2015 Hunting Season Preview

2015 Hunting Season Preview

We have had yet another blessed spring and summer in Southeastern Wyoming and at the Cross C Ranch. The Front Range of the Rocky Mountains was punished early and often by summer rain storms and sometimes even large hail. We were granted with unrestricted irrigation water from an outstanding build up of snow in the Laramie Mountain Range.

With all the excellent summer rains, we had water running and seeping out of places that we have never seen. This unbridled moisture really benefited a country side that traditionally boats less than 15″ of annual rainfall. We were able to re-plant 2 of the last alfalfa fields that completes a fresh generation of superior gene alfalfa that surrounds our Bluegrass Creek Deer and Elk habit.

The Elk, Deer, Antelope and Cattle have all been able to benefit from this extra moisture and cool weather. We are sure to see evidence of this come fall.

The Deer herd on the Cross C Ranch appears to be flourishing. Both Mule Deer and Whitetail are getting sucked into the bottom lands and lush meadows all over the countryside. Even around their bedding areas, the brush can be seen as tall or taller than a mature buck, which will make this season all the more challenging and exciting!

This nocturnal buck not only would emerge in darkness, but also know just about the right place to stand to get blurry pictures. He likes one of the smaller river bottom alfalfa fields and has been frequenting the cameras. We can’t wait to see how this buck with the perfect frame turns out!

We are really excited for the Deer Hunting this season, and as such we have put together a little trailer on Youtube to show some of the great video and pictures of several different bucks on the ranch. Look for more Deer and Deer pics and video to come. Also please remember to follow us on Instagram ( @thecrosscranch ) and Twitter ( @CrossCRanch . )

Follow the link below to play the video…

Cross C Bucks – Trailer

The Elk on the ranch are as spread out and scattered as Elk in the late summertime can be. As of the week of August 22nd the wallows, although used for watering, have not been used for pre-rut activity. The Elk were just getting out of their velvet and even in the following shots, you can see only a couple of them were hard-horned. We have more Elk in the low lands and around our alfalfa meadows than ever before. We think this is attribute to the fresh alfalfa, but also the feed and the herd health in its entirety. The max preference points for Area 7 in Wyoming appears to be at 9 and going up as the need for quality big game hunting in the American West continues to be in demand. Although it is unbelievable to think of the number of points needed, we also become more and more amazed and the quantity and quality of bulls on the ranch! The Bull Elk stock is booming!

Look for a lot more Elk pictures and video to come as Bowseason starts and these Elk start lighting up the Rockies!