Edwards county ranch management thread

I'll be using this thread to document the management of our family ranch just outside Rocksprings, Texas. Our goal is to develop six shooter bucks aged 4.5 or older available for harvest each season, with culls/management being taken out as needed, and does being taken out as needed to keep our sex ratios in line (between 2:1 and 1:1) does per buck.

We hope to increase the body weights and score by 10-20% of the biggest buck harvested this season (119 inch 8 point that field dressed 120 lbs and was aged at 6.5) over the next few years and go from there. 460 acres, low fence along the northern and eastern boundaries of our place and hoping to bring neighbors to our north on board with sound management practices.

We have too many deer on the place right now. I estimate close to 60 just based on what each hunter saw when we had a group of 8 out this past week. We've taken a total of 21 deer off the place this season. 14 bucks, 7 does. More does will be taken in January to even out the harvest. Should be 12 and 9, but a couple of my uncles clients mistook button bucks for does (which really chapped my [censored]), but what's done is done and it won't happen again, or they won't return.

I'll post pictures of several of the bucks harvested this season along with those that survived (if they don't get shot by a neighbor between now and the end of the season). No pics for now, since I don't have access to my laptop.

What is your target density to get you 6 harvestable bucks per year?

This the same place that is HF on 2 sides?

What is your estimated buck/doe ratio? Any agriculture on your place or the neighbors?

cool thread, good luck with it

Probably higher than it should be, given the resources available... I'm going to do a vegetation assessment on the place this spring to identify the species of browse we have and their relative quantities. Damn agarita is all over the place... Cedars have been thinned out substantially (and make up a very small percentage of available cover). Lots of live oak (not great browse) and some patches of shin oak. Persimmon present and what I believe to be yaupon as well. Property is not grazed by livestock.

Pays to read sometimes:
"460 acres, low fence along the northern and eastern boundaries of our place and hoping to bring neighbors to our north on board with sound management practices."

No agriculture anywhere around us as far as I know. Low fence ranch to the east is heavily grazed by sheep. Neighbors to the north have habitat similar to ours.

Agarita will be very edible at a ground level stage. Cut it or burn it down to ground level. Same with Persimons and Shinnery. Fertilizing native plants can bring great results in that area increasing protein, palatablity and mast productions.
In order for you to achieve 6 bucks to harvest at 4+ you will have to have a minimum of 30-35 bucks on hand each year hoping they are all top end quality. Most will be young and then your 6-8 bucks mature to shoot. That means you will have to have same amount of does at one to one and even more at one to two ratios. So you are looking at carrying 60-90 deer on 470 acres. This not taking into consideration your neighbors hunting.

What kind of fawn production are you assuming for 30 does? And their survival rate? We've got axis that pass through as well, which adds another management problem.

Never seen a predator on the place. Rocksprings area is goat country. I think most were trapped out of the area when mohair production was being subsidized by the government back when.

I was figuring 100% on mature breeding at does so around 60% on total doe pop. Your gonna need at least 10-12 buck fawns per year at a minimum with 100% recruitment just to stand a chance of gaining 6 mature shooters by year 4. All of which are difficult in that area.
Axis are mainly grazers so they will effect your WT only if you are over populated with WT and browse is hammered.
One other factor to consider in that area is Anthrax. When it happens (yes it will happen again) you will suffer losses if you are not putting out oral dosages of the vaccine mixed on feed annually to insure your future.

You will have coyotes and bobcats. The yotes will just not be vocal. Good grass cover and working on the numbers will help in fawn production.

The place was owned by grandmother's late second husband. He bought in 2000 and as far as I know, we never had an incident with anthrax out there. I thought it was a bigger issue in the western part of the county. I don't doubt that there are a few predators, but I sure as heck have never seen a coyote or bobcat. We regularly leave carcasses of deer, and they go unmolested for days/weeks at a time. I think we can get substantial recruitment to 4.5, the greatest threat to bucks coming at 3.5 when they develop their first decent looking rack and novice hunters have difficulty laying off the trigger.

Stxranchman is correct, you will have coyotes and bobcats. I own property 13 miles North of Rocksprings. A rancher with 4300 acres to my South catches at least one bobcat every month. Not sure about coyotes. But I see them hanging next to his bump gate when Im driving by. If your neighbor has goats, you'll have bobcats and coyotes close.

I have seen the ribcage, bones and hide off a mule deer lay on the ground for 2 weeks in Pecos County and we are loaded with coyotes and not much trapping or killing on 70,000 acres. I saw one coyote in 18 days in West Texas. Judging by tracks we have a bunch or either that one is a really nervous son of a gun being all over the ranch daily.
Big outbreaks for Anthrax were mid 80's and then again in late 90's. It is something to be aware of but not panic over. It hits some ranches much harder than others.

I would make that 2.5.

Respectfully, I think your aspirations are a little outside reality for a 460 acre LF place. I also think your goal of 6 mature quality shooter bucks conflicts with total herd size based on proper carrying capacity for 460 acres. We have been attempting to manage 380 LF acres for the past few years, all as part of a local WMA. It has been a tough road. Research shows that most WT have a home range of at least 650 acres. That means they are likely off your place a good portion of the time.

It becomes difficult to influence your overall acre/deer ratio or B:D ratio on a place that size. Add to that, it does not take much from the neighbors to throw a monkey wrench into growing mature deer. We manage for min 4.5yo "trophies" as well. Each year we have confirmation that the neighbors pop at least 40% of the promising young deer we've been letting "grow up".

I am not trying to rain on your parade and I applaud your goals to manage. Just trying to share a little reality. Let's imagine you could keep all your deer on your place and re-visit the basic math:

Let's say that you want an average density of 10 acres per deer for optimum health and nutrition (in the ball park for Edwards Plateuau per TPWD). That means you'll want to have an average total herd size of 46. If you achieve a B:D ratio of 1:1 (not likely), and if you figure 60% fawn production and 100% recruitment (also not likely) that means you will have 18 does, 18 bucks, and ~10 fawns. Now figure that bucks 4.5yo old or older make up 20% of your total bucks in a pressured LF environment. You are down to being able to realistically expect ~2 mature quality bucks each year. If you provide good habitat you may get a bonus deer crossing through for a total of 3.

Course, maybe just maybe you will find a way to entice all the good area bucks to come through your place when y'all happen to be hunting. But, I simply don't see it happening.

They are there, trust me FNG popped this and we take several Bobcats every year and very seldom see cats at the Gut Pit, if there is a pasture maggot (Goat) there are predators. And Ranchman is correct Anthrax is not a matter of if but when in our neck of the woods. Good Luck and you are defiantly on the right track it's just a matter of educating all the Guns to take JUST mature Bucks. Another issue there is we see Bucks cover a TON of ground on 85k acres we share pics that you would never believe they covered that much ground. Not being Debbie Downer, truly wished more people had your outlook..

If we can get our neighbors to the north involved (or at least voluntarily only harvesting 4.5 year old trophies), we'll have a little over 1000 acres dedicated to some form of management. I certainly have the hunters who will do their part to take out any excess does that need to go. FWIW, a large percentage of bucks identified at 4.5 or older had broken up racks at the tail end of the rut.

And our wide eight I posted pictures of (and passed on opening weekend) was consistently seen at three blinds in our western pasture before being harvested last Thursday. Maybe they don't chase does around as far when densities are relatively high

The key is Feed, Feed, Feed..I can hold Deer in a radius till Rut. But thats 2 feed pens slinging 30 bags of Corn and 30 bags of Protein, Alfalfa every 6-8 weeks. You normally find sheds only by Feed Pens in March and then only the ones that Feed like wildfire. Most folks in that neck of the woods do good on mature Deer unless they start subleasing and the day hunters start coming.

7 spin cast feeders on the place that throw corn year round. We dial the feeding time back to two seconds during the off season and 5 seconds during the season (which amounts to +-14 sacks of corn every two weeks during the season.

We have two 800 pound capacity protein gravity feeders that we will keep filled during peak antler development (April through August). Dad, uncle, and I will be splitting costs. Still will come out cheaper than leasing a similar sized place to only three guns, and we can take the satisfaction in growing our own. We also have 4 eighty gallon water troughs that we fill every two weeks. They go dry in only a few days in the summer, but we do what we can (and always keep the one permanent source of water on the place filled at all times). We have a 500 gallon tank at camp that feeds a water trough through gravity with float that controls water level in trough.

here's an example of an average "shooter" buck on our place. I aged him at 4.5 on the hoof and his tooth wear confirmed my guess. He was harvested last Thursday, 12/13/12, by my uncle's boss.

here's an example of what we're trying to cull out of our herd. I've got him aged at 3.5

Unfortunately, he survived the onslaught of guns my uncle brought to the place from last wednesday-saturday. He'll be the first to go next bow season. I want to get him out before he breeds (if he hasn't already this season).

Is this the dreaded 2.5 year old spike? I let him walk this season (shortage of tags) figuring that even if he was 2, he wouldn't be a threat to breed. really light tarsal glands. picture was taken in the last weekend of November, right at the beginning of the rut in our area. He'll be on the cull list next season if he is in fact 2.

promising 3.5 year old that is still around. He's got a pretty frame. One I'm excited about seeing next season.

