Bill
Administrator
I doubt that. Hunting only goes so far. Cold bed is always worse than a cold stand
Who are you?
- Thread starter tooln
- Start date
I doubt that. Hunting only goes so far. Cold bed is always worse than a cold stand
thelosthondo
Buck Fawn
Howdy habitat folks. Name here is Donny. I hunt and manage our family ranch in Llano County TX in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. Llano is known as the Deer Capital of Texas. The ranch is a low-fence property with whitetail, turkey, dove, a covey or two of quail, fox, bobcat, coyote and too many hogs. Occasional axis deer. We have some stock tanks that attract a few ducks when they migrate through the region. Tank is the Texas rancher's word for pond. :)
When people ask how many acres we have, I tell them our place is bigger than a gentleman's ranch and smaller than the Ponderosa. (Some of you gray-headed folks will catch the reference.)
The ranch has been in the family since the late 1870s. It has been divided and subdivided through the generations so our ranch isn't large, but it is a treasure. We are fortunate to have a diverse property with open savannas, tons of brush, rocky hills and riparian areas along several creeks that run mostly dry during drought years.
These days I focus mostly on brush control, hog control and whitetail herd management.
Looking forward to swapping stories, pics, knowledge and ideas with the folks here at habitat-talk.
When people ask how many acres we have, I tell them our place is bigger than a gentleman's ranch and smaller than the Ponderosa. (Some of you gray-headed folks will catch the reference.)
The ranch has been in the family since the late 1870s. It has been divided and subdivided through the generations so our ranch isn't large, but it is a treasure. We are fortunate to have a diverse property with open savannas, tons of brush, rocky hills and riparian areas along several creeks that run mostly dry during drought years.
These days I focus mostly on brush control, hog control and whitetail herd management.
Looking forward to swapping stories, pics, knowledge and ideas with the folks here at habitat-talk.
Last edited:
Welcome! Looks like some nice land. Looking forward to seeing more pics. I think you will find this to be a great forum. And while parts of me are gray, my head has been spared! I did go to bed in my youth listening to strains of Bonanaza drifting in from the den on Sunday nights (I think it was Sundays:-))
scott44
5 year old buck +
Welcome Donny!
Bill
Administrator
Welcome to H-T
Off-grid Archer
Yearling... With promise
Hello,
I am a fairly new (4 years) landowner of 150 acres in SW MO. I have enjoyed learning land and wildlife management through our local Branson Deer Co-op (for landowners in the 3-4 counties near Branson, MO). We are fortunate to count Dr. Grant Woods of GrowingDeer.tv as one of our members, and he has also been a great resource. I am currently in the first year of a 5-year Federal plan to help control invasive species (eastern red cedar mainly) through cutting and prescribed burning, and if the ground will dry out enough, we hope to burn our first 37 acres this month. The local USDA trapper is helping with feral hogs, which have caused damage to the fragile glades and food plots.
My wife and I celebrate 28 years this August. The 4 kids keep us busy. Our deer camp is "off-grid" and much of my hunting is done deep into the vast public Wilderness land that joins me.
So my interest in being part of this group is to learn from you fine people, develop better techniques and skills as a land manager and hunter, and hopefully contribute from my own, limited knowledge.
-OG Archer
I am a fairly new (4 years) landowner of 150 acres in SW MO. I have enjoyed learning land and wildlife management through our local Branson Deer Co-op (for landowners in the 3-4 counties near Branson, MO). We are fortunate to count Dr. Grant Woods of GrowingDeer.tv as one of our members, and he has also been a great resource. I am currently in the first year of a 5-year Federal plan to help control invasive species (eastern red cedar mainly) through cutting and prescribed burning, and if the ground will dry out enough, we hope to burn our first 37 acres this month. The local USDA trapper is helping with feral hogs, which have caused damage to the fragile glades and food plots.
My wife and I celebrate 28 years this August. The 4 kids keep us busy. Our deer camp is "off-grid" and much of my hunting is done deep into the vast public Wilderness land that joins me.
So my interest in being part of this group is to learn from you fine people, develop better techniques and skills as a land manager and hunter, and hopefully contribute from my own, limited knowledge.
-OG Archer
scott44
5 year old buck +
Welcome OG Archer!
ghilliehunter
5 year old buck +
Welcome Off Grid, I met Dr Grant Woods at a deer seminar in Watseka Illinois 5 or 6 years ago. Great guy, very knowledgeable. You're lucky to have a world class resource next door!
Off-grid Archer
Yearling... With promise
So true. Just 2 months after becoming a land owner, I attended Spring Field Days at the Growing Deer proving grounds. Best thing I could have done to start on a solid path.
Feel your pain on the burn. I'm in line to get my pines and about 20 acres of thicket burned, but the rain won't stop. If only we could turn it on and off as needed!
