I found this 3 yr old on the last hunt we did. I think he's going to turn into something really special in another couple of years. He's a mainframe twelve!!!
It's not very often you get to hunt in the snow in Texas! During the last winter storm a couple of the kids put these culls on the ground during the morning sit minutes apart. It was a great day to be at the ranch!
It's not very often you get to hunt in the snow in Texas! During the last winter storm a couple of the kids put these culls on the ground during the morning sit minutes apart. It was a great day to be at the ranch!
I thought I would post a few of the bucks that get a pass till next year. In the last 10 days they have really started to fight and break up. The second/third cycle has definitely kicked in and the boys are out trolling. Anyway we gave these guys a hall pass to see if they make another jump.....
I hadn't mentioned anything about turkey hunts yet.....I'll be posting some information about available hunts in the near future. Stay tuned!
Also a large number of our mature bulls are now out 1-2' and starting to show some definitive character. It should be interesting the next couple of months watching them finish out. I only plan to do a couple of Axis hunts. If you have an interest please send me a PM. Thanks
I thought I would post a few of the bucks that get a pass till next year. In the last 10 days they have really started to fight and break up. The second/third cycle has definitely kicked in and the boys are out trolling. Anyway we gave these guys a hall pass to see if they make another jump.....
I hadn't mentioned anything about turkey hunts yet.....I'll be posting some information about available hunts in the near future. Stay tuned!
Also a large number of our mature bulls are now out 1-2' and starting to show some definitive character. It should be interesting the next couple of months watching them finish out. I only plan to do a couple of Axis hunts. If you have an interest please send me a PM. Thanks
We've got 2 ranches 15 miles North of Mathis that are loaded with birds! If your interested in a DiY type hunt please contact me. Each ranch has a house with facilities that can be used during the hunt. One ranch is 3000 acres the other 500 acres -again there are a bunch of birds....... Please send a PM. Thanks
I've been debating whether to share with the THF community and decided I would to hopefully educate any doubters how cruel mother nature can be at times. One of my big deer that I've watched since he was born- which by the way carried a spindly 7 point rack his first year got into an altercation in early December with another up and comer young buck. This big deer was a 7 year old just past his prime and unfortunately for him willing to fight whoever else had as much attitude as him. After his initial fight it was obvious he was hurt. He could not pick his head up. He had swelling on the upper right side of his neck and he had three puncture wounds on his left side. I was obviously concerned however he was eating corn and seemed to be managing. I saw him again Christmas week and he had lost some additional weight but was still limping around. Fast forward to January 10th we were putting cottonseed out and drove up on him standing in one of our small lakes. It was immediately obvious he was in extreme duress. He was standing in the edge of the water up to his knees. Mouth was in the water-I couldn't tell if he was drinking or eating pond weed however it was obvious something was very wrong. We walked up behind him (25 feet or so) and he never moved. We stood there watching him for 15 minutes. He started twitching his tail like deer do when their agitated or hurt. We backed off to the truck and just watched. He labored to get out of the water and walked about 20 yards and stopped and just stood there with his head hanging nose to the ground. After about 15 minutes he took 4 or 5 steps and fell to his knees. He forced himself to get back up and he wobbled over to the brush line and bedded down. His head immediately sank to the ground. We watched a few minutes and then walked over in full view of him and he was so weak he couldn't/wouldn't pick his head up. He was going in and out of consciousness. It became very clear that I needed to end the suffering of this magnificent animal that I had watched grow up since he was a baby. I estimated his October live weight easily over 200lbs. His Postmortem weight was 98 lbs. Upon our investigation he had 3 dislocated vertebrae thus his inability to raise his head. We also found a puncture infection behind the right ear and the three puncture wounds in his side had caused gangrene to set in and destroy the side of his stomach that had been punctured. Obviously I have a soft spot for whitetails....... I am amazed at how cruel nature can be! Enclosed are some pictures of before and after.... I'll close this story with - it was a very sad day for me personally because of my history with this buck however I'm glad I was able to end his suffering.
Axis update- We came through the winter storm in great shape. We put out extra feed a couple of days before the storm hit and the animals did just fine. While we have been doing pipe repairs at camp over the last two weeks we have been walking a bunch picking up fresh sheds. One of the bulls I had been watching last year carried great point length and mass. The last time I saw him was around Thanksgiving. I didn't think a lot about it at the time as some of the bigger mature bulls were starting to drop. Anyway during one of our walks this past week we found him. He apparently got stuck by another bull fighting last fall and died. We've lost several bulls in recent years from fighting-the common denominator being its always the big bulls that get hurt. Anyway, below is a picture of his skull.
