Dont look now but here comes hunting season

[mastercraftka]

yep, corn has been outrageous the past several months. I am hoping the price will drop once this years harvest is done. I am maintaining about 16 feeders on 4 properties but I have dropped spin times & filling for the last couple of months until after Labor Day. My one place in central TX was overrun by feral hogs and the deer disappeared since last winter, drastically dropped feeding there for now.

I put out over 20k lbs last year but the prices were down in the $4.65/50 lbs from local feed store that bags their own from rail car ... no way I can justify doing that with even the cheapest prices being in the $8.50-$10.50/50 lbs. I can buy pork much cheaper and don't have to work on pens/feeders all the time. I bet the coons are ticked at me too.

Well I think they have soften a little bit, but I am hearing parts of the midwest has had a drought so I am not sure we will get much relief this year. Good for the farmers but not for the hunters.

I turned my feeders down also but because they are not coming to the feeders. It is so green with all the rain they don't need it. I have also had a basket of cotton seed that hasn't been touched in a couple months.

And yes the pigs are going crazy! Another unfortunate product of the wet weather.

Sounds like you have your hands full with 4 places to keep up. I can't keep up with our place and all the tractor issues.

I think our deer are around just not getting them to the feeders right now, but they will show up soon. Drying out quickly here.

[pmkkdx]

yep, my son and I relocated a few stands and feeders on our East TX place a few weeks go, set up another new location that used to be very productive that no one has hunted in several years down close to the Trinity river bottom. My son was supposed to put cameras back out last weekend but got side tracked. I will likely head out early Sept to this lease to get a few things finished out.

And will possibly make a run out to my Ozona place to top feeders off there and check cameras to see what is coming in. I got a text a while back from that LO out there that the neighbors asked permission to venture onto her ranch if needed in pursuit of a mountain lion(s?) that are making a dent in their goat population. We had one on game camera back in Jan. about 400 yards north of our north property line at a water trough by adjacent owner. That LO sold off all her goats/sheep early this year due to the lion population hitting her herds. I have those feeders running at a slight reduction trying to draw in the deer as there is little green out there to eat and water is very limited most of the time only at the few area windmills/troughs. There was an anthrax scare out that way last year with 80-90% die off about 20 miles to our east but I didn't see any evidence on our place or hear from the adjoining ranches of any on theirs. We have really limited what we have harvested out there trying to build the herd back up, only doing culling for the most part for the last 5 years, so hopefully with the good spring and early summer, we will see some real improvement this fall.

[mastercraftka]

Ya I am hearing more and more about lion issues. We have never seen one but there are a possibility around us. Mostly it is coyotes and cats.

No anthrax here thank god, Just the CWD scare near us but nothing close yet.

I am just trying to get land ready for food plots but darn tractor won't stay in one piece.

[pmkkdx]

I hear ya, always something ... We usually get started on our food plots mid Sept. but there are just too many other activities happening most of the weekends in Sept. (grand daughter BD party, 95 (going to 96) y/o MIL birthday party) ... It might be opening weekend of MLD by the time we get started planting in East TX. I will likely do those in central TX during the week after work mid Sept. depending on rain forecasts.

what kind/size tractor do you have? I have an older Kubota ~60 hp that has been bullet proof for years. I continually need to do small things & service to my shredder and tandem disc but that's part of the using it so much for many properties.

Ozona LO and adjoining cousins lost 5-6 cows and several feral horses to suspected anthrax last summer but no evidence of deer. one of the cousins dug holes to bury the corpses of the cattle/horses since the soil can be infected as well. Lucky so far no CWD close to any of the places I have.

[mastercraftka]

I hear ya, always something ... We usually get started on our food plots mid Sept. but there are just too many other activities happening most of the weekends in Sept. (grand daughter BD party, 95 (going to 96) y/o MIL birthday party) ... It might be opening weekend of MLD by the time we get started planting in East TX. I will likely do those in central TX during the week after work mid Sept. depending on rain forecasts.

what kind/size tractor do you have? I have an older Kubota ~60 hp that has been bullet proof for years. I continually need to do small things & service to my shredder and tandem disc but that's part of the using it so much for many properties.

