ROCKY

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  BIG 7 RANCH THE STORY

  ABOUT BIG 7 RANCH
  BY ROCKY BURRUS (RANCH MANAGER)
  
  Big 7 ranch is a place made to hold deer. The whole idea started just 3 years ago when I got married and saw how much I enjoyed hunting with my wife. I had had the opportunity to hunt deer, ducks, and turkeys all my life. My wife and I started hunting together, this is where I soon realized our passion for the outdoors together. This soon became more of an obsession of mine. The obsession was to produce a place that every year would be exciting and filled with trophy potential that my wife and I could share together. Big 7 ranch was not exactly what it is today. In the best description I could give it would be to say it was a place deer could hide. In the beginning it was just tall sage grass and pines. With these there were thick thorns. It was full of great bedding areas and beautiful woods winding throughout the property. The property also had a swampy bottom land that winded through the center of the property. There are deep ditches that feed the swamp and provide the water needed in the heat of summer. The ranch is loaded with persimmon and white oak trees through out. The natural food was here and the water was here too. There was no lack of places to hide in the thick vegetation growing in the pine thickets that laced the swamp. This property has been a hunting ground of mine since I was 8 or 9 years old. The sight of horns on a deer meant get your gun back then. We all had those years if you had a chance to hunt as a young man like I did. Things have changed, I personally have seen the potential the property possesses. Now, with the knowledge of pro hunters today and years of hunting the property, I was going to attempt a management program.
  At first I wasnt sure which way to go or how I was going to afford the project at hand. First we had to find the deer and pattern their movements. We started by just staying back and hunting with minimal disturbance to the property. We did not take a deer this first year. Having hunted the property all my life, I had a pretty good idea of where and how the deer traveled the property. The only problem was that was almost ten years ago and this land has changed a great deal. The following year we hunted with more people and hunted harder. My wife began to really take interest in the sport of hunting these deer. This alone fueled my fire to find not only where the bucks lived but where the big bucks lived. This began my addiction to game cameras. The cameras were expensive to keep running between the batteries and the corn but the pay off was what I hoped for. We had found quite a few deer and some nice deer I might add. In year two, with the help of some eager guys that worked for me and the cameras, we harvested two mature bucks. One of the bucks was my wifes first buck ever, a nine point scoring 110 inches. The deer was about 3 years old and was a stranger to us. We had had four cameras out for the past four months and had multiple bucks on them but not this buck. This buck made lots of thoughts start running through my head, were did he come from?, how did I miss him?, and so on. We also had taken a larger bodied buck that scored 110 inches also. He was also a nine point buck that weighed 235 lbs and thought to be 3 also. This buck was known as typical 8 after viewing his multiple pictures we captured. These two bucks were all that were taken in the 2007 and 2008 season. This gave us the hope for the following season and proof that the deer were still using their same old patterns. We had also captured a buck we called split g a ten pointer who was starting a third main beam. This was the biggest buck on camera, a eleven point buck that carried a spread that was twenty inches wide. Sadly, the buck was shot on the property next to us and found by me. He was shot in the neck with an arrow during the second bow season. He scored in the mid 120s and traveled with a buck called big 7 this buck was also twenty inches wide but only 7 points. He was thought to be about 115 inches as a 3 year old deer. This buck would be the deer behind all of the next year work and a giant in the pictures to come.
  This was the proof I was looking for. The following year the work began. This was going to be the first piece of property I have ever started to manage. There were so many ideas with so little money to back them. The pictures were coming in by the thousands and the work was all starting to hit home. We had up to twelve cameras running now. Each camera was going through one bag of corn a week. The cameras were taking between 900 to 1200 pictures each week. This was getting pricy. The cost was running about 12$ a month per camera for batteries and 40$ per month per camera in corn. We havent even started on the plots yet and the money was seeming short. We averaged about 550$ a month while running cameras and corn and only had a couple people helping with cost. Then we started disking areas that we thought we might be able to grow food. We already knew that the deer called this home. The bad thing was that we also knew that they were venturing off of us to get food. We started cleaning out access roads, building stands, checking more cameras, moving cameras, re-disking plots, and checking soil phs. We had a lot to do and not much time, money, or help. We just pressed on. We disked the plot areas three times to prepare the soil. This was because we could not afford to lime and fertilize the fields. Luckily the good Lord blessed us with soil that did not need much help. This gave us the need to plant and plant fast. The time was winding down and we were having one of the wettest Falls I have ever witnessed. We were in the same boat as the farmers, the crops were not in and the frost was on its way. We, I mean I, began planting the plots all through the day and night. I had help for a few hours for a couple of days to ease the pains of riding the tractor 8 to 10 hours. I also did not have a spreader so I threw over 600 lbs of seed out one hand full at a time. This whole time we were also putting 6 to 10 bags of corn out in front of cameras once a week to see who we had to hunt this coming year. Once we had the clover, rye grass, and the winter wheat in we were excited and I was relieved. Bow season had already started and we had mud fields starting to grow.
