys don't trample the wheat down or tear the crops up YOU COULD MAKE A GOOD CROP! One year I got 85 ground hogs (my shoulder still hurts), Hunters got 26 deer and 9 tom turkeys and 4 coon hunters got 61 coons all off 149 acres. And the hunters were as bad as the wildlife on the crops. We parted on good terms with the land owner and he understood and we found a new guy to farm it for him to help him out for the next year. We hated to let it go but enough was enough. Bandit

ShadetreeRet · Jun 16, 2014

This is NOT a political statement, I am just trying to look at both sides of the issue. Now, if your livestock gets out and causes an accident, or any other property damage, you are liable. SO, since the wildlife population is under government jurisdiction, in other words, in order to hunt or harvest said wildlife, you must purchase hunting license, and any related permits, jump through hoops etc., shouldn't the government be responsible for any damage caused by said wildlife? Just a tongue-in-cheek thought.

Fullers Farmalls · Jun 16, 2014

Where are you at in Western PA? I lived up by Johnstown and just moved to Uniontown a few weeks ago. We have deer tearing up out corn too. Thankfully the 20 geese we had at the house moved on before the corn came up.

Fullers Farmalls · Jun 16, 2014

Not picking on ya but don't leave em! Take them to a butcher that does the Hunters Sharing the Harvest. They at least go to a good cause then.

hrRoss · Jun 16, 2014

i had 6 skip rows of corn this year, spent 2 afternoons making a 1 row planter to replant. checked the corn yesterday and found the sandhill cranes went right down the rows and cleaned out all the corn!

da.bees · Jun 16, 2014

Some states alow killing wildlife if they are damaging crops. Check with the local game warden about using a spotlight and wherther he wants you to report anything killed that can be picked up for charity.

Deere Scotty · Jun 17, 2014

I drove past the neighbors corn Sunday, & the end rows had the leaves eaten off here in Central, IN. Moving wont do any good. Horse fence all around might do it though! A full mile of fence gets expensive as well.

Daryl in PA · Jun 17, 2014

In PA, you can shoot them for crop damage!

ohiojim · Jun 17, 2014

the statement about the state being responsible for damage is on the mark, there are a couple states that will cover deer damage to autos, I think WV is one, have a local farmer that was killing 70 to 80 a year on damage permits it really thinned them out here,..I've often thought I'd like to see all the crops in one pile that wildlife destroy in a year, that would be one huge pile, I like seeing wildlife but I'm with the farmer, get them any way you can..

Traditional Farmer · Jun 17, 2014

How much do hunting leases go for in your area? In my area rather then fight the wildlife in some places it pays more to grow crops to attract deer during hunting season and charge to hunt.

johnlobb · Jun 17, 2014

Dave, my grandson went through hunter safety last year and has not had the chance to hunt deer yet, it would be neat to have him help you rid your place of some deer.

Lazy WP · Jun 17, 2014

You guys need EHD or Blue Tongue. Used to be able to see a hundred deer a day around here. Saturday, we took horses out and never saw a single deer. I have 20 NICE skulls hanging in my shop. BIG bucks killed by one disease or the other, but I sure can't complain about the deer damage.

Either man controls the population, or Mother Nature will. I would prefer man, cause I like killing them.

rrlund · Jun 17, 2014

I found Avipel to keep the turkeys and sandhill cranes from eating the seed corn,but the wife and I went and checked the last field planted last night and the geese had cleaned one headland off. I've got another field where they did the same thing. The miserable things don't go for the seed,they eat the plant off after it comes up.
There were four pair of'em,all with little ones around a pond near the end of the field.

Fergienewbee · Jun 17, 2014

Ironic. I plant food plots for wildlife and so far I see very little use. A few corn leaves nibbled off and the cow peas grazed some while other keep growing. Rabbits are annihilating my green beans even though they have a field of clover and grasses. Oats are starting to head out with little damage. I build brush piles and cover beside all my plots. Go figure.

Larry

rrlund · Jun 17, 2014

Around here the saying is,"the deer get the best and the cows get the rest".

Bonnan · Jun 17, 2014

What is EHD?

OH Boy · Jun 17, 2014

Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease - it is a disease that is transmitted to deer by a little insect and they basically bleed to death internally as I understand it. Can wipe out a whole population of deer for miles around. They have had it bad out in Montana and the Dakotas in recent years.

keh · Jun 17, 2014

To keep animals out of the garden I have 1 strand of electric fence about chest high for deer, 2 strands about total of 18 inches to keep coons out. Has worked so far for several years. Sometimes I put peanut butter on a strip of aluminum foil wraped around the wire but haven't seen anything lick the peanut butter yet.

I see no reason why a strand or 2 couldn't be put around a soybean field. In reply to those who are thinking about the deer jumping the fence, the answer is to build 2 fences inside each other. I don't remember what the spacing is supposed to be.
Theory is that the deer jumps one fence, lands in the second, gets shocked, leaves, leaving afence to repair but no returen of the deer.

KEH

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