River Ranch Project

[Kurt]

Wife and I decided to buy some ground in Kansas to hunt on and have a place to camp. We found what we were looking for in our price range with this 80 acres about a 4.5 hour drive from home. Its close to Hays and I love the history of the area. Undoubtedly herds of buffalo and Plains Indians passed through the place years ago. It was largely settled by German-Russians in the 1880s.

Have started off hunting turkeys, killing yuccas and honey locusts. I'd rather be killing turkeys and hunting yuccas and locusts but presently dealing with the reverse situation. Seems like everyone has their own variety of invasive plants to contend with. Those initial forays have yielded sightings of numerous whitetails, turkeys, bobcat, wood ducks, mallards, coyotes, beaver, raccoons. Have also heard quail and rooster pheasants on adjacent properties.

Taking my inspiration from others on this forum, I am headed down the habitat improvement path. First up with be some fall food plots, followed by the planting of numerous oaks and hickories in the spring. Meeting with Ducks Unlimited in the near future to explore things that could be done to help area waterfowl.

Have Kanlow switchgrass seed but holding off till I can get the seed bed in shape. Cart before the horse on that one. Going to work on avoiding similar deals as we move forward.

Initial pic is an overview of the bottom looking towards the west. Have never seen the amount of deer tracks as are in the river bottom and timber. They seem to really travel this area well. Looking forward to cool Nov mornings this fall sitting and watching.



Will post more pics as I work there this year.

 

[Mennoniteman]

I love it! That river bottom looks like prime real estate for wildlife. How much of that bottomland do you own?

 

[KSQ2]

It has been pretty wet out west recently, do you know if the river holds water the majority of the time? I’ve spent some time out around Cedar Bluff Reservoir and wildlife area; it’s unique, rugged country out there for sure! I’ll be very interested to see how your habitat work goes, I’ve always wondered how much can be successfully done in western Kansas.

 

[Kurt]

I love it! That river bottom looks like prime real estate for wildlife. How much of that bottomland do you own?

I've got a half mile of both sides of the river. Its good cover surrounded by thousands of acres of crop land. I've got 25 or so acres of hay meadow to the south side of river. Looking at the food plots and oaks in that area.

 

[Kurt]

It has been pretty wet out west recently, do you know if the river holds water the majority of the time? I’ve spent some time out around Cedar Bluff Reservoir and wildlife area; it’s unique, rugged country out there for sure! I’ll be very interested to see how your habitat work goes, I’ve always wondered how much can be successfully done in western Kansas.

KS, yep we are downstream of Cedar Bluff of course. Last summer turned off a little dry late I heard. When I looked at property in Oct the stream had solid flow in it then. It got lower in early January but is flowing very well now. Was told it was rare to not have flow going.

I found about 8 walnut trees so far on the place. So something besides cottonwoods, cedars and locusts will grow apparently. Plan on planting a mix of hardwoods and will only be able to water them about monthly so hoping they can have the benefit of some rain along the way. My biggest habitat goal at present is getting a few stands of Kanlow switchgrass established. Seen a ton of deer in switch while pheasant hunting so hoping they will like it here if I can get it growing.

 

[buckdeer1]

Welcome to Kansas,some pretty country

 

[gut_pile]

Looks like a beautiful place

 

[George]

Looks like a fun spot, good luck.

G

 

[Mennoniteman]

KS, yep we are downstream of Cedar Bluff of course. Last summer turned off a little dry late I heard. When I looked at property in Oct the stream had solid flow in it then. It got lower in early January but is flowing very well now. Was told it was rare to not have flow going.

I found about 8 walnut trees so far on the place. So something besides cottonwoods, cedars and locusts will grow apparently. Plan on planting a mix of hardwoods and will only be able to water them about monthly so hoping they can have the benefit of some rain along the way. My biggest habitat goal at present is getting a few stands of Kanlow switchgrass established. Seen a ton of deer in switch while pheasant hunting so hoping they will like it here if I can get it growing.

FYI, black walnut trees can kill other trees if you plant them too close, because of a chemical called jugalone. (Plus, the value of walnut trees is super high right now)

 

[Kurt]

Just got done with a few days of spraying yuccas, cutting cedars, and chatting with turkeys. Was real pleased to meet another of the neighboring landowners. I've met 3 of the owners on 3 sides now. I really enjoy these guys out there in Hays, Kansas a lot. Have gotten to sit around a campfire actually and have a couple beers already. Super people in this part of the country. This will be the last update for a while as I won't head back till after Memorial Day at this point.

