It’s been a pretty wild week around these parts to say the least.  Mother Nature decided to drop 8.5″ of rain on us last Sunday night and flash flooding occurred immediately.  Whether you are farming for a living, or farming for ducks….it’s either too little or too much in terms of rain.  This one was definitely too much!

As far as floods go, they generally speaking aren’t good if it’s not hunting season!  We were extremely lucky this flood was only a minor one.  This actually did us a lot of good!  The levees held around all of our corn fields and we put boards in some of our moist soil water control structures.  This allowed us to put a little teal water on some excellent teal habitat.  Granted we will save the vast majority of the duck ‘food’ for the regular season, but given the chance to get some teal water we are taking it!  Teal season down here is always a very good time.  It kicks off the fall waterfowl season here and we love hunting them.

We were very fortunate this flood event came now as opposed to a month from now.  The moist soil millet isn’t mature enough that the floodwater hurt it.  When it is fully mature and floodwater gets it the seed falls out of the head and you lose your food.   After getting in and checking everything out after this flood, we are sitting pretty!!!  All the moist soil food that did get underwater on some farms is still intact and looking good. 

Take a look at the two pics below….the first is when the floodwater was on this particular farm, the second is the same spot but two days after the floodwater came off the farm.  The millet that was underwater is still looking fantastic!

This flood allowed us to put a little water on some of the moist soil units, which is very good.  Once the millet and smartweed are up and growing, adding a little water to it actually helps the yield as they seem to produce bigger heads with adequate moisture.  Right now we have 6-12″ of water on some of our moist soil units that we want to teal hunt in.  

There is 6″ across this entire sea of millet….

With the cool temps up in the Dakotas, the little Blue Rockets have been on the move already.  We have around 600 acres of prime teal habitat with shallow water for them.  The cool nights over the weekend sure made it feel like fall is on the way!!

Didn’t take this little bunch of teal long to find the water we put on this millet…

The last well is being drilled today and the new lodge is coming along very nice as well.  Hope to see you all in camp this fall!   If anybody likes teal hunting like we do, shoot me an email to inquire about our teal hunting packages as it should be a heck of a teal season!

Dan has the newest addition to his bird dog family…..Habitat Flats Pistol Pete!  He might not be ready yet, but our upland hunters will get to enjoy watching this little guy work for many years to come!

…right along on the new lodge!!  It’s weathered in and they are starting on the interior work now!   

The duck food is still looking good and we have some blue winged teal showing up already!  We started seeing a few around the first of August and have some water on a few moist soil areas to be ready for the September 12th Early Teal season opener!  Early teal season is always alot of fun for us; excellent teal hunting, excellent food, dove and rail hunting….it’s just a great kick off to what is sure to be another good fall!!

For those who don’t know…I currently hold the Missouri archery state record for Typical class whitetail. I was fortunate enough to be presented with this opportunity and the Outdoor Channel came up to camp last Fall to film for the Bass Pro Shops ‘King of Bucks’ series. He is a typical 10 point scoring 191.5 inches with a brow tine over 11 inches in length. Awesome deer!!!

My deer will be featured on the King of Bucks Series:

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We are very excited the construction is underway on the new Habitat Flats Lodge!!   With 6000 square feet of room, sitting up on a hill overlooking the refuge, it’s going to be a great place to relax after a good hunt.  There are 25′ ceilings in the main area, a 960 square foot business loft for meetings, and a big covered patio off the back of the lodge.  It will be ready for this fall, we are all looking forward to the good times that will be had in the new lodge!!!  Hope to see you here!

The boys are really moving…they have come a heck of a long way in a few days!!!!!!!!!