Closed on the new ranch 228 acres South of Rocksprings. So, I decided that water is the "gold mine" in this land so going to plunk the money down and have a well dug in the next year.. heh. This gets momma the bathroom she wants and I can feed deer etc water till the turkeys come home (no cows allowed) .lol

So, anyone ever rented the biggest tractor Home Depot has (T-50?) to knock down cedars with? I was thinking, if I rent it, with insurance, I do not care if it gets beat up.. grin.

With water, and protein feeders (I think a 300-500lb feeder per 75 acres should keep it full for a month or so).. we only have to do one more thing to qualify for a wildlife exemption.

I am meeting with a Biologist as soon as I can schedule a day with him, hopefully next month.

R

Congratulations on your purchase.

Congrats. We recently acquired our own place too. You will be wanting to start more projects before you finish the ones above, and then more projects. I spend way more time working at our place than just hanging out or hunting, but it's awesome.

Yea, thank GOD I have a 12x24 cabin already there, but my 3250 generator is sorely lacking on power for the A/C unit and a light.. lol

We will get there eventually. Luckily, there are a TON of things left for me, like a Tufline ATV towable mechanism for cultivating land, and like 7-8 deer stands, 6-8 feeders, all sorts of cool stuff. We are going to haul it all back this month to the house and see what is salvageable etc. I know that at least 6 stands are worth using again and definitely 5 feeders, the rest may or may not be as they were knocked down by hogs.

They also left a playstation 2 and a ton of games and movies etc.. laugh.. so the kids can play too! ...as soon as I "up" the generator :p

R

Cool, congrats to you.

Awesome congrats on your purchase. Pretty country that way!

Thanks. We are pretty dang excited about it too.. heh. I agree, the area is beautiful. The PoA kicked the cattle off, so the animals look healthier and the land just looks healthier as well. It means a little.. well, a LOT more work for us, but it will so be worth it.

I mean, it is not about the money, taxes would not be as much as the cost of cutting cedars and doing all this stuff, but in the long run, it will add so much more value to the land, in the improvements as well as the family time.

R

There is nothing like it. 2nd best purchase of my life behind my wife's engagement ring (in case she's reading).

Way to go John!! Congratulations on the new purchase. We look to forward to getting updates and pictures of the new place.
If momma aint happy, aint noooobody happy! Good luck with the water well.

Congrats!!

Congratulations!

Awesome - five to seven years away from my place.

Congrats! g'luck with the cedars

Congrats on the new place. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do mine. We are almost neighbors. Actually, I'm a bit south of you nearer to Brackett in Kinney County with 256 acres. Still up in the hilly country though. Have WL on mine, which is a huge savings, and water wells for camp and game watering. Water is king. Like you, I had tons of stuff left on my place from the previous owner's 30 years on the place. Heck, I'm still finding stuff 4 years after I bought it...

I assume you already have Ag status on the place to roll over to wildlife. I know you have to have 5 years as ag to get WL. Sounds like the POA had that covered with cattle....

I've found I can plink around on a tractor all day long and get some stuff accomplished, but to really make progress, hire a dozer and a professional operator. You'll realize just how slow and incompetent you are at tractor work. Costs a bit more, but what you get done is a huge gain. I was lucky enough to get free use of a big dozer complete with operator this weekend through a neighbor rancher. They had finished what they needed to do and hated to see the dozer not getting put to use. In about 3 hours time I got an easement road re-routed for some new fencing, about 300 yards of new sendero and access roads around one hunting station, a small dirt tank cleaned out, main ranch road dressed (half mile), several pesky stumps and rocks pushed out, and a wide 250 yard rifle range cleared through heavy cedar back near my camp. My butt on a tractor, and that's about a week's worth, and some things it just wouldn't do at all.

Anyway, enjoy... maybe I'll run into you out that way sometime.

your going to need more than 500lb feeders. Also try renting a bobcat with the mulcher attachment

that is awesome, i hope to have my own land one day, hearing sucess stories just makes me want to work that much harder

I know I"ve already told you John but congrats again,having your own place is the shizzle,be sure and post some pics when you can ,-The Kid

Sounds good, have fun the work begins and never ends.

I wish ours were like cedars, at least with a cedar if you cut it down it dies... our nasty thorny brush just comes back with a vengance.

matt

wish i could get me a place congrats

Thanks guys. We are pretty darn happy with the purchase, especially with the fact it is over 200 acres. This gives us room to stretch our legs a little.

The cost of the wildlife exemption worries us a little, but we have a year to get that going, so can spread the initial cost out a little.

Right now, just reading up on everything I can get my virtual hands on.. heh.. and trying to educate myself on ways to do all of this and not break the bank :p

The property is too small to lease anything out for hunting, imo, so no income from that to help augment the costs.

R

what extra costs would you have doing wildlife exemption? we are changing ours to wildlife from ag to actually save money. you may find that the costs involved are things you would already be doing.(supplemental feed, provide water, predator control etc.) these are some of the requirements. congrats on the purchase!

Congrats on the purchase - bought my place in 2006 and it was the best purchase I have ever made. Get ready for alot of work. I second the recommendation above about hiring a dozer for the big jobs. In addition, you should be able to hire a contractor to bring out a skid-steer with a mulcher to take care of your cedars - still expensive but they can cover alot of ground. Finally, make sure you invest in a good chainsaw and plenty of chains - I go through 2-3 chains each weekend when taking out cedars.

Regarding the wildlife exemption - seems there are alot of ways to qualify and many are very easy. Deer surveys/clearing cedars/varmit control, etc.

One thing to consider purchasing is a metal shipping container to lock up your equipment when you are not out there. Nothing is full proof but I have mine locked down like Fort Knox.

yea, I was thinking of a shipping container. I want to cut a road up to the spot for the house first, then get a container

I also bought a Husqvarna chainsaw, I think a good one. I went for quality vs price, since it is expected to get a lot of work. I opted not to buy the really really expensive, "wife kicks you out of the house" chainsaws.. lol



R