Gleaton Chip Ranch Updates

[MenardCountyBow]

Thanks for the insight. Your thread makes it hard to keep saving money. What is the best part of the county in your opinion? Or anyone that hunts menard county.

[bgleaton]

We are on the San Saba river and I absolutely love the country around this river, even though the pecan farmers in Menard are sucking the river dry (that's a different story for another time). I just love the country in our area with oaks, cedars, mesquites, hills, etc. the genetics are there, the deer just need nutrition. I honestly have more fun watching our deer herd get better each year than actually hunting them, but hunting is still a ton of fun. I also really like to find ways to improve the native habitat.

[dstrong]

Very nice place and deer! Keep up the good work... Just remember its a marathon and not a sprint.

[Cabela]

Great looking place thanks for posting it up.

[bgleaton]

You are right, it's definitely a marathon. You don't see results over night.

[gingib]

dang those last 2 deer will be hUGE next year

[bgleaton]

Well, we finally got some rain out there. We received almost 5in in the month of October and already received almost an inch for November, which puts us at 26.80 inches on the year. I threw about 1,000lbs of cottonseed out on October 12th and it was all gone by the end of October.

Here are some recent trail camera pictures from our place:












Only have one shooter buck on our list this year, the big fork horn buck, but we are seeing some really nice 2.5 and 3.5yr olds, which is always good. I am very surprised that we have seen 3 to 4 different yearling spikes this year with all of the rain plus all of the supplemental feed.

[hoytassassin]

Wouldn't mind having that place

[bgleaton]

Well, the NRCS helped pay for half of the drilling/installing a new solar powered water trough and it was just installed this week:

We now have two water troughs, one 4-5 acre tank and another 1 acre tank, so that should be plenty of water for the deer and also help keep the cattle spread evenly throughout the property. This new water trough was installed in the North part of our property because we are trying to make sure the cattle graze evenly throughout the entire property. Before, they were only staying by the other water sources, which were in the middle and south parts of our property.

The San Saba river is up with all of the recent rainfall:

[stxslayer]

Beautiful place you have there. Where did you get the cottonseed feeders, or did you make them and how? Your deer look great.

[AndyMane]

man what a beautiful place yall got. those deer are sure shaping up!

[bgleaton]

Originally Posted by stxslayer

Beautiful place you have there. Where did you get the cottonseed feeders, or did you make them and how? Your deer look great.

Thanks! I made the cottonseed feeders myself. I know a lot of the articles and people on here use "V" shaped horse fence, but that stuff is ridiculously pricey, so I just went with the rectangular shaped fence. The rectangle is around 1.5in by 4in or so. It works great and cottonseed doesn't fall out. I think I was able to make 4 of them out of one roll and it cost me around $50 or so. I just roll them so that there is around 2ft of overlap and then wire it all together.

[macoop]

Nice concrete water trough. Do you mind if I ask where you got it and how much it cost you?

[bgleaton]

It was $587 and holds 320 gallons. Virdell Drilling, out of Kerrville, did the complete job and charged us $100 for hauling it.

[JeffJ]

Originally Posted by bgleaton

It was $587 and holds 320 gallons. Virdell Drilling, out of Kerrville, did the complete job and charged us $100 for hauling it.

Did they level the ground and everything?

[bgleaton]

Yes, they leveled the ground, trenched the pipe, brought in the solar panel and storage tank, but the $587 is just for the concrete water trough and the delivery. We applied for a grant with the Texas NRCS and they paid for half of the entire project.

[stxslayer]

Originally Posted by bgleaton

Thanks! I made the cottonseed feeders myself. I know a lot of the articles and people on here use "V" shaped horse fence, but that stuff is ridiculously pricey, so I just went with the rectangular shaped fence. The rectangle is around 1.5in by 4in or so. It works great and cottonseed doesn't fall out. I think I was able to make 4 of them out of one roll and it cost me around $50 or so. I just roll them so that there is around 2ft of overlap and then wire it all together.

