It has been a very exciting week here at ORWA. Keith Warren was in town filming a program for his “Deer and Wildlife Stories”. I was able to spend two days with him and he has alot to offer to anyone with outdoor interest.
The weather here in Ohio still remains cooler than normal for this time of summer. We have had several rainy days this week and it has proven to make all of our crops in the preserve happy. The acorns and apples are all filling out nicely and it looks to be setting up for a great whitetail hunting year for Ohio.
Our lodge continues to progress and the painting has all been completed and about half of the fixtures are now in place. It really helps to have light!
The warm summer rains have found us this week. It has rained for the past two days and it was much needed by the food plots. Everything has greened back up over night and it looks like we will have plenty of forage for this fall. The apple and oak trees are both producing this year with only a few showing the late frost effects.
Progress on the lodge is also coming along quickly and we are currently painting and hanging the fixtures. We hope to have the entire project wrapped up by mid-August.
The bucks continue to grow and it is more and more exciting everyday. One trophy buck was spotted yesterday (sorry no pictures were taken) and he looks to be in the 180″ class with at least 10-12 pts. The big bucks rarely hang around long enough to give you much time for photos.
The work on the lodge continues this week. We now have the drywall and panelling completed and are looking toward the stairs and fixtures next. The weather was too nice to ignore so we also spent one day working on the main access path and it is now providing a much smoother ride.
The fawns are growing quickly now and have been increasingly bolder ever day. They are out in the open more each week and most of the time if you see a mature doe her kids are tagging along. Some of the bucks are getting far enough along that they can be classified as “Trophy Bucks” now. We have been seeing several that will go 8- 10 points this year. It should be an exciting fall for hunting.
It has been a much needed rainy week here at the preserve. The streams are all running and the food plots and grasses are growing nicely this week. The rain has also allowed for a full week working inside the lodge. The ceiling is now completed and has completely covered with knotty pine. The cherry panelling has been completed and now it is time to look toward the dry wall and plumbing.
The fawns have also been enjoying the cooler weather and have been moving out into the open much more regularly. The bucks look different every day. There are several that look to be heading to the 170-200″ class this year. Most of them are already sporting their main frames and still have a month plus of growing yet to go.