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Wet spring = Late planting

Curran

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Central Ohio
So with all the rain we've had in the last month the fields are still flooded everywhere I seem to look, and I've heard that less than 1% of the state's corn crop is in the ground. At this stage of the game it's usually closer to 50% or more planted by now. Just wanted to get everybody's thoughts on how this year's later than normal planting could affect the deer hunting come fall?
 

bowhunter1023

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Appalachia
There three things this brings into play. The first is the worst case scenario and that is more rain that keeps farmers from planting and they reach the point where they don't plant at all. This will happen in some areas and depending on the area, it could really kill the hunting. The more likely scenarios are standing corn well into the late season and having green beans to hunt the first week or two of the season. I hate the standing corn, love the green beans...
 

Hoytmania

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Gods Country
I believe that you are correct on the amount of crops planted. I have a bro-in-law in Ashland county that farms at least 2000 acres. By this time last year they had all their corn in and some of it coming up. As far as I know he hasn't even been in the fields yet. I am not sure what this is going to do as far as the deer herd is concerned. I do know that the passt few years has been record prices for corn. I am wondering how this is going to affect that.
 

Jackalope

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I was talking to Alex yesterday about this very subject. I think up here in the flats, if you aren't planning your seasons strategy around standing corn, you're going to be in a world of hurt. The way things have been looking I can see this corn standing well into late November, early December.. I'm already looking at fingers that jut out into corn, inside corners, exits close to water, and staging areas between corn and bedding.

I also made the prediction that the DNR will say "Due to standing corn, hunters couldn't harvest deer, and that's why we have a 30% decline in harvest numbers over the peak 2 seasons ago." lmao
 

Huckleberry Finn

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We will have corn into December.

(And as for talking about it, I was talking about this with someone 3 weeks ago!)
 

Curran

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Central Ohio
The more likely scenarios are standing corn well into the late season and having green beans to hunt the first week or two of the season. I hate the standing corn, love the green beans...

This is what I've been thinking, and honestly it gets me kinda excited. I have two properties close by that I bow hunt. The M farm should be in beans this year. In years past though they're always yellow to brown by the time bow season comes in and the deer are moving on to other food sources. If the beans go in later and stay green into the early season, it should keep them on that food source and make for some fun hunting early on. Time will tell I guess...

I also made the prediction that the DNR will say "Due to standing corn, hunters couldn't harvest deer, and that's why we have a 30% decline in harvest numbers over the peak 2 seasons ago." lmao

I knew that was coming!! :smiley_crocodile:rotflmao
 

RedCloud

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North Central Ohio
1% of the corn and 0% of the states beans have been planted. This time last year we had 60% of the corn and 100% of the beans. If and when the farmers can actually get that heavy machinery in the fields is anyones guess right now but I would say they should be hitting it hard next week if we can keep the heavy rains out of here long enough. I'm with Joe on this one. Corn will be up until December and beans will be on until probably the beginning of November this year so make some adjustments for your field edge plans this year.
 

Ohiosam

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Mahoning Co.
A few thoughts:

There are 2 basic kinds of crop insurance. Multi peril is the most common type and has a provision for prevented planting(PP). With the high guarantee and saving on expensive inputs there is a big incentive not to plant. The other type is call GRP or GRIP, too complicated to explain how it works but there is no PP and the farmer must plant in order to hope to collect anything.

It is early enough to plant shorter season varieties or switch to beans, seed dealers are seeing lots of switching right now. I just switched a bunch of 107 day seed corn for some 96 day.

If prices stay high most farmers won't risk leaving the crop in the field to save a little on drying.

At this point it's a safe bet less corn will be planted then normal but it's too early to say whether the harvest will be much later then normal, the summer and fall weather will be a bigger factor in the harvest.
 

hickslawns

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Ohio
Sam can probably help us on the info more than anyone else on here. Correct me if I am wrong. Pretty much too late for oats. Still time to get in the beans and corn isn't that far off if I am thinking correct. Last year was the best year and best case scenario for many farmers. This means it shouldn't necessarily be used to compare this year's planting schedules? In other words, it is later than last year for planting, but not totally a wash just yet. Is this correct Sam?
 

Ohiosam

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Mahoning Co.
Pretty late for oats, very few acres of oats are grown in Ohio anyways.

Last year at this time in Ohio ~74% of the corn was planted, 5 year average is 54%, this year 2% http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/current/CropProg/CropProg-05-09-2011.pdf Last year was a good April but at least in this part of the state it got wet in early May and delayed a lot of planting till early June. I ended up with 20 acres of Prevented Planted corn and didn't finish planting beans until June 20th.

OSU as a rule of thumb says after May 10th you loose about 1 bushel per acre, per day. So if a farmer plants corn on May 20th he probably is giving up ~10 bushels per acre in yield. It's not too late for corn/beans yet if the weather settles down, lots will get done around here this week. Since it got wet early very little tillage, spraying and fertilizing got done and those need to happen quickly. Another issue is getting in too big of hurry and working ground too wet which causes compaction and yield loss for a couple of years.
 

hickslawns

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Thanks for sharing Sam. I guess I was a little bit right, but not totally. They are getting pretty late as compared to the 5yr average. I know we like to have all of our lawns put in by May15 at the latest. Haven't been able to do one yet. We need a good 30 day germination before the dry weather hits.
 

rgecko23

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Massillon, Ohio
I figure the farmer down where I hunt will do what he did last year....NOTHING!....It was TOO wet and he didnt plant anything. If thats the case Iwill be putting in a food plot. Even that needs to get done ASAP...the place were I want to put it still has standing water I bet...
 

DJK Frank 16

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Hardin County
There's not a cornfield anywhere near where I hunt, but it will be interesting to follow these developments.
I wonder how this might impact other food sources (acorns).

I'm the exact opposite, I don't have any land that I hunt that isn't bordered by beans or corn on at least 3 out of 4 sides! Should be interesting!
 

finelyshedded

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SW Ohio
I also made the prediction that the DNR will say "Due to standing corn, hunters couldn't harvest deer, and that's why we have a 30% decline in harvest numbers over the peak 2 seasons ago." LMAO JOE! If we have an over abundance of acorns and standing corn, we're REALLY fucked! Hell, I might just as well stay home and take up another hobby! LOL
 

Ohiosam

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Acorns usually produce heavy one year then light the next. I think the chances of another big acorn crop are slim. ODNR will have to get more creative with their excuses.
 

Jackalope

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Acorns usually produce heavy one year then light the next. I think the chances of another big acorn crop are slim. ODNR will have to get more creative with their excuses.

Nah... They've used weather for two years running. And also both abundance and lack of acorns as an excuse.
 

hickslawns

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Nah... They've used weather for two years running. And also both abundance and lack of acorns as an excuse.

What do you want them to say?

Inability to count
Lack of willingness to admit when wrong
Deer are vacationing during deer season
Overly large ego believing they are "doing the right thing" (Maybe they are doing the right thing. I dunno.)


I bet we could come up with a Top Ten list. Might reach a couple hundred though.