I Hate Hogs, Too!

A few posts back I talked about how much I hate coyotes....well my second most hated critter is a feral hog. They can completely wipe out a food plot in one night - rooting it up so badly you have to completely start over and re-plant the plot from scratch.

Spring Shed Hunting - Found the First One!

One of the great things about owning quality deer hunting property with good deer habitat and REALLY big bucks is that you not only get to deer hunt in the fall but you get to shed hunt in the spring!

Making New Food Plots

As the landscape changes sometimes you find great new places for food plots. A properly made plot in the right location will provide abundant nutrition for the deer AND provide a great place to hunt. We just cleared a new plot inside a stand of timber that previously could only be hunted by locating stands on roads. Once we are finished we will have a nice plot where deer that were bedded nearby can stop on their way out of heavy cover to their primary feeding areas. A plot like this will give you an opportunity to catch a good buck moving while good shooting light is still available.

 

Even though we don't plant the food plots on the C4 until early fall, we like to clear new plots in early spring if ground conditions permit. This allows us to prepare the ground, kill the weeds, take soil samples, lime, and fertilize throughout the summer so that the new plot is primed and ready for planting come September. It has been our experience that it takes a couple of years here in East Texas to get the deer to utilize a new plot so that gives us plenty of time to get it well established.

 

This particular plot will have several trees inside the plot so it will look a bit different that your typical plot. The disadvantages to this is that it makes it more difficult to work the ground and plant it because the trees get in the way but the advantages of having several trees available for tree stands far outweigh the disadvantages. The deer really seem to like the trees in the plot as well.

 

As you can tell by the picture below, it is still in very rough condition. as we make progress turning it into a finished plot I will post more pictures.

 

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I HATE coyotes!

Here at the C4 predator control is part of our daily management regimen. This primarily means coyotes. They can decimate a fawn crop and even pull down an occasional adult deer if not kept in check. We spend a great deal of time trapping and hunting them to make sure they do not have an impact on the herd. We know we lose a certain number of fawns each year to these thieves and we want to do all we can to keep it to a minimum. We recently had some success taking a few out and boy did it feel good!

We are always looking for new ways to get rid of these pesky devils so if any one has any suggestions feel free to comment or contact us.


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Springtime Plot Work

It is finally drying out from the never ending rainfall we have been getting over the last few months and it looks like we will be able to get into the plots for some much needed work. In March we try to to spray the plots with a grass specific herbicide to kill the oats.

Why kill the oats when we have been working so hard to get them to grow all winter?? Because it is time for the clover and chicory to take over and letting the oats continue to grow just keeps the clover and chicory from thriving. We will spray all the plots with Arrow using a boom sprayer and in a couple of weeks the oats will be gone and clover will be lush.....and the deer love the clover!

Its shed hunting time at the C4! I will post some pics when we start finding them...it's almost as much fun as the actual hunting.....almost.....

Promising Young Buck Found Dead on the C4

Why is it always the good ones that die??? A promising young buck on our ranch that we had named He-Dog (only the good ones get names....) was found dead earlier this week by Chase.

Post Rut Supplemental Feeding



Here is a before and after picture of a buck on the C4 - first one was taken late October (ignore the date on the picture - didn't have the camera properly set...) the second one was taken mid-January. Notice the unbelievable weight lose from the rut! He is also a bit busted up from fighting.



Bucks run themselves in the ground "chasing tail" during the rut and it is not uncommon to lose a few during late winter that have run themselves down so much they just can't recover. It is important to make supplemental feed available to them during this time if you expect them to make it to spring in good shape and ready to start growing the next set of antlers. Many people feel this needs to be a high protein pellet but that can actually be harmful during this time of year. What is far more important to the deer nutritionally this time of year is digestible energy. Dr. James Kroll, who helps us manage the property and created our habitat plan and wildlife management plan has us start supplemental feeding of corn starting early January until the first part of March. This allows the bucks unlimited access to a high energy feed anytime they want it. We switch back to a balanced pellet ration that we have specially blended under Dr. Kroll's direction from March through the early part of the deer season to make sure the bucks attain optimal antler growth. Of course we keep the food plots in top condition to give them access the a palatable browse that is good for them as well. We plant Buck Forage Oats, Buck Forage Chicory, and a Red Clover from Kenland Seed that seems to grow much better here in East Texas than white Clover. All or very nutritious and the deer love all three. They always seem to prefer the food plots and the natural browse first but certainly hit the supplemental feed as well.

 

By the way - this buck is only about 3.5 years old so our feeding plan must be working!

 

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Pre-rut pic of a buck on the C4



Post rut pic of the same buck on the C4