FRANKFORT, KY. – With the last frost date fast approaching, now is the time to get started on seasonal plantings for wildlife.

  This includes food plots, stands of warm season grasses, legumes, such as clover, and preparing soil for plantings later in the year.

  A field of sunflowers, planted for dove hunting in the fall, is one of the most common food plots. You should plant sunflowers no later than the third week in May so fields will begin attracting local birds as the seeds ripen.

  "You want ripe, mature flowers by the second or third week of August," said Rocky Pritchert, migratory bird program coordinator for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.

  Hunting for mourning doves in Kentucky traditionally starts September 1.

  "We recommend opening up (mowing) about 25 percent of the field by mid-August," said Pritchert. "As opening day approaches, mow additional strips in the sunflower field, to spread seeds on the ground."

  Field preparation in the spring should start with plowing, and then disking the soil until the plant bed is loose. Pritchert highly recommends a soil test to determine whether the field needs fertilizer.

  If you do need to fertilize, 20-10-10 (20 percent nitrogen, 10 percent phosphate and 10 percent potash) is a good choice. Apply it at the rate of 200 to 250 pounds an acre. Apply fertilizer then lightly disk it into the ground about a week before you plant.

  Black oil sunflower seed – the kind used in birdfeeders – is a good choice. The seeds are small, and a 50-pound bag is inexpensive compared to the price of sunflower seed that has a certified germination rate.

  Sunflower seed should be planted with a corn planter or drilled into the seed bed to a depth of about 1/2 to 1 inch. Rows can be 20 to 40 inches apart. Broadcast seeding rarely gives the desired results because it is difficult to control weeds between the sunflower plants.

  Doves are particular about the fields they’ll visit. "It's important to cultivate between rows, to keep weeds to a minimum," said Pritchert. This gives birds easy access to bare dirt between the rows, where they can dust their bodies and forage for seeds that have fallen to the ground.

  Food plots ranging from one to five acres are the recommended size to concentrate deer and wild turkey for viewing or hunting. Plant each plot in a long strip near escape cover, such as woodlands or brush. Corn, left standing, is an excellent winter food source for deer.

  Chufa, a bunch grass with a peanut-like tuber, is a favorite food of wild turkeys. It matures in about 100 days, in early fall. Buckwheat is another top crop for turkeys. Birds readily eat the large black seeds produced when this leafy plant matures.

  Annual grains, such as winter wheat or rye, make good food and cover for wildlife, especially quail. Ben Robinson, a wildlife biologist with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, recommends a 2 to 3 year rotation of plantings. "Say you have three acres of winter wheat, then the next year you would re-plant one acre of wheat, and leave two acres fallow," he said.

  Fallow areas provide shelter for quail chicks. "They can find room to move underneath the cover, and some seeds of native plants will sprout in the area where the soil has been disturbed," Robinson explained.

  In pre-settlement days, grasslands covered an estimated 3 million acres in the state. Warm season grasses, such as eastern gamagrass, switchgrass, big bluestem and Indiangrass, provide food and overhead cover for rabbits and quail. Deer also use stands of tall grass for bedding areas.

  Site preparation is important. Prior to planting, treat the area with an herbicide if necessary to rid the area of fescue. Warm season grasses, which can reach heights of 5 to 8 feet, actively grow once soil temperatures reach 65 degrees. Plant these grasses in the spring.

  "Broadcasting is a good way to sow warm season grass seed," said Robinson. "It creates a sparse, less dense stand of grass, which gives rabbits and quail more room to move."

  Established stands of legumes, such as clover, can last for 2 to 3 years and provide a food source that deer, wild turkey and small game will use from early spring until heavy frosts kill back vegetation in the fall.

  Clover builds soil nutrients, attracts insects, an excellent food source for young turkeys, provides high-quality forage, and grows tall enough to offer cover for young rabbits.

  Clover thrives in well-drained, sunny fields with moderately fertile soils. Since clover grows best in soils with pH levels between 6.0 and 7.0, you may need to add agricultural lime if the soil is too acidic.

  Landowners planting in new areas may want to spend additional time conditioning the soil beforehand. Plow in the spring, then periodically disk or cultivate throughout the summer to rid the soil of sod and weeds.

