Good Corn Price

[w_r_ranch]

Went to the feed store in Nada, Texas & picked up a pallet this morning @ $13.20/hundred... best price in over 2 years.

Went down to the woods to fill the 7 feeders & found the last one missing, GRRRR... That one was only 2 yrs old & the thief also got the game camera at that location. 23 years & I've never had a problem before. I only hope he comes back when one of us are down there.

I hate thieves.

 

[Cody]

That sucks! Time to hide the next camera.

I'm glad to hear about the corn though. I'm getting ready to start filling for bow season.

 

[ErnieCopp]

What are you boys fixing to eat? Grain fed venison, or grain fed pork?
Ernie

 

[w_r_ranch]

Hopefully both!!!

 

[ErnieCopp]

Only thing i ever baited was in Alaska when i shot a caribou to bait a Grizzly. I got my grizzly the last day, late afternoon, but not on the bait. I had stopped hunting before i moved to Idaho, but the only bait they allowed, i think, was for black bear. But the old ranchers would put out salt and mineral blocks in strange places for their cattle, and the deer would usually find them. My neighbor had a salt block in his back yard, and always got a buck from his back porch.

Ernie

 

[w_r_ranch]

I don't look at it so much as baiting as I never shoot them when they're at a feeder. The unfortunate circumstance again this year is that we are still under very bad drought conditions here and there is very little for them to eat, so we either feed them protein pellets & corn or we let them die. Many of us that hunt choose to bear the expense & provide the supplemental feed to sustain our herds. We also provide them with fresh water as most of the tanks have become nothing but mud holes.

Have said that, August is also the month that we take herd inventories for the TPWD (Texas Parks & Wildlife Dept.) so we can know more or less where we stand. To facilitate that, even in good times, we utilize corn to draw them in to get a more accurate accounting of the age brackets, fawns per doe & does to buck ratios.

Pigs are another story, we just kill them on sight. The only good pig is one that taking a 'dirt nap'.

 

[ErnieCopp]

Thanks for the clarification. I assumed it was either to control the numbers, or for bow hunting. For about 10 years after WW2, there were so many deer in Utah, you could get permits to kill up to six does, and the locals would do everything they could to reduce the numbers.

We had way too many deer and wild turkeys in Idaho, during the wet periods but they kept tight hunting limits on them, and then when the drought hit, a lot of them starved.

 

[Cody]

I normally hunt gov't land and they dont allow any feeders or permanent stands. You can broadcast corn by hand though. I'm filling up my uncles feeder at his house to give my kids a better opportunity to get a deer this year with a bow. I'll probably break out the recurve and give it a whirl though.

 

[Rockytop]

I don't look at it so much as baiting as I never shoot them when they're at a feeder. The unfortunate circumstance again this year is that we are still under very bad drought conditions here and there is very little for them to eat, so we either feed them protein pellets & corn or we let them die. Many of us that hunt choose to bear the expense & provide the supplemental feed to sustain our herds. We also provide them with fresh water as most of the tanks have become nothing but mud holes.

Have said that, August is also the month that we take herd inventories for the TPWD (Texas Parks & Wildlife Dept.) so we can know more or less where we stand. To facilitate that, even in good times, we utilize corn to draw them in to get a more accurate accounting of the age brackets, fawns per doe & does to buck ratios.

Pigs are another story, we just kill them on sight. The only good pig is one that taking a 'dirt nap'.

View attachment 309

View attachment 310

Nice Ranch Man.. Nice..

 

[ErnieCopp]

Cody, I stopped hunting in 1972, before Bow Hunting became popular, but it has always sounded like a good way to go. I know it was very popular with friends in Idaho, and they shot Elk along with other game. I hope your kids get their game.

ernie

 

[finkikin]

Went to the feed store in Nada, Texas & picked up a pallet this morning @ $13.20/hundred... best price in over 2 years.

Went down to the woods to fill the 7 feeders & found the last one missing, GRRRR... That one was only 2 yrs old & the thief also got the game camera at that location. 23 years & I've never had a problem before. I only hope he comes back when one of us are down there.

I hate thieves.

