Gleaton Chip Ranch Updates

[Peyton]

Sweet ranch! Yall are doing all the right things!! Keep it up

[bgleaton]

We feed our 1,000lb trough feeder year round, which is in the middle of our property. We convert our Krivoman feeders from protein to corn in late September.

[bgleaton]

We also feed a corn/soybean mix and spread protein over of our interior roads every time we are out there. We are trying to feed the deer that get shorted at the feeders. We have a protein feeder per 85 acres right now. I'm hoping a fall food plot this year will help provide additional forage through the winter.

[blntrey3]

Originally Posted by tommy1005

I don't like to shoot deer before 4.5 either, but a 3.5 year old basket 6 point that I had history with would be a dead deer walking. The key is knowing your deer herd and it sounds like you do and have history with the different bucks. If it was my first year on a ranch I'd be hesitant to cull anything.

I do this on ALL 6 pt deer over 3.5 as well. In my thinking though if the post mature deer are running off your prime deer it's a mistake as well. But this is my opinion.

I believe you are correct as far as which one you want breeding (10 over 6)

but I would Bust both or have someone bust both.

As far as aging in my opinion you would know best, but I tend to guess older ages or put deer older than most do. I think you are right on with aging OP.

[bgleaton]

We built a gun blind last year with LP SmartSide Panels and they work great. I will not use plywood ever again. We are building two more of these same type of blinds. We used EZ Tower Brackets and the tinted glass windows that seal everything up.

[LoneStarBoggers]

Awesome place brother!!

[bgleaton]

Originally Posted by Krivoman

Do you pull your protein in Sept? Bet your deer spread back out once corn it fired up. Being Low fence that means they probably leave you. I would keep the protein going into the season if possible. Awesome looking ranch. Hope you pick up the additional acerage..

Do you feed protein year-round? We normally stop feeding protein around the end of September and replace the tubes on our Krivomann feeders with spinners, but we normally keep a 1,000lb protein feeder running all year as well as a 300lb tube protein feeder by the house going year round as well. We do this to help save $$ bc protein is so expensive and also to help make the deer less nocturnal. Do you think by stopping the protein feed and replacing with corn will cause deer to move and cause them to not be as big the following year? I would like to hear your thoughts on this.

[Krivoman]

in your case I would have some sort of proteingoing at least into October. Hill Country ranches you need to have your deer still on a summer pattern during bow season starts if you plan on killing the big deer.

[bgleaton]

Maybe I'll keep a couple of the krivoman feeders going with protein until late October and hunt them that way during bow season. I'm always up to try new things to increase our odds at these mature bucks.

[Tex1986]

Thats a beautiful place. Looks like yall have spent alot of time and money on it already. Keep up the good work.

[bgleaton]

Here's a picture of another buck we got a picture of on our place during the 2012-13 season, but we only saw him a couple of times chasing does during the rut:

[bgleaton]

Has anyone seen a buck like this:


Several biologists have told me that 6month old bucks will not have hardened antlers and this guy has hardened nubs. He also doesn't have the body of a 6-month old buck either. I was thinking that he probably needs to go, but I would love to get your opinions.

[blntrey3]

Originally Posted by bgleaton

Has anyone seen a buck like this:


Several biologists have told me that 6month old bucks will not have hardened antlers and this guy has hardened nubs. He also doesn't have the body of a 6-month old buck either. I was thinking that he probably needs to go, but I would love to get your opinions.

when was this pic taken?

[Krivoman]

I have had several button bucks pop through and grow little daggers. Also have had them rub the button to hard how .

[bgleaton]

I believe that picture was taken in November. Here's another picture of him chasing a 6-month old doe fawn:

This is why I thought he was at least 1.5yrs old because the size of his body compared to the doe fawn he is chasing. Let me know your thoughts.

[blntrey3]

hmmmmm not sure on this one. He may be a little older like a Late fawn from the year before, I have some fawns I see every year in September-October that still have spots....

[bgleaton]

If so, do you think he will always be lacking in the antler department?

