Gleaton Chip Ranch Updates

[Puncher51]

So have y’all identified how many known bucks y’all have? And if so do y’all have them categorized by age class?

[bgleaton]

Yes, we have 37 different bucks on camera. Here is the age class breakdown with our best guesses:
1.5yrs - 6
2.5yrs - 8
3.5yrs - 8
4.5yrs - 7
5.5yrs - 4
6.5yrs + - 4

[Puncher51]

That’s awesome! I’m loving this thread and how detailed y’all are! Keep it up, this thread is definitely one of my favorites on here!

[bgleaton]

That’s awesome! I’m loving this thread and how detailed y’all are! Keep it up, this thread is definitely one of my favorites on here!

Thanks! We are trying our best to improve our deer herd. It will be interesting to see what our bucks look like after a couple years of intense management with the high fence. We are hoping we will see some big improvements and grow some 160”+ native deer in 3 years or so. Gotta get after and start reducing this deer herd over thanksgiving. I’ll keep y’all posted on what we shoot and how things are looking out there.

[Puncher51]

As long as y’all keep feeding them like you are and keep the habitat in good shape it will be exciting to see the changes over the years.

[bgleaton]

12-2-2019 Update

We were able to shoot two of our cull bucks and 4 doe this past week/weekend. That puts us at 5 doe and 2 bucks for the year. We are hoping to shoot 2-3 more doe this weekend and 1-2 more cull bucks. Here are some pictures from the weekend:


The wheat and clovers are growing but very slowly with the limited amount of rain we got in November. We need some rain quickly.


This is one of our native fields. We are going to try to do a control burn this February with a burn manager to help improve our overall habitat. I'll post more as to what he recommends and pictures before and after.


My son was able to sit in the stand and loved every minute of it.


The deer have been hammering the alfalfa.


Here is the 5.5yr old 8pt I shot. He dressed out at 135lbs.


Here is the 4.5yr old 8pt my brother shot. He dressed out at 100lbs.


This is a pretty 3.5yr old. We are excited to see what he grows into in the next 3 to 4 years.


This is a pretty 6.5yr old that we have pictures of for several years. We are letting him go another year or so to see what he turns into.

[BrokenJ]

Great updates! Really like this thread great info and pictures. Keep up the great work sir

[gingib]

Keep up the good work! Makes me happy

[TildenHunter]

Looking good. The deer you killed is really nice! You guys are doing all the right things. Keep it up.

[bgleaton]

Thanks! We will be out there this weekend to continue to reduce our numbers. We are hoping to shoot another 4 whitetail (3 doe and 1 buck) and maybe one blackbuck doe. I'm hoping to continue to clear some cedars around some of our oaks to help reduce competition.

One thing we have noticed since high fencing our place is that our place is way more fun to hunt, especially during the rut. In the past we would be lucky to see a 3.5yr+ buck chasing around feeders because all of our nice bucks would leave our property. We saw multiple 4.5yr+ bucks during each hunt and had several good bucks getting after each other.

We are meeting with a burn manager on 12/16 to come up with a burn plan. We are hoping to conduct a burn in February 2020. I will post some information as to what the burn manager recommends for us and what the plan will be. I'll keep you posted.

[Big pig]

I like to read the updates on your place.
Looks like you have a great age class breakdown already.
How do you determine which does to shoot?
It’s my experience most people shoot the bigger ones. That seems counter productive to me.

Big pig

[bgleaton]

Thanks! We are trying to shoot 8 to 10 doe on our place this year. We try to shoot a couple of doe fawns and doe yearlings each year to ensure that we don’t only shoot the productive mommas. We always try to keep some older doe bc they are the ones that are the most productive.

[gingib]

Thanks! We are trying to shoot 8 to 10 doe on our place this year. We try to shoot a couple of doe fawns and doe yearlings each year to ensure that we don’t only shoot the productive mommas. We always try to keep some older doe bc they are the ones that are the most productive.

Very smart!!!

[bgleaton]

We shot 4 deer this past weekend:
2 doe
1 cull buck
1 blackbuck doe

Need to go out one more time and shoot a couple more blackbuck doe and whitetail doe and we should be good for the year.

[Patton]

Y’all are putting in the work. I can’t wait to see how this plays out in a few years; I’m guessing it will be as good or better than y’all anticipate.