Edit: I should have cropped these photos to give y'all a better view of these deer

another 3.5 year old 8 point that is still around along with a mature heavy horned 10 point (more pictures of him to come).

another picture of the mature heavy horned 10 point. I've got him at 5.5+ easily. Wish he had some longer tines and main beams (I would have shot him myself if that had been the case). I was hoping one of my uncle's guests would have connected with him instead of one of the four 3.5 year old 8 points that were brought in, but no dice... I'm glad we're covered up in that age class. It's last years fawns and this years I'm most concerned about (as far as numbers go).

I think this buck is 3.5

Cull candidate that is still out there.

same buck as above. better side profile

promising young'n. undecided, but I think it's his first set of antlers, making him 1.5

management nine point I took last wednesday evening. Aged at 5.5

had a run in with him two weeks earlier rattling from my tripod/bow set up. Long story short, he got onto me before I got onto him. Had a score to settle. Wouldn't mind seeing more like him, but at the same time, he doesn't have the spread I desire out there (12.5 inside). I bet he would have been a bruiser with some supplemental protein in his diet. He grossed 108.75. No pics on the hoof, sorry.

same buck as pictured above on the ground. poor quality cell phone photo taking in low light. management 6 point aged at 6.5 laying on the left side of the picture.

rutted down broken 4.5 year old from the side. would classify as a shooter, but would love to improve the quality of the herd over the next several years, hoping to see bucks with antlers this sized at 3.5. He's still out there

same buck as pictured above.

highest scoring buck harvested on the ranch this season. aged at 6.5 and scored 119. I passed opening weekend and two weeks later because I've killed a better eight point in my life, and I'm not as blood thirsty as I was in my younger years.

same buck as pictured above.

dad and I both passed on this buck opening weekend thinking he was just 3.5

looking back, we were wrong. I'm convinced he was a 4.5 year old prerut buck. His genetics are what we want, but we haven't seen him since opening weekend. I'm about 95% sure a neighbor got him, and who could blame them? He was a nice buck.

same buck as pictured above, from the front.

another 3.5 year old 8 point. still out there for next season

this buck has the neck of a four year old, but the body and tarsal glands of a younger deer. He's still out there. Any help on age? I'm going 3.5

that's all the pictures I've got for now. I may need to invest in a 400mm lens for my Nikon... Or take the time to crop the photos before posting.

You can see the difference between my DSLR camera and the cell phone through binoculars pictures.

one more picture. management/cull 4.5 year old that is still out there.

great job, looking forward to some follow ups

Interested to see how things progress. Sounds like you need a few more "friends and family" to help out on the lack of tags

Time to start hitting the does?

Level 2 MLD aspirations for next season. Between family and friends, we've got the tags. It's just about making sure folks are taking the right deer, whether it be a cull or shooter. Does are going to get rolled in t-minus three weeks.

Is there a reason you are waiting on the extended season?

Getting folks to shoot the "right" deer is always tough...sometimes deciding which IS the right deer can be tougher

We put a lot of pressure on the deer having eight hunters in camp, hunting mornings and evenings at every blind we have on the place for four days. I'm going to let things settle down for a little while, taking one or two hunters at a time to harvest does.

A word of advice is to shoot them ASAP. I have waited till late and then bad weather and/or rain sets in for days or the deer just don't move due to warm temps and not get them killed. Next season is not an option at this point if you need to remove does. 10 hd of doe left this season can be 30 hd by next year at this time if you wait.

Good luck and have fun with it!

Id be careful with your age estimates.

Feel free to add your input on any of the bucks pictured. I could see the "cull 6 point" being 2.5

I dont understand... If you aged him at 6.5 how could you see him bing 2.5?

The "cull" six point on the top of the page is still out there. The "cull" six point pictured to the left of my management nine point had 19 inch beams and a 16 inch spread. No G3's. Different deer. Aged by tooth wear.

I see your talking about the one up top not the dead one.

I dont feel like I could tell you any better on age. I like to age in a range becasue its tuff to get them exact. I can tell you are on the top end of my range on all of them from what I can see. I feel like I age the deer on our place because I see them alot and see them from year to year etc.

We have our own smallish low fence place, so I know where your coming from. We shot a really nice 9 this year we thought was older and didnt know we were wrong till we had him dead. Dont be afraid to change your mind after you look at the teeth and say ooops we F'ed up. That is my advice for you and to have fun with it. I think 6 mature bucks a year is too much to reasonably expect.

I'm sure you've got better browse and protein rich food sources than we do (hence being on the bottom end of your age range on all of my deer). We'll see going forward and the management strategy/plan may change if/when we get on MLD.

Im not speaking of just comparing our deer to yours, I live in the hill country and hunted there for a long time, I know what they look like too.

Any how, Im trying to be constructive, not counter productive. I always like to see what others are doing with what they have.

Our place is only 330 acres, and we have been working at it for a few years now, made some huge steps from where we started and had alot of fun with it. Good luck.

I cropped some pictures. Here's how I age the following deer.

1.5



2.5



3.5



4.5



5.5+ Any guesses STX on this last guy?

Pretty place and several nice deer.

Although I disagree with a few of your estimates +/- 1 year, overall it appears you've got some decent age distribution, and lots of daylight photos. That's unusual for such a small LF place, but it's a good indicator of not-extreme pressure from the neighbors. I guess it might just be a benefit that you are HF'd on two sides. Don't have to worry about those neighbors taking young deer.

I still don't think you can expect 6 quality mature bucks each year, but looks like you are off to a nice start. Look forward to following your progress.

we had 7 bucks taken off the place this season that aged better than 4.5 (four of which were culls/management) Obviously, we had quite a few more deer on the place in previous years than what I'm trying to manage for now. I know of at least three more that are 4.5+ (including the bruiser 10 point) that are still out there and will hopefully survive the season. We have three neighbors to our north. One exclusively bow hunts and I'm pretty sure that he is management minded. One hunts maybe one weekend per season. I'm not sure of the hunting habits of the third.

Our neighbor to the east runs sheep. If I was a deer, I'd certainly be looking for greener pastures. I'm sure we receive a net inflow onto our place each season from the east.

How long have yal been hunting the place, is this the first year?

cool thread and discussion

My grandmother's late husband owned the place, and while he was management minded, he liked seeing lots of deer and never took more than 4 bucks a year off the place. He did allow people to get after the does (average yearly harvest was between 8-12 annually). Wasn't much on waisting his own personal tags on culling out bucks with trash racks either.

He fed protein until 2008. It just got to the point where he didn't want to spend the money to feed the 80 (estimate) resident deer on his place.

anything new here? any new bucks showing up yet?

There were a few other bucks I was unable to get a picture of before the season ended. A smaller framed ten pointer (I'm guessing 4.5, but he was really rutted down, so who knows?). Yet another 3.5 year old eight point with chocolate antlers and good tine length, and a couple other young bucks. We're going to start feeding protein here in the next month or so and keep it going through August. I'll have trail cams set up at all times at the two protein feeders and one camera I'll keep on the only permanent source of water on the place.

There's also a blackbuck on our place that will have a target on his chest come next fall. He's got three curls and about 15-16 inches of horn. Still a little red on his back and up towards his neck. My friend and I both had opportunities at him during the season, but I let him walk and told my buddy to do the same. One more curl and somebody is going to shoot him, whether it be my dad, uncle, me, or a friend of any of ours.

I'm sure when we start feeding protein, we'll have several axis pigging out. I saw one hard antlered spike and one in velvet that just had his brows and beams. I don't think he'll develop into a shooter this time around, but will probably make 24 inches when he's done growing. Certainly more pictures to come when I start running cameras.

Final tally this season:

10 white tail does
14 white tail bucks
3 axis
2 sows and one piglet

Mature does will be dropping twins this year. How many fawns will survive will depend on whether or not we can continue to get decent rain in the area. The does are in great body condition. The one I killed during the extended season had gobs of fat on her tenderloins and a good layer on her hams and back. Lots of button bucks and 3.5 year old bucks that survived the season (our strongest two age classes based on what I've seen this year).

Some culls still alive that I'm going to try to take out during bow season. Talked with the biologist for the county. He said he'd work with us our smaller acreage place. We're going walk around the and develop a plan to get us on MLD in April.

I think my photography skills have gotten better since I started using my camera. This picture has been cropped and edited some, but having a tripod really helps. I took this picture during the late doe season.

I was out on the ranch Easter weekend filling feeders and setting up cameras. We've got out protein feeders filled and I'm looking forward to seeing what comes in. I didn't find any fresh sheds and did see one buck with still sporting antlers on both sides. I did a little turkey hunting as well, but I don't think they are quite ready to cooperate. One good rain away from things really greening up out there. Jakes... smh Where's a longbeard when you need one?

I am trying to get my head around how to define the goals, myself. I do all the stand census counts and harvest counts, but I have no idea what we can support or how to determine that.

