Deer Farmer

adventuresranch

Hello Gary,* We don't breed in the ranch.* We did at the first preserve we had, I thought the extra breeding was nice, but I wanted to reduce some of the fighting and death loss from fighting, so I eliminated the does when I fenced and built the second ranch.* I also had the plan I have now and*decided I wanted to run the ranch the way I do.* I don't regret it at all.* It reduced the fighting, but the bucks act the same whether the does are there or not.


Our ranch is about the same size and is extremely thick, 2 streams that run through the ranch and meet in the middle.** Those consist of the thick tag alder and poplar bottoms.** Each year after season*I get the bucks out of the ranch and into a couple of holding areas that are attached to the ranch.* This allows me to feed them and rescore them the following fall.* By getting them out of the ranch I can usually also get a better gain in antler size by feeding what I need them to eat.* I never was able to get a good gain on size and many times the bucks would be smaller the following year.* This has done*well for me.*Getting the deer out of the preserve and into the holding areas is not an*easy task.* Matter of fact, I just got the last one in about 7:00 tonight.* He was a little smarter and didn't have a good feed pattern.* I have to double check for tracks after the next snow to make sure I have them all, but I am pretty sure this was the last one.* The other benefit for me with keeping all of the deer out of the ranch is I have no browsing during the year accept for during the hunting season.* Everything grows out very thick and makes for a great hunting area.* This is what I do.* I hope everyone wouldn't do just as me.** What works for some people will not work for everyone and it is good when everyone does things a little different to offer variety.


One last note for Reed or anyone else that is considering starting a ranch.* Under promise and over deliver!!* Keep everybody happy and learn how to market.* Marketing what you do is going to be the challenge.


I am going back out to Harrisburg,Pa this year.* Leave Wednesday. I haven't set up out there since 2010.* I have quite a few clients from that area of the country*that I need to come back out and see outside of hunting season.* If anyone lives in that area and wants to stop and talk deer, come and see me.* I am never sick of it.* *I am in booth 4923.*


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Thanks,


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Rick

rsander32

Thanks for all the advice guys keep it coming. Adventures ranch I would honestly do the same thing as far as no does in the preserve part of things. Otherwise I don't think I would ever get a chance to tag anything or know who's fawns where who's. Also thinking that I will keep my breeding herd separate premises from my hunting preserve so if I have to ever buy bucks (hopefully I have so many hunts I have to) they don't have to be tb or bc tested and it won't mess up my testing date's for the breeding side is things

IndependenceRanch

Reed, Adventure gave you some great info. He wasn't afraid to open up and give good advice. I would follow his lead.

Arrowed1

I will tell you from experience that if you try to operate as 2 premises , as long as your inventory that YOU control can go from one premis to the other you will have to test all your deer. It is very difficult to get deer out of a thickly wooded preserve . It is impossible to tag fawns in the preserve but you will soon learn that Minnesota BOAH will require that they all have tags. You will get to know your BOAH representative real well as you develop your preserve. That is probably why there are so few hunt preserves in Minnesota. Less than 10 I believe.

Wicked Whitetails

Adventuresranch are you darting these buck from stands our are you catching them in automated catch corrals like I have seen for hogs and residential deer overpopulations? Just handling my deer in my pens I couldn't imagine rounding up deer in hundreds of acres. Just curious as to how you round them up.

Arrowed1

Same question as wicked whitetails. I know we can't dart in the preserve as the risk of not finding the darted deer is very high , like 100%. Anxious to here how they are re capturing at adventures ranch.

adventuresranch

This is my second ranch.* When I built this one I built in an area for handling as I found that was very important for me.* I use this area for bringing deer in and holding them in for 7-10 days*to get acquinted and lower their stress from the change of being pulled from their environment before putting them in the ranch.* I use this same area to bring the deer back into after season is over.* It takes me about a 4-6 weeks to get them all back into this area, but I use their stomachs.* Luckily, we get good snow, which pushes them to eat the feed I give them.* I have a large area and 2 half acre areas on each side of it with gates going into each.* I leave all of the gates open with feed inside and get them to come and eat inside of the pens.* They get used to it, come and go.* I shut all but one*gate. *After a few weeks, they calm down and right at dark they flow in from the ranch.* I pick a real cold night or a night before the storm.* After most seem to be in, I shut the gate.* There are always quite a few stragglers.* That is the purpose of the 2 half acre pens.* I push all the deer out of each half acre area and into the bigger area.* Then I open up the 2 half acre pens, they are connected to each other and the big pen with gates.* I get the deer left to feed in these pens.* Then figure which gate they are using and then catch the last of them.* Sometimes 1 at a time.* I close them in the small pens, then open up the gates and push them into the big pen.* The big trick is to not start closing them in too soon. The first ones to find where to go every night bring the others with.* Takes a little time, I have 1 or 2 more to catch into the holding area, but I*haven't been around much to get the last ones in.** The other benefit for me is that I get the sheds as most lose them in the holding area.* Any that fall off in the ranch are usually real hard to find.* Anyone is always welcome to*come and visit.

jerrilee cave

What have any of you tried as far as nutrition in the preserve?? People in texas talk about protein feeders. Are they just feeding regular feed or are the amping up the protein in the feed? We feed a 16% in the preserve but that doesn't appear to be enough. *What are the rest of you doing?

Arrowed1

We are fortunate and have a great acorn crop to key on for a food source. When the acorns disappear we feed an 18% ADM pellet mixed with roast soy beans at around 30%. In January we start mixing in some corn. We keep around a 1:1 buck to doe ratio so our bucks seem to get really worked over. .during the fall. It is impossible to keep them from going backwards in body weight. Our 300lb plus deer are harvested end of September and early October. By early November we are averaging weights around 225lbs. We supplement with good alfalfa through the winter til May.

IndependenceRanch

People in general always key in on the protein level of their feed. This is an incorrect way to think. You have to think in terms of overall feed intake to the animal. My farm has always had great pastures. In summer they are lush with 3 different kinds of clover. Also other stuff growing in there as well. Most of what my deer eat off the ground has a protein level ranging from 25% to over 35%. Since this is obviously to high it is important to feed a pellet that brings the TOTAL intake down to a reasonable point. In a hunting preserve the growth available will most likely be lower in protein. Thus the pellet they get has to compensate for that.

TOM

Adventuresranch, sounds like a pretty neat system.*