Yes I was thinking about using the same stuff from home depot. Glad to know it works. Thank you so much. Keep up the good work.

[drslonghorn]

That water trough is sweet! What was the total cost on that setup and how deep was the well? Thanks for sharing! You have a great looking place. I had a windmill put in about 12 years ago and I'm thinking about going solar on our next one.

[bgleaton]

They drilled down 400ft to get to good water. The entire cost for drilling, leveling, cost for concrete trough and delivery, storage tank, solar panel and everything else was $20,000 and the NRCS paid for 50%, so it cost us around $10,000.

[drslonghorn]

Originally Posted by bgleaton

They drilled down 400ft to get to good water. The entire cost for drilling, leveling, cost for concrete trough and delivery, storage tank, solar panel and everything else was $20,000 and the NRCS paid for 50%, so it cost us around $10,000.

Thanks for sharing your info on the water project. I'm going to check with our water well guy and see what we can do. I have an old windmill well site and a 12 X 12 concrete trough that is adjacent to it that hasn't been in use for some time. I want to go the solar route this time to avoid the yearly maintenance cost of a windmill. I Will include, before and after photos if we can swing the deal.
The good news is our water table is between 60-80 feet for a 10-12 gallon a minute well.

[bgleaton]

Originally Posted by drslonghorn

Thanks for sharing your info on the water project. I'm going to check with our water well guy and see what we can do. I have an old windmill well site and a 12 X 12 concrete trough that is adjacent to it that hasn't been in use for some time. I want to go the solar route this time to avoid the yearly maintenance cost of a windmill. I Will include, before and after photos if we can swing the deal.
The good news is our water table is between 60-80 feet for a 10-12 gallon a minute well.

Wow, 60 to 80ft, that's incredible. Drilling won't cost you much at all then. I bet the total cost for you would be around a 1/4 for what we paid. 10-12 gallons a minute is plenty to keep a water trough filled, especially with a storage tank.

[bgleaton]

Here is a picture of the storage tank and solar panel for our water trough. We are building a fence around it to keep the cows from breaking anything.



Not sure why the pictures are posting sideways. when i preview them, they are showing right side up.

[drslonghorn]

Nice! We don't have to worry about cows, but pigs....
Thanks for the info! I'm going to check with the NRCS and see about that cost share. They helped us on our windmill when we put that in a few years back.

[Tower43]

Looks awesome

[bgleaton]

Well, we were able to shoot three more does this past weekend, which gives us 4 does total and one cull buck. We filled the three cottonseed feeders, filled the 1,000lb protein trough, set out 3 bales of alfalfa, rice bran, cottonseed cake and topped off a couple of the corn feeders so they run through February. Trying to help these post rut bucks. I took some pictures of some really nice young bucks and will post them as soon as I load them on my computer.

[bgleaton]

So we were able to remove some more deer from our property last weekend (3 does and a cull buck) and filled up all of the cottonseed and protein feeders:




We got the game pole finished and the light is hooked up to the electrical.


Here is an 8pt that came in every evening, pretty buck. I couldn't tell his age, I thought his face looked like a 4.5yr old, but he had the body of a 3.5yr old:


Here is a view of the new water trough from one of our blinds:

We are hoping to plant a fall food plot in that field near the water trough next October.

We haven't seen several of the older bucks since late October, so I hope they are still around.

For 2015, we fed around 21,000lbs of protein, 9,000lbs of corn and around 4,000lbs of cottonseed. For 2016, we are hoping we can lower our protein to around 16,000lbs and increase our cottonseed to around 10,000lbs. We definitely need to remove a lot of turkeys and raccoons to help with the feed loss.

[bgleaton]

Well, my dad was at the ranch this weekend and took some pictures of the cottonseed feeders, which are getting hammered right now. We filled these up two weeks ago. We also noticed that all of the cottonseed range cubes were gone as well as the rice bran and the majority of the alfalfa. I will post trail cam pics later this week.




I previewed the post and it showed two of the pictures sideways, which is weird bc they seem to be right side up when I view them.

