Current News

Summer 2011

I had an invasion by a coyote female and her pups over the last month or so. They decided that inside Tarbone Ranch was a lot more attractive than the outside. They had proven to be pretty good diggers and produced several dig-ins. After plugging the holes several times, and after seeing the invaders several times, I placed several strategic traps, caught a couple and shot a couple more with my AR15 and finally got them taken care of. It turned out not to be such a great place to live after all, at least not for the howlers.

In spite of the horrific drought, my deer and elk are showing great promise for the upcoming hunting season. The bull elk are showing tremendous antler growth and are just about to top out. Looks like the best two of them will have 7X7 racks with great mass and tine length. I’m guessing they might make 340-350” by velvet shedding time. I’ve seen several elk calves as well.

Deer fawns are popping out all over the place too. The heat seems to keep them inside the forest cover most of the time, but their mothers are hitting the deer protein feeders on a regular basis keeping their body condition up to par.

Here’s hoping for a good early fall rainy season so I can re-establish several acres of food plots. Last fall was a bust and with the summer being bad too, it is pretty slim pickings except for the feed. I’m glad I don’t have to rely on farming success alone to produce antler growth.