Turtle Sanctuary

Lucky the Box Turtle (probably a preteen due to his small stature and attitude)


I'm trying to redeem myself for killing the fawn last week and figure the more turtles I save from being run over by the local rednecks, the deeper my redemption. I'm thinking it will take about 25 box turtles to make up for one fawn. I have saved 7 from roadkill in the last week.

Turtle Eggs 

Found these turtle eggs as I was spraying for Sericea this afternoon.

Hybrid Striped Bass stocking

I drove to Gainsville Texas today and picked up 144 (all they had) of 6-8" Hybrid Striped Bass. These are a cross between Stripers and Sand Bass. I put 100 in the Big Muddy and 44 in the Front Pond. 

Brad from Pond King Hatchery counting my fish

HSB or Wiper 


With proper feeding these little guys should gain 1 to 1.5 pounds per year, so in a couple years we should be able to catch 3 pound stripers that pound for pound fight harder and taste better than Largemouth Bass.

Some old hippy mixing the water to get the temperature correct before releasing the fish 

More Exotic Flowers

Yucca I presume

Prickly Pear Cactus

Ranch Record Keeping: RU 2%

      Sprayed 2% Roundup (4 quarts per 50 gallons)

Also sprayed 25 gallons Pastureguard on Sericea

Oh Yeah, you get what you pay for

                                         Stihl Farm Boss 290


Well its not a new sports car, but it does run like one. My Husquavarna that was only 2 years old crapped out on me, so it was time for an upgrade. The name Husquavarna has a nice european ring to it, doesn't it. Like it is made in Germany or Switzerland by technically proficient engineers and might be a quality product. Well don't let that name fool you, its made by Husky which is the same company that sells junk to Home Depot and Lowes. Good Riddance.


My new Stihl chainsaw (yes the one the professional loggers use and the Mercendes Benz of chain saws) cuts through an oak like a hot knife through butter. Its a night and day difference from the Husky.


Thanks to Kelly for encouraging me to bite the bullet and get the best, something I'm becoming more and more inclined to do since sometimes trying to save a buck and buy an inferior product ends up costing you more in the long run anyway. Plus thats the pitch I use on clients.

Plotsaver

                                 Cowpeas and Beans


Cowpeas and beans that I planted last week are starting to come up quite well, however these species are susceptible (yes I had to look up the correct spelling) to early grazing. If the initial 2 leaf plant is browsed too early by deer it will not recover and will die. So whats a poor farmer to do you ask?

Plotsaver Deer Management System

Messina Products makes something called Plotsaver, which is basically a length of heavy duty ribbon that you surround the area you want deer to avoid and spray on a solution made of putrified eggs. My research does show that this can be highly effective for up to 100 days which will give the plants plenty of time to grow enough to allow heavy grazing pressure.

Soil Testing

                                                                       Soil Probe
Borrowed a soil probe from OSU extension to do soil test for future wildlife food plots. The test will help me determine the right fertilizer to use for the specific plants I will be growing.

                                                       Bagged & labeled soil samples
Each potential plot is labeled and I take 3-6 samples in an x pattern across the area to be planted. I tested 8 different areas.

Its an Okie Hoedown

Click on Link Below

Okie Hoedown

Precious and Princess

We had the grandkids for the weekend and it was very fun.

Anna will pick up ANY bug

Emma with Fireflies and Anna with Moth

Anna and Cupcake

Pumpkin

Chandler on top of Mule trimming trees along perimeter

Snake I found in the shop

Papa's little Princess

Little Sister and Big Brother

Breakfast on the Patio

Breakfast on the Patio

Who dresses these kids?

Emma and Gary

Emma feeding horses

On a Nature Walk with Papa

Tragic Accident

I had a very sad and unfortunate accident happen today after the kids and Merritt had gone back home.
I was bush hogging for future food plots, specifically  to help nursing does during the hot dry late summer stress period. Sadly I ran over a very small newborn fawn with the tractor and mower and killed it.
I am heartbroken over it and will be much more careful while mowing during the fawning season.

Fawns instinctively remain motionless and are taught by their moms not to move under any circumstance.
They actually don't even have any scent during their first few weeks and with their spots are hard to spot by predators. Thanks goodness the girls were not here to witness this sad event.

Ranch Record Keeping (Boring......)

Bush Hogged today for future round up application and food plots

Misc New Plants

Spider Wart (Thank you Lindy)

Trip to Ron Dansbys

Ron's Hay Pasture

My neighbor to the south has 380 acres of pasture and woods and being the nice guy that he is,  invited me to explore anytime I wanted. I actually asked if I could ride his perimeter during hunting season to try and keep the poachers off of his place, cause we share the same wildlife.

Flooded Creek on Rons West Fence Line

Skeleton of Grey Fox

Effects of 4.5 inches of Rain overnight

Road Erosion 

Road Erosion

There are 3 rules for keeping your roads in good shape. They are as follows:

1. KEEP THE WATER OFF THE ROAD
2. KEEP THE WATER OFF THE ROAD
3. KEEP THE WATER OFF THE ROAD.

I'm having a dirt contractor come out within the next couple weeks with a dozer and a road grater to put in Bar Ditches and Water Diversion Dams on my roads. This will hopefully keep my soil from washing away. These roads have been in bad condition since I've had the ranch but have gotten steadily worse from all the heavy rain we have had. 

10 acres lake across the road 

Leader Creek that runs for about 1/4 of a mile through the NW corner of the GBR

Bailey rushes ahead and then waits for us, as always

Bailey rushes ahead and then waits for us, as always

I had just mowed the perimeter and interior roads.

Women on Horses and Post Comments

Now that I have your attention:

I'm sure there are some that would like to correct my grammer, so here is your change. I have opened up the comment section so fire away.

You might have to open a gmail account but that will take about 30 seconds.

Tornado Alley

                              Tornado Warning for Ada & Stonewall

Its the red and orange cell on the very bottom of the tornado watch area that I have pictures of below and that spawned a tornado about 20 miles west of here last night. Pink dot is ranch location.

Sundowner Sports Arena Damage

Sundowner Sports Arena Damage

Sundowner Sports Arena Damage

This was a Rodeo arena that was damaged last Monday near Coleman Ok, about 30 miles south of the ranch. We had never seen actual tornado damage and it was amazing and scary to see what kind of damage can be done to steel I beams. The arena itself was a total loss. 

Storm approaching that spawned Tornado 20 miles West of Ghost Buck Ranch

Late Evening Sky before Storm that left 4.5 inches of rain

I am up here by myself this week and as I was watching the weather channel last night I was preparing the storm cellar for occupancy. I got my weather radio, water, a chair, flashlight, candles and phone. Came very close to getting myself and the dogs in, but ended up with just some strong winds, hail and lots of heavy rain. Three major storms throughout the night, so very little sleep, what with constantly hearing the weather radio warnings and monitoring the radar.