Bill's Ranch, My new playground!

[VaderSpade]

I just reconnected with one on my dads old hunting buddies. Bill is 86 and owns a nice 2,200 acre ranch, and controls another 3,000 acres of landlocked BLM land. I have 8 trail cameras on the place now and will put more out when it warms up.

Bill says I can have the run of the place. The old guy loves hunting more than anyone I've ever met. Bill and Dad ran hounds in the 60's and 70's, and dad introduced him to the area.

It's great to see a man Bill's age with such a zest for life, nature, and hunting.

Bill also gets a few late season tags for the ranch that he can sell or give to whoever he wants. Some monster bucks have come from that ranch. I'll see if I can barrow some pictures from his albums and scan them in.

I killed my first buck on Bill's ranch when I was 13, the first picture here is a cat Bill and Dad got back in the 60's That's me holding up the cat's head. I was about 9 in that picture. Dad's in the middle Bill took the picture.


Dad quit hunting when his other hunting buddy Archie died at 43, and I lost touch with Bill.

Dad's been gone for about 5 years now, and Bill and his wife dropped in on Mom last year. Bill called Mom in November and told her to bring me out hunting.
Mom didn't understand he meant NOW as he had one of those late season tags that needed filled. We didn't get out to the ranch until December and Bill told us the tag expired Nov. 30th.

The good news is Bill and I hit it off and I'm going to help get the deer population on the ranch back up.

These pictures are from just two of the cameras in two weeks, a few cameras are snowed in and I can't get to them. (I know I didn't get all the dates set I'll work on that)

I plan to keep this thread going and adding picture whenever I get good ones to post. I'm looking forward to Getting some pictures of some nice bucks and watching their horns grow this coming season.

[VaderSpade]

[VaderSpade]

[pattro]

Nice trail pics

[dholla]

Those are some good bears!

[bombadillo]

I think you may have gotten a chupacabra in one of those pics. Great shots!

[MJB]

Sure have a few predators no pigs?

[180ls1]

Got enough predators on that ranch? Holy smokes.....

[VaderSpade]

No pigs?

Bill says the bear eat the pigs. Once he found the remains of a sow (pig) and it's piglets shortly after a bear had made short work of them.

Where you have large bear populations you have very few pigs.

Bill also has a theory about Mountain lions killing WAY more than 50 deer a year where you have large bear populations. He says the bear will learn to track the cats and steal their kills.

I've seen this first hand while hunting in the area. Over the years I have found lion kills covered by the cats planning on returning for another meal. In every case when I checked on the kills a day or two later a bear had found them and finished them off. Now the lion needs to make another kill.

I've heard of bear learning to come to gunshots during deer season because they learn there will be a meal waiting.

Back in the 70's some giant bucks were coming off of bill's place, he had hounds and kept the lions and bears in check. They outlawed lion hunting and the big buck population crashed. Now that we can't catch bear with hounds I foresee the deer population taking another huge hit as the extra bear continue to steal lion kills.

[VaderSpade]

Originally Posted by 180ls1

Got enough predators on that ranch? Holy smokes.....

I plan to thin out the ones we can legally thin out.

[vliberatore]

Very cool, thanks for sharing

[Manolito]

My name is Bill and your partner and I have one thing in common. Lions kill way more than 50 deer a year. Yes they probably only eat 50 a year but that is assuming they can return to a kill until it is completely consumed. Like you pointed out many animals make a living on the lions ability to kill deer especially during the fall and spring. People like you managing a plot of land are the ones that will make a difference in deer populations. Good job Sir.

Great trail cam pictures. Would be great if you could get enough detail to count the number of lions on the property keep an eye out for a torn ear or other identifying marks. We are way overpopulated in Lassen and Plumas national forests with lions and no way to legally do anything other than predation when they eat farm animals.

[VaderSpade]

I plan to have at least a dozen cameras on the ranch. I also plan to know every animal (deer, bear, and lions) by name before deer season.

My oldest son is an environmental scientist who has worked with F&G oops I mean F&W on a few projects. He's going to help.

We also have all the heavy equipment we need for clearing projects.

[VaderSpade]

Any feed or salt licks seen in these photos are there for the cattle. Any giant bucks stealing feed from the cows will be dealt with appropriately.

[Socalmedix]

Amazing pics!

Let me know if you need some help with the bear problems haha... Looks like you just hit the lottery sir...

[duckman1]

Very Nice! Not to thread jack....

I've been looking at Trail Cam's those are some great pictures both night and daylight what type of cameras are using? Are you using a solar recharger?

Thanks!

[VaderSpade]

I have cameras made by Stealth, Moultrie, Cuddeback, and Primos.

They ALL have problems.

My first Moultrie (5 years old) is my favorite but Moultries I have bought since then don't measure up.

Cuddyback is the worst, their trigger window is so small you just don't get many pictures.

