Gleaton Chip Ranch Updates

[Puncher51]

Man that’s a toad! You’re feeding them good!!

[Krivoman]

Outstanding work. Love seeing the progress.

[bgleaton]

We planted 4 post oaks and 1 persimmon tree. They are all 5 planted within 20 yards of a water trough so we can water them really well once every other week. If they grow and do well through Spring and Summer then we will probably plant another 30 red oaks and post oaks throughout the property.


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[bgleaton]

The deer are hammering the rice bran and alfalfa. We put these at each feeding station and they empty 50lbs of rice bran out of the tubs in 2 days and go through a bale of alfalfa in about 3 days.


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[bgleaton]

We shot two doe and another 8pt cull buck last night. This buck dressed out at 139lbs and we had him aged at 5.5yrs.


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[Puncher51]

Awesome work guys!! You’ll have to let me know how those trees from Nativ Nursery do. I’m really thinking of ordering some. I’m afraid oak wilt is about to decimate our live oak population.

[bgleaton]

My mom wrote a children’s Christmas book that was inspired from our ranch. For more information, go to www.awhitetailchristmas.com.

Santa’s reindeer are ill, leaving him stranded in West Texas. Several groups of animals come forward to offer their help but Santa has reasons why they aren’t quite right for the job! Who will save the day and help Santa finish delivering the toys?

I thought some of yalls kids or grandkids would enjoy it as it talks about the animals around the Texas Hill Country. I wanted to share it as it was inspired from our ranch.


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[bgleaton]

We broadcasted around 3 acres worth of native seed yesterday. We seeded the following from Turner Seed:
Big Bluestem
Little Bluestem
Indiangrass
Sideoats grama
Western ragweed
Illinois bundleflower
Silver river clover
Engelmann daisy

We seeded this in an area that we cleared a bunch of cedars last February as well as in all of the burn pile spots and any other bare areas. We thought we were going to get some rain but it looks like we aren’t going to get any. Hopefully some of it will eventually grow in a year or two. We desperately need some rain out there.


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[bgleaton]

I ordered 11 more trees from Nativ Nurseries:
2 Mexican Plums
3 Shumard Oaks
3 Chinkapin Oaks
3 Live Oaks

I'm hoping to get these planted next weekend. That way we will have planted 4 different oak trees and two different soft mast trees and we can see what grows best.

I went on the Web Soil Survey and found the best soils on our place that are best suitable for hand planting trees. The survey only showed around 10 acres that is "suitable" but we see these trees growing throughout the property. We will start in these "better" soils and then try other areas as well.

[SNKETR]

How are the trees that you've already planted doing?

[bgleaton]

Can’t really tell much at this point as the trees are pretty much dormant this time of year but I’m hoping they do well through this Spring/Summer. My son and I got 8 HD 5-gal buckets and drilled holes in them. We will fill them up and let them slowly water the trees once every 2 weeks or so. I’ll be sure to provide updates as they start growing.


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[bgleaton]

My son helped me make paint eight 5-gallon buckets and drilled 3 small holes on one side. We will fill these with water and let them slowly water each tree every trip (once every other week) for the first year. We’ll be planting more trees this coming weekend (8-10 total trees). Hopefully the 0.35in of rain we received will help soften the soil a little. I’ll keep you posted on our trees and native grass plantings as Spring approaches.





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[John Paul]

FYI, I bought a bunch of native nursery trees and I really wished I would of grown them a year or two in containers. Just FYI, place looks great!

[bgleaton]

FYI, I bought a bunch of native nursery trees and I really wished I would of grown them a year or two in containers. Just FYI, place looks great!

Thanks! Maybe I will try to grow a couple in containers. I did this on a couple of shumards and they grew well at first but then died in summer time because the roots were overheating in the black pot. All of the seedlings I received were around 16-inches tall so hopefully they will be okay. I'd be pumped if we can get around a 50% success rate for these trees but the people at Nativ Nurseries believe we should be able to get a 90% success rate.

[Chance Love]

All good stuff. And 155 is a heck of a deer!