Gleaton Chip Ranch Updates

[bgleaton]

3/12/2017 Update

We went out there this weekend to fill all of the protein and cottonseed feeders. We got our new 1,200lb Krivoman timed protein feeder set up so we now have two of the Krivoman timed feeders running. We started building our big a%* bow blind, built our quail feeder/watering station and did some strip disking to see if it will help promote any forb/grass growth. Everything is greening up out there, but it's still fairly dry so hopefully we get some rain soon. We are now gearing up for turkey season and filled up the turkey feeders. Here are some pictures from the weekend:

[bgleaton]

The second and last pics are of one of the food plots. They are green, but the cows and deer are keeping them mowed down low.

[Bone Thug]

Very nice!!!!
I like what you are doing with the place.

[Patton]

Very fine, Sir


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[bgleaton]

Thanks guys! We set the timed feeders to be open from 5am to 7am and 6pm to 8pm. We are doing this to help control the amount of protein feed the deer are eating, but we also have cottonseed available at all times from January through the End of August. The cottonseed is $230/ton, so it's around 1/2 the price of protein. I wish we could feed 20,000lbs of protein a year, but we can't afford that. Our goal is to feed around 12,000lbs of protein this year.

[bgleaton]

Quail Feeding/Watering Station

My brother and dad finished the quail feeding/watering station yesterday. We will eventually put a trail camera inside and see how often it's used.

[bgleaton]

3/18/2017 - Cottonseed Feeders

Here's a picture of one of our cottonseed feeders after one week of use. We had piled up the cottonseed so that you could barely see the top of the t-post and also put a pile of cottonseed between the cottonseed feeder and the Krivoman feeder.

Consumption for both cottonseed and protein has definitely slowed down over the past couple of weeks, which i'm assuming is due to everything greening up nicely out there. Hopefully we can all get some rain in the next week or so.

[DUKFVR]

Looking good! I really like the quail feeding station. Please update as you can on it. Our wildlife exemption covers ground nesting birds and we are deciding which way to go on a quail feeder.

[bgleaton]

Looking good! I really like the quail feeding station. Please update as you can on it. Our wildlife exemption covers ground nesting birds and we are deciding which way to go on a quail feeder.

Thanks! I'll be out there April 7th through the 9th topping off protein/cottonseed feeders and doing some turkey hunting. I'll check the camera card on the quail feeder and post up some pictures. I'll also take some more detailed pictures of the quail feeder.

[bgleaton]

4/7/2017 Update

We went down to the ranch this past weekend to do some work and a little turkey hunting. Unfortunately, the birds weren't very vocal and every gobbler we saw had at least 4 hens with him so it was very hard to get them to come in. All of the cottonseed feeders were empty, which we filled 30 days ago. The Krivoman timed protein feeders are working great. We saw a bunch of rattlesnakes this weekend. In fact, my 3.5yr old son, nephew and mother in law were flying a kite and when my mother-in-law looked down, there was a 3.5ft rattlesnake about 5ft away from them. I was able to kill this one, but we saw 7 more rattlers that weekend. Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Here's a picture of our small plot. It's doing okay. There are a lot of weeds growing in it now:


All three cottonseed feeders full:




My nephew holding the rattlesnake:



We added three brush piles in the big pond to try to improve the habitat for the baitfish (i.e. bluegills). I would like to add some big trees in one or two different spots to help hold fish and improve the pond habitat, but getting these big trees out in 12 to 15ft of water is easier said than done:



Native Habitat/Open Field:


Creeks are still holding water:


Acacia blooming:



Quail feeder/Watering Station:

We put a trail camera in it and found that raccoons are getting in and knocking over the plastic "tee-pee" shaped cone part. May need to figure out how to keep the raccoons from getting in.

Small pond:


There was a nice thunderstorm that went through today, so I'm hoping we got at least 1/2in or more. So far, we have only received 0.8in for the month of April and we only got a little over 1in for the month of March. Here 's the cell that hit today, hopefully it produced a good amount:

[BrokenJ]

Enjoy the updates, Great looking place Yal have. Anyway you could pull your larger trees from across the pond rather than push.

[bgleaton]

Enjoy the updates, Great looking place Yal have. Anyway you could pull your larger trees from across the pond rather than push.

That's definitely a possibility, but we would need a very long chain or rope. It's about 60-70 yards across. I like the idea though. Trying to figure out how we can make it a great bass pond. It's about 20ft deep in the middle right now and about 30ft deep when full. I don't want to put too much brush in there, but we want the forage fish to be able to reproduce and get big so the Florida bass that we stocked five years ago continue to get bigger and bigger.

[DUKFVR]

Looking Great! Thanks for the updates.

[Cabela]

That many snakes common for your place in the past?


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[KactusKiller]

I'd get those kids some snake boots. My girls don't step foot outside without especially this time of yr.
Academy has some very good reasonably priced snake boots in youth sizes.