January 19, 2006

The general season is over, the rest of the year is just beginning. We have doe hunts, hog hunts and turkey hunts to fill out the rest of the season. In retrospect, this has been a hard year. Many trophies broke early, some didn't appear until very late in the season. . Still no rain, the hogs are coming to corn and to our oat fields. This is not good, since we have those for our cattle. The fish are biting. Witness the 9 lb 8 oz large mouth bass that was caught by a member of the Bobwhite Brigade, a youth leadership organization that combines wildlife studies with the leadership skills necessary to advocate for our precious wildlife resources. The waterfowl are more numerous on our tanks that is usual. We have the luxury of a pump to fill our tanks so that have a place to feed. From here to the coast the land is dry and the browse is rapidly being depleted. Tyler Jordan harvested a deer that he missed on camera last year and his year of recriminations ended happily. We have harvested many Trophy Hogs. With tusks over two inches long, the hogs are fearsome and awe inspiring animals.

December 23, 2005

Well, the title says occassional journal. so this year it seems to be true. It has been a strange year. the rut started late. Some deer are chasing, some aren't. Some are working their scrapes and some aren't. Many antlers are broken off and have been even before the non-rut started. It is certainly much drier this year. As a result of that the hogs have been much more active than in the last two years when we were blessed with abundant rain. We are at about half of where our average normally is. Some parts of the ranch have an abundance of doe and some parts seem to be strangely lacking. Our oats for winter steers have not been doing well. Weather is a tough partner and both farming and ranching are having a tough go of it.

On the bright side, we have taken some pretty deer. Even with broken tines, Al McCall's deer has wonderful symetry, mass and a great drop tine on the right side. Bruce Baker harvested a 160 class with termendous height and width after getting a glimpse of it last year. It is so old that it is probably on the upside of 7 1/2+. It was bigger last year. We had one hunter who wishes to remain nameless that missed a 190 class deer. He shot over him by just a bit. Buck fever is a terrible thing that strikes men of all ages. We don't see many deer of that caliber and we hate it when someone misses. Bill Jordan had us worried when he said that he had shot a picket fence. Then we saw the deer. It really does look like a picket fence. We look forward to seeing it on video. Chris Davis harvested a beautiful 140's class buck and got himself a fiancee. We have to admit that we did not provide the fiancee. Chris did that all by himself, proposing to his bride to be, Christina, amidst the beauty of the South Texas brush country. We can't think of anything more romantic. Our recommendation is a spring wedding. After the deer season but before spring turkey season. No need to create problems in the future...

We have had many more father and son hunts this year than in the past. It is something that we think is vitally important and the dads swear by it. However, it is forcing us to rethink some of our setups. The youth, although well behaved, don't have as much patience as the adults. Sitting quietly for hours is a learned task. We will continue to work with the kids and encourage as much youth hunting as we can.

Our neighbor reported sitting in a blind next to an oat field watching a doe. The doe spooked and ran straight for the blind. The hunter, cursing himself for being too noisy, realized only belatedly that the deer was not running away from him but rather right toward him. Hot on her heels was a mountain lion! The deer escaped as did the mountain lion. It goes give us pause that the lion was attacking deer during daylight. We have always felt kindly toward the animals but now we are rethinking the issue. On a smaller scale we have recently seen porcupines, badgers and numerous bobcats.

Updated May 18, 2006