Summer 2026 - 4R Ranch Newsletter
Summer is finally here! Jill and I just returned from a short trip to New Mexico on the 4th of August and found the heater had been turned on in The Hill Country sometime while we were gone. However, as soon as we got home we left again for Duncan, OK to pick up English Pointer pups. The further north we went, the hotter it got. When we arrived in Duncan, the temperatures hovered around 107-109 degrees. Fortunately, a summer shower rolled in and dropped the temperature to 75 degrees and we got to see the pups run around for a bit instead of hunting shade. As hot as it was in Tarpley, TX, it was comfortable compared to Duncan, OK.
When our season ended in early March, the rains came. We have not had good spring rains in recent memory, but April-May gave us over 12” of rain and man did the place look shiny. The country was as green as Ireland and you could hear the grass growing if you just took time to listen. A few weeks after the initial rains, we noticed brown patches of grass in our pastures at the far west end of the ranch. Then the same patches started popping up in our quail courses. Within weeks the dead patches were ubiquitous throughout the ranch. Mealy Bugs were the culprits. Like most everyone, I had heard very little about the Mealy Bug and what I did know was from the problems hay producers along the coast were experiencing. I can tell you first hand that the Mealy Bug has arrived in Medina County, in force. The bug has been a plight in Australia since the 1940s, but just recently landed in Texas. 2025 was the first year the bug had been detected in Texas and only 2 counties had confirmation. This year the bug has been reported in over 70 counties and the number grows each month. Mealy Bugs thrive in wet and hot conditions, so the spring rains set up the perfect environment for the bugs to proliferate and do what they do best, kill grass. We called the entomologist from A&M that is heading up the chemical end of trials being conducted to see what pesticides would kill the pests. We took the information and sprayed over 500 acres in hopes we could get control over the bug. But no sooner had we sprayed our pastures a rain event dropped over 20” in two days. Needless to say, what bugs we did kill were not enough to stop another infestation. We just completed our second application of pesticides this week in hopes we can keep them at bay until the spring of ’27.
Mealy Bugs love anything and all things Blue Stem. Be it KR, Silver, Big Blue, it does not matter, they are all vulnerable. Also at the top of the list of desirable grasses for Mealy Bugs are Tifton 85, NK 37 and Coastal Bermuda grasses. Fortunately, there are some grasses that seem resistant to the bug. Love grasses, Gamma grasses, Switch Grass and Klein appear to be little touched by the bug. Time will tell, but as much attention is being given to The New World Screw Worm, the Mealy Bug will cost ranchers and hay producers more money in the long run than screwworms, by a long shot. We have a toolbox of good tools to fight screwworms. We can give an injection of Dectomax to our cattle that lasts 21 days, we have insecticides to spray on cattle that will last for weeks. The old timers would have given their left arm to have the arsenal we have now to fight the Screwworm. Not so with the Mealy Bug. I don’t have the answers, but if the Aussies are right, you don’t fight them, you plant grasses that are resistant. That is the route we are going next spring and time will be the judge.
Where to go from there? The flood! Yes, the Hondo, Bandera and Bear Springs all flooded in July and it was wonderful. Every water-gap on the ranch was blown out, we lost some roads, but the benefits far outweighed the damage. The Hondo is still running at 2-3 feet and all the springs on the ranch are still pushing out water. The creek in the pheasant course (Bear Springs) is still running and the current moved in tons of gravel and rock where we shoot. However, our new John Deere skid steer will have no trouble getting the creek bed leveled out and looking sharp as ever before the first shot is fired.
And since I mentioned the new skid steer, here is an observation and advice. Every one of you needs to operate a big skid steer with a drum mulcher for a day or two ever year. There is no better mental therapy to make you feel empowered and confident than turning large trees into mulch with the touch of your hands and fingers. Honestly, it will make you feel ten feet tall. Every time I get out of “The Bumble” (yellow paint, thus The Bumble) I want to find a small man and whip him. Regardless of whether it truly makes you tougher, everyone will see the fruits of Bumbles labors when they drive through our courses. Amazing what technology has come about in the past 25 years for pasture work, and all in the confines of an air-conditioned cab!
The event I am most proud to share with all of you occurred this past week. Jill and I celebrated our 40th anniversary on the 9th of August. If there is any one blessing in my life that ranks all others, it is having Jill as my wife and best friend. We share many common threads, thoroughly enjoy each others company and we laugh, a lot. Being that this year was a neon moment in our lives, I spared no expense. I took her to a beautiful resort in Duncan, OK (Holiday Inn Express) and for our main activity I took her to pick out two Pointer puppies. Some of you might laugh, but it was the best anniversary weekend we’ve had to date. We drove lonesome roads to get there, saw some of the most beautiful country in Texas we have ever seen and as always, Googled every historical marker we passed to see what had occurred so many years ago before barbed wire and big windmills polluted the landscape. Truly a magical weekend!
I am sure I am not the only one who seems overwhelmed at how fast this summer, and the years in general are passing. It seems surreal to be writing this annual dispatch when the season ended only a few days ago, or so it seems. But all is good! We are at the cusp of the first shot of dove season, and just beyond that horizon is a covey of quail on the rise. Seeing a dog lock up on a covey never gets old and I am anxious to see the first rise.
We can’t thank you enough for carving time out of your busy schedules to come hunt a bird with us. It is an honor beyond measure and we look forward to seeing you all in just a few short months.
Adios for now,
DM
Posted in: News
