Gleaton Chip Ranch Updates

[bgleaton]

I wanted to start this thread to show you what my family and I are doing in our area (Texas Edwards Plateau) and share with you what we have been able to accomplish. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nowhere close to what elgato and some others have been able to do on your ranches, but we are trying our best with the resources we have. We had a deer lease for around 10 years in the Richland Springs area and we saw 150-in bucks every year out there after we had strictly managed this place and supplemental fed for quite some time. We got off the lease because we wanted to buy a piece of land and manage it ourselves. We purchased a 360-acre property near Calf Creek, TX on the San Saba river (about 12 miles SW of Brady, TX) in 2011 after the big drought. When we purchased the property, it had been severely overgrazed and not managed for wildlife. There was no supplemental feeding or anything to help the wildlife. During our first year, we put out corn feeders to help attract deer and see what kind of deer where on our place with trail cameras. We gathered the cameras and found there wasn’t anything special due to the drought. We did not graze the property during the first year (2012) to help let the native vegetation come back. We also put out three protein feeders in 2012 – one 1,000lb trough and two 300lb tube feeders and we fed protein from January to the end of August. We saw a lot nicer bucks during the 2012-13 deer season, but nothing that met our goal, which was 140-inches. Since the 2012-13 deer season, we have continued to feed protein, but we purchased two Krivomann feeders (1,000lb & 1,300lb), so we now have a 1,000lb trough feeder, a 1,000lb Krivomann tube feeder, a 1,300lb Krivoman tube feeder and a 300lb tube feeder. Last deer season (2014-15) we saw several bucks that were in the mid 130’s and a lot of quality 1.5 and 2.5yr olds since they have started to grow up with the protein feed. Last year we shot 6 does and two old bucks. We feed 20% protein from December to mid September. We also started to feed cottonseed in December 2014 to help the post-rut bucks and fed cottonseed through the Spring. Our goal is to eventually grow 150-in bucks, but we want to consistently grow 140-in bucks first and we believe we will be there this year. We are also looking to acquire the neighbors 160 acres next door to give us around 520 acres total, which would be great. We have a 3-acre pond stocked with florida bass and other forage fish and a small 1-acre pond and a concrete water tank for the cattle and wildlife. This year, we are letting around 10 cows graze from June to mid September, but we will keep an eye on it and make sure that they are not overgrazing at any point.
So far, we have fed around around 11,000lbs of protein from January 2015 to the end of May 2015. We are looking to start a fall food plot this year and plant wheat, rye and some other legumes and see how it performs. Here is a picture of the area we will be planting this year, which is around 5 acres (see picture below).

We will be planting another food plot in the NW corner of our property in 2016, but we can’t touch it because it’s under contract with the NRCS because they helped us spray cactus and are helping us install another water trough. Here’s a picture of the field that we will plant in 2016:

Here are pictures of our feeder setups:



We clear strips of cedars yearly to help increase the forage for the wildlife (see pictures below).


Here are pictures of the ponds and water trough:



Here are some pictures showing the kind of habitat on our place:


Here are pictures of the ranch house and barn we finished at the beginning of this year:


I will continue to post pictures of our improvements as well as pictures of our deer herd to share with you all. I would love to hear your input and suggestions to help us get to our goal of producing some really nice bucks. I understand that this is going to be tough since this is a low fence ranch and a smaller property, but we will continue to try to improve the property and grow a quality deer herd as well manage other wildlife habitat. I will try to post pictures of some of the bucks we saw this past deer season.

[bgleaton]

Here is a picture of the San Saba river from the back porch:


Here is another picture of the San Saba river:

[junior]

Originally Posted by bgleaton

Here is a picture of the San Saba river from the back porch:


Here is another picture of the San Saba river:

How many yellow cat have yall caught out of this river? Looks like a great place for some throw lines.

[UrbanBuck]

Beautiful !

[JohnKrautz08]

beautiful place!

[GarGuy]

Beautifull place. Be there are a bunch of artifacts on that place.

[Patton]

Tuned in.
Beautiful land, the Hill Country is hard to beat. Have any pictures of critters to share?

[ttubudd]

nice. following along. sounds like you're doing a lot of things right.

[Chew]

Subscribed. Awesome place

[tx10pt]

Very nice place. I am pretty familiar with the Calf Creek area. There has been some good deer come from that area. A friend of mine has a place there. SS river has some good catfish in it.

[bgleaton]

Here are some pictures of bucks from this past season. Some are young bucks and a couple are middle aged bucks.

[blntrey3]

CULL the one in 2nd PIC

Nice place for sure

[bgleaton]

I'm curious to hear your opinion on why you would cull the buck in the 2nd picture. I thought about culling this buck because of his lack of height and age, but I'm curious to hear your opinion. We have the strategy of letting all of our bucks get to at least 6.5yrs unless they have less than 8pts at 4.5 years or older.

We also have lot's and lot's of turkeys.