I am assuming, if a 1:1 ratio is the best (no idea if it is) then I take the counts and simply determine how many bucks we need to harvest and does etc.. but, since we are trying to let the deer age more, it would just be a few spikes and a few does for the next couple of years, which is fine too.

R

where is the property at? how many deer (how many bucks and how many does) are you guys taking yearly?

i'd be willing to bet some good advice on the CC and harvest goals will follow shortly...

you could always contact your local TPWD wildlife biologist too, they can help get your started on a management plan....for free.

Thanks JS.. here is what I was thinking:

At the end of this year, I should have a good count on the fawn production. This should tell me how they fared and how well they are eating.

Couple that with the numbers I am seeing and I suspect a SAFE estimate/goal is a 1:2 ratio with 1 deer per 10 - 12 acres.

That should give me a goal of about 27-33 deer total. If I eleminate the spikes and culls, I should have a fairly healthy heard after that.

I am going to go with that estimate in mind, but will wait till the end of this year and the next year before I really get a solid plan in place, let them recuperate from the drought a little more.

Thanks!

R

Well, got my first set of trail pics in. I'm going to have to upgrade to some better cameras... My cheap moultrie LX 30 IR takes pictures of every single blade of grass that twitches and it has no sensor sensitivity setting to dial down. I purchased two primos 46 truth cams refurbished from Natchez in January. One was a dud (screen wouldn't turn on), the other only took 140 pictures on one set of batteries. I'm currently attempting to work with both Natchez and Primos to get squared up on the dud (I threw away or misplaced the invoice from when I ordered the cameras in January and Primos can't help me out until I produce a receipt). As you can see, the axis have been hitting the protein hard along with a variety of other animals. A few white tails found the feed too. And I took a machete to that agarita that messing up all my pictures lol

The moultrie camera was set up over a water trough we have just outside of camp. it is gravity fed from a 500 gallon storage tank we pump water into each time we go out to the ranch. it is the only reliable water source we have on the place, but we do have several livestock troughs we fill each time we go out. they only hold water 3-5 days in the heat of the summer, but something is better than nothing. they always have water outside of camp.





The only definite whitetail buck I have on camera. That'll change as they start developing their new set of antlers (i'm sure they already have, I just don't have any recent pictures).

And we finally got some decent rain on the place. I'm going to talk to the TPWD biologist Friday to see if he'd be willing to make a weekend trip onto our ranch to evaluate and get us heading towards MLD. I'll be back out in two weeks to check cameras and fill protein feeders and hopefully meet with the biologist. We didn't get out there in the month of May which was disappointing (I'm sure them damn axis made short work of the 1,000 pounds of protein we had in each of our two gravity feeders).

The good news is that I didn't have a single picture of a coon or hog at the buffet. Admittedly, I didn't have any coverage at the other protein feeder though due to a malfunctioning camera.

Good looking pictures. What part of Edwards County is your place located at?

We put out 500# of a new protein for a tester, once the axis found it, it was gone in just under two weeks. They came everyday to eat until there was none left.

We're five miles southwest of rocksprings off of ranch road 674 (the turnoff from 377 heading towards bracketville).

JMalin, depending on which side of 674 you are on (east or west), we may be neighbors.

West. We make a right turn to get to our place only a couple miles down from the 674/377 intersection.

Our place is off of 2523, 30 miles or less south of your turn off on 377.

We should get a bbq going down there sometime... since it really is not that far out.. heh

Nice animals.. I like those exotics!

R

We are off of CR 310, off of 55 just before the airport south of town. Sounds like there is one person between us to our west and your east.

If its really yaupon you have then leave it or control it...don't get rid of it... that stuff is like a backup plan for the deer.... we house a huge number of deer in my area and that's one of the main reasons imo... a good way to do a browse stress test is to find main wildlife trails and see how much they are eating of the yaupon... its tough so not their first choice but it will keep them up. Sorry if its been noted I just kinda jumped in.

Dandy right there.

lookin good man, keep us updated through the summer.

Im not too far from you as well. Im about 13 miles North of town off of 2630.

Several trail cam pictures from June and July. I only had good pictures from one camera in June. The camera I had set up over one protein feeder was aimed too high and the other set up over the water trough said I had 176 pictures, but when I pulled the card, it had nothing on it. Put new batteries in it, triggered the cam, and was able to get a picture off the card, so I must have been a fluke deal. Oh well.

It was only a matter of time until the hogs found the feed. I'll be putting up panels next time I head out.



Blackbuck family. We had a different darker male on the place during last hunting season, but I'm guessing this one ran him off. We're holding off on this guy until his coat changes.



He seems to have a decent spread, not that it counts towards anything.



Stare down! I just thought it was a cool picture.



Damn ravens!



Guesstimates on length? 15ish? Maybe I should post this in the exotics section...



Good start on this one.



Great picture of differing age class bucks.



Not thrilled about feeding these guys...

Porcupine



Coming along. Still have quite a bit of growing to do. It amazes me that they'll be pretty much finished up by the end of August. I filled the feeder Saturday afternoon, and they were already on it that night. Checked my cams Sunday morning before leaving.



This one looks like he'll be a shooter! Wish this pic was a little more in focus, but I'm sure I'll have plenty more coming.



Same buck as pictured above, eating. He looks like a mature healthy deer.

What type of feeder is that? That looks sturdy.

Russ

great pics, keep us updated

Those look like the old Gene Bode style feeders that were made by Roy Sanders out of Harper. You can slow the hogs down by cutting a piece of 4"x4" cattle panel that will fit in each side of the trough of that feeder. Make sure it is elevated about 4" above the actual feed. The deer will reach thru it to get pellets and the hog can't very well.

This is probably correct (in regards to the type/maker of the feeder). I'm thinking it was originally made for sheep/goats, but functions well for deer. And thanks for the cattle panel over the trough tip. Next time I'm out, I plan on photographing the various browse species on the ranch. We're dominated by Texas Persimmon (we've got a bumper crop of them this year too with some just starting to turn purple), agarita, and live oak, but I've seen what appear to be some scrubby hackberries, isolated patches of green briar under oak mottes, a few shin oak patches, prickly pear cactus, a few junipers/cedars, one small acacia (a guess on my part) that had some signs of recent moderate browsing, and I'm sure a few other things that I've looked over.

Grass on the ranch is dominated by three awn, sideoats grama, texas wintergrass, some species of love grass, and a few others I didn't recognize. Still trying to get the biologist out there. We just haven't been able to get on the same page with our schedules, but I feel it is very important for us to get on board with MLD. We've got too much grass on the place which I know is hurting forb production.

The hackberry will probably be Netleaf Hackberry. You might have some Bumelia Trees, Flame Leaf Sumac, Evergreen Sumac, Skunkbrush, Elbow Bush, Tickle Tounge and Redbud Trees.

Just got back from the ranch. Got out there Friday to attempt to bow hunt an axis or hog, but it wasn't in the cards. Did manage to catch an 80 pound boar and a spike in the hog trap. That spike is now a unicorn and may end up having a messed up rack for the remainder of his life on the side he damaged. I have several trail camera pictures coming, along with a couple I took with my nikon 3100 paired with 300mm tamaron lens.

I had a great meeting with the tpwd biologist on Monday. He's giving us level 3 MLD clearance due to having a wildlife management plan/tax exemption on file with the county for the last several years. Of course, I'm in the process of modifying it to be compatible with level 3 MLD status. Target density is one deer to every ten acres. We also drove around the ranch to look at various species of browse. We found tickle tongue, elbow bush, and even a heavily browsed kidney wood. I also found something else after he had already left. I'll post a picture later to see if anyone can identify it. It had a black drupe/berry and 3/4 inch thorns.

It was obvious to him that the land was browsed heavily by goats in the decades before we took ownership (an example is that our netleaf hackberries are almost all found in a thick clump of persimon or agarito, which offered some protection from browsing animals. Vegetation/browse is also fairly sparse under some of our oak mottes. He said we should have a fuller/more robust understory of green briar and brush about as tall as an average person.

He also told us to spread out our census counts over a month long period to get better data. Moon phase, rainfall, etc all affect how many deer you'll see during any given sit. We've turned off 3 corn feeders and are focused at collecting census data at the remaining four blinds we chose based on geographic spread on the ranch.

Man you are working hard toward a great Goal, Kudos! Those pasture maggots can destroy some land in the Land of Mohair's but your on the right track..Great Job!!

as promised, here come the pictures.

first fawn on camera. that's always a relief.



best white tail we have on camera this year. plenty more pictures of him coming. easily identified by his better right brow tine.



Pedicel damage, or did he just bump his antler on something? either way, he'll be easy to spot, and we'll be giving him a pass until next year.



he's starting to darken up some since the last set of pictures.



looks like a pretty good animal in this pic. We've seen two separate males on our place this weekend. I have more pics of blackbuck, but I can't conclusively tell whether or not one is different from the other.

it's a zoo at the feed trough.



"freak nasty" and "righty".



that's five female blackbucks on our place. we only had two at the beginning of this year.



protein marauders!



