I spent the next day reacquainting with the people and the area, I was tickled pink to see that all the corn spinners and blinds were all in pretty good shape despite the nearly 100 mph winds this area had last summer,(all the damage was repaired), the wheat fields were coming along well, the food plots at our hunting areas were actually green this year! Last season we were in a serious drought and the food plots simply had turned brown and withered away. I have spent the last couple of weeks trying to get my fingers back on the pulse, here is what I have found:

The general hog population is still thriving! There seems to be fresh hog sign in nearly all the fields. They are hitting the corn spinners wherever they can, rooting up the road ditches everywhere, as well as creating havoc in the wheat fields. I have seen many hogs in full daylight, we have one group of hogs around the Z-Bar ranch that number around 75!! It is easy to see where they have been. Wherever they pass though it looks like a miniature platoon of army tanks has been on maneuvers. It looks like we should have another great hog season, which ramps up after deer season is complete. We have had a few hog hunters in already this fall, they have done well with nearly all leaving with at least one hog, most with more than one.

I got together with Rance Rich and Jack Blizzard to review game camera pictures they have and was quite amazed with the deer they have gotten pictures of. It seems like the doe groups have grown in numbers. Also the buck quality and quantity looks real good. We have identified quite a few “shooters” already and our manual scouting has just begun.

Currently the deer are still in their normal feeding patterns. They are always changing their major food source but they always can be patterned on when they feed. We are always aware of the lunar position and how the feeding times of animals correlates with it. As long as the animals are not being hunted hard or influenced to change by other unnatural sources (mostly humans) they do follow a pattern. It seems that currently the deer are feeding heavily on the new wheat and oats and also in the canyons they are feeding mainly on the new winter ryegrass that are coming up pretty well. Our goal is to entice them to make routine stops at our feeders and food plots on their way to or from major feeding areas. I feel man should never try to make his enticements (bait) the primary food source of any wild game. Their diets need to be balanced, like ours, to receive the proper nutrition they need. The best way I can explain this is this example: I read notes on a study done in Minnesota concerning the nutrition of black bears. Part of the study revealed that if a bear has access to too much unnatural food it doesn’t always receive the food it needs to build up fat reserves to survive the long cold winters in hibernation. The unnatural food source is pastries, candy and other sweets commonly used to bait the bears in Minnesota. One would think these treats would build up plenty of fat, (it does for me). But it is not the correct food to build up reserves for bears, mother nature does a lot better with acorns and other foods. The point being that animals know where to find the best food for themselves and we should only distract them with our own enticements in moderation.

I think the bucks havealready been through their annual “get-together” and are starting to stake out their claims. I have seen a few new rubs on the mesquites and have heard of other people seeing scrapes already. There are numerous older rubs around where the bucks were polishing the velvet off their antlers. Many hunters have made this mistake. They have done their scouting early and have hunted areas where the velvet rubs are, sometimes this works but really a hunter has to watch for the erritorial or “I am here” rubs and hunt near them. As I mentioned earlier the primary food sources change and the bucks may have been feeding in one area while they were shedding velvet and they may make their “I am here” rubs a long ways away as food sources change.

We have seen a few bucks kind of hanging out with the does but nothing serious yet I did see a doe running across a clear-cut and a buck was not far behind her. This behavior is typical to see this time of the year, but when the rut is going strong all the deer act differently. This time of the year it is mainly the younger bucks doing the mock chasing, the mature patriarchs wait until the real deal.

A week ago I was scouting an area and watched a doe group feeding near a corn spinner, a young buck came strutting up to them with head high and thinking he was the king of deer. He did run the does off, or maybe the girls got tired of his adolescent behavior and simply left. It wasn’t long and a much larger buck came upon the scene, he was a 3 ½ year old 8 point and had about a 75 pound advantage on the youngster. The older buck simply walked to the feeder paying no mind to the young buck. It made me laugh to see the young deer prancing around upset that his being king was short-lived. I laughed even harder when I pulled and reviewed the pictures from the camera that was there and I had a photo of the little bugger crouching sort of like a playful dog will, and the older buck just eating away.

So, right now it looks like the bucks have returned to their normal feeding patterns and have started to stake out their areas with much anticipation of the upcoming breeding phase of the rut.

* * Review the Texas Annual hunting regulations. **
After reviewing hundreds of photographs and after spending many hours watching the deer already, I am excited for another deer season here at Ranger Creek Ranch. I look forward to spending time with returning hunter friends, as well as meeting people hunting here for the first time.
Keep yer gun clean. RickO

Rick’s Deer Hunt Pack (These items are all not required)

• Hunt License and driver’s license
• Binoculars
• Extra bullets
• Knife or multi-tool
• Flashlight
• Hat light with red or green lenses.
• Water
• Quiet snacks (unwrapped and in zip-locks)
• Compass
• Watch
• P-Bottle
• Camera
• Grunt Call (mainly to stop deer)
• Shooting sticks
• Gloves
• Drag strap
• Sunglasse
• Lens cleaning wipe
• One inch of paper napkins in zip-loc
• Small spray bottle of scent kille
• Pen (for filling out tag after kill)
• Small foam seat pad for the “all-dayers”
• Just a few pain killers
• Roll of electrical Tape (Finlander’s best friend)
• Cell phone for emergency only
• Camo Material and thumb tacks (small pieces to tack in blind windows behind me)
  
  

Home | Texas Cities | Texas Activities | Texas Events | See Texas | Driving Tours | Links
Privacy & Security | Contact Us

 

Ranger Creek Ranch: 940-888-2478

E-mail:ranger@rangercreekranch.com 

© Copyright 2012 Ranger Creek Ranch. All rights reserved.