[blntrey3]

Originally Posted by bgleaton

I'm curious to hear your opinion on why you would cull the buck in the 2nd picture. I thought about culling this buck because of his lack of height and age, but I'm curious to hear your opinion. We have the strategy of letting all of our bucks get to at least 6.5yrs unless they have less than 8pts at 4.5 years or older.

We also have lot's and lot's of turkeys.

I was comparing him to your other pics and he looks older than 4.5 to me (obviously you know your deer better than I do), but he does not have the mass or height your other younger deer do. Body looks really big for antlers to be so scraggly again compared to your other pics.

Just an opinion but I would cull the one I am talking about before the 2 you are after. Again just an opinion.

[Fajkus7]

Originally Posted by blntrey3

I was comparing him to your other pics and he looks older than 4.5 to me (obviously you know your deer better than I do), but he does not have the mass or height your other younger deer do. Body looks really big for antlers to be so scraggly again compared to your other pics.

Just an opinion but I would cull the one I am talking about before the 2 you are after. Again just an opinion.

So you are saying to cull out a post mature 10 point before a 4.5-5.5 y/o 6 point?

[blntrey3]

Originally Posted by Fajkus7

So you are saying to cull out a post mature 10 point before a 4.5-5.5 y/o 6 point?

Absolutely.....they may both be culls, but post mature has done his time. The 6 has good mass at least and may only be 2.5 yrs old....the old one looks like he has antlers of a 3.5 yr old (if that)

again just an opinion.....If it were my place, my son would be on both of em

[Fajkus7]

Originally Posted by blntrey3

Absolutely.....they may both be culls, but post mature has done his time. The 6 has good mass at least and may only be 2.5 yrs old....the old one looks like he has antlers of a 3.5 yr old (if that)

again just an opinion.....If it were my place, my son would be on both of em

what makes you say that 6 is 2.5? Not bashing, just curious!

[bgleaton]

Originally Posted by blntrey3

I was comparing him to your other pics and he looks older than 4.5 to me (obviously you know your deer better than I do), but he does not have the mass or height your other younger deer do. Body looks really big for antlers to be so scraggly again compared to your other pics.

Just an opinion but I would cull the one I am talking about before the 2 you are after. Again just an opinion.

I agree with you. I just like to hear other people's opinions. Thanks for sharing.

[bgleaton]

Here is a picture of a big bodied 8-point:


We never saw this buck during daylight hours. He has a huge body. My twin brother shot a 7.5yr old 8-pointer this year during New Years weekend and he dressed out at 140lbs. Two does we shot this past year dressed out at 80lbs.

[TildenHunter]

2nd picture looks to be a fully mature 5.5+. If he isn't where you want to be in the future = wack in my opinion. He very well may be 8.5. I think he is post mature but it is hard to be certain with no history and one photo. Looks like a gorgeous piece of property. Congrats to you and your family. Looking forward to updates.

Nice droptine also!

[Patton]

Originally Posted by TildenHunter

2nd picture looks to be a fully mature 5.5+. If he isn't where you want to be in the future = wack in my opinion. He very well may be 8.5. I think he is post mature but it is hard to be certain with no history and one photo. Looks like a gorgeous piece of property. Congrats to you and your family. Looking forward to updates.

Nice droptine also!

I'm right there with you Tilden. I'm leaning towards post mature. Looks like the hunchback of Notre Dame.

[gingib]

Originally Posted by The General

I'm right there with you Tilden. I'm leaning towards post mature. Looks like the hunchback of Notre Dame.

x2

[blntrey3]

Originally Posted by TildenHunter

2nd picture looks to be a fully mature 5.5+. If he isn't where you want to be in the future = wack in my opinion. He very well may be 8.5. I think he is post mature but it is hard to be certain with no history and one photo. Looks like a gorgeous piece of property. Congrats to you and your family. Looking forward to updates.

Nice droptine also!

Originally Posted by blntrey3

I was comparing him to your other pics and he looks older than 4.5 to me (obviously you know your deer better than I do), but he does not have the mass or height your other younger deer do. Body looks really big for antlers to be so scraggly again compared to your other pics.

Just an opinion but I would cull the one I am talking about before the 2 you are after. Again just an opinion.

Originally Posted by The General

I'm right there with you Tilden. I'm leaning towards post mature. Looks like the hunchback of Notre Dame.

Originally Posted by gingib

x2

[bgleaton]

Here are two cull bucks that we were trying to get this year, but nobody saw them during daylight hours:

[tx10pt]

Yes lots of turkey in the area along with lots of Rattle snakes!

[SFAbowhunter]

Awesome place you have there! Nice bucks too!

[BrianG]

Awesome looking place! Good luck this next season!

[buckerup]

Thanks for letting us come along on your journey. Good luck, and keep us updated.

[DUKFVR]

Congrats on a Fabulous place! Thanks for the pics.