First good news is that the landowner adjacent to me on the south side is planting 80 acres of irrigated soybeans. So can't say that is bad news lol. Also met with Ducks Unlimited and the Kansas Wildlife folks on the place. We have some ideas for improving the duck habitat and I am looking forward to seeing their plans soon.


This is tedious as every yucca swirl has to be sprayed. Some of those clumps have up to 12 yucca swirls in them. The blue dye helps keep things manageable.

If I posted these in correct order, this one will show yuccas treated a week ago on right of fence and yuccas just treated on left side. This shot will be a frame of reference for progress. Goal is to kill this area dead, burn it, glyphosate, plant switch test plot here.

This is just a river shot. It does show the elevation gain on north side of the river. Depending on wind direction, I may be sitting on that bluff some in back left.

Doesn't look like much, but each of these piles was 10-12 cedars. Think I ended up with 7 piles so far. Trying to keep them from growing in the field area.

Lastly, this 20' tall lone cedar is above the river about 100 yards. I was going to cut it down but started looking at what I could see from there and the prevailing wind direction, decide to spare it. Actually with some more trimming, this will provide a great spot for a rifle stand. Going to cut a wide lane all the way to the river and maybe beyond for it.

Hopefully I got the right pics with the right comments. It will be fun to see what this ground does with no cattle grazing it. Hoping for a more robust native grass stand with good rain this year. Honey locusts remain on the radar for more fun later this year as well.

 

[bearcat]

Congrats on the new place. I’m miss hunting up there. I was a ways north of you, but it’s a great state with great people. I look forward to tagging along on your journey


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[Mennoniteman]

1/2 mile of river bottom land at a reasonable price is a rare find. Judging by the blue dye you know a thing or two about land management. I enjoyed the pictures.

 

[Kurt]

Well I am learning on the go, but started messing around with prairie grasses about 6 years ago. Thinking I'll learn a lot on this place.

 

[Native Hunter]

I love the looks of that river. Congratulations on your land.

 

[Kurt]

Last weekend was a work weekend on the place. Checked out the yuccas that got sprayed in April. Had better than a 95% kill for sure. Was able to walk that thicket quickly and mop up survivors. Then hit two new areas pretty hard. Cut out some more young cedars in a spot for throw and mow.

Saw quail, one fawn, a few does, small buck, and some fresh turkey tracks. Really a nice weekend though a bit hot. Headed back soon to install a steel gated entrance and more yucca spraying. Very encouraging though to see green grass growing up and around the dead yuccas. Figure I'll let that go till March and do a burn to eliminate the yuccas from where the switchgrass planting is going in.

In the meantime, trying to decide how many of my cottonwoods need to be relieved from cedar pressure. This one was completely surrounded by 20' tall cedars. Chainsawed them down and drug off with the truck. Really like the cottonwoods but obviously need some cedars too for winter deer cover.




Here is an example of the cedar thickets around the cottonwoods. Need to really study up on what I cut and what I leave. Feel like they have to be competing with the cottonwoods and perhaps turkeys would tend to roost better in cottonwoods that were not surrounded by cedars? Thought welcomed in regards to this.

 

[buckdeer1]

That might be true, some of those would make good ground blinds at the base of those cottonwoods.Crazy how much difference 5 hrs across the state can make

 

[BenAllgood]

Beautiful place! I've heard cottonwoods are extremely important for turkeys out there and having open ground beneath them for fly up and fly down are essential. And, I would think anything you could do for turkeys and quail would benefit deer. Congratulations!

 

[gut_pile]

And, I would think anything you could do for turkeys and quail would benefit deer

Hard to find a place with great turkey and quail populations, that doesn't also have a great deer population

 

[Kurt]

Sounds like I may need to sharpen the chainsaw blades again lol. It'll take me a whlle on the cedar work, one man band has to pace himself. But it'll get done.

 

[Kurt]

Finally got around to getting soil samples this week. Sent those off to K-State for analysis. Hoping for good news on PH. Will know in a few weeks. Checked trail cameras and wondered around a little on the north side of place away from any bedding locations. Trimmed up a spot for camping this fall while hunting. Found my first ever KS sharks tooth and liking the look of a few of the bucks on camera.



Doing throw and mow in August but pretty sure my grass is too thick this year. Early rains jump started it and with no grazing its pretty tall and thick. Guess we'll see soon.