  In late August or early September, plant a crop that will become a food source in fall and winter. Turnips or other cold-tolerant greens will attract deer during the late season.

 Landowners with 25 acres or more qualify for an on-site visit and management plan when enrolled in the department’s Wildlife Habitat Improvement (HIP) Program. Private lands biologists offer the technical guidance free of charge. Landowners participating in this program do not have to open their property to public hunting or use.

  For more information, call 1-800-858-1549 during normal weekday working hours, or visit Kentucky’s Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources web site at: www.fw.ky.gov . Just click on habitat improvement.

  I know it’s the time of year to be thinking about fishing instead of deer hunting but I’ve been too lazy lately (five months and counting) to sit down and for lack of a better term, put pen to paper to relate to you the story of my 2009 deer season.

  After getting skunked on my annual Oklahoma muzzleloader hunt in late October, my enthusiasm hadn’t waned and I was looking forward to a successful firearm hunt in Illinois. The “Gang” made the usual trip down to The Ranch to check on our stands and to fine tune our scopes. Things looked promising as we found many scrapes and rubs in the usual places near our stand sights. We had picked these stand sights years earlier as they were near bedding areas or on travel corridors to bedding areas or food sources.

  Everything checked out and we were excited about the coming season.

  Things got started opening morning as my son Josh took two big does that wondered by his stand. Both field dressed around one hundred pounds. Since he filled his firearm tags right off the bat he was going to have to wait a couple weeks to try and fill his muzzleloader tag. Since he needed something to fill his time he called dibs on being the camp drunk the rest of the weekend. It’s an honorary title and it doesn’t mean you’re drunk all the time, just most of the time.

  Since Josh had filled our freezer requirements he told me I could just trophy hunt the rest of the season. Thinking back, I think that was a jab at me. Either way I was determined to at least fill one of my tags.

  By the end of the second day I was the only one that hadn’t filled at least a tag. I had passed on a couple of small four and six pointers and hadn’t seen a doe close enough to get a shot at. My head was starting to hang a bit as the sun got lower and lower. It was around 4:30 when a deer came up the path to my left and crossed twenty yards from my stand. It was a spike buck. I had to do a double and triple take due to the shadows but saw he only had one spike.

  I contemplated whether to take him or not for a minute as he looked at my doe decoy I had set up. I finally reasoned that since he couldn’t keep a full set of spikes now how could he be counted on to carry around anything bigger, so I took him. (Anything to help me sleep at night, right?)

  I was thinking that maybe it wasn’t a good idea to take him as I struggled in the near darkness field dressing him. My little clip on light wasn’t quite enough light so I hung my mini mag-light on a low overhanging limb.

  When I arrived back at the house the boys were waiting for me. They asked if I had got one and I replied yes. They figured as much since I was later than usual arriving. We all went out to the truck to get him out and hang him on the meat pole. I refreshed their memories with what Josh had told me about just trophy hunting and with that I dropped the tailgate. We all had a good laugh at my trophy. He wasn’t a wall hanger but at least the pressure was off. I still had a shotgun doe tag and an either-sex tag for my muzzleloader so I still had a chance at something bigger. Although after opening weekend things can and do get tough but I was up the challenge and if I didn’t get another deer at least we had some good meat for the freezer.

  Two weeks later we were back to try our luck at filling our remaining shotgun tags and hopefully to fill a muzzleloader tag or two.

  Thursday afternoon and all day Friday was a bust for me. I was hunting with my muzzleloader in case I got a shot at a nice buck since I could only take a doe with my shotgun tag. It’s legal in Illinois to hunt with a shotgun, muzzleloader or handgun during regular firearm season although there are restrictions about what caliber, etc. you can use.

  I passed on several small bucks and still no does. The past couple of years we hadn’t seen the big groups of does that we had seen in the past and this season was the same. Kind of odd really as there are a lot of deer around the area.

  As I said I passed on several small bucks. One of them, a six pointer came in on me Friday afternoon. He came up the same path that the spike from the first season had traveled. He stopped at the gap in the fence between the two fields and looked at my doe decoy I had set up in the clover field again. He looked her over real good and turned and headed up the fence row away from me. I then saw him jump the fence and circle around the decoy staying just inside a little finger of trees that bordered the field. Once past the decoy he stepped out into the field and walked pretty much to the middle directly in line with the decoy where he stopped and looked it over again. He wasn’t twenty yards from it. After thirty seconds or so he turned and walked straight away from it never in a hurry. The scene would have been great to film but alas I had no video camera.