I will be doing a couple of Axis hunts in a few months if interested. Right now its so green their not coming to corn, protein, cottonseed or alfalfa at the moment. When it starts to dry out that will all change...
A few management deer that slipped through the cracks last hunting season. Hopefully we do a better job of getting a pattern on these guys this fall....
Two years ago a up and coming two year old went missing. He was already a ghost at two years of age as I only got two trail camera photo's of him and my son actually got his eyes on him in late January of that year. We had high hopes for him and then he became invisible. I didn't think a whole lot about it since we have a number of bucks that are ghosts. Little daytime activity, they avoid the cameras like the plague and we may go a whole year without a visual. He didn't show the next year or this past season so I've been wondering if his rack changed drastically and I didn't recognize him or something happened to him. Last week the boys were walking an area looking for a specific bucks sheds and found him. I surmise he got into it with another buck over a doe fawn coming in season late. This is one of the risks we run on our ranches since we keep our ratios so tight. Very disappointing but at least we have an ending to the story and we know that our quality program is moving in the right direction.
I get to bring closure to the story I told earlier in this thread of the big deer I had to put down from fighting this winter. A couple of the kids had him mounted for the ranch. He turned out fantastic. As I commented in the story about my history with this particular buck I take so lance in knowing that his genes have been spread through the herd over the years. I look forward to watching his offspring grow up in the future!
I get to bring closure to the story I told earlier in this thread of the big deer I had to put down from fighting this winter. A couple of the kids had him mounted for the ranch. He turned out fantastic. As I commented in the story about my history with this particular buck I take so lance in knowing that his genes have been spread through the herd over the years. I look forward to watching his offspring grow up in the future!
JP- It will be interesting to see what the middle aged bucks do in the next couple of years....Once they get the skeletal growth out of the way and put it to the antler growth - look out!
Many of you have followed this thread since it started from the beginning. We've got the three ranches around Pearsall and my ranch west of Junction. The Pearsall ranches were lightly hunted and have a solid carryover of good bucks for this fall due to the long term management plan but also due to the impact of Covid. We had fewer deer harvested which means we've got more to take off/choose from this year. We've started booking hunts. If your interested take a few minutes to look back through this thread to look at the quality of bucks that have been harvested in recent years. A couple of the THF guys hunted with me last fall and had a very successful hunt down south.
Another friend on this forum hunted with me out west and harvested an exceptional mature buck on my family ranch. It took 7 years and a lot of nutrition to get that deer to the size he grew into but its possible if you let them get some age and pour the groceries to them. Anyway, I will do one maybe 2 hunts on my ranch. I also have Axis as an additional bonus if that's of interest.
As a reminder there are lots of pictures in the preceding posts. As the bucks get a little further developed I will begin to post some developmental photo's for fun......
If your interested in a hunt please send me a PM or if you already have my number don't wait to book as some dates are filling since a lot of people have gotten their shots........
As an added commitment to our hunting guests all of the ranch guides, cooks and support staff will be vaccinated by the time the 2021 season begins. We want to make sure our team has done our part to make sure guests feel comfortable while they spend time at the ranch chasing that deer they have been thinking about for the last 12 months and not have any other distractions in the way!
Well......the boys are starting to show! We've been fixing flood gaps on all the ranches during the last two weeks. Over 9" inches out west to over 15" down south. So much rain that the deer have turned off the protein because of the availability of native browse! That translates into there's going to be some bruiser bucks on all the ranches this year....
Every year is good because of the management practices however this year will be exceptional because .....
1)We carried over extra bucks from last year 2)A number of our larger bucks broke up thus getting a hall pass for another year 3)We've already had our annual rainfall in the growing season
These three factors mean this will be an exceptional year antler wise!
I have an update on the Pearsall ranches. We just concluded a ranch meeting and the week of November 8th through the 14th is available. We typically conduct two hunts , the first starting Monday afternoon and the second starting Thursday afternoon. In past years we have hunted this week with customers and harvested some magnificent bucks. Bucks are still in bachelor groups and in more patternable groups then in a few weeks when it gets closer to the rut. They also typically are not broken up yet from fighting. We can easily handle up to four hunters per hunt.
As I mentioned in the above post we have a lot of solid bucks that we carried over from last year. The earlier you hunt the more deer you will see...... If you've got a friend or want to bring your kids the guides are really good. I brought my customers here for 9 years before I retired...
Send me a PM I'm happy to discuss details or I'm happy to call you!
