Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey everybody, I just wanted to say welcome to a piece of history. This is the first time ever in the universe that a podcast has been recorded on an iPhone in central Texas on March 3rd 2024, with myself and Matthew Mitchell. So maybe it's not the first one ever, but guess what? This is the first time that I've ever done it. Every other time I've had professional mics or headsets or whatever, and this time we just threw it down, hit the voice notes, record and letter it.

Speaker 1: 0:51

It's the culmination of a conversation that we've been having about what the ranch means to us, Talking about all these great organizations and associations that we're a part of, all the educational materials we've used to really take the ranch to the next level. Talking about the NRCS agents that come out and programs like CRP that we're a part of as landowners here in Texas and all the things that we're doing to best benefit the wildlife and habitat for them. So this is a kind of just sitting around a picnic bench talking, hanging out by the campfire and throwing down an iPhone and hitting record. So here's what you got about 30 minutes of Matthew Mitchell and I you know a frequent co-host just talking about the ranch. Hope you guys enjoy and thanks for listening to the podcast. Take care.

Speaker 1: 1:42

Welcome back to the Son of a Blitz podcast. I am your host, George Blitz, and I'm joined today with Matthew Mitchell and we are sitting here picnic side at the ranch Just did a nice drive around and just feels so good to be here, kind of setting up for turkey season. And I just wanted to ask you, Matt, just getting straight to the point of this thing that's been on my mind today as we've been driving around, what this place means to me and I want to ask you what does this ranch mean to you?

Speaker 2: 2:14

Well, it means a whole lot to me. It touches me on my soul, at my heart. A because you've opened up the ranch to allow for me to come here and do work and play and hunt and, you know, when the family's around we can have teaching moments to kids. So, even though it's not anything that I own ownership is only documents and paperwork. So you know, on some level, you know at the, at the core, I feel like I have a sense of ownership out here. I want to see the place get better, I want to work on it, I want to continue and enjoy it, and that's what it means the most to me.

Speaker 1: 2:56

That's amazing, man. I I really like that idea of that kind of joint ownership. You know, we've talked with our friend Doug Durin and his program sharing the land and getting landowners, land access seekers together and working on the property. This season we had something that was just, you know, we had something that was just, you know, I think part of that ethos of just trying to collectively do stuff to leave the land better for future generations and I obviously think about that and legacy and heritage and having my grandfather, my father, being owner of this place myself and who I plan to pass this on to with my daughters and what they'll do with it, and it's a lot to think about. And it's been so cool this season seeing people who, like our buddy John, come out here and he's worked for the last year and then took his first deer, had another kiddo whose friend, the family, took his first deer, and then a cousin-in-law who ended up taking his first deer, a monster buck, the best buck here this year and that was just a really cool thing to see People who have worked on the property and whether it's their themselves or children of them or nephew's grandchildren, everyone who's playing a part around here gets to see them and their family and their legacy continue on this way of life that we love and enjoy so much. So it's really cool to hear your perspective on it and I echo all those things and glad to have you here being a part of all this and kind of continuing to see our daughters grow and enjoy it and enjoy the bounties of it.

Speaker 1: 4:40

One cool thing about this land, and any land I encourage anybody, even if they're out there and they don't own anything, going out to your local public land. There's a lot of cool experiences out there to explore nature, wildlife, become one with it. Not just have it be something that you have a subject matter and you say these words, but kind of living in it. And I think about, like, how we got dewberries that are about to be here, you know, and I'm sure we'll go out there and check them in the daylight tomorrow and see, you know, they're budding up, probably your flowering right now. A lot of good growth, a lot of really good rain recently. So one of the plans that we have is we mow around all the dewberry patches so that we can get to them easier, because it's like they'll grow. There's some patches that are like man. What 30 feet across? Oh yeah there.

Speaker 2: 5:30

you have to really walk them in there to get dewberries and, like there's always hidden treasures because they're so big you can't see it from where you're driving around.

Speaker 1: 5:39

And there's all the hidden snakes potentially. I've come across some copperheads in the mix. So you know you got to be wearing your snake boots and being careful. We take golf clubs with us and old golf clubs. Trust the old nine iron and check where that is ahead of us. So if anybody you ever see someone throwing away some golf clubs, you're out there in the woods, man, you're doing some foraging. It's a good thing to take around with you Nice little walk and stick, help you out there in case you see any. You know no shoulders out there.