  Saturday morning saw me back in the same stand. Around a quarter past ten a doe suddenly stepped out a finger of woods across the fence and directly opposite the fence gap. I quickly situated myself for the shot as she slowly walked out and to my left. I was able to look her over real good. She was a very young doe and not a button buck. As I continue to eye her up for a possible shot something caught my eye behind her still in the trees. It was another deer!

  Keeping one eye on the doe so she didn’t cross over and into the woods again I kept the other eye on the other deer waiting to get a good look at it. The doe kept walking stopping every few feet to nibble on some grass. She was getting further away and I placed the cross-hairs on her ready to take the shot but still waited to get a good look at the other deer if it ever stepped into the open.

  I looked through the scope again at the doe and looked up once more to finally see the other deer step into the open. It was an eight point buck with tall tines and a nice spread! How long or how far he had been bird dogging the young doe I have no idea.

  "I think I’ll shoot this one instea" I said to myself as I brought the gun around and placed the cross-hairs on his shoulder. By this time the doe had started away from me so the buck walked a little faster determined to stay up with her. I grunted at him to make him stop, placed the cross-hairs on the sweet spot and pulled the trigger!

  Over the cloud of smoke I saw him running away from me across the small field. He went one direction and the doe another. I knew he was hit hard as he was running low with his tail down. I watched him run into the trees on the other side, making a mental note of his direction and heard him crash into the brush. After reloading I said a little pray of thanks and tried patiently to wait ten minutes before getting down to track him.

  Getting to the spot where he was standing, which was about twenty yards from the stand, I looked around for some blood. I didn’t find any. I wasn’t discouraged as this isn’t too unusual for close in shots and headed across the field to where he entered the woods.

  I saw no blood there either so I cautiously entered the woods keeping a sharp eye out for any sign of him. After going twenty or so yards without finding him, the doubt entered my mind.

  Things raced through my mind. "Did I hit him too high? Too low? Did I just plain miss? No, he was hit and with the crashing sound he made he has to be here somewhere. Besides, I didn’t hear him bust out once I got here."

  About several minutes of searching I was heading up a slight incline when I stopped to gaze around again. Over to my left about fifteen to twenty yards away I spied what looked like a rusted out steel barrel that had collapsed in on itself. “I don’t recall any rusted barrel lying in the woods around here” I thought. I took ten or so steps in that direction and realized it was him.

  After poking around his eyes with my gun barrel to make sure he was dead I flipped him over. There was only a small pool of blood. No wonder I hadn’t found any. It was clean through lung shot. He was dead but he just didn’t know it. I wish he had known it as it was a fifty yard struggle to drag him back into the open and then another eighty yards back to the stand. But that was a good problem!

  Once back at my stand I settled in hoping to get a shot at a doe that afternoon as I still had a doe tag to fill. I didn’t get another shot but it didn’t matter. I had another wall hanger! Anything after this would have been anticlimax anyway.

  Back at the house that evening I backed completely up to the shop instead of stopping by the meat pole just to mess with the guys because if you back up all the way to the shop it’s usually an indicator of not getting a deer. I did it not only to mess with them but to back up into the lights to get some pictures.

  The boys asked me if I had gotten one and I informed them that I had taken a button buck. I also told them I wanted to take a picture of it so come and see it. Their jaws dropped when I opened the tailgate.

  "Josh told me to trophy hunt" I reminded them. And with that the congratulations and back slaps began.

  I couldn’t believe it and still can’t months later. Two nice bucks in back to back years. What a blessing! I’m still riding high but I can’t help feeling that this year could be different. The bad luck monkey could jump on my back again and things could get ugly but I’ll deal with that later. As for now I’m eyeing up a place on the wall for my new mount despite my wife’s protests and besides it’s time to go fishing. Until next time – Jim Bob.

  The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) is closing state-owned and managed caves that support bat populations as part of a national effort to slow the spread of the mysterious white-nose syndrome affecting bats in the northeastern United States.