  Hunting Big 7 Ranch began and the pressure of getting the food in the ground was off. We had tons and tons of loud turkeys that are all over the property. They were a concern of mine when putting the seed down. They only caused me to keep planting some wheat on the roads two to three times. This is a problem I can deal with. I love to turkey hunt and this ranch is covered in turkeys. They are a sight to see. There were not many stands hunted with put the encounters of the wild turkeys. We had tons of baby turkeys this year and pictures to prove it. The quality of deer had jumped up from last years pictures too. Last years pictures showed us three nice deer and only one of them pushing the 140 mark. This years turn out was far better, four deer in the 120s, a couple deer in the mid 130s to 140s, and even two deer pushing the 150s. The deer had seemed to have gained 15 to 20 points in one year of the program.
  The sightings began pouring in all season long. One of the deer listed to take out was a 7 pointer named toothpick about 16 inches wide and 3 years old. The deer had very short tines and may have scored 100 inches. He was shot during muzzleloader. This was the first management buck to be taken off the property since we began and the call was mine. When making a decision like that I thought it would be a no brainer. The thoughts you have after the deer is gone start pouring in. Was he a cull deer, did I make the right call, would he have been big next year? This was one decision that I cant take back and I still believe was a good one after a lot more thought. We also had two trophies taken later in the season. Both trophy deer we had pictures of and had been out to harvest them. This made the deer hunting have an awesome twist. We had plotted and planned how to take these deer out and it was amazing how we had no idea where they would show up next. One of the bucks thought to be about 140 inches was named Haus. He was an eight point about twenty one inches outside with 10 inch tines. He was missed in bow by me, seen in muzzleloader by me again, and I even harvested him later on opening day of gun season. The buck weighted 205lbs and was the only deer all year we had figured out. I was after this deer and everyone knew it. I picked the right days to enter his home and the right winds. The buck was hunted a total of 4 times and I had seen him 3 of the four times. We all believe this deer was a gift from the good Lord above for all the hard work put in this year.
  The other buck taken was well known and my wife was after this deer very hard. The deer was known as Big 7 and had shown up for two years on the cameras and been practically a ghost in the woods. He had jumped up from 115 inches to 135 inches in one year. He was started at 20 inches wide and now measured 23 inches wide outside and weighted 175 lbs. My wife had loved the idea of harvesting this buck and placing him on the wall back home. The thought was talked about on more than one occasion. My wife had loved the idea of her dad spending time with us and hunting the ranch also. The going joke was that he (BIG 7) was HERS and all the other deer were ok to be hunted. As funny as it seems, her dad shot the deer she was hunting so hard for. Big 7 was down after two years of pictures and lots of sleepless nights dreaming of taking the beast. He was now gone forever. This was a great deer and a ghost on the club for the four years of his life. The thought of someone else taking the deer never crossed our minds and it had just happened. I think her dad was the only one that could have done that and gotten away unharmed. This was the biggest deer taken off the ranch at the time and what a sight. My wife was a trooper. She was so proud to had seen her dad take such a great deer. This was her dads largest deer ever and he was pumped. After seeing what this deer did to everyone that saw him, I named the ranch BIG 7 RANCH.
  At the end of year three, the hunting has improved greatly. The quality of the deer harvested had jumped from the 110s to the mid and upper 130s. The only concern was that I was witnessing the deer sightings drop as the rut had ended and the winter set in. This was thought to be because of the lack of late winter food for the deer. The clover we had planted had become bitter and the wheat and rye were eaten. The upcoming years strategy had been planned out for us. We are planning to plant all winter wheat fields and rye grass fields with corn and beans. The thought of turnips was mentioned also. This coming years food and the usage of the wind to hide our presents should produce and hold bigger and better deer again next year. Planting the food for late season should entice the deer to stay and perhaps show themselves more often. With the bedding and the food that next year offers, it should be hard to beat the outcome of Big 7 ranch in the years ahead.
  This description of the Big 7 ranch and how the management plan began is meant to help you understand the reasoning behind the rules and the price to hunt our ranch. This hopefully will answer any questions of how and why we are planning to do the things we are doing. The deer in this area have wide genetics and tall tines. These deer are not going to carry out a lot of mass. This year we had our first nine point called curly that had the mass genetics we want. He also has a double white patch on his chest to mark him by. This deer is 2 years old and was seen 6 times this year. Luckily, we think he made it through. He was seen the last weekend of the season and looked very impressive. This deer was already 18 inches wide outside and came from a very small 5 point the year before. He is thought to be in the mid 130s next year at the age of 3 . This is a prime example of letting deer go and it working to our advantage. It will be hard to let him go another year. This age deer is the youngest we want to harvest on Big 7 ranch. We hope you can witness some of the great hunting and memories the Big 7 ranch provides this following year. Lots of studying and thought have gone into the management program and your input is welcome. This season to come is headed down the same path as last year. I predict the deer harvested next year will be in the 140s and 150s and hope to hold and pull in more quality bucks with the beans and greens mind set. We cant forget the attraction of corn to a worn down mature buck in the month of January. I know these are strong words but the deer should keep on growing and the quality of deer that have made it through are far better than the deer viewed in the past. I see nothing but bigger and better things to come in the following seasons.
  

  
   

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