Gleaton Chip Ranch Updates

[bgleaton]

The NRCS came out yesterday and walked the property with my dad. They have confirmed that they will help pay to spray the cactus in the highlighted areas. We don’t have much cactus on our property except for these 4 highlighted areas. Now all we have to do is wait until they get the funding approved and figure out when they will come out this year and get it all sprayed. We have been extremely pleased with the TX NRCS and everything they do to help improve our property.


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[TKRanch]

Looking really good. If Texas can manage to have a "normal" year with some rain and decent weather I think it will look GREAT in a year or 2!!

[cehorn]

This is a seed mix that we will be planting in the freshly dozed areas. Looking forward to see it a couple years from now. We should have some good pictures of the dozed areas by next weekend and will post some pictures.

Looking really good. If Texas can manage to have a "normal" year with some rain and decent weather I think it will look GREAT in a year or 2!!

I guess I'll ask this here although I could ask it on the thread I started as well. You have mentioned perennials take a few years to get going which I don't doubt. My question is what is your thought on reason? Is that just how long it takes nature to do its thing (pollinate, seed, spread, multiply, etc.) or is that due to rainfall, etc? Without going back and confirming in this thread, from memory your planting has been in fairly dry years with a very tough drought last year. So if we were to get lucky and plant and then have a record rainfall year would that speed up the process you have seen or would it stay the same?

[TKRanch]

I guess I'll ask this here although I could ask it on the thread I started as well. You have mentioned perennials take a few years to get going which I don't doubt. My question is what is your thought on reason? Is that just how long it takes nature to do its thing (pollinate, seed, spread, multiply, etc.) or is that due to rainfall, etc? Without going back and confirming in this thread, from memory your planting has been in fairly dry years with a very tough drought last year. So if we were to get lucky and plant and then have a record rainfall year would that speed up the process you have seen or would it stay the same?

I am no expert but I will say that my wife loves to plant perennials in her flower beds in Round Top and I just know that even with a sprinkler system and her continued personal care they seem to REALLY thrive in the second and third years noticeably more than the first year. We also spent a bunch of money planting wild flower seeds on about an acre of pasture by the house and it took 4 years to get decent and really never "took off"... That is my limited experience!!

[cehorn]

I am no expert but I will say that my wife loves to plant perennials in her flower beds in Round Top and I just know that even with a sprinkler system and her continued personal care they seem to REALLY thrive in the second and third years noticeably more than the first year. We also spent a bunch of money planting wild flower seeds on about an acre of pasture by the house and it took 4 years to get decent and really never "took off"... That is my limited experience!!

Thanks, that is what I was looking for. Sounds like the old tree saying "Sleep first year, Creep second year and Leap 3rd year" may apply here as well. Just the way nature works...

[bgleaton]

Drone Pictures of Clearings

Here are some pictures that one of our buddy's took this past weekend that shows some of the new clearings and roads.














My brother broadcasted a native seed mix in the 5 acre clearing that is shown in the last two pictures. I'm hoping to broadcast the remaining 8 acres of seed once they finish burning the piles and trenching the water line for the big pond. I'm hoping it rains so this seed will actually grow.

[TKRanch]

Since you are trenching water to the pond is there any possibility of popping some lines for irrigation along the way as you go? Maybe that would not be where you need it, don't know, but I do know it is easier to do it at the beginning! Love the updates....

[bgleaton]

Since you are trenching water to the pond is there any possibility of popping some lines for irrigation along the way as you go? Maybe that would not be where you need it, don't know, but I do know it is easier to do it at the beginning! Love the updates....

Yes, we are going to add a line so we can irrigate our south field, which is around 3 acres. Trying to figure out which sprinkler and setup to use. Our plan would be to irrigate right after planting and look at watering once every 2 weeks or so depending on the soil moisture.

[PondPopper]

We don’t. We thought about adding a feeder over there which would give us another area to hunt.

Y'all should do it..

The progress looks awesome.. We need rain!!!

[bgleaton]

Moultrie Edge Cellular Trail Camera

We recently purchased a couple of Moultrie Mobile Edge Cellular Trail Cameras from Tractor Supply and I have to admit that these are the easiest cameras to set up and the images are much higher quality when comparing it to the Spartan, Covert, and Spypoint cameras we own and they are half the price or more. Here are some recent pictures:












The app also has a ton of data like the most popular time of day the camera is taking pictures, types of animals on camera (i.e. buck vs doe vs turkey), number of pictures during weather patterns/moon phase, etc. We liked these so much that we purchased the 12V dual solar battery box to ensure that these cameras never run out of battery.

[Puncher51]

Photo quality seems excellent.

[bgleaton]

Photo quality seems excellent.

Way better than the Covert, Spartan, and SpyCams we have!

[Puncher51]

Now that I’ve started feeding a little protein, I’ve been considering buying some better cell cams than the SPYPOINT. I’ll be curious how these turn out!
Place is looking great as always. I enjoy the drone shots showing how you had the work completed.

[bgleaton]

Bass Pond Update

They started drilling the well yesterday and hope to have it finished by this week or early next week. After the well has been drilled, we will start trenching and laying the pipe to the ponds and one field.

We purchased all new fish habitat that we will install in two weeks - MossBack habitat and Honey Hole Trees. We will also find a bunch of boulders and make big rock piles as well. I'll be sure to include pictures after we install all of the fish habitat. We are working with a fisheries biologist to help make sure all of the habitat is placed in the correct spots and to help understand how many fish we have and what we need to do to start growing some big bass over the next several years.

We are going to try to remove as many bass as possible over the next few weeks and then re-introduce more forage fish - bluegills, golden shiners, and possibly threadfin shad.

[Big pig]

Drilled my 330’ well in less than two days.
Cased and Gravel packed.
Amazing.
A new lake is an exciting project.
Helped sister with small one. Bass grew very quickly
Became difficult to catch bluegills because bass would grab them and break the light lines.
Added grass carp last year.
Too cold for tilapia up here I think