1st Buck This Season

[markc]

Not my biggest, but a good representation of the hill country. Heres a another pic filling my wife's feeder on a foggy morning on top of the saddle.

[Oldshooter]

Thats a nice big bodied deer markc, What did it measure width wise? Just for comparison , since its a good head on pic.

[markc]

Thanks Oldshooter,  he was fat and heavy.  He only measured 11 7/8" wide.  Strange thing is back in East Texas he would not even be a legal buck.  They are not rutting yet, and the rest of what I saw was does, and a few young 6 pt'ers.  I heard the mouflon coming in one evening.  They wer noisy, but I couldn't see them in the cedar.  THen when I was sure they were about to enter the clearing, a little white tail doe came out.  The sheep continued on somewhere.  Maybe next trip in a few weeks I will see them.  There was a decent ram in one group last year. 

[Graybeard]

Not huge but a nice looking buck Mark. Who's that old guy with the gray hair on the sides?  Has it been that long since we last saw each other?

[hillbill]

nice buck, looks tasty!

[Oldshooter]

He only measured 11 7/8" wide.  Strange thing is back in East Texas he would not even be a legal buck.

Thats kinda why I asked. Trying to get a fix on what to look for here. Its still a nice one, I'd be hard pressed not to take one like that! Its gonna be trying season this year, the does are gonna be ducking!

[markc]

  Hey Bill, yes sir it has been a long time since we hunted together.  If I did not have the hat on, the gray hair would reflect too much of the camera flash.  LOL.  I need to post up a picture of those 2 cedars from Alabama you gave me that time at the Reed Ranch.  I don't prune them much so they are fat and thick, not too tall.  Yeah, that buck wasn't a very old one, but compared to all the does and little 6 pointers I was seeing, he was hard to pass up.  At least because he left and came back 30 minutes later 40yds from my blind.  I figured he had a death wish.  Sure will be some tasty steaks! 

[Mohawk]

  Nice Hill Country Buck there, Mark! I'll be hangun hunting this weekend. The deer appear to be moving again.

[markc]

Hey Mohawk,  I shot that one with a Marlin 336CS in 35 Rem.  I hunted with my contender in the same caliber the following morning, but saw only a couple littloe 6 pt'ers and does.  Hopefully they will begin to move soon.

[Graybeard]

I never prune cedars Mark I just let them grow to whatever size and shape they want. I have a large number of them lining my property down at the pond and really all the way from there back up to the house. I have no clue how many of them there are but they are planted along at least a 500' or more distance. Some leyland cypress and arborvitaes are mixed in with them as you get closer to the house especially.

One in our yard that's probably not too much older than the pair I gave you is now at least 20' tall or more. It's really nice and the birds nest in it each spring. I'm glad to hear yours lived. I don't think Jim even planted the ones I gave him.

[markc]

Bill, I have 5 other cedars in the yard that I transplanted over the years.  The 2 you gave me are near the front door.  They really look good, are thick and healthy.   I only prune a little bit of the lowest limbs, and then let them grow.  I did water them some the past couple of summers because it had been so dry.   Some folks prune them way up the trunk which does make them tall, but I like the privacy they provide when the pruning is kept to a minimum.    I will take a picture soon and post it..

[Graybeard]

Yeah there are folks here who prune back the bottom several feet of them especially along fence lines. Heck that's why I plant them is for privacy I don't wanna take any of the limbs away on mine. I'd love to see a photo of them some time to see how much they've grown.

[markc]

There are actually 2 cedars there, about 2 1/2 feet a part, probably too close.  But the canoe paddle gives you an idea of their heighth.  Remember they were just a few inches tall and one had looked really unhealthy before I got them in the ground...Not a great picture, but I snapped it real quick so you could see them..

[markc]

Here's a picture of Teresa's blind taken (by her) from her feeder pen.  If she will let me, next season I will have a new blind for her, further up the hill so she can see down into the deep draw that is to the right in this picture.

[Graybeard]

That cedar has really grown Mark. Did you prune out the top to make it shape up like that? None of ours around here are growing wide and fat like that. Faye said she really likes that and wish some of ours were like that. Of all the hundreds of them here none have taken that shape tho I do often see it in cedars along the road sides especially along interstate highways as we travel.

Is the other as large as that? It does seem to like the spot well.

When are you guys moving out to the ranch? Your retirement should be drawing near shouldn't it?

[markc]

Bill, believe it or not, there are 2 trees there, the 2nd is a little bit behind, but to the right of the bigger one.  No shaping.  I used a little miracle grow when i first planted them, but have only pruned off the very lowest of branches.  I planted them only about 28 inches a part, which is too close.  I've done that before, and one would think tat I would learn from that, but I never seem to.  LOL

Well, I retire from the city early February 2011.  SO I have just over a year to go, and will burn down a bit over 300 hrs of accumulated time before I go.  Then I enter what is called a phase down program.  So, I will begin to receive my pension check right away, + my other accumulated time at 1/2 pay until it is exhausted.  All the while the deferred retirement account will continue to gain interest.  This year it is down to 5% because of the economy.  Since I currently have 4,400 hrs on the books, I will basically earn pension + 1/2 pay for 5 years.  At that time I will begin to draw some interest each month to go along with the pension check. 

Before we can move to the ranch, we have to get electricity on our tract.  It is getting closer to our tract all the time, but still would cost us around 20K to have it run.  Teresa will never retire.  She will have her Ph.D. in about another year.  I will probably teach school part time after I retire. 

[Graybeard]

Faye pointed out to me that you had mentioned that was both of them. Some how I missed that point. For a screen along the property line I tend to plant them 5' to 6' apart but some times further. If I plant further I add another offset from them to front or rear in the middle.

You might want to look into producing your own electricity at the ranch. I suspect it would be cheaper than $20K by far. If it's windy enough you might look into a windmill perhaps in combination with solar panels and some batteries for storage. You could also add a diesel or LP generator for back up. I'd really like to go off grid with such but here the wind isn't dependable enough.

[markc]

We currently haul our generator each time we go.   I have checked into both wind and solar power a little bit, but would wait until we were ready to move and build to really decide.  Either way we will probably use some solar or wind no matter what, plus we will begin to collect water next spring as a part of our wildlife management program...