Friday, November 4, 2016
Central Texas Outdoors
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the utility vehicle and touring the 20-acre fence line and hand feeding the deer both in the pens and those that are technically in the wild. “I love them,” Angela said as she tossed bread crumbs into the pens and along the pathway for the wild deer. And they are all about good nutrition too and they buy all of the feed locally from vendors like AC Nutrition in Winters and Ballinger Feed and Seed. Currently, Tammie and the girls are working to move the pens for the breeding stock so that the deer can enjoy better forage. Plus, during rutting season they have to make sure the breeding bucks’ antlers are trimmed as a safety precaution. “Antlers also have to be removed for sale or transport,” Amanda explained. The bottom line is that the deer at the Slow Coach Ranch have excellent genetics and that comes from good nutrition, having a safe place to live and thrive, good medical care and no artificial growth hormones. “There is not a time of year that they don’t require good care,” Tammie said. Plus, they have to adhere to state law, as prescribed by Texas Parks and Wildlife. Runnels County Game Warden Lane Pinckney comes unannounced to make sure their stock are properly tagged and tattooed. “I have to make sure that their inventory records match what is actually in the pens — the number of bucks, does and fawns and that all the deer are tagged with the state assigned number,” Pinckney said. “Everything is always in good order.” CELINDA HAWKINS | GATEHOUSE MEDIA PHOTO Plus now, they have to test the deer for chronic waste disease, which Pictured is Steve Mueller with a buck on the Slow Coach Ranch. RANCH, 4