Oak Ridge Whitetail Adventure

Fawns?

Sam Holley — Mon, 07 May 2012 12:35:36 +0000

It has been a great week of weather and I hope it continues to stay on the warming trend for the next couple of weeks. It looks like the hard freeze a week ago took about half of our apple crop this year and with any luck that will be enough of the cold temps for this spring.
We have not seen any fawns yet but I would guess there are some that are already here or will be very soon. The weather has been better so far this spring for them and hopefully we can get a few drier weeks or at least warmer anyway for them to get started. We are hoping for somewhere around twenty fawns this year and if the weather and coyotes co-operate that should be a good number. The coyotes hit us very hard last year during fawning season and we are adding a predator fence this spring to try and discourage them from getting into the preserve. The predator fence is 35″ wide (box fence) with the first 10″ bent up into a 90 degree and attached to our 8′ verticle fence. The remaining 25″ lays flat on the ground. This keeps predators from digging under your verticle fence. We are hoping this will keep all of our canine friends out of the preserve.
I was able to get the spring food plots all plowed this past weekend and with any luck I will be planting soybeans and corn this week. My plan is to try and plant enough so that they do not all get browsed off before they get started. With any luck we should get 3-4 acres planted.
No more turkeys last week but we did get some great stories and had a lot of fun with some really good friends.

Turkey Season Continues

Sam Holley — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:11:51 +0000

Our turkey season continues to be better this year with only some rainfall. What a nice change from last years continual down pour. The weather while dry still continues to keep us on our toes! Jack joined us again this year and Saturday morning we started out with a temp of twenty-eight and overcast skies. The birds were screaming on the limb and things looked pretty promising. Well things can change quickly in turkey woods and we had two other hunters set up in the area. The birds clamped up once on the ground and it wasn’t until 11:00 AM that we heard our next gobble. There were several nice toms along with about ten hens that we located in a feild just off our hunting area.
Sunday morning started off colder with a brisk twenty-five degrees and crystal clear skies. It was a perfect morning for hearing but the birds had different ideas. We only heard one very distant gobble and nothing in our area. While setting up we had seen another vehicle so we assumed we were not alone and made some changes to our plans. We decided to only call sparingly with clucks and purrs so that the birds would not be spooked. I guess it worked out okay because at 6:30 AM we had three jakes come out to our set up and when they spotted the decoys the ran directly to us. Jack took a nice jake on his third visit with us turkey hunting. This made his third gobbler in five days of hunting over three years. I’m not sure where he carries his horse shoe but his luck sure is holding up here with us.
Our weather is supposed to start warming up this week and with any luck we will collect our third tom later this week. I’ll keep you posted.

Bring on May

Sam Holley — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:21:59 +0000

What a wild spring we have been having here in NE Ohio. We have had everything from eighty degrees in early March to snowfall in late April. This past week we had snow showers on Monday and it has finally settled into just showers and cooler temps and I am hoping our fruit and mast trees made it thru without freezing!

Everything has greened up very nicely this spring and our clover plots are looking great. The deer I believe would prefer it to stay cooler for a while longer at least until they have shed their winter coats. The doe are all showing a lot of signs of carrying fawns and within the next 2-3 weeks we should be seeing them arrive. The antlers are clearly visible now and all of the bucks have at least several inches on new growth. I have even seen a couple that are starting to spread out and showing their brow tines already. It is a very exciting time of year here at Oak Ridge right now.

Our 2012 Turkey Season got off to a great start last Saturday when Matthew took a tom with 7/8″ spurs and a 9″ beard. The day was very rainy and cool with very little action early but once the birds were on the ground things picked up quickly. We had one tom and one jake come in just after 7:00 am and actually ran the last 100 yards to us. What a great feeling it is to help youth hunters to success. The photo should be posted in the next couple of days.