I hope that deer on the left gets significantly taller tines. otherwise, his days are numbered.

wide and short again



nice young one. wimpy brows and G3's, but we'll take it.



this blackbuck doesn't look near as impressive as the pictures of one I posted earlier. maybe it's just the angle? Or is this a different male than the one pictured above?



there's the herd bull in all his glory. I have pics of him on this date only... An axis I wish I could keep on the place (to harvest of course).



estimates on length? I'm going with 33 inches.

Nice pics.

I like him better when he walks away (look carefully).



too bad his entire rack wasn't in the camera frame.



this buck looks like he's just barely getting started. late bloomer I guess...



this guy looks pretty dark here, but it might just be the angle at which he's standing and the fact that it was starting to get late in the day.



woohoo! quality browse!

Good looking animals. Hope you get to put that axis down!

That would be quality browse with a lot of new growth! You need to thin out some axis. I am available

Righty again. A little further along now.



Mystery plant. Anyone know what it is? It looked like the deer hit it pretty good in the field.



Photo taken with my Nikon. We'll probably take him as a management deer this season. Doesn't look like any buck I ever saw last year. I think he's a four year old. I don't like crab claw G3's...



looks to have some pretty good mass and brows. short beams and weak G3's are disappointing, but I'm sure one of my friends, or a friend of my dad or uncle would love to have him.



Three year old? I think so. So many deer on camera this year with weak brow tines. I don't expect 5-7 inchers, but it would be nice to break 2.5 on each side. Is that too much to ask?

They are never there when I'm there to hunt them. What's the deal with that? I saw one the entire extended weekend I was there.

I believe that is Lotebush or Knife Leaf Condolia.

Is there a creek or drainage bottom close by?

The Nueces is about 30 miles south

There are several big creeks that are in that area also. They might be staying on one of them and coming to your place for feed every so often. I know the axis on a ranch I managed stayed on the creek bottoms in the hot summer months.

Guess I'll have to get on Google Earth to find out. I'm not aware of any live water in our vicinity

looking good man, awesome place, keep the updates coming

JMalin, I agree with STX. The Southern 60-80 acres of our place North of RS is covered with a seasonal (dry) creek bottom. Just driving around our place, its seems thats where we see the axis more often than elsewhere. Our creek bottom is loaded with big cedars. Dont know if that helps or not.

Wiley mature buck just wouldn't come in for a better photo. Waiting for the cover of darkness to hit the protein feeder. Our nicest buck this year. We call him Righty

I spent yesterday afternoon scoring the three biggest racks that have come off the ranch since Hilton bought the place. He'd always cut the skull plate perfectly to where the racks would stand up without any support. I used my rinehart 18-1 target as a reference. The target is 15x15 and the square face is quite a bit smaller. Anyone wanna play guess the score?

Census counts were poor this weekend with full moon and a bumper crop of persimmons. Only young deer are coming to corn in daylight hours. We really need a good rain out here. We haven't had a significant rain event on the ranch since early July. If we don't get the rain, we won't have acorns (good for hunting this fall, but the deer and other wildlife lose out on an important food source to fatten up on for the winter).

145

125-135 on those bucks, with two of them low to mid 130's on a guess. Someone made a horrible first shot on that one buck.

Hilton was a neck shooter. Can't remember the exact story on that 8, but the damage to the antlers speaks for itself. That buck got his bell rung for sure and probably lost an inch of brow tines on both sides.

I'll let the guesses keep coming in before posting full measurements. Pictures are obviously deceiving (or maybe my scoring is conservative/safe).

132, 124, 134

Great pics, you have a nice variety of exotics! That certainly keeps things interesting in the off-season. WT are coming along.

So your biologist is willing to work with you on MLD even though you are just 460 acres LF? I was under the impression they would not do MLD on a place that small.

Reason I ask is ours is 400 acres. If you have success I may pursue it as well.

Tine length is deceptive. None of the deer above had a tine over 10 inches (one G2 on the bullethole 8 was 9.875) and none of them went over 130. The 10 grossed 126.5, the tall brow 8 grossed 123.125, and the other 8 grossed 121. I'll post individual measurements later if anyone is interested in seeing in detail how the scores broke down. This is why I'm always so skeptical of the reported scores of deer harvested and shared on here (not that it really matters unless you're entering a deer into the books).

four more racks of Hilton's. He probably shot 25 bucks since he bought the place in 2000. We sorted through two good sized boxes, kept the best ones to display at the cabin, and put the junkier looking racks in the barn. I'll score these four next time I'm out there. It's tedious work taping out deer.

Think those of us that guessed scores, guess a gross score not net.

I meant to say gross. Let me go edit that.

Can't hurt to get in touch with your county biologist. If you have neighbors in a management cooperative with you, I'd say they'd be even more likely to help you get started. We have a property owners meeting the saturday of labor day weekend, and it'll be nice if we can get our neighbors on board as well.

Been looking at my pictures from last year and this year a little more carefully. Same buck? I think so. No brow tines as a yearling and weak ones as a two year old. Beam shape looks similar too. Should be a nice deer if he can make it to 5.5. I'm thinking he'll be a stud at 4.5, and it'll be tough not to harvest him at that age, given the size of our property.

how about these two? I had him at 2.5 last year. He's behind his peer (buck with brow tines slanted inward) at 3 years old if that's him in the back right of this years picture. Brow tines are further up the beam, which makes me believe its the same deer. I'm undecided on what I want to do with him this year. Not really the genetics we want, but will probably be a nice management buck for someone to harvest with another year of protein. Meh, we'll probably shoot him to meet quota.

I'm sure these are the same deer as well. Had him at 2.5 last year. He was a six with weak brows. He got his G3's in this year as a 3 year old, but still not really what I'm looking for. On the fence with him as well. I wanna keep the age structure decent going forward but I also don't wanna see more like him. Heck, this deer probably was a spike as a yearling. Keep around to see what he does next year, or harvest this season? I'm thinking his brows and G3's will always be lacking.

Nice four year old that I really want to let walk one more year. I have better pictures I'll post Tuesday. I didn't have trail camera pics of this deer at all this summer. Narrow, but I can live with it given his tine length. I'm hoping he'll make 10 next year (assuming a neighbor doesn't shoot him).

great looking buck, great tine length, hope he makes it through

More/better quality pics of the stud 9pt (better signal than normal on the ranch allowed me to upload some nice pictures I took with my camera to photobucket).







Don't they always look best walking away?

Just crunched the numbers for our census counts. We did five one hour sits at four blinds and the cumulative totals are as follows.

Bucks: 54
Does: 63
Fawns: 37
Exotics (BB and Axis): 10

Doe/Buck ratio: (63+18.5)/(54+18.5)=1.124
Fawn crop: 37/63=0.587

I guess we need to do a spotlight count later this month to determine density, but I'm pretty happy with how our numbers look so far. There were several bucks I had in trail camera pictures at protein feeders that went unobserved during our entire month of data collection (it sucks because I'd like to have "good" pictures of them instead of black and white night time photos). Out of the 54 cumulative buck sightings, there were only 8 sightings of bucks three years of age or older. Out of those 8 sightings, 5 were different deer. We are absolutely crawling with yearling bucks, some better than others (quite a few spikes )

I also think our fawn crop might be slightly better, as I bumped a couple sets of twins bedded down without momma around while looking for kidneywood (I found a few in a draw near our northern boundary that were no more than calf high and absolutely hammered). I'll be fencing those off the following spring along with new plants I hope to get established in a greenhouse over the winter). I also found two catclaw acacias that had been hammered just as bad. Good browse in former goat pasture is hard to come by.

We also had our property owners meeting out there this past Saturday. Everyone that shares a boundary with us seem to be management minded and harvest their fair share of does to go along with the bucks they take each year. I'm putting together a "hit list" of nice mature deer to take or middle aged culls I'd like to see taken, as well as deer I'd like to see in another year or two. Hopefully sharing pictures and letting them know what bucks I won't be shooting will encourage them to let the deer with potential walk as well.

very cool, good luck with the neighbors, and good luck with that 9, good looking buck.

I'm starting to waffle on his age a little. Time will tell. He might be a five year old. Either way, I'd like to see him make ten next year.

Just curious, I never actually run through the numbers on our surveys, just help collect the data. Why do you add 18.5 to the buck and doe observed numbers before you calculate the ratio?

Split the fawns (assume a 50:50 ratio of buck and doe fawns). They are a part of the herd.

Ahha didn't think of that, thanks.

Most recent pictures of our male blackbuck for those who haven't seen him in the exotics subforum. Had my rifle with me the whole time snapping these photos and never even laid a finger on it. We're going to see what his coat does this winter and make a decision to harvest him then or let him walk for possibly another year. He's been faithful to our place since march. Hopefully he stays that way for us, but I know there will always be another BB if he did venture off and get shot.

Interesting data. My one comment: Is it not a dangerous assumption to calculate doe numbers from "snap shot" blind census counts? It's been our experience that a) the does/fawns shy away from feeders in the summer, and b) there are often many more does than show up at feeder or camera.

My guess is your doe/fawn numbers are higher, but I could be wrong.

And PS: Great Blackbuck!

