Jump to content

Managing property for wild game hunting


Reagan1k

Recommended Posts

Lotta rain all over.  Grass is waist high and deer are fat as embedded ticks.  Tall grass should bode well well for fawns.  Might be tough early hunting if the acorns are thick but that’s a small price to pay for a health heard.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have a decent, steady flow to our protein, but you are correct- nothing like when things are tough and they appear to be waiting in line to eat.  This amount of moisture closing on mid June bodes well.

Should be a huge year for acorns and wild persimmons which makes hunting tough but I’m happy to take that over the alternative.

Interesting fact.  If deer are gorging on wild persimmons, they get extremely  sluggish and move very little. The ripe fruit ferments in the rumination process and they get a bit drunk which keeps them laid up.  We had a biologist refuse to do a scheduled deer count when the fruit was still available because of the effect it plays on their movement. 

  • Hook 'Em 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/5/2021 at 11:44 AM, fattyflattie said:

Ours were slamming the protein about a month ago. I’m sure this rain will slow them down a bit. 

Checked our PFs Saturday.  All are stone empty.  Trail cam pics show an endless parade of deer in pens.  Super green all over.  

Go figure.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've got one camera that's been overtaken by a wildflower of some kind.  Sucker has grown 2 feet in the last month.  Now it's blocking the camera and taking a flower-selfie every time the wind blows.  It beats the alternative of nothing but crispy, burned grass, but it is annoying.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

This field had been fallow for years; my dad disked it and planted it in Kleingrass last year; it looks phenomenal with all the rain. Kleingrass is a great combo cattle/wildlife grass.

87347a4b253ea55c190fda71a0eb599f.jpg

I haven’t put cameras out yet, but I got a quick cell phone pic of a nice buck on the way out of the ranch last week. Might have some shooter bucks this year.

1cf195cccf32983173f8972833c8c4ef.jpg

  • Hook 'Em 2
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kleingrass was kinda the "in" thing to plant in the mid 80's-early 90's. It did really well in our area. Not sure the reason people went away from it. Maybe better hybrids of more common grasses. That's a great stand for just a year.

CHIEF

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kleingrass was kinda the "in" thing to plant in the mid 80's-early 90's. It did really well in our area. Not sure the reason people went away from it. Maybe better hybrids of more common grasses. That's a great stand for just a year.
CHIEF

Klein doesn’t produce the #/acre biomass that some of the hybrid bermudas will (jigs, tifton, maybe even Coastal); but it does better in clay soils and colder climates than hybrid Bermudas in my experience; and wildlife generally won’t eat Bermuda, but will eat new growth Klein.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
18 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

I've got a little family of javs that visit my feeder like clockwork over the last few years.  Cool animals.  They don't disturb the deer in any capacity compared to the turkeys, in my experience.

Yep.  I pretty much leave them alone.  Only see them occasionally and they don't hurt anything.

Coyotes and wild pigs are terminated with extreme prejudice.  All methods and means.  Trapping, snaring, shooting from blinds, helicopter hunting, thermal hunting, etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Johnny Sack said:

Yep.  I pretty much leave them alone.  Only see them occasionally and they don't hurt anything.

Coyotes and wild pigs are terminated with extreme prejudice.  All methods and means.  Trapping, snaring, shooting from blinds, helicopter hunting, thermal hunting, etc.

We don’t have shit for pigs.  One guy actually got a second place in east Texas so he could satisfy his love for killing pigs I guess (gives the kids a ton of practice). 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, fattyflattie said:

They don't disturb the deer in any capacity compared to the turkeys, in my experience.

So much this.   My experience has been that deer loathe turkey more than any other wildlife.  I can only guess that a flock creates so much movement and noise around them the deer feel vulnerable and their defenses are compromised so they exit quickly. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great pics @Lazarus Bocanegra!  Love that area.  Congrats on the purchase.  Roughly where are you in Live Oak County?  I've hunted on-and-off in that county for 25+ years.  Had a lease near Lagarto for over a decade and now have a good friend with a place on the Nueces between Three Rivers and George West and my uncle has a ranch right at the Duval County line off Hwy 59.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 9/17/2021 at 12:50 PM, Spaulding Smails said:

Great pics @Lazarus Bocanegra!  Love that area.  Congrats on the purchase.  Roughly where are you in Live Oak County?  I've hunted on-and-off in that county for 25+ years.  Had a lease near Lagarto for over a decade and now have a good friend with a place on the Nueces between Three Rivers and George West and my uncle has a ranch right at the Duval County line off Hwy 59.  

Thanks, man.  Got very lucky with the timing of the purchase.  Place was pretty trashed up by the goat farmers we bought it from, and in a few short months we've really turned the place around.  This first season should be a big learning experience for us.  None of us have any experience in brush country.   My partners' old place was out near Brady, so a totally different world. Recently found out the previous owners were pretty much hated by everyone in the surrounding area because they'd shoot everything that moved.  We're trying to get the word out that there's new management in town...

We are on 99 due north of Choke Canyon in the NW of the County, close to where McMullen, Live Oak, and Atascosa Counties meet 

 

Edited by Lazarus Bocanegra
  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

51 minutes ago, Lazarus Bocanegra said:

Thanks, man.  Got very lucky with the timing of the purchase.  Place was pretty trashed up by the goat farmers we bought it from, and in a few short months we've really turned the place around.  This first season should be a big learning experience for us.  None of us have any experience in brush country.   My partners' old place was out near Brady, so a totally different world. Recently found out the previous owners were pretty much hated by everyone in the surrounding area because they'd shoot everything that moved.  We're trying to get the word out that there's new management in town...

We are on 99 due north of Choke Canyon in the NW of the County, close to where McMullen, Live Oak, and Atascosa Counties meet 

 

That's a nice area.  I used to be on 9000 acres where 99 dead ends at a pipe gate on the south side of Choke Canyon in McMullen county.  The Nueces was our southern border.  That joint was gamey as all get out.  

Good luck.

  • Drool 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

After spraying a couple of weeks ago to kill everything and mowing last weekend I took the tractor out with a disc and a drag behind the Rhino to prep a good seed bed in the deer food plot this past weekend.
After the field was prepped, we threw out 150 lbs of winter wildlife mix (wheat, oats, cereal rye, peas and a couple others I can't remember).
Then ran over it again with the drag to get good seed to soil contact.
Now, just need the forecasted rain this week to hold.e49f7bcd7481e6ef9d53635a39fe4d37.jpgb4e311675e1d421f432127c25960cf70.jpg0ef814ab7639a59efd7bd0585810883e.jpgb27dc01270097b25b27c0f1fa5be8b29.jpg6d5a105888e8a871302354f467e7a455.jpg74c5b4c2a39ba04e2d0f6077b2b6c0e8.jpgcdc999137cf9b3fc1987574537d5a0b9.jpg

  • Hook 'Em 2
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Lazarus Bocanegra said:

Thanks, man.  Got very lucky with the timing of the purchase.  Place was pretty trashed up by the goat farmers we bought it from, and in a few short months we've really turned the place around.  This first season should be a big learning experience for us.  None of us have any experience in brush country.   My partners' old place was out near Brady, so a totally different world. Recently found out the previous owners were pretty much hated by everyone in the surrounding area because they'd shoot everything that moved.  We're trying to get the word out that there's new management in town...

We are on 99 due north of Choke Canyon in the NW of the County, close to where McMullen, Live Oak, and Atascosa Counties meet 

 

That's a primo spot.  I hunted on a buddy's spot one weekend near Whitsett and had some banner hunts.  Like @deadshank said, lots of wildlife.  Just give it time and patience!  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...