Troubles Trees
5 year old buck +
Hello gang, I hope this is the right place that the welcome email told me to say hello to the group. If not I assure you it is not my first mistake :)
I work at a State College here in Central NY where I started as a groundsman then to a campus mover. I wanted more so back to school I went to become an HVAC-R Tech, today I am a Maintenance Supervisor and am in charge of a crew of 14 Plumbers, Electricians, Carpenters and HVAC Techs. I am a button buck here but I am no rookie to Habitat Management, yet I still learn something new everyday from awesome people such as yourselves.
I began my Habitat obsession at an early age, while my buddies were out day-drinking my gears were grinding for new ways to become a more successful Deer Hunter. In my early 20's I heard about this thing called grafting and instantly had visions of making pears fall from wild apple trees around my treestands. I didn't own much back then but I knew what direction I wanted to go and knew that enough hard work would get me there. That fire still burns today almost 30 years later. Today I am mortgage free of a beautiful house in the country but only because I bought a fixer-upper that was in terrible shape so I gutted and remodeled it as a fresh start for my family. The house only sits on 8 acres so I didn't have much room (or money) to stretch my wings, I started small with transplanting and grafting with small monetary purchases going into my passion until 4 years ago when I finally bought the 30 Acres next door to my house and my dream came to fruition.
In the last 4 years I have planted nearly 800 trees, woody browse shrubs and berry bushes on the new 30 acres that was not long ago a baren sheep pasture with a small woodlot. It was a literal blank slate that Deer never hung around on because it had no cover or food. Most of the land for miles around looks the same, all the Oaks have been harvested for the almighty $ stripping the land of all food and cover and all that stands today is immature Maple and Poplar stands that are just dense enough to produce a barren forest floor. Like I said, no food and no cover which only makes my goal easier, the only Deer food I have around me are wild apples and farmers fields that alternate from clover to corn, which are good food sources but one thing I know is that deer like diversity and security.
Armed with this knowledge, I shoot for diversity but my overall aim is to feed my food, particularly Whitetails and Turkeys, that will in turn feed my 14 year old daughter and I for many years to come. I do plant some for my rabbits and game birds and a bit for my honeybee hives, I also try and incorporate things we humans can eat in case someday the crap hits the fan and I need a grocery store in the back yard. My goal when I retire in roughly 10 years is, I want to have a diverse but particularly unique year round food source for my area that nobody else around me has. In these last 4 years I've planted soft mass like Crabapple, Pears and Persimmons, I have also dug in and tubed hard mass like several different Chestnuts (including the never mentioned enough Allegheny Chinquapin), Butternut, 4 different Oaks, Heartnut, Hazelnuts etc. down to the smaller woody browse things like Dogwood, 9 Bark, Highbush Cranberry, winterberry etc. One of these days I will pick my grafting knife back up but I need more knowledge and resources before I try again. As of now I am only able to graft wild apple to wild apple but with nearly a 100% success rate on those, I just lack proper advice from experienced people and a really big compatibility chart lol
That was a lot longer than I intended but I dislike incomplete information but now you know who I am. I read a lot of your articles before I decided to make a bio and join this group but I did it because I see a lot of knowledge and experience in this group. I look forward to learning from you all. Lord knows I have made enough mistakes but I do embrace and count each one as a lesson learned.
Dirty Hands = Clean Money
I work at a State College here in Central NY where I started as a groundsman then to a campus mover. I wanted more so back to school I went to become an HVAC-R Tech, today I am a Maintenance Supervisor and am in charge of a crew of 14 Plumbers, Electricians, Carpenters and HVAC Techs. I am a button buck here but I am no rookie to Habitat Management, yet I still learn something new everyday from awesome people such as yourselves.
I began my Habitat obsession at an early age, while my buddies were out day-drinking my gears were grinding for new ways to become a more successful Deer Hunter. In my early 20's I heard about this thing called grafting and instantly had visions of making pears fall from wild apple trees around my treestands. I didn't own much back then but I knew what direction I wanted to go and knew that enough hard work would get me there. That fire still burns today almost 30 years later. Today I am mortgage free of a beautiful house in the country but only because I bought a fixer-upper that was in terrible shape so I gutted and remodeled it as a fresh start for my family. The house only sits on 8 acres so I didn't have much room (or money) to stretch my wings, I started small with transplanting and grafting with small monetary purchases going into my passion until 4 years ago when I finally bought the 30 Acres next door to my house and my dream came to fruition.
In the last 4 years I have planted nearly 800 trees, woody browse shrubs and berry bushes on the new 30 acres that was not long ago a baren sheep pasture with a small woodlot. It was a literal blank slate that Deer never hung around on because it had no cover or food. Most of the land for miles around looks the same, all the Oaks have been harvested for the almighty $ stripping the land of all food and cover and all that stands today is immature Maple and Poplar stands that are just dense enough to produce a barren forest floor. Like I said, no food and no cover which only makes my goal easier, the only Deer food I have around me are wild apples and farmers fields that alternate from clover to corn, which are good food sources but one thing I know is that deer like diversity and security.