[gingib]

awesome! That buck will be very nice next year

[bgleaton]

Here are our 2015 Feed Totals:
20% Protein - 22,625lbs
Corn - 10,825lbs
Cottonseed - 3,550lbs
Alfalfa - 10 square bales
Rice Bran - 480lbs

In order to try to save some $$ in 2016, we are going to try something a little different. In 2015, we ran our 1,000 All-Season's Trough and a small 300lb tube feeder near our house year-round and filled our 1,300lb Krivoman and 1,500lb Krivoman up with protein from January through August. This year, we are still going to keep the trough running year-round, but we are going to add the Krivoman timed unit to our 1,500lb Krivoman feeder (keep the timer open from 5am to 9pm) and we are going to throw corn/Mr. Buck out of our 1,300lb and 1,000lb Krivoman feeders year-round at around 4 seconds per feeding. This will help us save around 5,000lbs of protein, which will equate to around $1,000. We are also going to try to increase cottonseed to our 6,000lbs this year. We will see how this works. Again, we want to continue to feed our deer herd, but we are just trying to find ways to help save a little money.

[bgleaton]

So I recently got the trail cam pictures back and they ate the cottonseed range cubes all up within 3 days (100lbs), so I guess they liked them. Also, they emptied our cottonseed feeders, which hold around 350lbs each, within 3 weeks. We are going to try to increase the amount of cottonseed we feed this year as well as add a Krivoman timed feeder to try to help our feed bill. We will still probably feed around 15,000lbs of protein, 7,000lbs of cottonseed and 9,000lbs of corn every year.

We have a couple of old bucks that we have seen every year since we purchased our property, which is going on 5 years and they were at least 3.5yrs the first time we saw them. These super old bucks disappear from Oct 1st to early January every single year. It's not like we overhunt the area, plus we never hunt our protein feeder because we wanted it to be kind of like a sanctuary. We feed protein year round in the middle of our property as well as feed a lot of other feed, but what else can we do to help keep these bucks on our property without putting up a high fence? We are going to to plant one or two fall food plots this next season, but we'll see how that goes. Just curious to hear yalls input on this.

[Pacman]

Just got into this thread. Awesome place and the hard work seems to be more fun than anything at this point. Will keep following

[gingib]

Did that big mature buck with the Mulie fork make it?

[gingib]

Originally Posted by bgleaton

Here are our 2015 Feed Totals:
20% Protein - 22,625lbs
Corn - 10,825lbs
Cottonseed - 3,550lbs
Alfalfa - 10 square bales
Rice Bran - 480lbs

In order to try to save some $$ in 2016, we are going to try something a little different. In 2015, we ran our 1,000 All-Season's Trough and a small 300lb tube feeder near our house year-round and filled our 1,300lb Krivoman and 1,500lb Krivoman up with protein from January through August. This year, we are still going to keep the trough running year-round, but we are going to add the Krivoman timed unit to our 1,500lb Krivoman feeder (keep the timer open from 5am to 9pm) and we are going to throw corn/Mr. Buck out of our 1,300lb and 1,000lb Krivoman feeders year-round at around 4 seconds per feeding. This will help us save around 5,000lbs of protein, which will equate to around $1,000. We are also going to try to increase cottonseed to our 6,000lbs this year. We will see how this works. Again, we want to continue to feed our deer herd, but we are just trying to find ways to help save a little money.

WOW!!! That is a huge feed bill

One day I wish I can support that

[bgleaton]

Originally Posted by gingib

WOW!!! That is a huge feed bill

One day I wish I can support that

Yes it is, which is why we are trying to lower that. One reason it's so high is because our neighbors haven't been shooting the amount of deer they should, but hopefully that will change next year since we have a biologist helping now and we are creating a wildlife cooperative. Another issue is the raccoons and turkeys. We are going to try to trap the raccoons, but the turkeys are a real pain in my ***.