April Showers

Sam Holley — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 17:07:59 +0000

The weather here at Oak Ridge has finally settled back into more of a normal pattern for us. We are still a lot drier than normal but the temps are back down into the forties and fifties with lows dropping into the thirties. The fruit trees are starting to blossom and with any luck we will be able to get them thru without a frost. We are lucky to have so many varieties here and they seem to progress at different rates which helps us to get at least a portion of them thru every year.

The deer are all looking shaggy right now as they are shedding their winter coats and it will not be long before they take on that red coat of summer. The does are starting to show really good now and with any luck we will have a nice fawning season this year. Drier is always better than damp and wet for new fawns. The bucks are starting to push their antlers already and you can see them from quite a distance. they seem to be a couple of inches already and once they get going I will start posting some new trail camera photos.

Springtime Continues

Sam Holley — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 15:01:09 +0000

We have had the best two weeks of weather I can ever remember here in NE Ohio for March. The temps have been in the eighties and the sun has been shining. The great weather has everything green already and the blossoms are in full bloom at least two weeks ahead of normal years. I hope this doesn’t turn back to cold temps as it could cost us all of our acorns and apples for this fall!

Our food plots are all way ahead of schedule and the clover and chickory are up about 4-5″ already. It has been a perfect combination of warmer temps and rainfall during the night. The deer all look to be in great shape and enjoying the greener pastures. It has been nice enough that many of our Amish neighbors are plowing already but it is still to wet for a tractor. I am guessing that if this weather can hold we should be planting all of our food plots in April this year. The woods are starting to green up as well and it has made for some hard shed hunting this year. I think I have picked up around 7-8 sheds so far and I hope to get at least that many more before I am finished. The bugs also seem to be enjoying the early spring so don’t forget your bug juice if you are headed out shed hunting.

The weather has also brought with it an early steelhead run this year. Rich was in town to take advantage of the early run and the rivers are full of fish already. I would conservatively say that he landed close to 60 fish in five days and the action was very consistent. There are so many fish in right now that even I had some great luck this last week. Hopefully we will get a longer drawn out run this year and can continue to access the water.

March Madness

Sam Holley — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 15:03:50 +0000

Well we made thru another Dixie Deer Classic and had a great time. Visited with a lot of our friends from previous years and had some really good conversations with several new people. What a great time of year to visit North Carolina. It is nice to get a preview of spring with the flowers blooming and trees starting to get their buds. And after visiting to return home in a snow storm but knowing that spring is coming soon.

I have still seen a couple of bucks with their antlers but would guess that they should be joining all of the other bucks very soon. I did find the sheds off the “Mean Buck” the morning before we left for NC and I am guessing he would have scored between 220-230″. What a great looking buck and with any luck he will have several fawns here at Oak Ridge this spring.

The food plots are trying to green up already and if the weather does as they predict should be growning nicely by the end of this week. I am planing on top dressing the clover plots with seed and lime this week to try and catch the last few freezes to bury the seed. It is raining today and this is our first warmer rain of the spring so it should make a big difference. If we can follow this rain with 60 degrees and sunshine look out!

Leap Year

Sam Holley — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:01:16 +0000

Yet another great week here at Oak Ridge with the weather giving us everything from mid-forties and sunshine to low twenties and snow. It has been a crazy winter but mild by NE Ohio standards. We are closing out February quickly and by this time next week we’ll know if March is coming in like a lion or a lamb.
Most of the bucks have dropped their headgear with only a few hold outs still hanging on to their antlers. I have spent a good 8-10 hours shed hunting and have pretty much came up empty. I know it’s not my eye sight because the only two I have found are from yearlings. It is a great time of year to be out in the woods and to watch the first signs of Spring trying to push their way into Ohio. This week I have seen robins, redwing black birds, and a lot of green sprouts thinking that it’s time. I couldn’t agree more but when you live in this area it is almost certain we will still have more winter in early March. Once we reach St Patricks Day it should start to change rapidly and then it is time to get busy.
We have had two of our bucks so far make the SCI Record Book and hopefully there will be four more before we are finished this year. Rich currently has the #6 Muzzleloader under the Northeastern White-tailed Deer(non-typical)(estate) and also the #1 Rifle under Northeastern White-tailed Deer (tyical)(estate). Congrats to Rich! Keep watching for the 379″, I have high hopes for him in the record book very soon!
We will be setting up at the Dixie Deer Classic again this year and it is already that time again. March 2-4 located at the NC State Fair Grounds in Raliegh, NC. I am looking forward to seeing our old friends there and hopefully meeting some new ones. We have the same booth as the last two years 1-E28 so come look us up if you are in the area.