Armed with this knowledge, I shoot for diversity but my overall aim is to feed my food, particularly Whitetails and Turkeys, that will in turn feed my 14 year old daughter and I for many years to come. I do plant some for my rabbits and game birds and a bit for my honeybee hives, I also try and incorporate things we humans can eat in case someday the crap hits the fan and I need a grocery store in the back yard. My goal when I retire in roughly 10 years is, I want to have a diverse but particularly unique year round food source for my area that nobody else around me has. In these last 4 years I've planted soft mass like Crabapple, Pears and Persimmons, I have also dug in and tubed hard mass like several different Chestnuts (including the never mentioned enough Allegheny Chinquapin), Butternut, 4 different Oaks, Heartnut, Hazelnuts etc. down to the smaller woody browse things like Dogwood, 9 Bark, Highbush Cranberry, winterberry etc. One of these days I will pick my grafting knife back up but I need more knowledge and resources before I try again. As of now I am only able to graft wild apple to wild apple but with nearly a 100% success rate on those, I just lack proper advice from experienced people and a really big compatibility chart lol
That was a lot longer than I intended but I dislike incomplete information but now you know who I am. I read a lot of your articles before I decided to make a bio and join this group but I did it because I see a lot of knowledge and experience in this group. I look forward to learning from you all. Lord knows I have made enough mistakes but I do embrace and count each one as a lesson learned.
Dirty Hands = Clean Money
Yes welcome and congrats on what you've done so far. I think you will find this group extremely helpful and fun to interact with. It's so nice to have resources and learn from various folks around the country. What works for some doesn't for others, so feel free to chime in with your experience as well
H20fwler
5 year old buck +
I don't check in on this thread as often as should!
Welcome thelosthondo, nice to see some more Texas representation! Sweet history on your place.
Welcome Off-grid Archer, looking forward to your posts.
Welcome Troubles Trees, good intro! Your property size and tree/shrub selection is very similar to mine.
Welcome thelosthondo, nice to see some more Texas representation! Sweet history on your place.
Welcome Off-grid Archer, looking forward to your posts.
Welcome Troubles Trees, good intro! Your property size and tree/shrub selection is very similar to mine.
Off-grid Archer
Yearling... With promise
Wow, you’ve been busy! Great to read the things you are doing on your place. 800 trees in 4 years!! Curious where you are getting your stock, or if you are growing your own. Would get pricey otherwise. We get access to very reasonably priced seedlings from the state nursery here in Missouri, though the more popular species sell out pretty fast each fall. Also wondering if you have many bears or feral hogs impacting your efforts and how you are mitigating.
Thanks,
OGA
scott44
5 year old buck +
Welcome Troubles trees!
Tree Spud
5 year old buck +
Welcome TT ... mistakes are the only way we learn! Its is the difference in having an opinion and speaking from experience
H20fwler
5 year old buck +
For the new members and anyone that hasn't yet;
Take the time to start a Land Tour thread in that section when you get a chance, it's fun for all of us to follow along on projects you do and shares ideas besides being able to show how things look in different parts of the country. It is also a GREAT personal photo/diary of how your place has come along over the years and things that have happened over time for you to look back over every now and then.
Take the time to start a Land Tour thread in that section when you get a chance, it's fun for all of us to follow along on projects you do and shares ideas besides being able to show how things look in different parts of the country. It is also a GREAT personal photo/diary of how your place has come along over the years and things that have happened over time for you to look back over every now and then.
Troubles Trees
5 year old buck +
To be honest, I am a self taught hack lol. I don't claim to know anymore than the next guy but I have failed enough to have plenty of lessons under my belt. I started all this before the internet was a thing so I bought books and took advice from any older fella that would give it.
I would estimate that 70% of everything I put in the ground came either from seeds or nuts I have collected as I find them, or our local co-ops like the Soil and Water Conservation Dept. and the DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation, other states its called DNR) seedling sales. Cheap stuff at less than $1 per tree and better packaging than I get from reputable places like Stark Bros. You have to be on top of it here though, the DEC sale has good stuff like Allegheny Chinquapin that are cold hardy and blight resistant BUT... you have to call first thing when the sale opens. This year I ordered Burr Oaks and Highbush Cranberry and a few other things but I had to call 380'ish times as soon as the sale opened to get through, all the good stuff is sold out within a few hours of the sale opening.
I do buy from nursery's on occasion and our local Lowes has 7-9' tall Oaks that give me hope that someday I will see nuts in my life time. I will never order from Stark Bros again, nor would I advise anyone to go there.
We do have bears but very few of them, feral hogs are starting to become a problem for farmers but so far no problems for me there.
Thanks!