Thankfully, my two brothers and I split the feed bill. We give our dad a fixed amount every year so that he doesn't have to pay for any feed since he bought the place.

[bgleaton]

Originally Posted by gingib

Did that big mature buck with the Mulie fork make it?

Yes, the big mulie fork made it. He vanished around the middle of October and just re-appeared on 1/4/2016. This buck does this every year. We have 5 trail cameras and did not see him anywhere on the ranch between middle of October through 1/4/2016.

[Patton]

Originally Posted by bgleaton

Yes it is, which is why we are trying to lower that. One reason it's so high is because our neighbors haven't been shooting the amount of deer they should, but hopefully that will change next year since we have a biologist helping now and we are creating a wildlife cooperative. Another issue is the raccoons and turkeys. We are going to try to trap the raccoons, but the turkeys are a real pain in my ***.

Thankfully, my two brothers and I split the feed bill. We give our dad a fixed amount every year so that he doesn't have to pay for any feed since he bought the place.

I imagine you could sell some Turkey hunts on here real quick... Those suckers sure can clean up some feed.

Have really enjoyed following this thread.

[3DW5]

Great thread, keep up the good work.....

[bgleaton]

Originally Posted by The General

I imagine you could sell some Turkey hunts on here real quick... Those suckers sure can clean up some feed.

Have really enjoyed following this thread.

Maybe we look at offering some turkey hunts next year during deer season whenever my brothers or i are out there. Would you just offer a day hunt? We have a feeder that has around 50 birds every evening around 5pm. They go there on their way to the roost near the river. How much would someone pay for a turkey hunt?

[Patton]

Originally Posted by bgleaton

Maybe we look at offering some turkey hunts next year during deer season whenever my brothers or i are out there. Would you just offer a day hunt? We have a feeder that has around 50 birds every evening around 5pm. They go there on their way to the roost near the river. How much would someone pay for a turkey hunt?

$100 to come hunt and an additional $250 per bird you kill- that's a good deal for the hunter. Could charge up to $450. You just have to decide what is it worth to you and see if there is a market for it; it may not be worth $350 to have a 'stranger' come on to your property.

Another thought-- turkey hunts in deer season at a feeder also mean more hunting pressure at that feeder, shots fired, deer becoming educated, etc.

[bgleaton]

I appreciate your input.

[gingib]

I would for sure sell turkey hunts but be picky about it on who you invite!

Help pay for feed bill.. Offer it to family and friends first

[burn'n feather]

my wife and kids are begging for a turkey hunt.

[bgleaton]

Originally Posted by burn'n feather

my wife and kids are begging for a turkey hunt.

Let's keep in touch and try to make something work either this spring or fall. Fall hunting will be easier bc we are literally covered in turkeys during that time of year. Obviously, it will have to be when me or my twin brother are out there and it would be a day hunt (AM and PM).

[bgleaton]

So all three of the cottonseed feeders are now empty, which took around 3-4wks. Protein feeders and corn feeders are still going though. We are going to purchase another ton of cottonseed towards the end of the month and also install the krivoman timed protein unit to our 1,500lb Krivoman feeder.

My dad modified our 1,000lbs All Seasons trough feeder. He added some metal on top of the spouts to prevent raccoons from sitting on top and eating. We now just need to find a way to prevent them from crawling up the legs. I'm thinking about adding a piece of metal underneath the trough spouts that stick out about 5 to 6 inches and angled downwards at a 45-degree angle to see if it will prevent turkeys from being able to eat out of it.

[bgleaton]

Here are some recent trail camera pictures, nothing great, but we haven't seen any bucks that look really run down from the rut, which is great news.

[hammer63]

Your deer look well, considering its after the rut. Great call on the cotton seed.

[Patton]

Looking good! That 8 sure is pretty

[gingib]

That 8 will be a great buck next year!!!

[stxslayer]

Wow they went through that cottonseed fast. Is the protein being consumed like normal?

[bgleaton]

Yes, they are eating going through our 1,000lb protein feeders in about 3 to 4 weeks.