Land to go primitive in the Desert Southwest....

[PecosMike]

Hi to all.  In about another 13 months I will be leaving my very traditional modern urban job and going to West Texas to develop a particular piece of property I own (in Chihuauhan Desert country.) I basically will be embarking on a project to raise Blackbuck Antelope and Fallow deer using a combination of desert forages. It is something I have been planning to do for a long time.  I am taking a year off from traditional work to get it started right.

I have another property of 23 acres in Presidio County Texas USDA Zone 8b, pretty warm and balmy, also Chihuhuan Desert bordering the local mountain range and somewhat nearish (I know thats a very relative word) to Big Bend Park.

 I would like to develop that property as a kind of desert ecology of Acacia and mesquite trees, desert grasses, do some terraforming to build water catchment and containment of rainwater. Id say that desert ecology is my strong suit, and I have no doubt that I can bring in Mule Deer, and local Aoudad to the property and some game birds. There are also some very local mountain lions, bobcats. peccaries and of course coyote in the region. I am a primitive bowhunter just getting interested in the atlatl.  I would not mind at all meeting a few folks who would be interested in visiting, camping, hunting and in general doing your primitive living down there...my mind is open and I would like to share the place but only for the most primitive of the primitive. I suppose I am suggesting a sort of mesolithic group using the property for that sort of experimental living. Please let me know if and how you would like to be invovled..thanks much..Mike 

[gstoneberg]

Hello Mike,

That sounds like an interesting project for sure.  Might be too primitive for me, but you never know.  I'm not exactly sure where that is, but I assume far west of where I am in Dallas.  If you get over Dallas way I'd sure be interested to hear what you have planned.  Good luck in your endeavor.

George

[Lee Slikkers]

Welcome Mike!

This is really an interesting sounding project.  I love your long-term vision for a piece of land like this...I sure wish West Texas was a whole lot closer to lower Michigan.  Blackbuck, Audads, Whitetails, oh my...what a great mix of game to chase with a stick & string.  Please keep up posted on here with pics or updates as you move forward with this project.

[okydoky]

Hello Mike...interesting, 'cause I've been to Alpine and Big Bend...like them both. Applied for job at Big bend, but was beat out on points by someone in Wash. D.C....go figure. Like the primitive idea, unfortunately, need to stay here in Okla for now...have a cancer I need to whip.  I'll keep an eye out for your postings.

[JackCrafty]

Wonderful idea!  I would love to visit!!  It would be a great experience to camp out with only stone age materials and technology.  I'm in Midland and it's not too far for me.

I would like to do some videos of what it might have been like to live in a paleo/archaic/woodland camp in West Texas.  My interest would be in camping, hunting, and practicing primitive skills.

[PecosMike]

Thanks for the encouragement George, Im in the NorthEast right now but when the time comes I will be taking a long road trip South down the Eastern Seaboard through FL and Louisiana and then through East Texas. My intended home is in the Eastern most tip of Reeves County, about a stone's throw from the Pecos river (hence "Pecos Mike'. It is also about 1 hour 15 minutes WSW of Odessa Midland.   I would be happy to drop in you, I was going to pick up some guinea fowl and some other necessary odds and ends in  East Texas.  We should stay in touch. Mike

[PecosMike]

Lee thats what airplanes are for!  When you get enough of those Michigan Whitetails come down to West Texas.  Just let me get in a couple dozen acres of tasty forages to drive the local hooved stock wild....... Mike

[Lee Slikkers]

Thanks Mike!  I wish they managed the local WT population better, seems everyone shoots anything with a nub on its head now.  Those Blacktail Bucks and Aoudad are what have me envious!  I know those Aoudad are tough to get close to...bet they will be a real challenge with a with a bow.  Love the concept of your project, very, very cool.

[PecosMike]

Oky no hurry, I wont be working seriously on it for another year..I would be pleased to have you come out there...I would also appreciate any wisdom you have relating to deer and their foraging habits in Oklahoma, also if you run accross any seeds of deer-favorite forbs or browse species in OK gosh please send them my way, Id even pay the shipping, I am going for a real diversity of edible species on my properties---right now I just have a few Mesquites and a few dozen creosote bushes and a few rattlers..! I am going to be trying to reconstruct a sort of tree savana in Reeves County, with Sweet Acacia, Roemer Acacia, Chisos Red Oak, Honeylocust and Mesquites as the tree canopy, followed lots of locally derived Skunkbush sumac and related sumacs, followed by shrubby four wing saltbush, Forage Kochia and a native of North Africa (toothache tree) which apparrently camels and goats crave.  My grass will be a mixture of hardy desert friiendly species, at least two of which could survive on 8 inches of rainfall a year (a good precaution).  Most everything will be planted in swales to catch and divert what little rainfall there is out there. It's a labor of love, so I am really going to take care with the details of it all.  Get well soon---(and search "Macrobiotics" which I know a bit about, it might help you out a little.----Adios--Mike

[PecosMike]

Jack if you're in Midland you have no excuse--you must come out!  I like your idea about the video series and would like to hear more about it when you get the time.

What fascinates me about West Texas is the gradual drying of the region over the last 3000 to 5000 years and the exodus of the larger bison and elk to the grassier climates of the North.  And the rumors of West Texas Cheetah running down the local Pronghorns at the close of the Pleistocene..I would love to time travel out there to see that...

Even at the time of the Civil War you may know that 7 foot grass grew around the Ft. Stockton region.  My great hope is that the 8 large counties of far West Texas will graduallly move more toward eco tourism and hunting and away from Cattle, which is much too hard and water-intensive an activity for the region.  You can stock about 14 Blackbuck Antelope or 5 Aoudad or Fallow Deer for every steer..and they'd survive droughts that would kill cattle....their manner of browsing would probably actually improve the ecosystem and create a more diverse flora out there...

Anyway--yes do stay in touch..as you can see, these are my interests as well......Mike

[BlackHillsScout]

I'm going to follow this thread with a lot of interest, what an awesome plan, please keep us posted or start a blog, with lots of pics.

A whole new meaning to "bed and breakfast"

[PecosMike]

Well, for any interested cave-dwellers I thought that I would post a sort of an update.

397 days to go until my relocation to the Chihuahuan Desert...and counting..

I have been lately thinking that my current plan as prevously described is not ambitious enough. I am now looking at buying an entirely new property in the 50-60 acre range just north of Big Bend country. That is already desert mule deer, Aoudad and peccary country.  I am now thinking alot bigger----to maybe skip the fallows and bring in some Gemsbok and get a small herd going.

I remain committed to keeping such property in a primitive state and even engaging the neighbors to also make improvements to their properties, chiefly careful planting of tree and shrub browse species, to help stabilize those populations and also support small game species.  (I think probably not a hard sell since hunting, particularly of exotics is very accepted in that part of the world).

As for my property I believe that my goal is now to make it available to bow- and other primitive-hunters to the exclusion of gun hunters so that they could try their skills and stalk game large and small in an environment not too unlike the worst sections of the Kalahari.I would also add that if anybody is interested in buying some land down there, I heartily recommend it. What about a paleo-preserve? Would it be appropriate to ask, how much would a person pay to have primitive hunting rights all year round in such an environment?  Any thoughts? Any takers? My mind is spinning on this....am I the only one?

[JW_Halverson]

Throw in some Kalahari gemsbock and I am IN!

[gstoneberg]

Mike,

Are you planning to high fence your acreage?  That's the only way I know to keep a herd of gemsbock (or any exotic) on 60 acres.  I love the idea, don't get me wrong.  I'm very interested in your plans, but this is a tough thing you want to do.  Cool, but tough.

George