We have been doing Hahn line, blind counts, and random camera surveys for the past several years. Last year was the first time we ever had all the surveys indicate nearly the same population.

I agree you cant count on blind counts alone, but none of them are perfect. A budy flies their place with a helicopter every year and they miss stuff all the time and its hi fence.

Kind of disappointed to be honest. We only got 8 tags. Three bucks and five does. I had a feeling we did a pretty good job on the numbers last season, but I was still hoping/expecting to have at least a dozen to harvest. Are their penalties for using your own personal tags on MLD property, as long as you do so within the regular season? I'd rather bring our numbers down really low and have a slim pickings for a couple years to clear out the trash, but have better deer/genetics to work with down the road.

To be honest, I think our counts are low, period. There were a lot of bucks I have on camera at night that I never saw once during our counts. I know some probably came from neighboring places to chow down on protein. I do know that they all look healthy. A lot of persimmons kept them off corn too I suspect.

Well I have some good news now. The biologist used some sort of average of our counts for the initial tags and is willing to get us more as needed during the season as long as it doesn't lead to a "dramatic reduction of the population". With that, I can set my harvest goals to six or seven bucks (mostly culls and spikes with one or two 5.5 year old trophies) and take at least as many does to keep ratios close to 1:1

The nice 9pt won't be taken this year even if he is 5.5

"Righty" will be on the hitlist along with one other nice age appropriate buck that comes through during the rut. If we start seeing tons of deer at the feeders again after the first freeze, we may adjust/elevate our harvest accordingly. Wish I could be there more this season.

Had a decent new ten point show up today while I was sitting at another spot. This is the only picture I got of him. Hard to say for sure, but he just looks 4.5 to me (not old enough). He'll walk. So far we've just taken two does. I've been busy guiding down south. I'll be back out there Thanksgiving day to check cameras again and hopefully put down a cull I have on camera, axis, or another pig (I connected with one last night and a doe this morning).

Cull seven point to the left. Only picture I have of him recently (I have several of him in velvet hitting the protein feeders).

another decent buck I've never seen before. I wish his left G3 matched the length of his right.

Forgot to make a report of what's going on out there. The deer are starting to get a little "rutty". Does were acting a little nervous around the bucks. Righty snort wheezed at a 3.5 year old 8 and ran him off. It was too dark for photos when he was around, and he looked far more regal in velvet than he does now. Disappointed in him for sure. Just a bully 8 pt, and not a very good one at that (you'll see for yourselves if I ever get a picture of him). Pigs are hitting feeders overnight and during shooting light at one location. Five female blackbucks are still around with our single male. A few axis have passed through, but nothing big.

PM Sent

updates?

cool thread

Meh, I'm a little discouraged in the reality of it all, particularly after spending so much time this season looking at much higher quality animals. Rome wasn't built in a day, but I fear I could put in a decade's worth of work and see little to no improvement. My uncle used his personal license tags on two deer and brought them to the check station, which didn't go over all that well with our biologist. He didn't kick us off the program, but it's crystal clear that they've got to get their expletive together if they want to be able to hunt deer from October to February in the future.

I haven't really been there to monitor what all has been getting shot. I feel like I put in a disproportionate amount of work and money into the place this year and wasn't able to benefit from it as much as my dad and uncle were. They use the place to entertain clients/work associates/friends and I was only able to get out there a handful of times. At least a buddy of mine was able to get his first axis. I don't care about what I will or won't get to shoot out there. My goal is just trying to improve the quality of what we do have out there, and it's tough when my dad and uncle bring folks who don't know the difference between a what needs to walk and what is old enough to go.

What really gets me is that we've got another small family place just outside of Stonewall where my dad and uncle could bring guests out to shoot whatever they desire. It's overrun with deer and too small to even attempt to manage (not that our land in Rocksprings is large enough to do much good either).

I'm pretty sure one of our neighbors shot the 9pt I was wanting to save. Haven't seen pictures of him on trail camera since mid November. I had five or six hunts out there this year and didn't see a single buck over 4 1/2. I also think the blackbuck we had been seeing regularly has moved on and/or got shot by a neighbor. I saw another on male on our place though, and I think we'll have plenty of opportunities in the future to harvest one. We are also overrun with pigs. It's going to be hell getting T posts in the ground, but we have to panel off our corn feeders if we want to get serious about deer hunting.

A part of me just wants to take a hands off approach and just let it be. I feel like it's a waste of time, effort, and $ if we can't get on the same page. And even if we did things right, it's still just 460 acres of very marginal land.

From the deer you've posted I'd have to argue against the marginal part.

It is a smaller acreage low fence property though, everyone has to be on board with whats happening and neighbors can def. piss you off.

We had a bum year this year too, not really sure why.

Got a couple feed pens put up. Got protein feeders filled in march. Considering feeding it year round. Coons and porcupines have been hitting it harder than the deer. We need to do some trapping. Got dog proof traps for the coons. Any ideas on how to trap the porcupines?

It's dry out there. We probably haven't had more than an inch and a half since January. Still a few bucks that hadn't shed yet. Axis magically appear once the guns disappear and the buffet of protein is provided. We have a couple decent ones in velvet, but nothing that gets me too excited.

Wow... That's a nice bobcat.

That's a really nice Bobcat. J/K. Y'all have some really nice bucks out there. In my opinion you're doing everything right. If it turns out to be more work than you want, just slow down and enjoy the time outdoors. I would darn near kill for some of the deer you have on your place. Take a deep breath and relax. That's what hunting is all about. At least it should be. Good luck, and good wishes... The Kid.

Been getting after the coons. Trapped 8 this past weekend while turkey hunting. 9 total for the year. I'll post some pictures of a couple axis bucks that are cycling through our place later today. Whitetail bucks have dropped. Nothing to see there.

Couple decent axis bucks. The other behind the protein feeder is a buck as well that has just started to grow antlers.

more axis pictures. The guy below has been showing up regularly.

Wow that dude in the top pic is a hoss!

My uncle auctioned off an axis hunt as a part of a church fundraiser. They'll have their sights set on him from Wednesday, May 7th through Saturday morning. If he gives them the slip, I'll be committed to bow hunting him through the summer.

no doubt

He needs Tippin Over

Found another quality browse plant at the ranch. A single specimen of Texas Sophora at a height too tall to be utilized by deer. Go figure, it's right in the middle of a dense patch of persimmon and agarita. Wanting to get back out there a few days after a decent rain if can ever get it to try to find more good browse and photograph and bookmark their locations.

Doesn't quite look as impressive now that he's rubbed out, but still a shooter by age alone. Too bad he's off somewhere else. This is the most recent picture I have of him as of last weekend.



Best looking whitetail. Several others have started to fork off, but he appears to have the most age out of everything I have on camera. Looks pretty healthy for how dry it's been. Still too early to tell what we've got this year. We did finally get some rain out there. 1.8 inches according the farmlogs (thanks STX). I'm tempted to head out there again (on days off starting Friday at 6:00 AM, but I have a few things I need to get done here in Odessa and Balmorhea is calling. I need some pool time.

He went hard horned and went to go find a herd of does to take over.

X2 It rained and the rut started.

Probably true. Went to Comfort to pick up some feed Wed. A very good Axis buck ran across the road between Center Point and Comfort in front of me about 10 in the morning. Also I have been seeing a lot of free range Axis bucks around here lately.

The axis and wt buck both look good and healthy despite the dry conditions before the rain. Nice pics.

Nice deer!

farthest along. Just starting to get G2's. If we didn't have exotics, I wouldn't even have cameras out until the end of June. Still a month away from really being able to start evaluating some of our bucks.



Six antelope in the background. Hopefully they'll entice a male to come on over to our place. Set up cameras on two feeders that we don't have paneled in. Maybe we'll have a male on camera next time I'm out there (four weeks).



Looks like he's still growing out! Doesn't look like that old to me either (buck with future potential), but it's certainly not the greatest picture for aging (which is tough to do this time of year anyway).



I'm also up to 21 coons on the year. Duke dogproofs have been deadly. Throw a little corn at the base of the trap and a little more inside it, wire it to feeder leg, and let their curiosity do the rest. Porcupines haven't been as easy. Managed to kill just two of them. Don't have the desire to stay up all hours of the night to pick them off with my .22

Did some walking around this past weekend taking pictures of various browse we have on the ranch.

Texas Sophora (highly desirable). Only found it in one place. At it's current height, it's of little use to the deer. There are three or four separate plants in the same cluster of brush. I'll spread their seeds this fall in other locations. Hopefully one or two will manage to establish themselves elsewhere.



Low regrowth live oak. Dense patch of it showing quite a bit of browsing pressure (I assume it gets hardest in winter, when little else is green).



This screams "burn me".



Dense patch of low growing shin oak. Shows quite a bit of pressure too.

Typical growth pattern of the majority of the hackberry trees on the property. Notice the dense agarita bush it is growing in.



This poor hackberry stands about a foot tall and clearly has been stunted with all the browsing pressure. But I suppose it's good to have some ground level browse. The plant has tried to adapt by exhibiting a much thicker growth form.