Shed Hunting Begins

Sam Holley — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:09:31 +0000

Not sure what weather we are going to have until you get out bed each morning! We had days this last week in the high forties with sunshine and lake effect snow and low teens this past weekend. It has sure been a roller coaster ride this winter and with every passing day we get closer to March.
The bucks have been dropping their antlers over the last week and that means it is time to start shed hunting! The snow is a great help for us to provide background as long as it isn’t two feet deep! There are still a few bucks with their antlers but normally they all drop within a week or so of each other. I guess the really cold temps tiggered the dropping. All of the deer are bunched up into groups and settled into the winter patterns. I have seen groups of does and yearlings with 8-10 deer. The does aren’t showing yet but by mid-March they will be and hopefully the Spring comes early.
We are finishing the clearcut and it is amazing how quickly the deer find the available browse. It seems like everyday we work there are tracks the next morning. The new stand project has been on hold with the great weather but we should get it going in the near future.

February?

Sam Holley — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:56:18 +0000

I’m not sure I have been keeping up with my calendar? It says that it’s February 1st but it feels more like April or May! We have been pushing the low sixities the last two days and yesterday the sun was shining all day! What an incredible spring day for the 31st of January! We’ll take it but I’m guess the ground hog will let us know tomorrow that we’re not done with winter just yet.

The bucks are still sporting their antlers and as of this morning I have not seen a buck that has dropped his antlers. There are several great bucks that made it thru hunting season and at least a few of them look to be well over 200″. I’ll hopefully be able to find the sheds and be able to share them with you at the sportsman shows. All of the deer are all settled into their winter patterns but seem to be enjoying this warm break. They have been hitting the green food plots and are filling up with the easily available greens while they can. It has been a hard winter weather wise for both them and us with the wild tempature swings but the open ground seems to agree with them quite nicely. Now if I could get rid of my mud!

We have been working on our first clear cut the last two weeks and hopefully if this weather holds we will have it completed by this weekend. We are also going to be starting another box stand in the next couple of weeks and if you have ever been in one of my stands you know the task we are facing. I’ll keep you posted on the progress.

We will be heading to the Dixie Deer Classic in less than a month now and I’m looking forward to seeing some of you there at the show.

January Projects

Sam Holley — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:53:51 +0000

It looks like Ole Man Winter has finally started to settle in here in NE Ohio. I guess we knew he would eventually although the longer he waits the better. We have had sub 20′s the last three or four days with Sunday hitting -5. These colder temps have sent the deer into their winter patterns and the browse will be getting consumed heavily during these periods. The snow has ranged from 4-12″ and it just depends on your location. Kind of a nice change from mud and rain.

We have started looking toward our 2012 projects and it promises to be an exciting year. Because of the colder temps and the pressure on the browse we have started our new clearcut and apple tree openings. The next day out it is always fun to see how many deer have check on our progress and enjoyed the new reachable buds. The apples seem to be their menu of choice although they will hit about anything that is available. These new areas will provide browse for the next several years as well as fawning cover and habitat for the deer throughout the year.
The bucks all still seem to have their antlers and I will keep you posted when I find our first sheds of the season. I have been getting reports from just south of us that they are starting to drop and one hunter has already found three sheds. It is kind of like the maple syrup guys, yes you can make it during the January thaw but boy it’s a lot more work for smaller numbers.