[dope hunter]

Good looking place!

[Jamesl]

good looking place! Thanks for sharing.

[louieagarcia]

Tuned in! looking good!

[gingib]

awesome place! Heaven

[bgleaton]

Here are a couple trail camera pictures from the last time we were out there filling up the protein feeders (around 5/20/15):

Here is a 1.5yr old buck with some big scars, not sure how this happened:


A couple other trail cam pictures:

[bgleaton]

Here is how much rainfall we have received this year compared to 2014 and the monthly average:

[bgleaton]

Here are pictures of some native forage that was all over the ranch when we were out there on 5/22/15:

Engelmann Daisy:


Texas Kidneywood:


Bush Sunflower:



Sensitivebriar:


Spreading Sida:


Skeletonplant:


Rock Daisy & Other Forage:

[Homer75]

Is it just me or does that droptine not get you excited... It would be tough for me to pass on that droptine buck....

[RAGUIRREJR]

Originally Posted by Homer75

Is it just me or does that droptine not get you excited... It would be tough for me to pass on that droptine buck....

I missed the droptine the 1st time I saw the pics. Had to go back & check


BG, this is a beautiful piece of land. Good luck on your goals for it. I'll definitely be following, jealously!!! One day I would love to try and do what you are doing with my own property

[FCTrapper]

Looks like a piece of heaven on earth. Beautiful Place.

[bgleaton]

I had that droptine buck at 15 yards two different times. He is a very pretty buck, but still a little too young.

[Patton]

Originally Posted by bgleaton

I had that droptine buck at 15 yards two different times. He is a very pretty buck, but still a little too young.

Way to go, that had to have been tough. Hopefully he spreads those genes a few times.

[mjbtexas]

Originally Posted by bgleaton

I had that droptine buck at 15 yards two different times. He is a very pretty buck, but still a little too young.

You sir, are a better man than I!


(I like to think I would have tried to hold off!)

[bgleaton]

Here are some other bucks from last year:

Very old buck. Has forked G-2's. We have pictures of him 5 years in a row. No one has ever seen this buck in daylight. We get pics of him all through velvet on trail cam and then he disappears until February every single year:


3.5yr old 8pt:


2.5yr old 8pt:


1.5yr old 8pt:


9pt:


9pt:


2.5yr old Non-Typical 12pt:

[blntrey3]

Great looking deer

[bgleaton]

Here is an old 8.5yr old 8pt buck my twin brother shot last year. We have pictures of this buck for the last 4 years and he was always a slick 8pt.

He dressed out at 140lbs.

[Georaider]

Beautiful ranch, great deer.

[Etxbuckman]

That is an awesome place!

[gingib]

I would shoot all 3.....With that being said, I would definitely shoot the 2 he posted before he post mature 10 point. That 10 point could be a trophy to some people, especially a buddy who helps with the ranch or a family member.

He has 10 point genetics and the other is still an old 6 which is far inferior then a 10 IMO.

Both of those CULLS he posted are old enough to be declared CULLS with that top one looking pretty old and older then the bottom buck.

You sir have alot of different bucks and just looking at it, with that many bucks I bet you have alot of does.

I would lower the deer population overall to allow more groceries for all the deer and thus growing bigger antlers and bodies

[bgleaton]

This 6pt CULL has had the same frame for 2 years now, except he is heavier and taller now. I guessed him last year at 3.5yrs last year, which will put him at 4.5yrs this year:


My thoughts have always been to shoot a buck like the one above (6pt) especially if he has had a similar type rack several years prior and he is around 4yrs before shooting a post mature 10pt because I would rather the 10pt spread his genes vs the 6pt. I'm not saying this is the correct way to do it, it's just been what I've been taught and what I've read from various articles. As far as the older bucks like the old 10pt that is being described above (post mature), we let other people/friends shoot these types of bucks if they help us do work around the ranch. I really enjoy hearing everybody's opinions. if you think I'm not aging a buck correctly, please let me know what you think, you will not hurt my feelings. That's why I started this thread was to get everyone's opinions and ideas.

[Fajkus7]

Originally Posted by bgleaton

This 6pt CULL has had the same frame for 2 years now, except he is heavier and taller now. I guessed him last year at 3.5yrs last year, which will put him at 4.5yrs this year:


My thoughts have always been to shoot a buck like the one above (6pt) especially if he has had a similar type rack several years prior and he is around 4yrs before shooting a post mature 10pt because I would rather the 10pt spread his genes vs the 6pt. I'm not saying this is the correct way to do it, it's just been what I've been taught and what I've read from various articles. As far as the older bucks like the old 10pt that is being described above (post mature), we let other people/friends shoot these types of bucks if they help us do work around the ranch. I really enjoy hearing everybody's opinions. if you think I'm not aging a buck correctly, please let me know what you think, you will not hurt my feelings. That's why I started this thread was to get everyone's opinions and ideas.

This is my thinking to a T