[duckman1]

I've been reading the reviews and they all seem to have their quirks. Any advice on which to try first?

[VaderSpade]

Bushnell has the best reviews but they just look too cheap to me. I have 5 new cameras on Bill's place give me a couple weeks I may have some favorites.

[spectr17]

Great pics and thread. I'm running a few trail cams and they all seem to blur with motion in the night time IR pics. Lil Acorn, DC Covert and Simmons cams, all the black out IR versions. Right now I like the DC Covert Blackout 60, it records sounds too which is kewl many times unless a dayum peeper frog decides to set up right next to the cam. Never been real happy with my Moultrie cams, battery hogs and pics are meh. Haven't tried the Bushnells yet, that may be my next buy.

[bombadillo]

Originally Posted by Manolito

My name is Bill and your partner and I have one thing in common. Lions kill way more than 50 deer a year. Yes they probably only eat 50 a year but that is assuming they can return to a kill until it is completely consumed. Like you pointed out many animals make a living on the lions ability to kill deer especially during the fall and spring. People like you managing a plot of land are the ones that will make a difference in deer populations. Good job Sir.

Great trail cam pictures. Would be great if you could get enough detail to count the number of lions on the property keep an eye out for a torn ear or other identifying marks. We are way overpopulated in Lassen and Plumas national forests with lions and no way to legally do anything other than predation when they eat farm animals.

Wow, what is the point count on that monster?

[DeanW66]

Sounds like a great land-hookup! I'm uber-jealous! Have fun and please do continue to share!

Originally Posted by bombadillo

Wow, what is the point count on that monster?

Yeah, that is a STUD! My (bad) eyes count 7 left, 5 right. (my left and right, not the buck's).

[bombadillo]

Originally Posted by DeanW66

Sounds like a great land-hookup! I'm uber-jealous! Have fun and please do continue to share!



Yeah, that is a STUD! My (bad) eyes count 7 left, 5 right. (my left and right, not the buck's).

I got the same. Now just curious if we're both right.

[terdog]

Awesome. Like others have said, seems like a dream situation.

[dust feeder]

Congrats on the amazing opportunity. Those are some really cool pics! Can't do Anything about the lions but u should be able to make a dent in the Bear population. If your looking for some help around the ranch pm me. I'm a bit of a novice hunter and I'd be glad to help out. It'd be cool just to watch this project first hand and learn a little bi about land management

[ElToro]

jealous ! thats some nice looking land you can play on.

i would concentrate on making sure you have access after Bill goes to the hunting grounds in the sky. His heirs may not be as enthusiastic as he is.

[VaderSpade]

Originally Posted by ElToro

jealous ! thats some nice looking land you can play on.

i would concentrate on making sure you have access after Bill goes to the hunting grounds in the sky. His heirs may not be as enthusiastic as he is.

Bill has 3 brothers all still kicking. The oldest is 91 and in great shape, so I'm hoping Bill will hang around a while.
I also hope to work with Bill's son but he not in the area and I have no idea what he has in mind when Bill is gone. I did know his son when we were both kids but I'm 5 years younger and that's a lot when you're kids. I'm hoping we hit it off.

My oldest son is an environmental scientist with incredible mapping skills, Bill wants us to help him map everything for his son. Not just the property corners but irrigation valves, springs and other points of interest. I'll mark it all with a GPS and my son will make wall sized maps.
The Ranch (like most) is made up of 12 pieces of land from 80 - 700 acres. If Bill's son does want to sell at some point I'll try to pick up at least part of the ranch.

[chicoredneck]

Before you guys do any major work to the place, it would probably be worth your while to put in for the PLM program.

[VaderSpade]

[VaderSpade]

I have had two cameras at the upper end of the ranch for over a month that I haven't been able to get to.
Bill fired up the cat yesterday and we headed up. Four hours of plowing roads and clearing trees and we were still .39 miles from the cameras. I'm heading back to finish the job on Saturday.

[Sutterduckhunter]

Cool Pics! Thanks for sharing with us. It looks like a really neat property.

[lewdogg21]

Paradise...

Thanks for sharing.

[Motor Man]

Nice pics and what a beautiful area.

[zerohour714]

Love that pic from the 60's! Awesome!

[Manolito]

What elevations are you at. Looks an awful lot like my area at about 4to5K feet. Let us know about the trail cams. I have an older Remington that works well but is a battery eater and the lens gets ice crystals on it this time of year.

That 500 pound white face is just the right size.

[VaderSpade]

The ranch goes from about 1,200 feet to at least 3,500 feet. The top corner may be at 4,000?
We have just had more snow than usual this year.

[olhunter]

THESE are delicious.

Originally Posted by VaderSpade

[Diskrete]

Those pics look awesome! Thanks for sharing with us, would love to get a crack at some of those, never been ,but want to learn the ropes.

Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using Tapatalk 2

[mzhunter]

share the wealth take me hunting

[VaderSpade]

Pine Martin?