A year in the life of a farm

[Mex. Bowhunter]

Boy Those are some Awesome Plots

[bukkskin]

Wow, Really cool thread elgato!!!

[lovemylegacy]

As many of you know besides the farm i also have a ranch deep in prime Rio Grande brush country. Many years ago I was riding around the farm with Dr. Harry Jacobson when he stated that I would grow bigger deer here on the farm than the ranch. Now the ranch is in world famous deer country and about 10X the size of the farm. La. is not known for growing big bucks. I thought Dr. Jacobson was sun baked.

Turns out he was right. Again.

Which begs the question;Why? I have given much thought to this and have determined the answer is exceedingly simple.

Simply stated the answer is nutrition. Even more simple is one word...RAIN. It rains consistently year round in La. That provides a framework to enhance nutrition here even in soils that are not nearly as fertile as the ranch. With proper soil amendments and quality cultivars made available year round the nutritional plane can be held higher than even the fabled brush country of the golden triangle.

Perhaps if it rained in the brush country like here in La. the results would be different. Certainly this year may exhibit that with all the rain we have had. But that has been the rare exception not the rule.

A minor subset to rain is a favorable climate here in La. Crops can actively grow year round. With proper mgt. there can always be high quality cultivars available. While the summers are hot they don't negatively effect deer movement or appetite . Winters are relatively mild with no weather related die offs. This is comparatively a very favorable environment for deer to grow and prosper.

I have often contended genetics are a bit of a sham. Meaning a) how can we know what our genetic potential is when most herds are nutritionally compromised b) Genetics are more elastic than understood and can be markedly improved over time. [ Or compromised by nutritional deficits ] Much research to support this. I suspect genetics in most places are much better than exhibited simply because deer haven't had long term nutrition.That has been the case here on the farm.

I have a friend with a farm fairly close to mine. Years back he 'purged' all deer from it and replaced them with expensive store bought genetics.Spent a LOT of money. Interestingly he does not grow many deer bigger than mine and some of our top end equals the best he has done. Ours are native home grown red neck regular deer. Our big expense is nutrition .

So it turns out that Dr. Jacobson is right. We have a far higher density of big bucks per acre here on the farm than on the ranch. And we have grown bigger top end deer here than we have ever grown at the ranch. I think the takeaway for everyone is wherever you are enhanced nutrition will make your bucks bigger.

Nutrition is the only thing we can control. Are you close to Alec/Red River bottom land? My old stomping grounds.

[elgato]

I'm out west on break from the heat and to some degree the digital world. Got my family together enjoying an annual celebration of each other. Delightful.

Those are great looking food plots. Much better than mine. Well done.

I'm in Pineville in mixed hardwood pine country. Unfortunately our soils are poor and incapable of commercial agriculture.

[lovemylegacy]

I'm out west on break from the heat and to some degree the digital world. Got my family together enjoying an annual celebration of each other. Delightful.

Those are great looking food plots. Much better than mine. Well done.

I'm in Pineville in mixed hardwood pine country. Unfortunately our soils are poor and incapable of commercial agriculture.

I know right where you are at. Sho' can grow big deer. I guess that's the Red River that floods your property?

[Backwoods101]

I'm out west on break from the heat and to some degree the digital world. Got my family together enjoying an annual celebration of each other. Delightful.

Those are great looking food plots. Much better than mine. Well done.

I'm in Pineville in mixed hardwood pine country. Unfortunately our soils are poor and incapable of commercial agriculture.

I guess your plots didn't get the memo

[BIG BONE]

any new game cam pics of some monsters?

[Capt.Bryan]

Been following along over the last year and wish I had more land available to implement your programs. As always when I read this there is a wealth of knowledge and would like to thank you for sharing with us.

With my small 12 acres where I live I decided to plant 2.5 acres and add chestnuts and persimmons while leaving a thicket or sanctuary on the bottom end of my place and see if I could draw more deer to my property. The deer numbers have increased so much they keep everything eaten down to the dirt and are blowing through 250-300 pounds of protein and another 200 pounds of hand corn each week. Through visual survey I have 20-30 head of deer using my property now and can usually spot deer bedding down along the edge of my food plot area throughout the day.

Again thanks for all you have shared.
Capt. Bryan

[elgato]

It's August 2nd and my food plots are mostly done. The sunn hemp has done the best this year and I will plant more next year. While grazing the hemp has been light I fully expect next years grazing to increase now that they know what it is. The Durana clover is the only clover going and it is suffering.

Curiously protein consumption has dropped almost in half. Certainly that can be partially explained by the deer moving back to my neighbors where it was flooded. I also think the late summer heat reduces appetite thus pellet consumption. I've seen where numerous folks have noticed a reduction in protein consumption. If heat reduces consumption then that indicates how important a mild summer is along with adequate moisture.

I've been noticing the deer eating a lot of weeds. We are as likely to see them in weed fields as on the cultivars. It is hard to overstate the value of openings available simply for weed growth .

It has been a fascinating summer. Started with a very wet [ even by La. standards ] spring. What few fields I could plant did poorly from rotting. Many fields couldn't be planted till very late. Then the floods arrived and nearly half of our country went under water including a bunch of plots.That put all the deer in the remaining plots which were mostly wiped out. Now we are in extremely hot and droughty conditions. And it's just turned August! The challenges a deer manager faces.

We have just started a full camera survey and I will post pics of the better bucks soon. While we may not have 3 bucks over 200" like last year there are a bunch of great deer. Here is a great 4 yr old that got his pic taken yesterday. { He was 175 last yr.} More to come.

[texas shag]

The thing I love most about this thread is your dedication to the development of the areas natural genetics, and seeing them continually expressed year after year. You have some great animals and an even better program.

[unclefish]

Great update! Glad to hear the SH performed well. Mine never did much and then got flooded with 2 feet of water so it we had terrible conditions for trying it. Seems like most people on here that tried it had pretty fair success with it.

Looking forward to seeing your giant buck pics.

[bgleaton]

I totally agree with Texas Shag. I think it's very impressive that this all native genetics and not high fence. It just goes to show that you don't have to have a high fence or a $50,000 buck to grow trophy bucks . Well done!

[Reaper87]

I totally agree with Texas Shag. I think it's very impressive that this all native genetics and not high fence. It just goes to show that you don't have to have a high fence or a $50,000 buck to grow trophy bucks . Well done!

I believe the place is high fence but native genetica

[texas shag]

Reaper is correct, it is high fence, but in my opinion the fence doesn't change the work he has put into the deer. It has just made it a bit easier for him to control the age the deer reach, so as to fully express their potential.

[drslonghorn]

Rusty, thanks for sharing the pics and info. We have all learned a lot from this thread, keep it flowing. Our SH has done great and like yours we have seen very little grazing pressure. I do agree with you that it is just a matter of time before they figure it out and start hitting it. It seems to thrive in the West Texas sandy soils and heat. We have been blessed with abundant rainfall this year and as a result there is tremendous forage (weeds and Forbes) in our CRP and pasture. That may be the reason they are ignoring the SH. They are however hammering the peas. Here are some pics of the plots from this weekend.