Hot & Little Game seen this Morning

[ilovesprig]

Got up to east county pretty early this morning.......No rabbits or no deer in the 1st couple of spots. Next door to my property though were a couple of nice SD bucks........... ;D

Also, in many states turkeys are under the heading of big game......So, I've included some good gobblers that made it thru last season. I did see some poults, but the average seems to be 2 or less........That's only fair recruitment at best.......Many of this years poults are as big as their moms. So in some cases, it's hard to tell who's who.

.

 

[longbowhunter2]

Sprig

the pictures always amazing. nice beards on some of those turkeys
great that even there is a drought there still Birds around, ;D

 

[SurfNHuntSD]

Re: Hot & Little Game seen this Morning

Wow, great pics. Those turkeys beards are almost dragging the ground. Wish I was hunting there this fall!

 

[ilovesprig]

Yep.......The drought has taken it's toll on our east county game......The older gobblers and last years jakes are doing ok.......I don't allow jakes to be shot. So, we have a few. With about 6 "longs" that made thru the season.....The problem is we didn't have much recruitment last year and this year doesn't seem to be much better. Just 5 years ago, we had over 140 turkeys. Of which 32 were long beards.....This season we had about 12 long beards and 6 jakes. With a winter flock-up of about 33 hens

Birds move around, but the drop has been dramatic......Deer are going the same way......I think in one picture 2 years ago at the END of the season, there were 11 bucks in a picture and probably 20+ does.....Now were down to about 3 or 4 bucks and a handful of does......Acorns are very small this year as well and many of the water sources have dried up. Even predators are getting desperate.....With no grasses, mice, squirrels, rabbits, and other small prey are few and far between. I have seen one fawn this summer. At this time last year, there were at least 9 on one 40 acre piece.

Pray for rain........

 

[Jim]

Very cool!!!!!

 

[longbowhunter2]

Yep.......The drought has taken it's toll on our east county game......The older gobblers and last years jakes are doing ok.......I don't allow jakes to be shot. So, we have a few. With about 6 "longs" that made thru the season.....The problem is we didn't have much recruitment last year and this year doesn't seem to be much better. Just 5 years ago, we had over 140 turkeys. Of which 32 were long beards.....This season we had about 12 long beards and 6 jakes. With a winter flock-up of about 33 hens

Birds move around, but the drop has been dramatic......Deer are going the same way......I think in one picture 2 years ago at the END of the season, there were 11 bucks in a picture and probably 20+ does.....Now were down to about 3 or 4 bucks and a handful of does......Acorns are very small this year as well and many of the water sources have dried up. Even predators are getting desperate.....With no grasses, mice, squirrels, rabbits, and other small prey are few and far between. I have seen one fawn this summer. At this time last year, there were at least 9 on one 40 acre piece.

Pray for rain........

sprig I am praying. Worst I have ever seen it. all the creeks in east county are dried up. I know of 3 or 4 water holes on public land. I think most of the damage has happened this year. compared to other years when it was dry. don't know what to say.
but lets keep praying.

some how the harbison canyon creek keeps running behind my back yard.

 

[ilovesprig]

Yep.......The drought has taken it's toll on our east county game......The older gobblers and last years jakes are doing ok.......I don't allow jakes to be shot. So, we have a few. With about 6 "longs" that made thru the season.....The problem is we didn't have much recruitment last year and this year doesn't seem to be much better. Just 5 years ago, we had over 140 turkeys. Of which 32 were long beards.....This season we had about 12 long beards and 6 jakes. With a winter flock-up of about 33 hens

Birds move around, but the drop has been dramatic......Deer are going the same way......I think in one picture 2 years ago at the END of the season, there were 11 bucks in a picture and probably 20+ does.....Now were down to about 3 or 4 bucks and a handful of does......Acorns are very small this year as well and many of the water sources have dried up. Even predators are getting desperate.....With no grasses, mice, squirrels, rabbits, and other small prey are few and far between. I have seen one fawn this summer. At this time last year, there were at least 9 on one 40 acre piece.

Pray for rain........

sprig I am praying. Worst I have ever seen it. all the creeks in east county are dried up. I know of 3 or 4 water holes on public land. I think most of the damage has happened this year. compared to other years when it was dry. don't know what to say.
but lets keep praying.

some how the harbison canyon creek keeps running behind my back yard.

Yep G,

Trying to find public land water is almost impossible.......If you know of public land near private, especially with cattle (they have to have drinkers). You might be in business. The Cleveland falls into this category pretty good. Deer will travel long distances for water.

I'm afraid this could be a tough season.......Although, I thought turkey season would be poor and it was one of the best...........

 

[NBK]

Some cool photos of the bucks...

 

[msailor]

Great Pics and information ilovesprig! Thanks for posting.

I have not seen much activity this year either. But on a good note the Santa Margarita creek is still running for now so atleast that is a good sign. Praying for rain and hope that the El Nino is strong enough to impact our weather pattern. This is what the NOAA website states for now.

NOAA's National Weather Service indicates El Niño is likely to emerge in next few months. Forecasters favor a weak-to-moderate event. Typical El Niño impacts in the U.S. include above-average rainfall in the West and suppressed hurricane activity in the East, although neither is guaranteed and largely dependent on El Niño's strength.