Speaker 1: 6:03

But that's something that we have, you know, been cognizant of two different times of the year of. You know we're going out there in July when we're in August for Mustang grapes A lot of really cool Mustang grapes out here, and we've made our own jellies and jams and stuff, and one day we'll try out some wine. But that's, that's further down the road. You've got to pick a little bit more. So we've been enough. We've seen some green onion recently. Yeah, man, we took two of those home at, you know, you and Colin Suggeston, and I think I got there. You know they haven't produced more, but they are alive and kicking. Next to some leaks. We got some leaks. We're making some ham leak soup, and so I just took the bottoms of them and planted them, and now I've got leaks growing in the backyard. And I've done the same thing with chives and, yeah, onions, obviously taking them from here, but that's something I always suggest people do, man.

Speaker 2: 7:01

You know, we don't ever have to order those in store anymore. Yeah, I mean we have a good friend where we live. You know, away from the ranch here in the city that they go for it. I mean they forage the creeks and the bayous, you know, for grapes or onions or whatever, and you know there's always opportunities to find something out there, even if you're in the city.

Speaker 1: 7:27

Yeah, for sure, I mean, and that's something that you can enjoy that year round and if you're hunting, you know, and you're able to kind of couple those things together and get some recipes there's a lot of really cool ones that you know. Having some of your own ingredients that you can bring to the table that you've foraged, I think makes it another level of connectivity to your meals. And you know, obviously we're always connected to whatever we harvest off the ranches and you know, and we're, you know, thinking about that and that hunt and everything that led up to it and all the work on the ranch and then getting to share that bounty with our family and our friends and being able to pass on that way of life with some really tasty meals. You know I'm very excited to be pulling out the turkey book, jesse Griffith's turkey book. That thing is amazing in and of itself.

Speaker 1: 8:14

Man and I've cooked the fried turkey, which he says is his birthday meal and death row meal, and that is, I mean, it's for a reason. That is the first one I'd tell people to go to If you're just trying to go, something that you know everyone will enjoy with your family. It is delicious. You know, brining the turkey is something I never did before, and maybe that's just kind of where I'm, you know, green in that way that I've cooked it a lot of different ways, but I never have brined them, and that really made a difference. And so there's cool, brian, he has in there for turkey's fall type. I've brined all my hogs since too. I've learned about that in the hog book and that's a really cool recipe.

Speaker 2: 8:57

And I just love how, around the door stuff of turkey season yes.

Speaker 1: 9:00

Oh man, we're seeing them on camera everywhere, folks. It's like it is really amazing. We've got, at least I think, four or five really big mature goblers and there's a bunch of young ins to run around there as well, a bunch of jakes. But I'm excited for you know, getting that you can kind of say they are sure out in the ball right now. They really are and they're covering all sorts of distance. Man, it's really interesting to you know. We'll see them in the fall, but not as much as like this time of year. They're showing up everywhere and we got, you know, cameras running all the time that are game trail cellular cameras and we've got some that are SD cards and the folks that live here are always changing those out for us and stuff. So we were getting those when we come here and check out all the images and whatnot. But the cellular cameras these days have come so far that you know it's like converting everything to that right, you know, for cheap fee once a month. You can't see everything that's moving and there's more turkeys than ever.

Speaker 1: 9:58

I feel like all this work that we've been doing, all this habitat improvement, all these programs that we've reached out to folks, if you're a landowner and you haven't reached out to your NRC sorry, nrc S agent. I highly suggest you do all the programs, the USDA, the things you can do to improve your land and help actually have some funding to so you can improve your habitat and you know help. It may not cover all the costs of it but if you're going to do something that you want to see the benefits of I mean there's so many different. You know national deer associations and other one that's always putting out good stuff, information. I've talked about in some recent posts. All these different organizations that are out there and I'll put some down here in the descriptions. You guys can go and follow and see what you know they got going on and some of these incentives and programs. And you know collective stewardship groups out there. Man, it's really great. You know outdoor stewards, conservation. They've been doing so many great things out there.

Speaker 2: 10:58

I think what's fantastic is that it provides these projects that you can do throughout the year that, like George said, improve, you know.

Speaker 2: 11:07

It improves the habitat, you know, and it and it allows for you to like, really see this place every season as it goes through its cycles.

Speaker 2: 11:17

And I think you can get obviously very excited about hunting season but, like, it allows for you to have a lot of excitement about improving hunting season because of how improved the habitat is. Yeah, and you know, in the middle of March or June or whatever months that are a little slow, you know, in terms of not hunting, you can certainly get excited about doing these different projects, whether it's seating or opening up clear areas. And then you know, on the edge of the brush line, feathering, like all this stuff, and then you see it come to life when you're sitting in a blind and you watch the deer make their way just slightly out of the brush line and then they get into the taller grasses and then they make their way into, like, some shorter areas that maybe you've maintained. But it's just really, it's really fascinating to see how these animals use the habitat in the way that we've kind of managed and fostered for them. You know I mean it's here no matter what, but it's. There's been a tailoring, you know.

