Preg checked another bunch today

[Dave]

Today we ran 146 cows through the chute. There was 23 opens. These cows were all bought as pairs out of Burns Oregon last spring. They included 60 first calvers. His brothers have a place leased about 10 miles or so south of here. They needed more cows to fill it up. These cows came in on trucks (about a 3 hour haul), unloaded, the calves all roped and branded, And then herded straight up hill through the cliffs. The neighbors said he always thought he owned the worse ranch in the world, then he ran cows over in Rye Valley. It is all straight up and down. He says it is a wonder any of the cows got bred. All of the opens looked like they were those first calvers.
Back in October when he weaned the calves off this bunch he told me the guy he bought them from told him they wean a 600 pound calf every year. I told him the guy didn't tell him a story. Heck I could see 4 or 5 calves that go 600 pounds.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I guess it doesn't make much difference how much their calves weighed last fall, they are going to weigh 0 this year. Yikes, thats 16% opens with a bull.

 

[Dave]

This is big big rugged ground. These cows came from the high desert so they were use to traveling to water and sparse grass. But it would be comparatively flat. I drove through the "valley" one time. It is pretty nice but once you get to the edge of it the country goes straight up. Walking up hill you could sunburn the roof of your mouth. Again it was the young cows that came back open.
This ranch that his brothers lease has got to be over 100,000 acres of deeded and BLM. The ranch owner is a investment banker from back east. He bought it to hunt deer on. Must be nice to have the money to buy a $10 mil ranch just to hunt deer. And season only ran for 12 days this year.

 

[True Grit Farms]

This is big big rugged ground. These cows came from the high desert so they were use to traveling to water and sparse grass. But it would be comparatively flat. I drove through the "valley" one time. It is pretty nice but once you get to the edge of it the country goes straight up. Walking up hill you could sunburn the roof of your mouth. Again it was the young cows that came back open.
This ranch that his brothers lease has got to be over 100,000 acres of deeded and BLM. The ranch owner is a investment banker from back east. He bought it to hunt deer on. Must be nice to have the money to buy a $10 mil ranch just to hunt deer. And season only ran for 12 days this year.

We get to kill 12 deer legally per year, if I only had 12 days of hunting per year I'd take fishing back up. Our deer season opened the second weekend of September and closes this Sunday.

 

[Dave]

This is big big rugged ground. These cows came from the high desert so they were use to traveling to water and sparse grass. But it would be comparatively flat. I drove through the "valley" one time. It is pretty nice but once you get to the edge of it the country goes straight up. Walking up hill you could sunburn the roof of your mouth. Again it was the young cows that came back open.
This ranch that his brothers lease has got to be over 100,000 acres of deeded and BLM. The ranch owner is a investment banker from back east. He bought it to hunt deer on. Must be nice to have the money to buy a $10 mil ranch just to hunt deer. And season only ran for 12 days this year.

We get to kill 12 deer legally per year, if I only had 12 days of hunting per year I'd take fishing back up. Our deer season opened the second weekend of September and closes this Sunday.

Here it is one buck and you have to draw a tag unless you own enough land to get a landowner preference tag. And the landowner preference tag is limited to hunting on your own land. And the next game unit north of here have a landowner preference doesn't guarantee a tag. A guy I know who lives just north of here owns 7,000 acres and didn't even get a tag to shoot one on his own property. But we do have some outstanding Mule deer. Washington is even tighter. Season for Mule Deer is 10 days and it is 3 point or better (western count). But the tags are over the counter.

 

[Dave]

This is big big rugged ground. These cows came from the high desert so they were use to traveling to water and sparse grass. But it would be comparatively flat. I drove through the "valley" one time. It is pretty nice but once you get to the edge of it the country goes straight up. Walking up hill you could sunburn the roof of your mouth. Again it was the young cows that came back open.
This ranch that his brothers lease has got to be over 100,000 acres of deeded and BLM. The ranch owner is a investment banker from back east. He bought it to hunt deer on. Must be nice to have the money to buy a $10 mil ranch just to hunt deer. And season only ran for 12 days this year.

We get to kill 12 deer legally per year, if I only had 12 days of hunting per year I'd take fishing back up. Our deer season opened the second weekend of September and closes this Sunday.

