April Drought Brings May...

Trail camera pictures have been slow so far this spring in comparison to the last two years. Either the deer aren't as interested in minerals, or this weather has something to do with it. We haven't had any rain to speak of for almost two months! There's been some drizzle on the horizon, but nothing that I've felt here in town. Deer need sodium to regulate the gorging of potassium, which comes from new tender green shutes. It's starting to green up, but not like it would if we had an inch of rain.

I was up to the cabin on Friday and I scattered some seed in the shack field in anticipation of maybe having something for the deer to chew on this summer. It was just a mix of clover, brassicas, and turnips. I also brought a bag of Antler King mineral mix and dumped it out over two different areas. This time, I brought a spade to break up the soil to help it leech a bit. The cameras are getting pictures, but just not like I would have expected. Last year on April 19 was the first sighting of WideWeb and on the 25th was the first sighting of The Clown. Here we are and the cedar stump where both of these bucks were photographed has been very dead. I probably won't get up there for another few days. I need a jug of apple buck jam for the four sites. There's a total of 7 mineral sites with the addition of two others that I don't really monkey with until late season.

On the flipside, I've gotten a few pictures of bears messing with my trophy rocks, which always makes a person wonder if the deer are leery of bears this time of year.