Speaker 1: 12:26

And that's something that I mean.

Speaker 1: 12:28

This, these last, this, really this last hunting season, I think, is something that we it's part by design and part by circumstance where we'd mow and we'd have these wide swatches of these lanes, let's say, maybe 40 yards across, and we just got to the point where sometimes we didn't have a lot of time so we focused on mowing maybe the internal center, 10 yards, you know, and that way you have a good lane.

Speaker 1: 12:56

When you know if things are moving across, maybe if we're throwing down corn on that lane, then that's something that you're seeing from your stand and a little bit better. But you see how the animals are utilizing that stuff, that we left to grow a little bit more and having kind of an intermediary brush line, and that really that's something. Now we're going to be using that in our design and how we're going to be mowing and when we mow and maybe doing a big clear cut now, just while we have the time, and it's not 120 degrees in the shade, and then we'll mow when it's that hot, you know, kind of quickly and kind of get the middle parts, and that way we can kind of do that same thing this next hunting season.

Speaker 2: 13:38

So what would you say, though, is the next big thing that you think would impact and improve what's what you know, the habitat here.

Speaker 1: 13:47

You know the thing that we did with clearing the 23 plus acres. You know where we bulldozed the root, plowed, burned and then planted native seeds and grasses. We have a bunch of this area that we've bulldozed recently I mean about a year ago I guess and so I want to go back through and really get the tiller going on the back of the tractor and till up that area and plant some native seeds and grasses, because I've been able to see how beneficial they have been for the wildlife. I feel like our deer in turkey populations, which are our main kind of target species that we're trying to help out with here and build their habitat. I'm seeing them use that land more in the ways we wanted them to and we're hoping to with.

Speaker 1: 14:43

You know, areas of the turkeys are kind of maybe nesting or maybe that's where they're raising. You know the brooding areas, as I've heard them called. I'm not sure exactly where all their hatching out, but having these really tall grasses that grow up, that they feel safe from predators, there's a bunch of coyotes, no mozones, basically yeah, no mozones, there's times of the year.

Speaker 1: 15:06

You know, for folks who are ever getting into wildlife management and kind of doing that for maybe taxable purposes and at least in the state of Texas here, in other states too, you don't have to necessarily have agricultural in the form of cattle or goats or whatever it is. You may be raising, you know, some llama's, emu, whatever it is. You know you're having a wildlife management plan that you've drawn up, hopefully with the help, if you need it, with the wild game biologists for your county. Texas Parks and Wildlife does an amazing job of getting the best of the best out there that will come out and do site visits, help you plan everything and you know that's how was kind of that fostered another level for us of involvement here when we first took over the place in Megini. You know we're given the reins and that, what we got going with that and having a wildlife management plan and being able to utilize these things where we're making these improvements.

Speaker 1: 16:10

You know it helps out to where you know the taxable nature in Texas that gives you the same agricultural advantage of your tax breaks and that's something where you know it's expensive to run a property and all the maintenance that's involved and all the equipment, and so there are programs that are out there that can help you to match some funds and you know, I kind of keep going back to that because I can utilize those here because of those types of programs, because some things might have been a little bit out of reach and, you know, if you just do a little bit at a time, it becomes very accessible and attainable and that's something that we've seen the benefits of for the wildlife.

Speaker 1: 16:51

So I want to continue in that pathway this season by planting those native grasses and forbs that you know, getting those seeds locally, keeping that business local as much as we possibly can, and bringing back those types of grasses and forbs that were indigenous to this area. You know, and that's such a cool thing to see and be like wow, you know, it's so much brush out here that's just kind of trash. For the most part it doesn't benefit the animals.

Speaker 2: 17:19

Right, that's actually one I was thinking of is like, I think not just this ranch, but there's a lot of places in Texas that could benefit from a prescribed burn. I know that and not to be. You know there's a big wildfire burn happening in the panhandle right now. That you know. I want to be insensitive to that, but I mean yeah and our prayers and thoughts go out to all those affected.

Speaker 2: 17:44

I mean, there's whole towns being wiped out. Yeah, it's nuts. But you know, a place like this, a prescribed burn, would really, really, I think, improve a lot. And it's not necessary, you know, it's not that there hasn't been major improvements already, it's just that that's that sort of natural thing that could happen. You know, like lightning strike, yeah, We'll kind of like re-code the forest if you will. You know what trees will survive and brush we'll be burned off. But it'd be interesting to see if, like, there was a section out here.

