This is how they start...

One can only wonder what this little guy will look like when he matures, that is if he makes it. But that is where lots of the enjoyment comes.

A favorite place to rub...

The game camera at this feeding trough got knocked sideways probably by a deer rubbing on the post that it is attached to.  Anyway it caught this action in just a six hour period.  I've read that besides leaving their sent and making their "mark" it also serves to build up their neck muscles for fights they get into.

Big ones starting to show up during daytime...

What's up?

Some bucks would rather fight...

Some of these old boys are just fighters.  I don't think this deer ever passes up a good scrap.  I call this one "Curly" he is seven and has slipped through the cracks.  He still rules at the feed troughs but sometimes crosses paths with another buck that will not back down.

Uncle Gus takes a fat buck from his Prickly Pear flat blind...

Eighty six years and still making neck shots!

Still hanging together, but not for long...

Some nice ones...

All of these deer are fat and ready for the fall rut.

Late evening arrivals

Here is a look back the other way...

Oat planting time...

Planting oats gives the deer something green to eat during the winter months.  These lanes, "senderos", cut through the brush provide clear paths to harvest some venison.

A buck with "Shiner" genetics.

This looks to be a buck that had Shiner, a deer from the past, for a sire.

Valentine Cactus

Ella's first "Coon".

Ella found this Racoon hidden under a boat next to one of the ponds at the ranch yesterday.  When I heard her barking and turned it over the fight began.  Ella loves her ranch time and now is getting quite a list of things she likes doing.... tracking deer, working cattle, treeing squirrels, and even finding downed doves last weekend.  She is some dog!

Scraping out...

 Just beginning the process of scraping out.

Here is the same deer the very next night.

A look back, game camera placed at a water trough.

In the cool of the evening...

Putting on weight in advance of the fall breeding season.

Javelinas eat the feed too...

Some have even figured out how to crawl up and into the troughs.

Buddies for now...

One of several different kinds...

Time to make a deer count...

I just started looking at this year's crop of deer.  We make an anual count each year to find out how many deer we will harvest.  It is a complicated task because the numbers must be as close to what the population is as possible.  Notice the competition for their supplemental feed.... not only other deer.

Turkey Gobblers

This is not a picture I took but I thought it was to nice not to share.

Indian Artifact

I'm not sure what this tool I recently found was used for.  I guess there are many possibilities and maybe many uses too.  If you have an idea share it.

I thought about my Dad all day yesterday.  I was so lucky to have him in my life.  He has been gone since 1975 and both of my kids were born after his passing.  Pictured he is holding me when I was about sixteen months old.  Love you Dad.

Lex, Kristi, and family

I copied this picture off of their blog.  It shows Lex, Kristi, Katelyn, Levi and newborn Kyler in a very happy moment in their lives.  Photo is by Caressa Inman who has a real talent for getting good pics.

Finally the rains came...

 

Now we have to go find some fish to restock.