A year in the life of a farm

[elgato]

Couple bucks from our most recent trip wrapping up camp. 170 and 165 respectively

[elgato]

That's one incredible set of deer bone! In the skull pic, there's a big main frame nine far right and what look like two big main frame 8s front left and back left. I'm curious the scores of those, and also the score of the big main frame 8 with a kicker or 2 on the right side being held for the picture?
What was the ratio of hunter heart attacks to harvested deer on your Mexico property this year?

LOL, one buck has consistently caused a heart attack for 2 years now. I had 2 different hunters miss him this year both shots under 100 yds. Last yr. he was missed by our sheriff who is also in charge of the swat team and long range shooting.Again about 100 yds. Big bucks rattle even the most experienced.

Couple answers. The heavy 8 in the individual pic was 172 and ancient...guessing 10 at least . Was over 190 years back. I don't remember what the 9 scored but guessing upper 150's, also ancient. The 8 in foreground to the left was 162 and the other buck actually had a 3" 4 and was 157. Another interesting buck is the very narrow 8second from right in foreground.I forget exactly but he was like 14" wide but had over 40" mass and was 157" Antlers Might have weighed the most of any deer in the pics.

Here is a pic of the 162" 8. 27 " mb's

[elgato]

Rusty I know the drought hurt the food plots but have you noticed a major difference in soil moisture and temperatures in switching from roller crimping to mob grazing to terminate your plots?

Only been thru last years fall planting cycle using cattle to terminate plots.Too early to tell but my impression is it worked very well. The problem last year was the deep summer drought stalled planting until very late. The severe freeze we had also killed all the brassicas. Nonetheless the plots look very good and green now

[HOOKNBULLET2]

Thanks Rusty.

[DimmitCo]

LOL, one buck has consistently caused a heart attack for 2 years now. I had 2 different hunters miss him this year both shots under 100 yds. Last yr. he was missed by our sheriff who is also in charge of the swat team and long range shooting.Again about 100 yds. Big bucks rattle even the most experienced.

Couple answers. The heavy 8 in the individual pic was 172 and ancient...guessing 10 at least . Was over 190 years back. I don't remember what the 9 scored but guessing upper 150's, also ancient. The 8 in foreground to the left was 162 and the other buck actually had a 3" 4 and was 157. Another interesting buck is the very narrow 8second from right in foreground.I forget exactly but he was like 14" wide but had over 40" mass and was 157" Antlers Might have weighed the most of any deer in the pics.

Here is a pic of the 162" 8. 27 " mb's

There’s something special about monster 8s and 9s. Thank you for sharing

[IkemanTX]

Rusty I know the drought hurt the food plots but have you noticed a major difference in soil moisture and temperatures in switching from roller crimping to mob grazing to terminate your plots?

I would love to hear his experience with it as well. My guess on this is that it depends a lot on stocking density and grazing duration. Not enough animals, and they don’t trample enough. Too much time and they eat it too low. Seems to me like it would be a fine art to get it down. Still a very interesting method, and one I may try to use at some point if my plot planting and the neighbor’s grazing schedules line up.


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[lovemylegacy]

Rusty, do yall take out 8&9 pts to increase genetic potential or use an age based system?

[elgato]

I would love to hear his experience with it as well. My guess on this is that it depends a lot on stocking density and grazing duration. Not enough animals, and they don’t trample enough. Too much time and they eat it too low. Seems to me like it would be a fine art to get it down. Still a very interesting method, and one I may try to use at some point if my plot planting and the neighbor’s grazing schedules line up.


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I'm fully committed to using cattle to enhance the plots. While I had good success with roller crimping and drilling into the thatch it had limitations and I'm convinced the cattle do MUCH more to feed the micro biology of the soil as well as fertilize with their manure and urine.Also appears weed mgt. is more effective with cattle. The secret sauce is how many animals for how long on how many acres. How long the rest period is before bringing cattle back which considers regrowth, pasture condition, moisture , not grazing same pasture exact same time yr. after yr etc etc. There is no fixed formula. Rather keen observation.

But with that I literally can see it lighting up the fields. A challenge is sometimes what's best for cattle doesn't jive with planting cycles , termination times or what's best for deer. Also we haven't figured out how to stockpile over winter to avoid having to feed hay. That will be a major study this yr.

[elgato]

Rusty, do yall take out 8&9 pts to increase genetic potential or use an age based system?

I personally do not believe I can shift genetics with harvest strategy. Our harvest strategy is age based shooting nothing before 4 yrs old and letting the better bucks get much older. Regarding the better bucks we look at frame size, do they have anything 'sexy' and lastly number points. We start chasing the lessor quality bucks mostly at 4 . However any buck with 7 or less points could be a target at 3. We aim to remove them for population reasons and hopefully to keep some crappy buck from killing a super star...which happens.

To assure full genetic expression we focus on nutrition for current herd and long term nutrition to achieve epigenetic shifts in herd quality.

[lovemylegacy]

I personally do not believe I can shift genetics with harvest strategy. Our harvest strategy is age based shooting nothing before 4 yrs old and letting the better bucks get much older. Regarding the better bucks we look at frame size, do they have anything 'sexy' and lastly number points. We start chasing the lessor quality bucks mostly at 4 . However any buck with 7 or less points could be a target at 3. We aim to remove them for population reasons and hopefully to keep some crappy buck from killing a super star...which happens.

To assure full genetic expression we focus on nutrition for current herd and long term nutrition to achieve epigenetic shifts in herd quality.

Good info. On our lease we use an age based means of taking our bucks also.The Texas 13” rule has really become an after thought. However we are handcuffed a bit because we dont own the property and cannot manage the land the way I would like. We do what we can.

ya know I didnt think about a lesser buck killing a “Superstar”. That could be a problem.
Thanx for responding Rusty.

[AgHntr10]

3 months with no update? We need some foodplot or garden pics!

[BillyloMexico]

3 months with no update? We need some foodplot or garden pics!

Agreed! Rusty where are you at?


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[elgato]

For folks in their late 60's who have little interest in technology it may take a while to navigate this new site. I've got a couple video's in the works ... but getting them on here might be a different story.

[Gumbo Man]

Look forward to seeing them when you get a feel for the new platform Rusty.

[Rwc]

For folks in their late 60's who have little interest in technology it may take a while to navigate this new site. I've got a couple video's in the works ... but getting them on here might be a different story.

We are all pulling for you Mr. Rusty, looking forward to the video's.

Rwc