[Peyton]

I never judge a buck until he is 3.5-4.5. Lots of factors can make a buck lag behind his genetic potential. Leaving him or taking him out will make zero difference in your genetic pool. Don't get in a hurry to manage the bucks. You still have years of habitat and nutrition improvement before you should worry about a buck like this.

[blntrey3]

Originally Posted by Peyton

I never judge a buck until he is 3.5-4.5. Lots of factors can make a buck lag behind his genetic potential. Leaving him or taking him out will make zero difference in your genetic pool. Don't get in a hurry to manage the bucks. You still have years of habitat and nutrition improvement before you should worry about a buck like this.

[BTLowry]

Beautiful place, thanks for sharing

Hope the hard work pays off and you get the results you are working for

[bgleaton]

Thanks Peyton. I like your input. We will continue to work on improving the habitat and nutrition and not worry about antlers until they are in the 4.5yr range.

[tmkrueger]

Thats a great looking place.

[FCTrapper]

Originally Posted by bgleaton

Has anyone seen a buck like this:


Several biologists have told me that 6month old bucks will not have hardened antlers and this guy has hardened nubs. He also doesn't have the body of a 6-month old buck either. I was thinking that he probably needs to go, but I would love to get your opinions.

Deer like this DON"T matter. Whether you kill him or not it will have ZERO impact on your genetics. Unless your just wanting to kill something to stop feeding it then it's your place go ahead. But I would always recommend to wait till he was at least 3.5 if not 4.5 to make the choice to kill him.

[bgleaton]

Here's another picture of the ranch house:

[bgleaton]

Does anyone know how to prevent raccoons from getting on top of our protein trough:

[Reaper87]

Originally Posted by bgleaton

Does anyone know how to prevent raccoons from getting on top of our protein trough:

Trap. Shoot in the face. Repeat. It's a constant battle. El gato posted on his thread on how he was preventing it. The same may apply to your feeders.

[bgleaton]

Quick update:

Here is the soil report from the field we will be planting this fall:


Here is a picture of the field:


We are filling our feeders today (putting out another 2,500lbs, which will put us at around 14,000lbs since Jan. 1st). I will post some pictures of the horn growth on our place once I gather up the memory cards.

We had to take our 2008 Polaris Ranger into the shop this week because a piece on the rear differential housing broke off. Also, my dad pierced the tractor tire with a shed. There's always something that needs fixing. Fortunately, these are all minor fixes.

We are trying to decide whether or not we want to pay someone to come in and do the first food plot or not. We have a tractor, but we do not have any implements just yet. What are yalls thoughts on this? We would like to plant a mixture of wheat, rye, oats and maybe some legumes.

[Patton]

"There is always something that needs fixing"
There is a ton of truth to that amigo.

I think if you have a few consecutive days that you can work out there- you can rent the equipment you need. Do the research first on the best techniques to plant at this time of year (till vs no till etc) and try to knock it out yourselves. That's my thinking anyway, if you have the means to pay somebody to come knock it all out for you- you can sit back and drink cold beer and watch. Always nice if you can do it that way.

[bgleaton]

After filling up the feeders today, I calculated that we are averaging around 125lbs of protein feed being eaten per day. Remember, we have just under 400 acres, so that's a lot of feed. I'm sure we are losing some to raccoons, turkeys, etc., but that's still a lot. We filled up our three 1,000lb+ feeders on 5/24/15 and they were all empty today. The cottonseed consumption has slowed, but they are still picking at it and eating little by little.

[bgleaton]

It's still very green out there. Here are three pictures of the cottonseed feeders:

[bgleaton]

We saw this buck a ton in 2013-14, but we did not see him last year. We got pictures of him after the 2013-14 season and in great condition, so I hope he is still out there. If he is still out there, he will be around 5 or 6yrs old this year:

Let me know what you think.

[bgleaton]

I forgot to say that this picture is from the 2013.

[EastTexun]

Originally Posted by bgleaton

Quick update:
We had to take our 2008 Polaris Ranger into the shop this week because a piece on the rear differential housing broke off. Also, my dad pierced the tractor tire with a shed. There's always something that needs fixing. Fortunately, these are all minor fixes.

