This has been a real slow year at the ranch. Only 2 does and one spike taken. What a differance a year makes. Last year opening day there where 4 Bucks taken and 3 does. This year we have had oil lease workers and machinery running all over the lease, the deer where driven nocturnal before opening day. That along with the warmer temps had movin at night. Lot of deer on the game cam pics, very few seen during day light. Here is young Miss Kelsey White with her doe she took while hunting with me. 150 yard shot with her 270. She took her first deer ever last year that was a bruiser 8 pointer.


Now then, here is the new lake they are building at the ranch. When they started digging it, they where just enlarging another pond that was there to make it 300' x 300' x 10' deep, they have well exceeded that and the dozer operator told me the othe day that there is no limitations on how large they will make it. Right now eyeballing it it appears that at the spillway it will be 35 to 40' deep, and they haven't stopped digging. With the way the draw is and the dry branch that runs off to it this lake will be appy 6 to 800 yards long, and several hundred feet across the dam and wider further out with the lay of the land. I will have my own personal Striped Bass lake. They are drilling a water well to fill it after they complete it.
Here is Lake Melinda, Rancher named it after my Wife, she loves to fish his ponds and creeks.


This lake is about 100 yards from where one of my stands sits atop a hill over looking a tree line about 225 yards off. I thought with all the noise that there would be no deer there. WRONG, went and checked my feeder and the deer have been wearing it out, me and Kelsey hunted it the next morning and had 5 doe come out. We both have does at the processor now.

Tell Miss Kelsey congrats. We are having the same problem with the gas companies. Prime time hunting, here they come to do some work. Man, you got some open land on your place.

There is some open land in the back section, there is also a lot of hard woods down by the creeks and in the bottoms, a couple of large cedar hills/mountains, with hard woods around them. Below the tank that is pictured is a creek and some hard woods and thicket that goes across the whole acreage. It is appx 1300 acres. His brother owns 1500 acres next to us. The front property has a lot of trees, it is a neat place. His family/ancestors founded that land in 1856 and it has been in the family since. Quanna Parkers son White Parker used to bring his family out and camp when Reese the rancher was just a boy. They have the first blacksmith shop that was in that area still on the property, and 2 creeks that join into one and dump into a natural water fall and pond on the front property. A lot of history there. One of the largest hills has a huge old oak tree that has 9 trees out of one root base and they used to actually hold school under that tree system back in the day. I enjoy hangin out with Reese and hearing all the old stories he has to tell. Neat place.

Nice. That lake should be awesome. Build some cover in it for the bass! At least I like black bass. My buddies place in Nemo is almost dried up. I saw a pic of it two months ago and the lake only had about a foot left in it and was only about 1/5 the surface size. Bass will probably all die now. Pretty sad but there might be a leak in it. It is 30 years old though.

I asked the dozer operator to add some structure for the bass. They are digging a well to fill it, that will be awesome. I am going to take my hand held GPS and mark some of the creek and old ledges and ravines that will be under water. Soon as they start filling it I am going to haul a few loads of perch, gizzard and threadfin shad to get the food chain started, then come the bass, stripers and cats.

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Congrats on the doe. It's been a very slow year every where, I think. Hopefully '06 will be one to remember.

ARE YOU NOT WORRIED ABOUT STRIPERS EATING EVERYTHING YOU HAVE STOCK INTO YOUR LAKE