Speaker 1: 18:19

Yeah, and it kind of makes me wonder does the does this?

Speaker 2: 18:22

would the state help in the prescribed burn situation?

Speaker 1: 18:26

Yes, that's even part of like the CRP program and things too that there's prescribed burns, things that you can do also to have fire breaks. I mean there's incentives there where we're going to be utilizing that over the years where we take that tiller and we go around the edges of all of the you know fences here we're low fence operation and so we're going to do that in case people you know maybe aren't doing the same thing on their properties to catch the fire before it jumps because there's been wildfires around here.

Speaker 2: 18:59

How does it work, though, Do they? I mean they, they. There's a whole crew that will come out and kind of manage the fire and all that, or how does that work?

Speaker 1: 19:06

That's. That's a good, good question. There is that type of thing that you can set up and there are multiple organizations of names, of which I don't even know specifically so I don't want to butcher them, but there are different groups and there's fire departments too. You know volunteer fire departments that will come out as well.

Speaker 1: 19:25

And I've talked to, you know, the chief of our local fire department here and he's awesome and he runs cattle and he's a wildlife guy too and hunter, and he's talked about how, if we ever do anything, there was a big creek bed on our property here and we were talking about burning some of this stuff in and around it because it gets so caught up with junk just so many trees, I mean, when we get some serious flooding around here, like there are big trees that are coming down that at a rapid pace, so getting in there and maybe trying to clean that waterway up to a little bit of some debris and you know trying to, you know a lot of trash gets caught up.

Speaker 1: 20:06

So we'd want to go and kind of, you know, clean that up before we do a burn, obviously not leaving a bunch of toxins burning in the air. But that's something that he's talked about bringing people out. And yeah, with that program that will come out, help you and there's funds for like, if you need to rent that equipment too, like you can, you know you can apply it to where. If you have it at your own self and you know we have a tiller that's old, that it'll still hopefully get the job done, but if we need to rent something else that there's some funds are there to be able to do that. So again, I just say to any landowner you look into these organizations and see how you can you know, better benefit your property. We've seen it over the last decade tremendously at the ranch in Southwest Texas. We've seen it over the last, you know, 30 years.

Speaker 2: 20:50

I mean, is it? Is there a restriction on the amount of acreage? You have to sign up for that.

Speaker 1: 20:56

You know there's. There's definitely some restriction and you know I do with these ranchettes. Maybe it's not the same program that you can apply for. There's maybe some things that are, you know, more tailored to the smaller property. I don't know, because you know what we have here. It's not small but it's not massive. So I know what we can apply for and get. You know, most years everything we've applied for we've been able to be accepted into the programs and we're showing the proof of the pudding by all the different things here over the years and with the wild game biologists here, with Texas Parks and Wildlife or with the Manage Lands Deer program.

Speaker 1: 21:34

Mld allows you to have an extended hunting season. Usually it's the end of September, usually last day of September to last day of February. I had that extra day this year and yeah, that's. That allows us to get an accurate doe and buck suggested harvest recommendation tag and we utilize those. So you still have to be a licensed hunter to be able to hunt but you use those tags.

Speaker 1: 22:02

So for landowners, you're able to kind of work with what's your property and not necessarily guessed it. You know, get guessed at it and you really you know you send in all this data year-round where it's game trail pictures. But you're doing incidental observations, you're doing harvest data and you're sending all this stuff in and every year they're going to say, okay, you know, based upon this county and the ratio, that is probably best for all the habitat here. And you know it's always a declining habitat with that urban sprawl right. So the things we can do here we're seeing, you know, maybe more you know, mouths coming on with, you know, the deer and things over the decade that we've been doing it and definitely a healthier deer population as a whole.

Speaker 1: 22:45

But you have to be mindful of that because if you have, you got to look at your carrying capacity and that's where it's good to bring in experts in the field, because I'm by no means an expert in that way as being a wild game biologist. I believe that I'm a adequate wildlife manager, but I am relying on other people and using their skill sets to really forge through whatever the recommendations are here. And you know that's where, again, I say those site visits. Those things are so important in sending in all that data and all that information that you keep over the years to be able to then, I guess, have that scientific kind of you know thumbprint that yeah, what we're doing is producing healthier animals, or whatever your objective is, you know.

Speaker 2: 23:31

Yeah, but what's nice about working with the state on that is that you know, obviously they're giving you the tags.