There's an appreciable amount of elbowbush on our place. It rarely shows significant browsing pressure.



An open grassy area. Was trying to illustrate all the new green growth coming forth after three inches of rain fell during the third week of June. It's a night and day difference compared to just one month ago.

We're going to have another big crop of persimmons. Every female tree was loaded like the one pictured below.



Relatively tall specimen of kidneywood. Most on our place are knee high or shorter and show pretty good pressure.



Close up of a shorter more typical kidneywood. Lots of new growth!



Same plant as pictured above, capturing the size of the plant overall.

My persimmon trees are loaded also. Rain has been good for the vegetation.

JM - you might try hinge cutting on the Sophora to make it available for browse. If you haven't heard of that, it's basically cutting the trunk enough to push the tree over but keep it connected to the base. When done properly, the tree will continue to grow on the ground making the leaves available while adding cover. I did this to several willows a couple of years ago and most of them continued to produce forage. Just a thought. Thanks for sharing your pics and experiences.

If I had more of them to spare, I'd consider it, but I wouldn't want to do anything to jeopardize the health of the few I do have.

Latest round of trail camera pics coming in a few mins

First fawn of the year on camera. I saw my first one of the year on June 30th when walking around/photographing brush. Always nice to see.



Grey fox. Glad to have one around.



No big axis on camera this time around, but we always seem to have a few on the place. I would be tempted to set up a pop up and stick one with my bow if it weren't so hot out. The gnats are absolutely terrible too.



Potential ten point? Do you think he looks like any of the other bucks in the next post? Wish I had his other side in frame (that would certainly help ID him).

I'm calling both of the bucks below four year olds. They are running buddies. I think I have pics of the buck by the protein feeder last year. I'll post pics later and see if you agree. EDIT: Upon second look, I think the three year old I have pictures of last year is a different buck. I really can't pick a deer out that I have on camera that matches anything I had last year. It's still relatively early though and we have another solid month of growth ahead.



Is this picture misleading, or is he carrying some pretty good mass? I don't think he is either of the bucks pictured above, but I supposed he could be the buck in the foreground in the picture above. Edit: Upon second look and looking at some trail camera pics from earlier in the season, he is the buck in the foreground of the pic above.



Another pic of the four year old running buddies. Wish I had a picture of both of them facing the camera, but no luck this time.



One of the four year olds facing the camera. He'll be easy to pick out during the season due to his unique brows. We won't be killing any four year olds this season. We've all killed better 8's than this guy will likely develop into anyway, so there's no point. Let him grow another year and see what he does.

young bachelor group at the water trough.



Twins.



Doe still carrying.

Group of antelope that passed through.



Needs to darken up before we'll shoot him. Same song and dance as the blackbuck we had running around last year.



Have had pictures of this guy off and on since March. Not the biggest axis around, but still nice to look at.



I'm leaning to these guys being 5 year olds instead of 4. Certainly the buck on the left is.

Potential cull? Not many pictures of him, but he looks too old and in too good of body condition to have so little headgear.



Four or five (8 pointer with the funky brows and running mates with the other mature 8)?



Youngster. Probably just 2.



One more blackbuck pic.

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!

Approaching twelve inches of rain since the beginning of May. It's raining now as I write this message. Surprisingly, axis have been regularly hitting feeders with no real pattern. Saw a two year old male that I let walk yesterday morning. Wish it would have been a doe. Even at that age, they dwarf our largest whitetail bucks. Deer are hammering the protein. They cleaned out our protein feeders in a little over a month (with the help of coons, porcupines, turkey, and occasional axis). Pigs are thick as well. Two corn feeders we run during the off season that aren't paneled were empty. Daytime pictures of them. They have pretty much taken over one of the feeders. Roads are a nightmare. Part of me just wants to leave now and return when it's drier. Who knows when that'll be though with the type of rain we've been having this year. Sure beats the alternative.

Can't wait to see this one develop. I think I recognize him from last year, and if he is who I think he is, he's put on a ton of weight. Hoping his antlers blow up as well. He really wasn't all that impressive last year as a three year old.



Blackbuck family.



Good looking youngster.



Targets for next spring! I love turkey hunting.



I was concerned if this guy would even make it, he was so run down this February and March. Seems he's recovered nicely. Doesn't look like he's going to add any extra bone this year, but it is still early.



Another decent youngster.



Axis seem to be frequenting our place more and more, but they are still proving to be elusive when I've got a rifle or bow in my hand. I think they are sensitive to me driving around the place when I'm knocking out ranch chores.

First time I've ever gotten turkey poults on camera (bottom left). We needed a good hatch after the dry springs we've had in recent years.



Kinda late for this, isn't it?



Looks healthy. Not much to show for headgear though. It's early. We'll wait and see.



They love alfalfa on our place. I should probably invest and/or make a couple square bale feeders.



One of our farthest along.

We were out this weekend. I think we're feeding every deer in a two square mile radius. 1500 pounds of protein was consumed over a three week period. I'm thinking the extra water trough/tote setups we've spread around the ranch are attracting and holding more wildlife. I observed 18 whitetails in one afternoon sit and 11 axis. Ended up getting a nice axis doe for the freezer. The ranch is starting to dry out. We missed the rains that poured heavily over the Garven Store area (where 41 and 83 intersect) a couple weeks ago. The browse plants are really flourishing. Grasses and forbs are definitely starting to feel the effects of the summer sun.

We finally got fed up with pigs emptying our corn feeders in a week's time and put eliminator spin plates on all of our unpaneled spots. They'll have to come to it during daylight hours now, and hopefully we can start shooting more of them off as they come in. Axis are in good numbers on our place right now, so I'll probably try to get out there again this month to see if I can harvest another.

I've heard it said that the third year of feeding protein is the first year you really start to notice the results in your deer herd. I have no way of knowing whether it's been the rain, the feed, or some of both, but we've got lots of quality 1-3 year olds. Going to have more small to medium sized 8's than I've ever seen out there from my observations. Not a large number of mature bucks, but two or three that I'll be watching. It's still early and tough to put an age on the deer, but I clearly recognize two from the previous year that will targeted this season.

We put out one experimental cottonseed basket by the camp water trough. Filled it about halfway with four bags and mixed some corn with it to help get them started on it. We'll see if they take a liking to it. And now for the pictures.







peak a boo



I believe this is the same one from the previous picture.

Weak caudles, but a shooter from age alone. Pretty sure I have pictures of him from last year.



youngsters.



The old man lives.



Nicknamed this one "Goober". He just looks funny. Can't really pick out exactly what it is, but I'm easily able to tell him apart from other youngsters. He was a small eight last year and his beams wrapped back around and nearly touched at the tips.

Four year old that has some genetic similarities to a buck that was killed back in 2012. He disappeared for a while last year after Christmas. I was hoping a neighbor didn't shoot him. We don't have many in his age class due to the drought of 2011.



No more of this (hopefully) with eliminator spin plate installed.



Needs another year.



Should be five this year and ready to take.



Turkey babies. I counted 16 when I zoomed in on it.

Looking good sir.

16 inch inside spread?



Not many blackbuck on camera this time around.



Five year old and younger buck.



Deer aren't pen shy any more. I've counted as many as seven inside at one time. Still wish I would have made them bigger though.



Battle tested axis.

Another picture of the old man. He may end up a little bigger this year. Still too early to tell.



Had velvet pictures of this guy back in March. Now he's back.



Target rich.



At least they look cool.



Old man and another decent buck behind him. I cleaned the camera screen, so I should have clearer photos next time.

Decent three year old utilizing water.



Late bred doe. Fawns that have hit the ground still aren't traveling yet.



Short caudles, but he still looks impressive in this picture.



Last picture of the old 8. Lots of growing is going to happen over the next few weeks.

Looking good!

What size are your pens?

8 panels

Your place is looking good JMalin, and so are the animals. I was at my place North of town last weekend as well, axis are still in rut. Im going back this weekend again.

Its outstanding at the amount of grass out here. Never thought Id see the day where most of the rocks were hidden. Starting to dry out though as the days are getting hotter and hotter.

Great idea adding those water totes. We did the same a few years ago and really increased the activity on our property and are holding quite a few more deer. Got a quick question for you. How are you filling your totes? We gravity fill ours from the back of the truck. Bit of a pain, and there has to be a better way. Just curious, if your using a different method than me.

I have to siphon it using a 1.5 inch clear vinyl hose from another tote we have in camp. Truck isn't high enough to pull up to the totes in the field and drain directly from ball valve at the bottom of the tote into the opening at the top of the other one. I've heard of some people using bilge pumps with some success. Obviously a gas powered pump would be the fastest way to get the job done, but siphoning is cheap and I don't mind spending the extra twenty minutes per tote to do it that way.

I gotcha. My dad has leftover crates that he gets material shipments on at work, and I stack them on the truck and then put the tote on top to make sure its high enough to drain completely into my field setup. But we strap down the tote on the truck to make sure it doesnt move around or tip over while in transport.