Ozona LO and adjoining cousins lost 5-6 cows and several feral horses to suspected anthrax last summer but no evidence of deer. one of the cousins dug holes to bury the corpses of the cattle/horses since the soil can be infected as well. Lucky so far no CWD close to any of the places I have.

Its a JD 6400 85hp lots of hours on it! Awesome when it is running right, the hydraulic hoses won't stay in and keep popping out. Still trying to figure it out. Frustrating to say the least can't get anything done. Weeds are out of hand.

I usually try to have the ground ready by labor day so we can plant oats in mid to late september when we get a rain.

[pmkkdx]

might need to rebuild or replace couplers ...

yep, I usually try to prep Labor Day weekend by shredding down previous and then plowing mid-late Sept. to break up ground, then put out seed, and then lightly plowing everything in (all on the same day). I watch for one of the first cool wet fronts and aim to get the plowing/planting in a few days beforehand.

[pmkkdx]

son and I went out to our east TX place and got food plots plowed and planted. Now if the rains will cooperate ... Did a bunch of clearing down in the bottom for an old stand no one has used in 6-7 years that was always a very productive spot. pulled all the [email protected] out, rebuilt the roof and put on new corrugated sheet metal, opened up several new shooting lanes, filled several feeders and put out more game cameras.

saw some good 5+ year old prospects from the cameras already out.

3 weeks until opening of MLD Level 3 rifle (or archery but that's not allowed on this ranch).

[mastercraftka]

Got done with our dove hunting for the year pretty much. Looks like rain this week doubt I will get oats planted in time but we need the rain bad.

Deer are around but not much coming to cameras, I usually have a one picked out for bow season.

I am ready for the cooler weather.

[bcd]

Checked cameras tonight and this guy showed up.

[mastercraftka]

Checked cameras tonight and this guy showed up.

Thats a good one

[pmkkdx]

yep, looks like a pretty good buck!

my wife headed to Katy (Houston area) to help with those grandkids this week, SIL had business trip to PA ... so, that gave me the opportunity to go to my small ranch to plow & plant Sunday afternoon. Put in 5 different plots covering about 3-4 acres total. Then I went back out after work yesterday to fill feeders. Our forecast is calling for a good chance of rain thru next weekend, so the plots should be looking pretty good in a couple weeks.

my evenings this week are booked preparing for this coming weekend (opening archery & MLD 3 rifle). I put a new Leupold on my 22-250 that I need to shoot in, put my high seat in the bed of my Kubota RTV, check trailer stuff, connect road feeder, etc. and load. I am in hopes of pulling out by noon or sooner on Friday heading to east TX. I have a new stand set up (refurbished old stand & location) in an area that hasn't been hunted in 4-5 years down close to the Trinity river (our eastern boundary) and hope to pull some of the deer out of the bottom that rarely are seen by anyone.

[tommurtha]

I put a new Leupold on my 22-250 that I need to shoot in,

do you shoot deer with a 22-250?................That would not be legal here .

[mastercraftka]

yep, looks like a pretty good buck!

my wife headed to Katy (Houston area) to help with those grandkids this week, SIL had business trip to PA ... so, that gave me the opportunity to go to my small ranch to plow & plant Sunday afternoon. Put in 5 different plots covering about 3-4 acres total. Then I went back out after work yesterday to fill feeders. Our forecast is calling for a good chance of rain thru next weekend, so the plots should be looking pretty good in a couple weeks.

my evenings this week are booked preparing for this coming weekend (opening archery & MLD 3 rifle). I put a new Leupold on my 22-250 that I need to shoot in, put my high seat in the bed of my Kubota RTV, check trailer stuff, connect road feeder, etc. and load. I am in hopes of pulling out by noon or sooner on Friday heading to east TX. I have a new stand set up (refurbished old stand & location) in an area that hasn't been hunted in 4-5 years down close to the Trinity river (our eastern boundary) and hope to pull some of the deer out of the bottom that rarely are seen by anyone.

I missed my chance with this round of rain. We got rain this morning and calling for it all week.
I have about 10 acres to plant in oats and then another 10 or so for winter wheat later on.

[ttu]

Even it's not quite pheasant season yet i got a nice one in western Kansas last week

[JohnnyB]

Headed out to SD in a couple weeks to pheasant hunt.....can't find 12ga shelves to save my life......

Got enough for the trip I think but not enough to support rest of the year hunts locally...

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