Speaker 2: 23:38

They're also extending that season, yes, and yeah, that's a privilege to have the extended season, but it's a privilege that benefits the wildlife as well, Because if you can, if you have a little more time to manage the population of deer, then the right numbers are being taken out and again, coupled with all the work on the habitat, it's a much healthier situation. So that's where you know you might need a little extra time, you know, to be able to accomplish those tasks, but it's a I mean, the program is exceptional. I have learned a lot since coming out here, you know, and getting a better grasp of what the state of Texas really does and how it works with its landowners, the private land sector, and the state is very, very in touch with the wildlife and what the state is trying to do. You know, because it has to be, there's stewards of land and it's not just run by the state. You know the very different model here, obviously, you know. So programs, incentives and all these things are coupled together to make better habitats for the wildlife here.

Speaker 1: 24:56

Yeah, I was just thinking about one in particular, two that I'd you know be amiss if I didn't mention them. That's Texas Wildlife Association.

Speaker 1: 25:03

Absolutely man they do so much for the private landowner here in Texas and it's a benefit to everyone, right and like they. They. They have so many great programs and there's learned to hunt programs. There's adult hunting programs with them, the Texas Parks and Wildlife them put together. You know we are friends with the head of the hunting education department there, steve Hall, who does an amazing job. The Hunter Education Program is just second to none in this state. I'm very proud of all the people that are out there doing that. You know, thinking about people like Romy Swanson as well, giving a shout out to him and all the stuff he's doing, had him on the podcast recently talk about Devil's River Conservancy, but we kind of ran out of time to cover it as much. So we talked about all the other great organizations that have been a part of Texas Audubon. So you know it's like we've we definitely covered some great areas and talked about these kinds of things too, but we didn't really get to cover that as much.

Speaker 2: 26:01

Devil's River is on my bucket list.

Speaker 1: 26:03

Ooh, it is gorgeous, man, it is gorgeous. I've been to like areas around that. I haven't spent enough time there on the river to really get you know full and indoctrination of what it is.

Speaker 2: 26:19

But seeing all the remote, yeah it's out there, you're, you're, you're, most of your really good river access is definitely a four by four, all-wheel drive type vehicle. I mean that you're out there and and you know sat phones Yep, you know a cargo full of survival, survival materials such as food and whatever else you might need. But it's a it's. It's a dream of mine for sure. I've always wanted to go camp.

Speaker 1: 26:49

Yeah, no, that's a gorgeous, gorgeous part of the state. We have so many wonderful things and places to visit, and there's so many cool organizations, too, that are taking care of our rivers and public lands, so shout out to all of those folks, I'm with you.

Speaker 2: 27:03

I'm very proud of the state of Texas and what it does for a natural fire.

Speaker 1: 27:07

I mean, we're the biggest and the best, you know I don't. I'm sorry everyone. I'm sorry if you're from other areas. I know we got listeners from everywhere, but you know we got a brag on our own state here for a minute. So yeah, come visit. That's exactly. This is like the Bureau of, like whatever it is the visitation group you know, Texas.

Speaker 1: 27:23

Yeah, you know we'll tag you guys too. Yeah, we'll plug away. But no, we. We're very proud to be a part of all these organizations too, and I'm just so happy we have a second hand, second hand man.

Speaker 2: 27:38

Totally.

Speaker 1: 27:38

Totally. I mean, you can't be a part of all of them necessarily as an active participant, but there's a lot of our dollars go a long way, not just being people hunting, angling, fishing, trapping, target shooting community. We know that all of our there's a portion of our taxes that go back to saving this wildlife and doing so much habitat improvement and all these public lands, too, across the country, and so we're all doing our part and everyone. Just I encourage you to go find your local organizations and chapters that are out there and see how you can take one step forward and take your family, take your kids along and let's keep this way of life moving. Let's foster the environment for learning, education and this love and just deep appreciation of being a part of not just looking on the outside but being a part of all these experiences that this beautiful mother nature, this world, this earth. You know what God has given us, and that's I. Just, I'm so, so thankful that we have this and I'm thankful that I get to share this fellowship with you, my BDT. I love you, man. Thank you for joining me today and everyone, thank you for listening.

Speaker 1: 28:53

It's the support that I'm getting here on this podcast has just been incredible. The guests have been amazing. I am blessed and honored to be doing this and being able to continue to be a conduit to all this wonderful education that these folks have, man, that they're sharing, man, it feels so good and I just I want to thank everyone who's listening, man, because it really. I see the numbers growing and I've never done it for the numbers. It's about something, about what I feel called to do, but I see all these encouraging messages that I'm getting each podcast and I want to give you all my heartfelt thanks and appreciation for listening and dedicating some time for, you know, part of your very valuable time to listen to this. So, thank you so much. Go Cougs Long Orns Later, everybody, Hahaha.