Fatty! I'll take him with my bow if I can, and if he eludes me, someone else can have him with a rifle.



Funky brows again. Looks more like a five year old here.



Another decent 8. Separate deer than the two running buddies as they were on camera at a different feeder the same time this guy was eating.



One more pic of our definite shooter 8.

Looks like yal have had some good rain. Nice lookin bucks comin up

Been back out?

Was out this past weekend. Our shooter 8 seems to have moved on and another 8 that I haven't seen previously started hitting one of our protein feeders. Had three inches of rain last week. Very green for August. Did a couple of sits in different blinds, but there wasn't much coming to corn with all the recent rain. Lots of ripe persimmons and prickly pear fruit about ripen as well. Decent acorn crop on live and shin oaks. Probably in for some tough hunting until the first freeze, but may get lucky sooner if I get to whichever blind I'm hunting early and park far enough away that deer aren't alerted.

Cool. Good luck!

Update coming soon. Finished our counts this weekend and have a few pics to share. One intriguing buck that cycled through and several quality yearlings to watch the next few years.

anyone remember him from last year? he was the one with the pedicel damage. Calling him a four year old this year. It's too bad his brows and g2's are short, but it's still cool to have a ten around. We'll let him walk to see what he does next year. He is what he is at this point, but there's still some room to improve with another year of protein.



Starting to see some improvement in our yearling bucks. Still plenty of spikes around, but I'd say half of that age class has at least four points from what I've seen.



Only had pictures of this guy for one day and this was the best of the bunch unfortunately. He's got some weird stuff going on his right side. Four or Five? I'm leaning on the low side for now. One to get excited about for next year if he makes it through



Good pic of funky brows. We're going to let him walk for another year even though he doesn't have much of a frame. Maybe he'll put on some more mass next year and be a bruiser 8.



New nine point and one of the first to hard horns. I'm leaning towards him being five. Was only there for one feeding. Hopefully I'll have some more pictures of him next time I go out. Probably score in the mid teens. It would be better if I had a picture of him facing the camera.

I remember this guy from last year too. I thought he was a crappy three year old then, but I think I aged him wrong. He looks more like a respectable three year old this year.

Any updates JMalin?

It's been a while. Sorry for the delay. Another somewhat disappointing season, but I've already come to terms with it and I'm not going to stress over it any more. Harvest totals for this past season included three whitetail does (one of which was a fawn that got caught in a hog trap, struggled, ended up being lame, and had its suffering put to an end). A forth "anterless" deer was tagged when one of my dad's friends mistakenly shot a button back after dad had made it clear not to make that mistake. It's doubtful that guy will ever return. In the grand scheme, losing a buck fawn isn't a huge deal. What kills us is that fact he was warned beforehand not to pull the trigger on a button buck. If you aren't sure, it's always better to error on the safe side. One spike was the only antlered deer taken. Two or three axis does were taken. Two up and comers are suspected dead at the hands of adjoining land owners. Funky brows (the younger of the two amigos) and a 3.5 year old 8. The 3.5 year old 8 didn't appear to be anything special, but it sucks losing him because he's the only buck in that age class I had seen over the previous year (not many fawns lived through the drought of 2011 on our place). I'm hoping he just got pushed off our place during the rut, but I haven't seen him back on camera since the 20th of February. The ten is also suspected dead, but that's not a big loss as he was old enough to go in my eyes.

We do have a sizable number of axis that are regular on the place now. It amazes me how fast they put on bone. Got a few goldenball lead tree seedlings established in pots over the winter in my grandma's greenhouse. Next time I'll be out there is for the opener of spring turkey season. I want to get two more watering stations placed on that trip in an attempt to hold a few more axis through the summer. There's always more cedar to clear as well, and the coons have started to bounce back after trapping 25 over the previous year. I'll post up some trail camera pictures this evening.

