ELKINS — And to think this place was once almost turned into a landfill.
Now it’s a deer hunter’s paradise that showcases the potential for deer management in the Ozarks.
The place is Butler Ranch, about 4 miles southeast of Elkins. It encompasses about 1,300 acres of ridgetops and hollows in the northern fringe of the Boston Mountains. Bob Butler invited me to visit the ranch Thursday to see the results of a decade of habitat improvement and extensive deer herd management. To say I was astonished would be an understatement.
When I lived in Springdale from 1990-1994, deer were plentiful in the White River bottoms and along major creeks, but they seemed scarce in the hills. Hunters occasionally killed bucks with big racks, but mostly we sawspike bucks and forkhorns. Bucks with six points or more mostly had short, narrow basket racks.
That was my standard of reference as Bob Butler met me and my hunting partner at his spacious lodge atop a windswept ridge. Covering the ridge were large fields of winter wheat bordered by brushy draws and forests of mature oak and hickory.
Butler, who made a good living in solid waste management, bought the place in 2001, but he was involvedwith it for many years previous. He originally intended to build a landfill there, but the plan never came to fruition. So, he converted it into a wildlife paradise instead.
It’s hard for deer to make a decent living off wild foods in the mountains, so Baxter developed 200 acres into fields. He plants clover in warm months and wheat in the winter. He also provides other food, like corn, in spin feeders and troughs. Acorns, herbaceous forage and soft mast are abundant in the woods most years.
Butler has not introduced any pen-raised stock into the deer herd, and there are no high fences, but the quality of the native bucks is astounding. The biggest buck killed on the property scored 154 Boone & Crockett.
Butler does not kill bucks under age 5. He used to kill“management” bucks - spikes and small scrags - but the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission stopped issuing management buck tags that enabled him to do so last year. To help balance his buck-todoe ratio, he kills about 45 does per year, but he said they quickly replenish because so many does bear twins and triplets.
Furthermore, three neighbors with similar land use many of the same harvest strategies, but Butler said they don’t have as many deer as he has because they don’t provide as much food.
To sample his efforts, Butler took me to a tripod stand. My companion hunted from a different stand overlooking a wheat field about 200 yards from the lodge. From 2-3:30 p.m., 12 does fed about 75 yards away. At 3:40 p.m., a 3-year-old 8-point with a 13-inch spread appeared. Butler said it was a “C-Team” buck that would never be big enough to make the “ATeam.” The buck reeked of scent, and its neck was swollen, but Butler said it was not desirable as a breeder. With one shot, my Ruger 77 in 6.5x55 Swedish took it out of the gene pool.
At 5 p.m., my companion bagged a 9-pointer that would gross about 130 B&C. That was the biggest in a parade of bucks that included a 3-yearold 10-point; several tall, wide 8s, and a 6.
Back at the lodge, I watched bucks chase does all over the fields.
“I didn’t see this kind of stuff when I lived up here, and I never saw as many big racks as you have in your fields,” I said.
“The quality of the bucks has gotten better, but I stillhave too many danged does,” Butler said.
Despite his success, Butler said it’s time to sell the place. It’s more work than a 70-year-old man can do alone, and he suffered a heart attack recently while lugging water hoses. That convinced him that his days as a deer rancher must end.
“I’ve really enjoyed this chapter in my life,” Butler said, “but it’s coming to a close, and it’s time to move on to the next chapter. I hope whoever takes it over will continue or improve what we’ve done here.”
I admired the gallery of big racks over Butler’s stone fireplace, all of which were taken from this property. I breathed deep and gazed out the window at the bucks chasing all those does.
And to think, it could have been a landfill.
Sports, Pages 31 on 11/21/2010