Indian Creek Bowhunting Journal – Episode 2
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Indian Creek Bowhunting Journal – Episode 1
Time to submit your 1-d-1 for 2011
Dear ICR Landowners,
I hope you have all had a safe and successful hunting season. If you haven’t already, please submit your harvest information to Randy Wood. This information is extremely useful in our overall Management Plan for the ranch. You can also send the information to me and I will make sure Randy gets it.
As an Edwards County landowner, you should have received by now a letter from the Edwards County Appraisal District (ECAD)on the requirement to submit your Annual 1-D-1 Wildlife Report form to them by January 31, 2012. In addition to the report, they are requesting “supporting documentation of the management practices you have used over the last year.” Failure to submit the report could cause denial of the special valuation.
The guidelines they will use to assess the annual reports are available on the following website (provided by ECAD):Http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/landwater/land/private/agricultural_land/ (click on the Edwards County and Cross Timbers &Prairies region)
Appendix A contains the Guidelines they will use, and Appendix U contains the Wildlife Management Plan and 1-D-1 Annual Report forms.
As in years past, documentation is the key to success when you are submitting your annual report.
Best Regards,
Mike Hoffman
President
Indian Creek Landowners Association
Landowners Meeting – October 1st
We would like to remind you about the annual landowners meeting on October 1, 2011 (first day of Archery Season) 11am-2pm at the Airstrip.
Article: Texas drought will harm wildlife habitat for years
Today the Associated Press published an article entitled, “Texas drought will harm wildlife habitat for years”.
As the state struggles with the worst one-year drought in its history, entire ecosystems, from the smallest insects to the largest predators, are struggling for survival. The foundations of their habitats – rivers, springs, creeks, streams and lakes – have turned into dry sand, wet mud, trickling springs or, in the best case, large puddles.
“It has a compound effect on a multitude of species and organisms and habitat types because of the way that it’s chained and linked together,” said Jeff Bonner, a wildlife biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
There have been reports in Edwards County of doe abandoning their fawns due to lack of food and water. It’s very important for land owners at Indian Creek to make sure that their water toughs are working and that you are putting out the necessary feed to help protect the wildlife of Indian Creek Ranch.
Read the entire article HERE
Reminder: Association Annual Meeting – October 2 – 11am
Dear Indian Creek landowners,
This is just a reminder that our Annual Meeting will be October 2, 2010 at the airstrip starting at 11am (till roughly 2pm).
As we have done in the past, this will be a potluck event so bring your favorite dish and beverage. The Association will provide cooked meat (Brisket and hamburgers) as well as condiments. The grill will also be started at 10:30 in case you want to bring your own meat.
We have invited the following guest speakers, however not all of them have confirmed that they will be able to attend.
Ryan Smidt (Texas Parks Wildlife Department)
Scott Holly (local Game Warden)
Sylvestre Sorola (Wildlife Biologist)
Air Evac Life Team (Emergency Evacuation Team)
Our Agenda for the meeting will include the following:
Landowner Tags
Caliche Pits
Association wide WMP
Gate Combo Change
Census Results/ Harvest Recommendation
Elk situation
Financial report
If you have any questions or think of another issue that you feel should be discussed please contact me.
See you October 2 !!!
Mike Hoffman
ICR Association President
The legendary 3 legged buck
You never know what you may find on your game camera at Indian Creek Ranch!
Book: The Whitetail Deer Hunters Almanac by John Weiss
At Half Price books, found an interesting book this week called “The Whitetail Deer Hunters Almanac” by John Weiss.
The book is packed with over 800 no nonsense tips and tricks that will help hunters of all experience levels.
From the book description:
Here are more than 800 tips and tactics that can help any hunter be more successful.
THE WHITETAIL DEER HUNTER’S ALMANAC, is an easy-to-read reference and guide, loaded with helpful illustrations and photographs, that can help any deer hunter¾from beginner to expert¾take a buck this coming season. Written in a simple manner, the ALMANAC is just the type of book that hunters need¾packed with tips and tidbits that the author has picked up over a lifetime of hunting whitetails. Opening-day tactics, tips for hunting in cold weather, how to still hunt effectively, where to place tree-stands, suggestions for black-powder hunting, how to take whitetails in croplands, how to call and rattle¾it’s all here, along with much more.
From the Back Cover
By all accounts, the whitetail deer is the wiliest big game animal in North America, if not the world. To achieve trophy status, a buck has to make it through an adolescence fraught with dangers. He learns to survive any way he can: by becoming a nocturnal creature during hunting seasons, by bedding in areas where he can detect approaching predators and avoid them, by feeding on browse or fruits that give him the most nutrition for maximum growth, and by using all of his senses – in particular, his keen senses of smell and eyesight. Today, there are more than 25 million whitetails in the United States alone. They have proven to be an incredibly adaptable creature, learning how to live quite well in proximity to mankind. Just because there are so many deer doesn’t mean it is easy to hunt them, however. In fact, statistics generally show that only one in ten hunters is successful each year – despite light-gathering optics, rifles with more power and more punch, camouflage clothing that lets a hunter truly blend in with his surroundings – everything that technology has to offer. To take a whitetail deer, and especially a good-sized whitetail buck, a hunter must be woods smart. He has to know his quarry, know its habits, know the terrain it lives in, plus know how to use his weapon of choice efficiently and effectively. This book is aimed at the hunter who wants to succeed consistently. Loaded with an incredible array of tips, tactics, woods craft, and lore, the Almanac will make you a better woodsman, and a better hunter. It will enable you to hunt areas where you have a good chance of seeing deer, where you won’t, as legendary deer hunter Larry Koller observes, be a watcher of barren ground. (71/4 X 91/2, 284 pages, color photos, b&w photos, diagrams)
The book is out of print but you can get used copies on Amazon.com for around $2.
Presidents Update – June 2009
Good news and bad. The Phase I pressure pump has been replaced and that well is now back in service. On the bad side, a large pressure tank has failed at the central pumping station – it will take almost 2 weeks to get it repaired. All of Phase III will be out of service, with some residents in Phases II, IV, and VI also impacted. This will be a very expensive repair (at least $3,000) and could impact some of the road work we planned to do this year.
On another note, we have had no nominees for Indian Creek Board positions. Although Robert Lenz has agreed to stay on as Treasurer, we do need someone to serve as President and Vice President. Although some folks have asked me to stay on, I simply won’t have the time this next year as we work to close Brooks Air Force Base here in San Antonio. I will be more than willing, however, to work with anyone who is willing to serve. I also don’t mind maintaining the address list for the Association.
Please let me know if you are interested in running. Thanks for your help!
Bill Wilson
President
The Owners Association at Indian Creek
Preventing Oak Wilt at Indian Creek Ranch
Over the past year, I’ve watched the steady progression of Oak Wilt as it decimates ranches across the hill country. My friend Rolf Smith is just beginning to see it on his ranch in Fredericksburg, but from what I’ve seen in my drives to Rocksprings, it’s much worse just west of F’burg.
I occurs to me that as we move into the cooler months, some of our members might be inclined to buy firewood from grocery stores or from road-side vendors & thereby potentially transport the fungus or the beetles to ICR.
As a preventative measure, it might be a good idea to post a note on this topic, and to request that our members do NOT bring wood (particularly wood with the bark still attached) onto the ranch. We may not be able to prevent Oak Wilt, but we can cut off as many avenues for infestation as possible.
– Dan Himmerich