Larry,

I think that it is essential to fence deer out of a garden unless you want to share your garden with them, which I don't.

Without some sort of fencing, the deer and the rabbits wouldn't leave anything for us and I imagine it is the same way at your place. The worse the drought, the bolder the deer become.

I've noticed that the deer are already out and roaming around quite a bit because we are seeing a lot more of them being hit in the roadways. Usually that's more of a fall and winter thing than a summertime occurrence.

The coyote population is way down this year, so the rabbit and deer populations are huge, if our property is an example of what it looks like county-wide. I also am seeing a surprising number of squirrels. Everyone is hungry. We have a lot fewer raccoons, possums, foxes, snakes and armadilloes. I'm thinking a lot of them didn't survive last year's drought.

We've been feeding two does and their fawns since July, and now more and more deer are showing up and we cannot feed them all. I never intend to feed deer in July or August, but I have a soft heart for animals, so when does show up with fawns in summer, I feel compelled to feed them. We don't hunt and we don't allow hunting on our property, but some people around us do both, so I expect the herd will be thinned out after hunting season arrives.

It is too bad the deer don't eat grasshoppers. That would solve one problem at least.

Dawn

Not to worry. Come october 1st I will help take care of that problem. I can't wait to go deer hunting!

I have no fawns this year at the house, but I have three yearlings and a female that lost her fawns that all hang around the house. They look really thin.

With all the clover that has germinated at the farm, it is going to be a buffet for them soon, but there is nothing green around my house except my sweet potato plants and peppers.

I have been having lots of skunks around at night, but the only other wildlife near the house has been an armadillo, one big bobcat, and a dead fox. It looks like the Great Basin here. Hopefully we get the rain this weekend and then some things will start growing for them. Even the japanese honeysuckle is dried up. There is just nothing green.

Even though we have had moderately good rainfall here, the deer are far too thin. I try to feed the does and fawns a little something every now and then. We have had a bumper crop of watermelons and cantaloupes, so I slice those and put them out by the compost pile and they love those. They ate green corn stalk leaves when I put those out after the corn was done producing.

Usually I put out a little deer corn and sometimes some hen scratch in the evening. I started doing that in July when the fawns showed up. Within 5 minutes of me putting that out, the does and fawns are there eating it. I do not put it out at the same time every day with the time generally being between 6:30 and 7:30 p.m., so that tells me they are standing in the woods watching and waiting for me to put out food and come inside. The larger herds of deer led by a buck come later, and that's good because if the buck-led herds came before the does and fawns, the fawns likely wouldn't get anything.

My clover sprouted well in the deer feeding area, but not much rain has fallen since it sprouted so it isn't growing much yet. Last year I put out a deer forage-type mix, but think I had it too close to the dog yard and the deer wouldn't come to it, although the rabbits sure did. This year I want to plant forage for them further away from the house so they will be able to eat there freely without listening to the dogs barking at them.

We had the skunks last year really bad, but not too many this year, and if they came into the yard proper, we shot them.....especially the ones out in broad daylight.

We have had one persistent little armadillo visiting the yard after every rainfall, one coyote (though not lately) and one possum that has been coming around the last week. It is really small and scrawny.

Scott, We were very brown like that last year when our KBDI had reached about 770 by mid-August, and then it rained once or twice in August, then rained a lot more in September and I was amazed at how quickly it greened up. Still, it was too late in the season for the wildlife to put on good weight from it all before it froze. We had lots of green undergrowth for them to browse in spring, but it seems like they are so underweight they just cannot recover well from last year. I wonder if they ever will.

Dawn

Larry, it looks like you're going to be getting some rain SOON. Woot! I hope Irene stays calm, though, but strong enough to push up over Arkansas (and East Oklahoma would be good, too).

Bon, I can use a little rain now. My soil will dry very fast. I have been holding off on the watering for about 7 weeks now, I dont ever remember doing that in the past and still having green plants at this time of year.

I live about 6 miles east of the OK/AR, so if I get rain I expect Oklahoma will also.

Larry

I am 10-11 miles from the OK/AR line and I am depending on the rainfall, with my figures crossed. LOL They think we should get 2 inches. They are using so many computer models and the line keeps moving so I don't think it is a sure thing yet.

Its looking more and more like we are going to get some! It seems like just Sunday they said we would miss out for sure. Today they are saying we will get rain, so who knows. I sure could use another few inches. I just don't want to get several feet of rain at once.

Let's hope that the remnants of Isaac bring good rain to all the drought-stricken areas it possibly can.

While it is so awful to see the destruction in the Gulf Coast states, and I'd never wish for a hurricane or tropical storm to hit them, none of us can deny the fact that often we get some good drought relief in the form of rainfall that comes from the remnants of tropical systems.

When the remnants of Erin hit OK, that gave some folks in central OK more rain at once than they needed, but that storm's remnants tracked right up through Texas and OK and were still very strong. The remnants of Isaac are predicted to just "brush by" eastern OK. I think parks of Arkansas and Missouri ought to get some helpful rainfall (and hopefully not too much of it).

I've never had several feet at once, but in two separate Aprils (2006 and 2009) we got enough rain in one day (9.25" in 2006 and 12.89" in 2009) to bust the drought. I never would wish for 9 to 12 inches to fall in one day, but at the time it happened, we were so dry that we were happy to have rain in any shape, form or fashion.

I've linked the current 2-day rainfall forecast from the HPC. This map updates frequently based on what the computer models are forecasting.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Yeh, even I don't fully "understand" but I was explaining to my NZ friend how our weather is actually someone else's weather, a remnant of or an effect of while giving a description of the mountains to the West, those to the East and everything from below.

He was like, "So, you really don't know what's coming do ya?" Bingo

It's great that meteorologists kinda understand it now, but it brings with it the known tragedies preceding our weather.

Sad, really.

Larry, G-mom, teach and Dawn; AFter looking at the bulletin Dawn posted it would seem you're in for more than just rain. Batten down the hatches and let's hope it's not too dry for it to adequately culminate precipitation.

Bon, Maybe you're thinking of Dorothy? Isaac's remnants are not supposed to come anywhere near Love County in terms of wind or rain. Some parts of eastern OK likely will get wind and rain though.

It isn't that rain isn't welcome here. We love rain in August. I just don't think we're going to get it. We have had pop-up thunderstorms and showers all week, and now are up to 3.2" of rain since Saturday so are not feeling as desperate for rain this week as we were last week.

The dewpoints in eastern OK are looking a little better so I think maybe some of them have a chance of rain. Unfortunately, the chance of increased wind speed may be higher than the chance of rain.

Do any of y'all remember what happened to Bastrop, TX, last Labor Day weekend when a Tropical Storm was in Louisiana? Instead of bringing them drought relief, it brought them high, sustained winds that contributed to the rapid spread of wildfires in the Bastrop area that burned hundreds of homes. That was because they were on the "dry" side of the storm. Well, I'm on the dry side of this storm, so just want it to stay far, far away from me!

Because I know that Isaac does not take orders from the NWS and will go wherever it goes, I'll be watching, but not expecting trouble.

I've linked a radar that covers the area where Tx, La, Ok, and Ar come together. You can see Isaac's outer bands on it. Looking I that, I can see there's a chance some bands will make it this far west...perhaps. If they do, they need to go to Jeanie's in Garvin County. She needs the rain more than I do. Now I am wondering if it still has just a huge width, or if it is tracking west of its forecast track.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Isaac on the Radar