I cant siphon due to the shear distance between well and setup, figured you may have used that black poly pipe or something else. Im thinking about doing something like that so I dont have to load up crates and tote, fill, and transport water once a month. I knew water was essential out there, but it surprised me at how much water is being consumed in a months time. And Ive got two 275 Gallon totes tied together.

Thanks.

I siphon from the tote in the back of the truck to fill each tote in the field (we have two totes and one 225 gallon tank that I spent too much money on). Three total tote/tank setups plus the camp water trough which is tied in to a 500 gallon storage tank we have in camp that is tied into our well.

He went downhill. Lost a couple inches on his G3's from last year.





I think he'll grow a G4 on his left side, making him a mainframe ten with a small sticker off right G2. Made a pretty nice jump from last year. Getting a pass this year as a four year old.



Feeding these guys is starting to hurt my pocketbook.



He'll be nice in two more years.

Nice eight that has been holding on our place this year. Had a couple pictures of him last summer, but he wasn't around much during the season. I'm thinking he's at least five and ready to take this fall.







I've never seen so many 2-3 year old 8 points running around the place. The future is looking bright. Just by sheer numbers, a few of them will be recruited to maturity 2-3 years down the road. I'll try to post up some trail camera pictures in a little while.

Really like following your reports and seeing pics. Thanks! Love that country.
Looks like you really doing it up right. Great job!!!

I really like the looks of the young 9 in the background. I'm hoping to have some better pictures next time around.



Hard to tell if his caudles are broken or if they were always on the short side.



This guy has been regular on our property for a few months now.



Would be tempting with a bow. Nice brows and caudles. Probably wouldn't make 30 inches for beam length though.

Nice brows. Hoping he finishes strong. Green light on him this year.



Eliminator plates have been doing the job. Wish I would have installed them years ago. Hog activity has slowed down a bunch at feeders, I'm not returning to empty feeders, and the ones that are there are showing up during shooting light hours.



Side profile view of potential four year old mainframe 10 (assuming his right G4 comes in).



Pretty boy and his running buddy.

Pretty nice velvet axis. Probably won't make 30 inches, but he's got everything else going for him.



Good crop of poults.



Axis very similar to the one pictured above out of velvet. I know that he's different as I have pics of the velvet axis at a later date.





Remember this guy from last year. He was the one I'm assuming neighbors had a bad shot on. The scaring on the top of his shoulders is clearly visible. It'll be interesting to see how he finished up.

Some small axis sparring in the background.








We put out an experimental cottonseed basket last time we were out and mixed a bunch of corn in with it. Pigs found the corn and most all of the cottonseed that was in the basket ended up on the ground as they attempted to get at the corn. It looks as though the deer are starting to get on it though. Plan on putting out to more baskets near out other water trough/tote setups next time I'm out. We're keeping the protein going year round and will feed cottonseed seasonally from January to September.






Browse on the place is in great shape. Oaks are healthy and putting on all kinds of new growth, particularly the ones I fertilized earlier this spring. It is very dry out there right now though. Hoping we get some rain this month. Didn't get any in July.
Short on tine length, but it's be nice watching him progress the last three years.

I've really enjoyed following your blog. I hope to have a place like your soon. I wonder if the buck that had been injured will have his antler growth altered? It will be interesting to see. Thanks for the pictures and updates.

Anything new going on?

Heading out this weekend to fill feeders, install solar panels, top off water totes, and continue our blind counts.

JMalin- appreciate the updates. What kind of year do you think we will have in Edwards county? I hunt there as well

I can't speak for the whole county, but our deer are in great shape. Should have a huge fawn crop. Quail are starting to make a bit of a comeback on our place. Good turkey hatch as well. We've also got more axis hanging around our place than I've seen in years past. Most of our bucks are regulars at our two protein stations, both day and night. The areas I've seen the biggest improvement within our herd is the quality of the 1 and 2 year old age classes. I'm sure we are pulling a lot of deer from neighboring pastures. We need to thin the herd back quite a bit this year after a conservative harvest last year.

The deer at my place in Northern Edwards are in great shape as well. Not seeing that many fawns though, which is kind of surprising. I leave cams out year round, and havent seen many on camera. Hopefully they are just late this year.

One of many young 8's



Another. Not much of a left G3, but he's young.



Goober improved quite a bit since last year. I can't tell whether he's two or three this year.



Apparently cottonseed is preferred bedding material for blackbuck.



Nice velvet axis.

We have axis population issues. It's a good problem to have though. They sure eat great. Pretty much everything took a liking to the cottonseed. I'll be buying more when they start ginning in late October.



Another small/young 8.



Shooter on the right. Five year old I've been watching since he was 3.5



Close up of the old man. Might be a seven year old. Target #1.



Decent axis that needs one more year.

Another young 8.



Good axis. Not the best picture.



Better picture of the same axis.



Buck with the shoulder injury from poorly placed bullet. Likely target for this year, as he looked old during the rut last year. Not enough head gear to keep feeding him.



Ugly yearling. Probably will give him another year to see what he does.



More axis on cottonseed.



Yearling 6.

This guy was the ugliest little six point I've ever seen last year. Rack still isn't pretty, but he's an 8 now. If he's just two, he's a decent deer. If he's three, not so much. We'll likely give him one more year just to see what he does.



Shoulder injury buck and old man 8. They run together.



Short horned blackbuck. Showing some good color, but I wouldn't shoot him at this point. Not enough horn to mount.



Appears to be a big bodied six on the right. He needs a well placed arrow/bullet.



All six of them together.

Nice beam length. It's a shame he lost a few inches on his threes.



Little guys sparring.



Future trophy.



Nice middle aged 8 to the right and a four year old that absolutely exploded since last year.



Gotta love water trough pictures.

Axis just getting started.



Two young 8's and a 9.



Poults.





This axis was killed Sunday night by my uncle's friend. Same guy that bought the donated axis hunt/church fundraiser last year.

Got axis?



Pretty boy. Target for this year.



Young 10.



More turkey.



Cottonseed all but gone.

New nine point.



Funky seven.



Pretty 8.



1st longbeard I've had on camera for a while.



Dead axis.

A lot of bone in this picture.



Look at that mass!



Old 8 and "Lucky".



Pregnant doe into the 18th of August. Pretty late, even for us.



Goober from behind.

Another shot of the young 9. Already has a sticker point coming off his right G2. It'll be fun to watch him grow over the next few years.



It'll be fun to watch this guy too.



Five year old 8.



Another picture of the new nine.

I lost a camera card before I even got the chance to pull off the pictures. It was from the camera overlooking our other protein feeder. I would have gotten many more pictures of the four year old heavy nine at the water trough. At least I had a spare card. I'll be back out labor day weekend to pull cards once again and knock out the last remaining blind counts. The animals went through 2000 pounds of protein in less than three weeks. Obviously we are attracting and holding a lot of deer from neighboring deer from other pastures. 225 gallon water trough close to one of our feed pens/protein feeders is always empty. We'll be replacing it with a bigger tote, and moving the smaller tank to different location.

One down, many more to go.

Thanks for sharing! Do you happen to know how much the axis weighed field dressed?

A big male could tip the scales at around 200 pounds field dressed. Does will be in the 60-80 pound range (similar to whitetail does in size).

Looks like your place could use a few more rocks!

Wish I had some for building things around here, don't think I want them that thick though.

Testing out a new image uploading website. Photobucket is a nightmare.



Could he really just be a four year old? I'll post up another thread chronicling the history I have with this buck. Ignore the dates. Photos from this camera are from late august-early september 2015.








Deer on the right needs to go as a five year old that hasn't shown me anything the three years I've watched him other than good brows.

Excited about this ten point. Looks like he's getting another point off his left G4 and trying to put on a G5 on the right. I'm hoping he's just a three year old. Also has a couple bumps at the bases.





Potential December/January target behind the protein feeder.



Butterball of a four year old, (if he is indeed only four).



Looks like Goober will be one of the first to shed velvet (buck in foreground).

Couple more pictures of the ten.


imgur


upload img

Pretty three year old 8.


image posting

Pretty three year old 9 with the pretty 8 pictured above.


free picture upload

So much future potential.


image hosting above 5 mb

Love seeing fawns a poults.



Short tined 10 is starting to look more like a three year old.



Bruiser.



Pretty good axis.



Buck I'll be hunting the hardest this fall.

Blackbuck are still around.



Another picture of the three year old 9.



Good picture of my target buck.



Another axis buck that needs killing.



Ten I have no history with.

Short tined 10.



Ugly youngster appears to be first to go hard horned.



Mature axis with less than desirable antlers. Another fall target.



Needs killing before he drops his horns. He's been hard horned for several months now.

Always enjoy looking at your pics.

You have a lot of nice bucks coming along, and some good looking ones ready to shoot as well.

I made the effort to actually identify individual whitetail bucks and have come up with 30 (not including spikes) that have visited our feeders since the beginning for August . Obviously, not all of them are resident deer, but it's no surprise why we're having such a hard time keeping our protein feeders filled. Axis have been as thick as ever too. Can't wait for some cooler weather to set in. Hunting them in the summer heat isn't much fun.