Here it is one buck and you have to draw a tag unless you own enough land to get a landowner preference tag. And the landowner preference tag is limited to hunting on your own land. And the next game unit north of here have a landowner preference doesn't guarantee a tag. A guy I know who lives just north of here owns 7,000 acres and didn't even get a tag to shoot one on his own property. But we do have some outstanding Mule deer. Washington is even tighter. Season for Mule Deer is 10 days and it is 3 point or better (western count). But the tags are over the counter.

I looked it up. There were 825 deer tags issued. There were 1,746 people who applied for this unit in 2017. For elk they split the unit in half. The North half gets a lot more tags at 770 bull tags but 1,162 people apply. The South gets less tags at 276 split into two different seasons but it is pretty much a 100% draw. Cow elk in the North they only give 11 tags with 119 people applying. The South they give 193 cow tags but only 120 people applied. Those cow elk seasons run for a couple months. The bull elk seasons are for about a week.

 

[True Grit Farms]

We get to kill 12 deer legally per year, if I only had 12 days of hunting per year I'd take fishing back up. Our deer season opened the second weekend of September and closes this Sunday.

Here it is one buck and you have to draw a tag unless you own enough land to get a landowner preference tag. And the landowner preference tag is limited to hunting on your own land. And the next game unit north of here have a landowner preference doesn't guarantee a tag. A guy I know who lives just north of here owns 7,000 acres and didn't even get a tag to shoot one on his own property. But we do have some outstanding Mule deer. Washington is even tighter. Season for Mule Deer is 10 days and it is 3 point or better (western count). But the tags are over the counter.

I looked it up. There were 825 deer tags issued. There were 1,746 people who applied for this unit in 2017. For elk they split the unit in half. The North half gets a lot more tags at 770 bull tags but 1,162 people apply. The South gets less tags at 276 split into two different seasons but it is pretty much a 100% draw. Cow elk in the North they only give 11 tags with 119 people applying. The South they give 193 cow tags but only 120 people applied. Those cow elk seasons run for a couple months. The bull elk seasons are for about a week.

Is the lack of game animals because of the cattle grazing the BML land? I know deer and cattle don't get along with one another very well.

 

[Dave]

The deer and cows don't seem to bother each other at all. They had a very tough winter here 2016-17. The reports say they figured that they lost 60% of the deer herd that winter. The game department cut tag numbers in half after that winter. There is no shortage of mountain lions and now wolves are beginning to move in. Of course that tough winter didn't affect their population. Cougars and wolves are shoot on sight.... well not the wolves ;-) . And to start with it is high desert with only 10 inch annual rainfall so there is a lot of space between any critters, deer or cows. The deer herd is rebuilding but it will take a few years.

 

[True Grit Farms]

The deer and cows don't seem to bother each other at all. They had a very tough winter here 2016-17. The reports say they figured that they lost 60% of the deer herd that winter. The game department cut tag numbers in half after that winter. There is no shortage of mountain lions and now wolves are beginning to move in. Of course that tough winter didn't affect their population. Cougars and wolves are shoot on sight.... well not the wolves ;-) . And to start with it is high desert with only 10 inch annual rainfall so there is a lot of space between any critters, deer or cows. The deer herd is rebuilding but it will take a few years.

Well our deer separate themselves from the cows in Florida and Georgia. I see no less than 20 deer every afternoon form the back porch right now. Come Monday the cows will be behind the house and we'll be lucky to see a couple of deer off the back porch. The deer will put up with cows, but they don't hang with the cows like hogs do.

 

[Dave]

The deer and cows don't seem to bother each other at all. They had a very tough winter here 2016-17. The reports say they figured that they lost 60% of the deer herd that winter. The game department cut tag numbers in half after that winter. There is no shortage of mountain lions and now wolves are beginning to move in. Of course that tough winter didn't affect their population. Cougars and wolves are shoot on sight.... well not the wolves ;-) . And to start with it is high desert with only 10 inch annual rainfall so there is a lot of space between any critters, deer or cows. The deer herd is rebuilding but it will take a few years.

Well our deer separate themselves from the cows in Florida and Georgia. I see no less than 20 deer every afternoon form the back porch right now. Come Monday the cows will be behind the house and we'll be lucky to see a couple of deer off the back porch. The deer will put up with cows, but they don't hang with the cows like hogs do.