We are trying to decide whether or not we want to pay someone to come in and do the first food plot or not. We have a tractor, but we do not have any implements just yet. What are yalls thoughts on this? We would like to plant a mixture of wheat, rye, oats and maybe some legumes.

I know the feeling about having something to work on. Owning a house is bad enough..but the ranch keeps me super busy all the time. Labor of love, but plenty labor for sure!

In regards to your food plot, my first question regarding Menard is do you have enough dirt to grow much other than grass and cactus? The picture looks pretty good, but my experience is that area has a lot of rock in the fields. If you do have ground that can be cultivated, then it might simply be an economics question for the first year. Do you have a neighbor around there that actively plants, or can you find someone to come over and do it? I have never hired that out, so I have no clue how much, or little, it would cost. I am assuming that you have never planted before, so it may be a huge opportunity to watch a seasoned veteran plant the first year, kinda like paying for a tutorial. I started from scratch and had more mistakes than successes at first, but eventually got the hang of things. But, a close friend of mine that spends more time on a tractor than anyone else I know came and helped me early on and I learned more from him in a day than I learned in years. You mentioned in one post that the plot may be around 6 acres, and I can attest that is a lot of area to plant solo on your first attempt, especially with borrowed or rented equipment.

Just a few thoughts. I am probably as proud or more proud of my planting as I am about the deer I kill, but it can be some of the most frustrating, time consuming parts too. I wouldn't ever give it up, but if I could go back, I would definitely do some things differently.

[gingib]

Originally Posted by bgleaton

Does anyone know how to prevent raccoons from getting on top of our protein trough:

Legal or anyway possible?

[Lexington]

Looks nice

[bgleaton]

We got 3.15 inches of rain yesterday and last night. This is an insane year for rainfall.

[bgleaton]

Here are a couple of trail cam pictures from early June:

[bgleaton]

[bgleaton]

Here are some recent trail camera pictures from one of our feeders:






We are seeing a lot of good brow tines this year. We also just receive 1.75in of rain last week, which puts us at 21in for the year. This should be a great year.

[Slew]

That looks awesome!! Congrats! Keep the pics and updates coming!!

[JClose]

Beautiful place you have there. Following

[bgleaton]

We went to the ranch this weekend to fill all of the protein feeders and to start slinging corn out of two corn feeders. This year, we have fed around 17,000lbs of protein and 3,000lbs of cottonseed.

We received a used gun blind on a 12ft tower and it’s still in great shape since they used cement board. Here is a picture of the blind and the views:

Feeder View:

Left Window View:

Back Window View (Future Fall Food Plot):

[bgleaton]

We were also able to pick up some trail camera cards. Here are a couple of pictures of the antler growth so far:

[bgleaton]

Originally Posted by bgleaton

we were also able to pick up some trail camera cards. Here are a couple of pictures of the antler growth so far:

[blntrey3]

Could that be your "basket 6" Third pick from bottom????^^^^

[bgleaton]

Are you talking about this buck from last year:

If this is the buck you are referring to, I can tell you that the buck that is the third pic from the bottom is not him. The buck that's in the 3rd pic from the bottom was an 8pt last year, but this year he is a little wider and some more mass.

[blntrey3]

Originally Posted by bgleaton

Are you talking about this buck from last year:

If this is the buck you are referring to, I can tell you that the buck that is the third pic from the bottom is not him. The buck that's in the 3rd pic from the bottom was an 8pt last year, but this year he is a little wider and some more mass.

10-4 just resembled the same genetics.....just a thought

[bgleaton]

Here is a picture of our big pond, which is now around 4 acres in size due to all of the rain. The deepest part of the pond is around 35ft.

[HappyM]

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.

Thanks for sharing. Awesome place and we feel your excitement. Well done. On our place we would shoot that 6 at 3.5. Our 3.5 participate heavily in the rut and I don't won't them spreading those genes. Many trophy managers would have him out of pool at their first chance. You may consider continuing your protein feeding a litte deeper into season on a daylight basis to hold your bucks. Great job.

[Truckman]

Nice place! Thanks for sharing!