Better put up cages to keep the rabbits and deer of the goldenball lead tree seedlings(Luecena). If they can get to any leaf material they will eat everyone of them. The native does better in your area than the introduced Luecena.
Don't get to down about the season and deer. I had deer appear that I had never seen before and some that were here all year move out late in the season around Jan 1st. Hoping they come back. I did have one really nice 3yr 8-point that disappeared after late Dec as well as a mature 5 yr old 8 point. But on the upside the rainfall since late October has been really good and this is the greenest I have been in 3 fall seasons at this time of the year. If it keeps raining should be a really great spring/summer.

We have had a wet spring so we know what that means

The native is what I've got. I harvested a bunch of seed pods from a rather large specimen on highway 277 between Sonora and the road to Juno. Turns out there are several leadtree specimens much closer to the ranch than that. Just a few more miles down 674, where the terrain starts to shift and get more hilly/rugged, they grow along side the road near cliff faces. I spread a bunch of seeds throughout the ranch. Maybe I'll get lucky and have one or two take root. The others I got started in pots will be more closely monitored.

I bought 200 seedlings from the RGV back in the mid 90's and planted them all over the ranch. I planted the an introduced/ornamental variety, not the Retusa. Rabbits loved them and I planted them in the drought of 95-96. I tried to keep them watered but with the drought and them being the only green around, the rabbits won that year. I also had some seeds that a guy from NRSC had given me so I planted them the spring of 96, but I left the ranch in the fall. Never got to see if anything survived that drought when it broke that fall. The native is a bit higher in protein and more digestible. It is good about fixing nitrogen back into the soil, so planting them in or around good browse/forb growth is a plus.

Funky brows. MIA since 12-19-14. Estimated age 4.5



Short tined 10. MIA since 12-8-14. Saw him once on the hoof during the rut while rattling. Was undecided on age. 4.5-5.5



3.5 year old 8. MIA since Christmas Day, 2014.

Notable bucks that made it through:

An old 8. He was around some this past summer. 7.5+ age estimate. Neighbors made a bad shot on him in early December. He stuck around our place for the remainder of the season, and regularly feeds at one of our protein feeders now. Doubt he'll do much of anything over the next year, but he's a potential target to sling an arrow at next year.







Best regular deer on the ranch made it through. I'm hoping he'll add a few more inches next season. He seemed to know when we were around and always managed to avoid detection. Estimated age 5.5







4.5 year old 8 that I have history with from the previous season.

The exotics:

You have some good looking deer, I'm not sure if it's just the pics with old old buck but it looks like there something wrong with him between the shoulders, you have some good deer and alot of exotics.

Are those trees you are talking about the ones that grow along side the highways that turn orange in the fall?

That shoulder wound was from a neighbor making a bad shot on him (at least that's what I believe it came from). The plant I believe you're thinking of is flame leaf sumac. It's very common along roadsides in the hill country. I should probably try to get a few on them going on our place as well, as I've yet to see a single one. It isn't up there with kidneywood or goldenball Leadtree in browse/nutritional quality, but I'm all for more diversity of plant life.

is the leadtree a fast growing tree?

I believe so

Bagged two gobblers Tuesday, one with the scatter gun, one with the bow. Also picked up a nice shed that was dropped a previous year. I taped it out at 58 7/8. Anyone have an idea when it may have been cast? The tips have been chewed on a little and the exposed side is obviously sun bleached, but I found it under an oak motte, which may have provided it some protection from the elements, leading me to think it's even older than it appears. I certainly don't have any trail camera history with a deer like this and I started running cameras in 2013. Also trapped two pigs. They're a real problem right now. Had several pictures of them bumping feeder legs and eating corn for hours at a time overnight. Axis are few and far between. I did have a group of 12 come into the camp water trough a day or two before I got out there, but with all the rain and lush growth, they have no desire to hit feeders.

Congrats on the Corn Vultures

Had some great Rains out there

Picked up an inch and half of rain today. I had just spread fertilizer under several oak mottes near our blinds on Monday. Happy dance!

Congrats on the Turkey!