by
Molly Clubb
| Sep 24, 2013
The 2013 Fall Edition of our Hired Hand for a Day tour started near Mason, Texas on Friday, September 13th at DropTine Ranch. Molly & Jaymie met with Frank about website, advertising, e-mail marketing and social media campaigns. We were also able to tour his Whitetail Deer breeding pens, bed & breakfast/hunting lodges and the rest of his grounds. You can see some photos from our time at DropTine Ranch and read more about the next stops along our way below:
The entrance to DropTine Ranch.
A few of the trophies on the walls of the DropTine Ranch hunting lodge.
DropTine Ranch owner Frank Fackovec with Hired Hand's Molly Clubb.
The peaceful view from one of the hunting lodges at DropTine Ranch.
Following our visit to DropTine Ranch we spent a few days at River Ranch for the Hill Country Heritage Sale. You can view photos from that fun weekend here. Sunday, following the sale we headed over to Sonora, Texas where we met with Scott, the Ranch Manager for J Bar L Ranch & Sonora Trophy Hunts. Scott was kind enough to give us a tour of not only the Whitetail Deer breeding facilities but also the entire ranch including a shooting range, corporate retreat center, private airplane hanger and more. Hired Hand will be taking over the Sonora Trophy Hunts website as well as their social media marketing and blogging. We look forward to working with Scott and his team at the ranch and encourage you to check out some of the photos below and visit their newly converted website soon.
Hired Hand's Jaymie Feldmann and Molly Clubb with a few of the bottle fed fawns from Sonora Trophy Hunts. They bottle feed the fawns so that as they grow into mature Does they remain calm in the pens and are easier to work for AI, etc.
Hired Hand's Jaymie Feldmann and Molly Clubb with the J Bar L private airplane.
While at Sonora Trophy Hunts we photographed all of their two-year-old breeder bucks for their new website. We stayed in the blind (in the hot Texas sun) while Scott drove the deer towards us.
Here is an example of a good deer photo. He is standing correct with his head held high. Since deer photos are updated often on websites, the fencing in the background is not much concern. It would be removed for any print advertising however.
Here is another example of a good deer photo showing his rack from behind so that you can see additional points, etc.
Hired Hand's Jaymie Feldmann with Sonora Tophy Hunt's ranch manager, Scott.
Following our exciting visit to Sonora Trophy Hunts/J Bar L Ranch we headed over to Ozona, Texas to photography the Running M Longhorn herd for Mr. Giles Madary. Giles is a breeder who is active in the Cattleman's Texas Longhorn Registry and tries to preserve the "truest form of the Texas Longhorn." Mr. Madary's Longhorns roam over 3,200 acres so we were worried we wouldn't be able to photograph them effectively. However, they all came when called with cubes (Cow Cakes as he called them) and we truly enjoyed their friendly temperment and great photography conditions. You can see a few of the photos we obtained below. We also saw our first live rattlesnake followed by our first dead rattlesnake - it was quite the day! We were able to photograph the entire 80 head of the Running M herd on 3,200 acres in less than 2 hours! Watch for his new website coming soon.
Mr. Giles Madary, Running M Longhorns with Hired Hand's Molly Clubb, overlooking Ozona, Texas and the Running M Ranch.
A shot of the first live rattlesnake Molly & Jaymie have seen...after Giles took care of it.
One of the photos we captured of a foundation female for the Running M.
Giles said he was surprised how comfortable Jaymie & Molly were working among his herd and obtaining outstanding photos of his cattle posed correctly.
All of Giles cattle were very curious and friendly.
Following our visit to the Running M we packed up and headed North on a quick 7 hour drive to Ardmore, Oklahoma. Along the way we made a pitstop in Decatur, Texas to meet with Hired Hand's Mary Jolley and exchange some marketing materials and say a quick hello; then it was onto the Rockin H where we received a tour of the herd from Mr. Dale Hunt himself. Special thanks to Dale & Sherrill for thier hospitality while on our Hired Hand for a Day tour. It was so nice to stay at the Rockin H versus another hotel!
Hired Hand's Jaymie Feldmann & Molly Clubb on the swing at the Rockin H, overlooking the pond and beautiful Longhorns.
Following the Rockin H it was off to the nearby town of Marietta where we had the pleasure of photographing the entire Loomis Ranch herd. We were able to meet with Bob & Pam and get their website in tip-top shape after a few months of being neglected. Special thanks to Bob and Pam for being so great to work with and to show us all of their beautiful Longhorns - it was truly our pleasure to photograph them! We were even more honored when Mr. Loomis told us they're the best photos he's seen of most of his cattle!!
Cowboy Tuff Chex, Bob & Pam Loomis, Loomis Ranch & BL Rio Catchit with her Cowboy Tuff Chex heifer calf...all in one photo! Pretty amazing setting if we do say so ourselves!
Hired Hand's Jaymie & Molly with the same two incredible animals as photographed above...and an unfortunate photo bomber in the background.
The view from the Loomis Ranch pool. Hard to beat!