Dave H (MI)
Well-known Member
I have mentioned in passing to a few on here that I have a terrible deer problem. The damage was very bad in 2018 so it was not much of a stretch to decide not to plant when the weather was so bad in May this year. I did plant one small field up by the barn which I thought was far enough from the woods to protect it. Less than 10 acres. Thought I would share a photo of it. This is a month or so ago...it is far worse today. Before you jump to any conclusions, this was well planted and a good stand came up on 30" rows. It was fertilized and sprayed and fairly jumped out of the ground. Almost immediately the spacing on the plants started to increase from a few inches to a few feet. Then the larger plants were eaten to about a foot high. This started at the back and worked forward. In the end only about 10 rows encircling the barn were left. I walked out last week to evaluate it and found only 3-4 ears in 2-300 feet of row. Today there are NO ears in this field. Hunting doesn't even put a dent in the population. Keep in mind...I also have all the other predators. Anyway...a picture to show just how bad it can get: