Gleaton Chip Ranch Updates

[Droptine3030]

Great update . Just shows the difference a fence can make with proper management. Thanks for posting some pics of yalls better bucks. Glad those boys got those cull bucks out of the breeding pool.

[bgleaton]

We moved our big bow blind and a feeder to a new spot where we planted a 1.5 acre wheat, oats, chicory, silver river clover, and radish plots. Hoping it will be a fun bow stand and also a good spot for turkeys this spring.

[bgleaton]

We noticed that our big pond has a leak on the backside of the dam. I'll be sure to take some pictures next time I'm out there to show where it's leaking. Does anyone have any experience or ideas on how to stop a leak in a dam?

[Droptine3030]

Maybe dump some bags of drilling mud above it , and cross ur fingers

[Big pig]

I have seen that on one of our very large water holding lakes in south texas. A lot of barite put into the water at the dam did not help.

i am not a construction guy but I might consider draining and reworking that area with clay and barite. And then giving it some time and crossing my fingers.

best of luck.

[Reaper87]

The food plots are looking good and getting hammered. We were able to shoot 3 doe and 4 bucks this week. All of the bucks we shot are considered as cull bucks as we are passing all of the bigger bucks this fall. Just trying to lower our overall numbers so the rest of the herd has more groceries.

anyone know the plant that I’m holding in my hand? I wasn’t sure if it was chicory or daikon radish.

the two bucks in the Polaris were shot by my son and my nephew. My nephew’s buck was a 3yr old and my son’s buck was a 6yr old. The other buck that was shot was another 6yr old and dressed out at 142lbs.

Nice bucks and great management. I’m pretty sure that’s a radish. Keep up the good work.

[bgleaton]

Nice bucks and great management. I’m pretty sure that’s a radish. Keep up the good work.

Thanks! We'll see how the plots do throughout the winter and into the Spring.

We put out 1,400lbs of fortified cottonseed and 5,500lbs of protein this past week to help give the deer herd a good start into 2024. We are hoping to shoot another 2 or 3 doe and possibly another cull buck or two before the end of February.

[bgleaton]

Here's some interesting information for our total feed amounts for this past year and some historical feed numbers from other years to compare.

• 2023 Protein Feed - 30,135lbs (2022 & 2021 - we fed around 37,000lbs)
• 2023 Cottonseed - 6,430lbs (2022 & 2021 - we fed around 8,000lbs and 4,500lbs respectively)
• 2023 Corn - 9,500lbs (2022 & 2021 - we fed around 9,000 & 6,300lbs respectively)

Our goal is to reduce the total amount of corn to 6,000lbs per year and feed it between September through January, but only use it as an attractant. We will have the corn feeders throw for 4 to 5 seconds at a time instead of 8 to 10 seconds at a time. We will continue to feed 20% protein and cottonseed year-round and are hoping the deer will tend to eat more protein and cottonseed instead of corn by reducing the amount of corn we feed on a daily basis. Corn is a great attractant and isn't bad for the deer during the winter but we would rather our deer eat the protein feed and cottonseed instead since they are both a much higher quality feed.

For rainfall, we ended up getting around 22.5in for the year, which is right around average. 46% of this rainfall actually occurred between September through December, which is not normal for us. This particular time frame normally equates to around 30% of the annual rainfall. We are hoping the wetter fall/winter will help our deer herd into the next antler growing season.

Have a great day!

[Puncher51]

Great information!

where do y’all buy the fortified cottonseed?

[bgleaton]

Great information!

where do y’all buy the fortified cottonseed?

We have been purchasing it through our local Tractor Supply store.

[bgleaton]

My dad took my niece out hunting over the last two evenings in search of a 6yr old 8-pointer but this buck was a no show. We put out 3 bales of alfalfa for the blackbuck and deer. They have been hammering it over the past 3 days even with the food plots, cottonseed, protein, and corn at their disposal I'm hopeful that the blackbuck herd stays in good condition and don't die from this cold spell. We had good luck two years ago during that sub zero freezing temperatures by putting out a lot of alfalfa for them. I always read that these types of animals, along with deer, are able to withstand these colder temps and stay warm by consuming a high energy food source...fingers crossed!

Here are a couple of pictures from this morning that shows the snow we got on the property. The second picture shows a 3yr old with a big bite of alfalfa in his mouth.

[Big pig]

It was really snowing here in brown county this morning.
tanks and troughs all frozen over
what do deer and Turkey do with no water ?
how long can they go with nothing but dry vegetation ?

[bgleaton]

It was really snowing here in brown county this morning.
tanks and troughs all frozen over
what do deer and Turkey do with no water ?
how long can they go with nothing but dry vegetation ?

As the snow melts, I believe the animals will eat some vegetation with moisture on it. My dad said that our ponds didn't freeze over so they were able to drink from them without any issues.

[Big pig]

It was below freezing for 80 plus hours here
nothing melted at all.

went from 65 to 16 overnight.
hopefully some drank from the cow troughs after I used a chainsaw on them.
found a spike dead by a lake edge yesterday
feel like he was chased on by coyotes and couldn’t swim
thru the ice.

more freezing tonight and Friday

[bgleaton]

We were able to shoot another doe last week, which puts us at 10 doe and 4 bucks for the year. We will see if we can get out there one more time before the end of the MLD season and get another one more cull buck. We got 1/2-inch of rain last week, which really helped the food plots. The plots are still green but they are grazed down pretty low. I'm hoping to throw some fertilizer on them sometime in March to really get them going to provide more food from March through end of April before it gets too hot. We are planning on doubling the size of our South plot for this years summer plot.