Will the drought affect the deer this year?

[BIGHUNTOH]

What are your guys opinion on the record drought for this year. All I know is when i went to go get this years permission from the farmer he said he cant wait for the season to start to save whats left of his corn.

[ohiowhitetails]

Going to be an early harvest. This will help some farms I hunt and kill me on others.

[deerguy10]

Early harvest huh??? I was wondering if the farmers would be leaving the crops on longer or if they will be cutting everything early...

good question big hunt! I have been thinking about this as well

[mrbb]

well I say yes and NO
as in droughts crops don't grow right and as such weights on deer can be down, as can racks and over all health of the herds in the area

as for cutting crops early??
some might due to they did plant a lot sooner this yr in many places, but with the dry weather, things are goring slower, so, maybe not

good things is , you can hunt water holes, they should be hot spots in many area's this yr, all the more so about crop fields, eating dry foods makes them thirsty !

[fatboy]

Farmers often weigh the odds of leaving corn in and letting it dry or bringing it in early and pay to have it dried. This year it won't be a problem so I think it could be an early harvest.

[taylor6400]

Take corn for instance. Dairy farmers around my area have already began chopping silage. They do this at a certain moisture % and a lot of the corn is already low enough due to the extreme dry summer. So, its coming off early. I cant believe its any difference for farmers who shell corn. The moisture content is lower than normal so harvest can start earlier than usual. Typically i see silage chopping starting more end of Aug or first of Sept so chopping is about 2 weeks ahead of schedule. I am guessing its a pretty area specific deal though. Depends on how early the crops got in, how much moisture at planting, and how much rainfall throughout the growing season. I dont think overall in OH we will see much difference over normal harvest times, we didnt have it as bad as they did further west. Most bean fields are just starting to yellow so i dont think thats too far off from normal. Plus with the rain we have gotten over the last 2 weeks will help extend the moisture content of crops. Now, the question for the farmers is what did the drought do to their yields. I see a lot of corn with tiny ears on the stalks.