masked seduction????? (and coon theory)

[trappnman]

there is about zero waste here in the fields- and the fields that have the least amount of waste are the mega type fields. picked, bale the stalks and plow- thats the norm.

now a few smaller farms- those using older and smaller equipment, often leave a few cobs here and there- and those cobs will rot there until spring.

perhaps, until its all picked we have so much corn- but setting in picked fields here, will give you a lot of down time, cause you won't be skinning much. Been there, done that even on field with a little left in them. you can have 220s set in trails leading from woods to the field, and they go dead immediately after corn is picked.

[trappincoyotes39]

Far different than other areas very little bailing of stocks done in NW Iowa or NE Iowa for that matter and these guys in SD- farming 18,000-22,000 acres don't have alot of time besides combining most years and waste is there for sure. Combine to truck transfer and all the rest. Picked sunflowers holds alot of deer and coons after the fields are harvested food and cover to boot.

Just different farming practices across areas I guess.

[trappnman]

are you sure about NE Iowa?

SE MN and SW Wi, its a common practice. you would think since NE IA is similar country, they would be doing it as well. in any case, very few farms don't bale corn duff, and more and more are doing same with bean duff.

heres an unrelated question- how common is composting dead cows? here, its SOP and few have the old time dead piles. Most of the big dairys compost dead cows under sawdust or similar

[calvin]

Yes beav, last of Oct. But last year was very little standing corn by that time. What was standing very few trails in and out of (last year). So in the area I was in, it was either the stream (fish type foods) or nothing I could see. We did have a real early spring last year, however. I wonder how that played into it all. "maybe" there was a nut source I didn't see.

I had a buddy trapping about 30 miles away at the same time. He experienced the same.

Also baited pockets for mink didn't do what they normally did last fall, either. Not even close. Maybe the early spring gave them an abundance of food. Think they just waddled past my sets and burped.

Yes, the dead piles have gone by the wayside it seems around here. Just recently, too. Must be added restrictions as of late. Typical.

[trappincoyotes39]

NE Iowa finds alot of no till farming taking place and the last "I" knew overall bailing of stalks was few and far between and not the norm. The higher cost of fuel needs to equal out the benefits of harvest and anything else one does with a tractor anymore. 2 trips through a field is more costly than one, each much weigh it out for their benefit.

In NW SD dead piles are still in practice because of the shear numbers they run and higher loss rates, but in Iowa not as much either for dead piles again yes regulations I would suspect to have something to do with that.

In SD make shift dead piles are made with late spring snow storms loss, but localized depending on the weather.

[thebeav2]

As soon as the corn is harvested around here they are right behind the combine plowing the ground. No waste at all. Once the corn Is gone so are the coon. Timber and water that border these worked up fields Is where the coon are.

I'm still a believer that you need to show that animal something to maximize your catch. And that goes for all critters.
I bet If you could attach a piece of fur to the DP trigger your catch ratio would Increase.

[mtcbrlatrap]

Here the two counties I trap in the most have about 420,000 crop acres of which about 150,000 is alfalfa (no coon there) 35 K of beans not many coons there. 20,000 of winter wheat, long gone by October and drilled with 8-16K gallons of liquid dairy manure.
We have about 140K of corn of which about 60k comes off as corn silage, nothing left then within days it is worked once lightly and receives 8-16K gallons of liquid dairy worked in. Not coon period. Lots of sea gulls However. We then take off about 30K of corn as high moisture corn about the last week of October and very early November so that is gone and gets the same liquid dairy manure treatment as well. All the manure has to go in before freeze up so the race is on to get the crops off before mid November.
The remaining corn is combined and dried and has good coon populations if you have the permission. Once the liquid manure starts flowing I go to the water even if the coons are smaller and not as prime. Trying to trap around all that equipment, odor and material is really tough. We have very few oak forests here so mast is not a big food source in general. If you find an oak woods here it is leased out to the turkey and deer hunters which are not very welcoming to the trapping fraternity.
Here the livestock business is big enough we still have dead stock firms picking up cattle, but sometimes for a fee. Not now with cull cows worth up to a $1,000 or more even the not fit for human consumption live ones are bringing a fair price. Unreal to see 3 day old bull calves sell for more than a 3 day old heifer calve but the market is what the market is.

Bryce

[trappincoyotes39]

Bryce your point being agriculture is very diverse and not one mold fits all? Then I agree.

[bblwi]

We have a multitude of species here but not exceptionally or extremely high numbers of any particular speicies. Up until the mid 1990s we had very small average field sizes with many tree lined former fence rows and miles of stone piles on these former fence lines. With larger equipment and high land costs many of these field lanes, former fence lines etc. are being cut down and buried so that the fields can become larger and more efficient for the very large equipment being sold today. This reduces coon, fox, squirrel, rabbit and other small mammal habitat along with some birds as well. We are starting to see our species congregating into the better habitat areas for food, cover and water. Total populations maybe the same but distribution if quite different than even 15 years ago. Especially true for red fox, deer, and coons. With the high manure application to the fields and they needed to be worked in this has kept our pheasant numbers very low and basically eliminated what used to be a pretty nice Hungrarian Partridge population. I used to get 2-3 coverys per farm a decade plus ago, today I might flush one per trapping season.

Bryce