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Joined
Jul 28, 2013
Messages
3
Location
Bady TX
First post here goes...



I have a ranch in central Tx near Brady and its 76 acres, mostly thick great deer hunting up until the last year, My neighbor across the hwy from me is running a high fence across his 7000 acres and the guy to my left practices the "it its brown its down" style of hunting.



All I want is to continue to see the occasional 160 class buck that we have gotten used to but my neighbor literally shot approx 30 deer last year on his 35 acres, everyone else around is large acreage but this guy is just killing me.



I have just finished building a house on the property and really don't want to sell as it is pristine land with a nice pond and a active spring. I just don't know how many deer I could put on the place and still have it be fun. I already spend 3k a year on protein but all I am doing now is feeding Does and a couple of yearling bucks because the guy next to me literally kills any buck in sight, carries everyone he knows and has 4 blinds set on that small property.



I did think about selling and buying somewhere else but my wife loves the place, money is not the problem and if I was going to turn this into a private little place then I want some real nice deer in the longrun but don't just want a few, so I guess my question is whats an approx max load out for such a small place as mine and has it been done successfully?



Lastly, this is NOT going to be a business, just my little private place to get away.
 
If you are asking if you fence your 76 acres in high fence, could it be productive to your personal hunting, then I would say yes! You need water, supplemental feed,some forage, and cover. I have 40 acres here in pa that I made a clear cut for cover, I have a spring fed stream,supplemental protein, and small 1 acre fields, My 9 year old son shot a big nine pointer last year and missed a bigger one! I see deer everyday and I dont mean just my pen raised ones,LOL, Its amazing what Quality deer management can produce!! Good Luck!!!!





Scott Neeb

www.chanllowfarms.com

1-570-386-2468
 
Water is not as issue with a decent sized pond with well and a seperate spring on the property. Cover is no issue with 80 plus percent tree cover, mostly mesquite in the back 1/3 and live oak and elm throughout the property. Food is no issue as there is plenty of money for protein on top of what nature makes. Goal would be to run approx 30 head total average 1:1. Right now with the exception of a couple small clearings someone would be hard pressed to see more than 50 ft into the trees its pretty thick all around. Does that sound feasible ?
 
Sounds like a great idea to me. Make you a few food plots to hunt over and you will be good to go. It may take a few years to start seeing the quality of deer you desire but they will come with time and management.
 
Nick said:
Sounds like a great idea to me. Make you a few food plots to hunt over and you will be good to go. It may take a few years to start seeing the quality of deer you desire but they will come with time and management.



I agree!!!







Scott Neeb

www.chanllowfarms.com
 
I think you will be successful and will be able to grow some tremendous animals especially if you improve genetics at all. You will be shocked at how many does you will have to take a year because you will have an amazing fawn crop. If you look at what has been done on the Tecomate (I know different terrain and high protein bush species abound down south) you can maintain that with supplemental feeding and plots (they carried 1 deer per 3 acres for 3000 acre ranch). I think you are going to end up with a buck to doe ration closer to 3-4/1. The reason is you are gonna want to carry over several bucks in each age class till age 6. You will probably need 10 or fewer mature does as you will likely get a 150% survival rate on fawns and produce 7-10 bucks a year. Carry 6 per age class for 6 years = 36 bucks. You will be able to harvest 5-6 mature bucks a year off a small place. How exciting is that. Intensive management is actually easier on a place that size. My ranch is 250 acres in Atascosa and have seen a tremendous improvement in deer antler size and body size over last 6 years since I bought it and high fenced it. Let me know if I can help answer any questions



Jeff

MOJO-whitetails.com
 

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