While we don't have the exotic pressure you do, we have a very similar outcome.

Every year we run camera surveys as well as cams on feeders all year. We count different bucks and last year had between 30 and 40 different bucks on camera on 320 acres. I know there were some that were not on the camera and there were several spikes that were not counted.

Nice deer and excellent photos. The two eights will finish out nice in addition to your "4 yr old" 10. Very good Axis also.

whitetail fawn meets axis doe.

STC_0061 by J M, on Flickr

All the wildlife have been utilizing our water setups. We have four of these setups scattered around the ranch, and one trough in camp. It's been very dry. Haven't had rain since early June. The animals have been drinking a little over 500 gallons a week. It's a lot of work just to keep the tanks full.

HUNT0085 by J M, on Flickr

HUNT0134 by J M, on Flickr

Deer on the right needs to go this year. He's four and at this point, looks smaller than he was last year.

07050718 by J M, on Flickr

It's work keeping the cottonseed baskets full too. Everything has taken to it quite well.

07060634 by J M, on Flickr

Nice axis.

07060659 by J M, on Flickr

Nice frame on the 8 to the right. Hope he sticks around. Looks no older than 3.

STC_0003 by J M, on Flickr

STC_0037 by J M, on Flickr

This buck was a nine point last year as a two year old. He's going to be a mainframe 10 this year with an attempt to get a sticker point off both G2's. Not much of a frame to him, but he's going to be a stud regardless if he can live another year or two.

07080483 by J M, on Flickr

Nice three year old 8. Made a big jump from last year.

HUNT0004 by J M, on Flickr

Old bruiser axis. A buddy of mine killed him 7/12/16.

07090548 by J M, on Flickr

07100274 by J M, on Flickr

Buck is just getting started compared to some of the others.

07100378 by J M, on Flickr

Same pretty 8 at cottonseed basket from previous post.

HUNT0110 by J M, on Flickr

This old boy is still alive. Was shot at the top of the shoulder above the spine two seasons ago by neighbors and looked old then. Estimated age of 7 this year. We'll shoot him this year based on age alone if he slips up.

HUNT0113 by J M, on Flickr

Same nice framed 8 in previous post.

STC_0048 by J M, on Flickr

Juvenile red-tailed hawk decided to cool off.

07110452 by J M, on Flickr

Growing antelope population. We harvested a female this spring for the first time and may need to harvest a couple more this year to keep them in check.

07110474 by J M, on Flickr

My buddy and I with the axis he killed.

DSC_0010_186 copy by J M, on Flickr

Another nice young 8 with a split brow on one side, and a sticker coming off the opposite brow. Made a nice jump from 2 to 3.

HUNT0064 by J M, on Flickr

HUNT0149 by J M, on Flickr

Old guy.

HUNT0088 by J M, on Flickr

STC_0049 by J M, on Flickr

May need to start hunting them with a spotlight.

07160553 by J M, on Flickr

Three year old narrow 10 with stickers.

07150721 by J M, on Flickr

This guy was a decent two year old 8 last year that did some funky stuff this year. Not visible in first picture are the two small points coming off his left main beam between G2 and G3.

07160793 by J M, on Flickr

07180890 by J M, on Flickr

More antelope.

07170769 by J M, on Flickr

The red lechwe is still around.

07190052 by J M, on Flickr

Male antelope and a nice axis.

HUNT0663 by J M, on Flickr

Overall, I'm starting to see some really nice improvements in our younger deer, but am disappointed with the lack of mature whitetail. Only two regulars I have on camera that I can conclusively age at four or older. 2011 was a terrible for year for fawns, so it's not all that surprising. I just hope some of the young promising deer will make it through the season.

Great lookin bucks! Looks like what your doing is working.

You got a lot of good animals there.

First on the cull list this season is this guy. He's a three year old and has been ugly and narrow his entire life.

08200080 by J M, on Flickr

Good one to watch the next couple of seasons. Three year old I posted some pictures of the last time I updated this thread.

08200994 by J M, on Flickr

Axis are around occasionally, but they've been a lot less common at feeders with all the good rain we've been having.

STC_0045 by J M, on Flickr

Really nice yearling, if he is in fact just a year old.

08220266 by J M, on Flickr

Nice two year old 8. I have a video of this buck and a few others that I will post up later.

08220301 by J M, on Flickr

Interesting two year old. He's got a wide frame which is something a lot of our bucks don't have, but lacks some development in tines. We'll see what he does next year.

08220086 by J M, on Flickr

We're going to try to get on this guy as a cull/management buck as well this season. He's a four year old. In the most recent pictures I have of him, his beams actually wrap back around past the point of touching (one is slightly in front of the other, allowing them to grow past each other).

08220088 by J M, on Flickr

Couple of axis bucks that could use another year.

08230369 by J M, on Flickr

Three year old 8 with nice tine length. Posted pictures of him back in July.

08230396 by J M, on Flickr

Good ten point. Age, undetermined at this point as I don't feel like I have any history with him and haven't laid eyes on him in person.

08250013 by J M, on Flickr

Another nice 8 that appears to be a two year old.

08250007 by J M, on Flickr

Quality yearling if he is just a year old. He's a six (no brow tines) and will be one to watch for the next several years.

08250088 by J M, on Flickr

Bachelor group. The buck in the center is our primary trophy candidate this year. Believed to be a six or seven year old this year.

STC_0011 by J M, on Flickr

Shooter axis has eluded me for a couple of years now. I'm pretty sure I have pictures of this particular buck since last march. Obviously, he's not very regular at any particular feeding site.

STC_0037 by J M, on Flickr

I'm unsure as to the age of the buck on the left. He's either 3 or 4 this season. I thought he was three last year, but I'd like to see him in person this year before calling him a 4 year old. And if he is 4, he didn't do anything but add some mass to his small frame, so he'd be a good candidate to remove this season.

STC_0124 by J M, on Flickr

Split brow three year old 8. Good buck for his age. Hope to see him next year.

08280289 by J M, on Flickr

Two tens. Probably both just three, but unsure about the buck on the right. I have history with the one on the left. They're the future. I'm concerned that neither will make it through this season, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

08280334 by J M, on Flickr

Another picture of the nine point yearling. Should be easy to follow from year to year with his antler characteristics and double white throat patch.

STC_0143 by J M, on Flickr

One of the two tens pictured above. I can't put him at any older than 4 in this picture, and he's most likely just a three year old.

STC_0150 by J M, on Flickr

Axis will hit the cottonseed in more numbers than they will eat at our protein feeders. I suspect they don't like the size of the pens our protein feeders are in (eight hog panels arranged in a circle).

STC_0151 by J M, on Flickr

Split brow 8 and the heavier of the two 10's that run together.

STC_0162 by J M, on Flickr

First buck to begin shedding velvet.

08290344 by J M, on Flickr

Less blackbuck on camera last time I pulled cards. I'm sure the good rains have had a lot to do with it.

08290378 by J M, on Flickr

Yearling six.

08290408 by J M, on Flickr

Appears to be a 3rd ten point running around out there. This one isn't as promising as the other two, but we'll take it.

08290414 by J M, on Flickr

Nice picture with his head up.

STC_0199 by J M, on Flickr

The better two 10's together.

STC_0200 by J M, on Flickr

One last picture of them both.

STC_0201 by J M, on Flickr

And one last picture of just one of them. Honestly, he'd probably be hard for me to turn down with a bow in my hand. He'd probably get really close to qualifying for P&Y. Maybe I can convince myself he's a four year old this fall.

STC_0202 by J M, on Flickr

I thought I was out of pictures of the 10's, but here's a good side profile view of the heavier of the two.

08310536 by J M, on Flickr

08310537 by J M, on Flickr

Buck in the foreground has a nice spread. Don't believe I have any history with him. Middle aged (three or four year old). Didn't have any good pictures of him facing the camera this pull.

08310544 by J M, on Flickr

Number one on the trophy list. The only buck on the place I can conclusively age at five or older.

08310441 by J M, on Flickr

Another two year old 8.

STC_0241 by J M, on Flickr

HUNT0108 by J M, on Flickr

Last picture I have of the two 10's.

09020522 by J M, on Flickr

The protein, cottonseed, and good range conditions have gotten these deer FAT. They are starting to look older than I think they are. Not many acorns on the oaks from what I've seen. Should have some decent early season action at the feeders. I can't wait for October. Really seeing some good improvements in our herd. Getting age on the good bucks is always the challenge when hunting small acreage.

Didn't have many pictures of this bachelor group this time. The buck that jumps into the pen looks like a subpar four year old to me. The small 8 is a two year old, and the drop tine buck and ugly narrow guy are three year olds.

I love hunting down there. Never sure what might show up... Great looking variety of game, and some stud WT, J.

This is a great thread. Looks like you've really improved your WT herd and the exotics.

We are just down the road on the eastern edge of Edwards. What practices do you think have helped the most?

Feeding them. I'm sure the good rain we've had has helped a lot as well. If we could just a couple of the good three year olds running around to the age of five...

We have had Great Rain down there this year!
Amazing what happens when people allow a little Age, Great job