View attachment 298

There is only one way to handle thieves in Texas...Hope you catch them Sam!

 

[w_r_ranch]

Yep. S,S & S.

 

[Rockytop]

Ranchman, are you guys getting any moisture down in Nada?

 

[finkikin]

Ranchman, are you guys getting any moisture down in Nada?

Can't speak for Ranch, But we need some in Tomball.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Ranchman, are you guys getting any moisture down in Nada?

Sorry, I missed your post somehow...

No, it's been a bone dry summer here... cracks in the pastures & the grass is shutdown (only got 1 cutting of hay).

May = 3.31"
Jun. = 1.53"
Jul. = 0.00"
Aug. = 0.20"

 

[Lost in mn]

I heat my house with corn we pay about $18- $25 per hundred delivered and poured into the outside hopper. Typically We burn about 2000lbs in a winter. $500/season to heat a house up here is EPIC good and cheap. One of the best investments I ever made. New system paid for itself in under 4 years. Example burning Propane is about 2000 gallons at $1.99/gal. We still have to buy propane for the stove and water heater but 1000 gals lasts about 3 years now. Unless we have long term power outages and the Genny is running.

 

[ErnieCopp]

That is interesting, I had never heard of heating with corn before.

Ernie

 

[Lost in mn]

That is interesting, I had never heard of heating with corn before.

Ernie

Yeah it's sort of a new thing, My stove will burn just about anything but corn has the most BTU's per lb over wood or peat pellets and corn is less likely to cause clogging in the auger system that feeds the burner. Prices are about the same but here it's easiest to get corn. Only downside is i have to clean the ash pan about every 2 weeks. But who cares for that kind of savings lol.

 

[Rockytop]

Ranch and all.. What mix of corn and protien do you use for feeding your deer? If you use protein, what kind do you use? What is the smallest pellets you can use in your feeders? Would rabbit protein pellets work?

 

[w_r_ranch]

I use separate feeders at all our stations (the the above pictures). The corn feeders are on timers & the protein feeders are 'free feed' gravity units.

I stopped using the high protein pellets when the manufacturers raised the price so high. The last 3 years I have been getting 14% pasture creep (which is actually for beef calves) and the deer eat the heck out of it. The pellets are 5/32". They will eat 350 lbs per week per station in pellets alone. If I keep all 7 stations full that is 2450 lbs/week or about $400, verses $600 for deer pellets.

Feeding the deer herd runs about 16K a year, sometimes more.

 

[Rockytop]

I use separate feeders at all our stations (the the above pictures). The corn feeders are on timers & the protein feeders are 'free feed' gravity units.

I stopped using the high protein pellets when the manufacturers raised the price so high. The last 3 years I have been getting 14% pasture creep (which is actually for beef calves) and the deer eat the heck out of it. The pellets are 5/32". They will eat 350 lbs per week per station in pellets alone. If I keep all 7 stations full that is 2450 lbs/week or about $400, verses $600 for deer pellets.

Feeding the deer herd runs about 16K a year, sometimes more.

Da*n!!!!!!!!!!! Sheet....... I'll keep that in mind.. All I want to do is pull them in from low fence areas for the season to hunt. Sounds like your running a breeder program for big horns.

My brother is into filming hunts and guiding services up in East Texas and he has turned me on to a new attractant called "Ghost Powder". If you get a chance, google it and tell me what you think about it. He has showed me some videos of deer just throwing themselves at the stuff. The places I hunt are all low fence areas so I can not use the stuff in an enviornment like yours to see if it really works the way they say it does. Videos are one thing, real time is a total different scenario if you know what I mean. I do plan on buying some and testing it this year though.

Do you have a high fence to keep the deer close? I sure would hate to be feeding everyone else's deer if you will...

 

[w_r_ranch]

The only part that is high fenced is the home site itself (to keep them out of the garden & away from the fruit trees), everything else is low fenced. We have a sizable herd here that we manage as best we can. These pics are typical of what we see from the back porch.

 

[Rockytop]

Nice herd!

 

[Rockytop]

velvet starting to drop off yet or is it still a little early?

 

[w_r_ranch]

Just starting.