The deer don't "hang with the cows". But this is big big country. I wasn't joking in earlier posts when I told of spending long days horseback riding for cows only to come back at the end of the day having not seen a cow. The 5,000 acre BLM allottment west of me has 160 cows on it in April 15 to October 31. Lots of room where the cows aren't.

 

[elkwc]

Here it is one buck and you have to draw a tag unless you own enough land to get a landowner preference tag. And the landowner preference tag is limited to hunting on your own land. And the next game unit north of here have a landowner preference doesn't guarantee a tag. A guy I know who lives just north of here owns 7,000 acres and didn't even get a tag to shoot one on his own property. But we do have some outstanding Mule deer. Washington is even tighter. Season for Mule Deer is 10 days and it is 3 point or better (western count). But the tags are over the counter.

I looked it up. There were 825 deer tags issued. There were 1,746 people who applied for this unit in 2017. For elk they split the unit in half. The North half gets a lot more tags at 770 bull tags but 1,162 people apply. The South gets less tags at 276 split into two different seasons but it is pretty much a 100% draw. Cow elk in the North they only give 11 tags with 119 people applying. The South they give 193 cow tags but only 120 people applied. Those cow elk seasons run for a couple months. The bull elk seasons are for about a week.

Is the lack of game animals because of the cattle grazing the BML land? I know deer and cattle don't get along with one another very well.

This statement is BS IMO. All my life deer have ran with cattle and the biggest bucks I've seen have been in cattle pastures. Every day we have deer grazing wheat with our cattle. They are scattered with the cattle. In NM they would eat cake in the winter in the same line with the cattle. Last year a trophy buck ate early every morning with our herd bulls.

 

[True Grit Farms]

I'm not guessing about the impact cows have on deer around here or in Florida. I see deer and cows every day, but rarely are they together. Out your way and Dave's I'll just have to take y'alls word for it for now. But you can bet I'll pay closer attention on my next trip out west. I have plenty of pictures of mule deer grazing in cow pastures in Colorado without any cows in the picture. But I also know bucks will coexist with hogs to some degree, but the doe and yearlings will move on.

 

[Supa Dexta]

Yeah deer and cattle are never together here. Which is good in my books. They may pass thru, but are never seen with the cattle. They'll be on the other side of the farm by themselves if seen at all.

 

[slick4591]

I don't think I've ever seen our deer hanging out with cows. Seen lots traveling thru but they don't stop.

 

[bird dog]

Last week the cows were on my oats patch. Beside them was a group of 4 or 6 whitetails. Besides them was a sounder with three sows and a dozen or so young ones. All seem content like they were meant to be there and happy to have something green.

 

[farmerjan]

We see deer and cows together all the time here. There were 2 BIG whitetail bucks on the farm up the road that stayed in with the cattle. One was 16 points and the other was like 12 or more. Heard that the owners son got the 12+ one. They graze in with the cattle all the time, I think it is like protection for them. Thank goodness we don't have feral hogs up here. But we see flocks of turkeys out with the cows all the time too. 5-25 at a time different fields. Especially see them on one dairy that is way up in the mountainous area... flocks of turkeys hanging out with the heifers at the silage carts getting the corn....

 

[76 Bar]

Leased place I had for 30 years had an enviable number of does and big bucks commonly intermingled with the cattle. Downsized to a small "retirement" farm a few years ago and would love to eliminate ALL of the 100 plus turkeys here. Especially the ones who roost on my porch.

 

[Silver]

Leased place I had for 30 years had an enviable number of does and big bucks commonly intermingled with the cattle. Downsized to a small "retirement" farm a few years ago and would love to eliminate ALL of the 100 plus turkeys here. Especially the ones who roost on my porch.

I'll trade ya an elk hunt for a turkey!

 

[True Grit Farms]

Leased place I had for 30 years had an enviable number of does and big bucks commonly intermingled with the cattle. Downsized to a small "retirement" farm a few years ago and would love to eliminate ALL of the 100 plus turkeys here. Especially the ones who roost on my porch.

I'll trade ya an elk hunt for a turkey!

Are you interested in shooting any Eastern turkeys?

Out the bathroom window.

 

[Silver]

Nice. Never taken a turkey of any kind. One of these days....