  The closure will be in effect until further notice. Among the caves that will no longer be open to visitors is the Illinois Caverns site in Monroe County in southwestern Illinois. Caves located at five other IDNR sites are also involved in the closure order. The caves are being closed to all visitor access in an effort to prevent humans from spreading white-nose syndrome among hibernating bat populations. These actions follow recommendations of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), who along with other state and federal agencies have closed several caves throughout the United States as a result of this disease.

  White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a new wildlife disease of unknown origin that has killed hundreds of thousands of bats across the northeastern U.S. during the past three years and continues to spread. It has recently been detected in Missouri and threatens to stretch rapidly to other portions of the Midwest (including Illinois), home to several species of bats that are on the federal list of threatened and endangered species, as well as some of the largest populations of hibernating bats in the country.

  "The evidence collected to date indicates that human activity in caves and abandoned mines may be assisting the spread of white-nose syndrome," said IDNR Director Marc Miller. "The State of Illinois through the IDNR, working in conjunction with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Forest Service, is taking steps to reduce the risks of further spread of WNS. This will involve the complete closure of all IDNR-owned and managed caves for the foreseeable future."

  The primary agent of concern with white-nose syndrome is a fungus that is new to science and may possibly have been unintentionally introduced into the United States. This fungus grows best in the cold and wet conditions common to caves and abandoned mines and likely can be transported inadvertently from site-to-site on the boots and gear of cave visitors.

  "We hope that slowing the spread of WNS will buy time that is critical to confirming the cause of this disease and potentially implementing management actions to minimize the impacts to native bat populations," said IDNR Endangered Species Manager Joseph Kath. "Scientists are working to determine the cause of WNS. Whatever is causing WNS may remain in caves where bats hibernate even when bats are not present, and we are concerned that people may inadvertently carry WNS out of the cave with them."

  The IDNR is implementing the cave closure immediately and will review the order on a quarterly basis.

  "We recognize that this complete cave closure effort will require sacrifice from the caving community and other citizens, and we regret this inconvenience. However, the observed devastation to bat populations, exceeding 90 percent mortality at many affected sites, and the evidence for human-assisted spread justifies that we exercise an abundance of caution in managing activities that impact caves and bats," Kath added. "These measures will not be a cure for WNS, but they are necessary to help slow the spread of this affliction and to reduce the risks to bat populations in North America."

  The IDNR does not have the authority to close caves on lands other than those which are owned or managed by the Department. The IDNR is encouraging local units of government, public organizations, and private landowners throughout Illinois to follow the Department's example and immediately close caves on their property and prohibit any human access in order to help prevent or slow down the spread of WNS. IDNR biologists can provide advice to private landowners regarding proper cave closure.

  Questions regarding WNS and the cave closure effort can be directed to Joseph Kath, IDNR Endangered Species Manager, at 217/782-6384 or by e-mail to Joe.Kath@illinois.gov.

  We received a letter recently from Jeff M. in Texas (don’t want to use his last name as he doesn’t need a visit from the Man.) asking if the raccoon he had in his freezer was safe to eat. We replied yes it was and he sent the following reply. We thought it a bit humorous and asked him if we could pass it along if we didn’t use his last name. His reply to that note is included at the end. Enjoy.

  Great story ... I noticed a pile of poop (big pile) [definitely multiple trips to the fence!] on the top rail of our privacy fence. Got a picture of the rascal with game camera. Sitting in hot tub with wife one night in back yard, lights on having a wee adult beverage and looked up to see the raccoon walking along top rail of fence coming right towards us. Raccoon jumps down off fence; dog (golden retriever) laying in flower bed chases raccoon up tree.

  I jump out of hot tub (naked) put on robe and ran into the house to get my Marlin 22 (with scope) run back out and shoot raccoon. After finishing hot tub and drinks I return with raccoon to house, skin, and prepare same for freezer!

  A few days later my son sends me email with report on how 14 people since 1931 have caught some disease from eating raccoon. Thus my question to you in previous e-mail.

  I shot and ate one back in 1986 and had no ill effects except maybe I tend to rattle on sometimes and tend to be rather verbose in my emails!

  Thanks for the response, now I just need a good skunk recipe. I am trying to get skunks out from under barn. Shot and killed one already but it crawled back under barn. - Jeff

  Not a problem, my honor! Here in Texas we have a get out of jail free card. I was protecting my family from being attacked by a wild anima! - Jeff