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Post by 5milecreek on Mar 10, 2017 17:20:39 GMT -6
I'm starting this thread to not only show the Devastation the giant SW Kansas fire did to our land, but to hopefully post the progress as we rebuild and the ground starts to heal. I'm hoping this is a therapeutic outlet and I have a few ideas of what I'm going to do over the course of the year. For now I will post the aftermath of the 660,000 acre fire that burnt every inch of all of my families ground and then some. The fire started March 6th in Forgan, OK. It is March 10th and still burning. Almost every Ranch within 50 miles lost at least their barns and sheds, but several lost houses. Thousands of dead Cattle and the toll on wildlife is immeasurable. I will post more pics and video as I have time.
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Post by canuck on Mar 10, 2017 18:35:03 GMT -6
Dang man, that's terrible. Can't imagine.
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Post by kansasboi on Mar 10, 2017 19:26:53 GMT -6
Been wondering about your place man. So sorry to see it like that. Got some buddies that have been going down & helping the Giles try to round up what's left of their cattle. Said it's pretty bleak down there. Hope you can get it going again, just gonna take some time. Good luck & let me know if I can help out with anything at all.
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Post by Hogster on Mar 11, 2017 15:25:19 GMT -6
Not good. So sorry to see the aftermath.
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Post by APAsuphan on Mar 11, 2017 22:15:17 GMT -6
Not something you ever expect to have happen to you. Hopefully things get back to normal sooner rather than later
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Post by AmishMan007 on Mar 11, 2017 23:38:55 GMT -6
Unbelievable! Wishing everyone a quick turnaround!
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Post by boggs41076 on Mar 12, 2017 7:28:40 GMT -6
That's awful, prayers for all that were affected.
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Post by kspseshooter on Mar 12, 2017 8:14:55 GMT -6
What a sad, sad deal man. Completely destroyed everything in its path
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Post by hydiseka on Mar 12, 2017 10:57:08 GMT -6
Wow sorry to see this. Sending prayers to all those affected
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Post by 5milecreek on Mar 15, 2017 21:35:48 GMT -6
Last week was absolutely brutal and exhausting. I spent most of the week in Clark/Meade Counties. I'm very fortunate that I was able to leave. Much of my family must stay. I live 2 1/2 hours away and work is work. But the folks down there had to stay. Had to keep putting out the fires. Unloading the donated hay that is coming in by the thousands of tons. They had to stay to continue trying to save the surviving cattle, and shooting the ones that will not survive. Fences are being torn out and rebuilt, but everywhere you look there is blowing sand, burnt trees, and the occasional green wheatfield. These wheat fields and the few fields that had recently been plowed are the only thing that remain untouched by the fire. This fire destroyed habitat that we have spent the last 5 years manicuring and improving for our deer down to the sand. As of now this is where I believe it stands. 20% deer herd loss. 85% quail loss. 50%+ loss of rabbits, mice rodents 75%+ bobcat loss Nearly 0% coyote loss. These numbers are based on how many dead animals I found versus live of the same species. I also had a pretty good idea of how many were there on March 5th. Perhaps we get rain. Hopefully the grass will regrow quickly and after a year without grazing it looks better than it did before. Another very lucky thing for me personally is all my scouting cameras (12 burnt), my stands, blinds and feeders are all being covered by grandpa's home owners policy. About $7,000 worth if it all works out like it should. Hearing that was a big relief because there is no way I could afford to replace all of it in only one or two years. That stuff took 15 years and a guiding business to build up. There is green beginning to show in parts of our pastures and tomorrow will be better than yesterday. I'm going back down April 3rd and hopefully the deer have returned back to my feeders that I filled for them on Saturday. I will also attempt to call and kill every coyote in the country. That may be the only hope our fawns have for survival. Here are some pics my surviving cameras captured of the fire.
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Post by 5milecreek on Mar 15, 2017 21:36:40 GMT -6
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Post by 5milecreek on Mar 15, 2017 21:38:01 GMT -6
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Post by 5milecreek on Mar 15, 2017 21:39:45 GMT -6
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Post by brushdog on Mar 21, 2017 20:41:29 GMT -6
Wow, that's unbelievable!! So sorry for your loss brother! Glad paps insurance is paying to replace the damaged goods, but it still sucks. Hopefully the big boys didn't go too far and make it back by fall
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Post by 5milecreek on Mar 28, 2017 22:58:11 GMT -6
I don't know what the facebook feed for those of you in the rest of the country looks like lately, but for me it is 180 degrees different than it was 3 weeks ago. Prior to March 6th it was political posts and general nonsense. Then it turned quickly into story after story of devastation and destruction. Thousands of pictures from people I grew up with. Family, friends, and neighbors telling their stories and trying to direct the beginning of what is becoming a massive relief effort. Now even in Central Kansas people are not aware of how bad it is down there. Our local news in Wichita barely mentions it. So I don't know why we should expect anyone outside the area to understand what is happening. My home county has 770,000 acres. About 450,000 acres burnt. About 8,000 head of cattle ($1800 each), 3500 miles of fence ($10,000/mile), 35+ Homes, Dozens of Barns, Countless trailers, haysheds, pickups, tractors and everything else you can imagine. The cattle and fence alone totals over $50 million. All the hay storage is gone....I have been there 8 of the 21 days since the fire and I can tell you it is nearly exhausting. Everything was dead. Just gone. Dust blowing like a scene out of the apocalypse. The smell of ash everywhere although nothing but the trees are black. I am very fortunate that I can leave and come home. I don't have to rely on the land to make a living like the rest of my family does. I can just go about my normal day and sort of forget about the problems they are facing and the problems to come. But part of me wishes I was able to be there. I feel like I should be there. Maybe this doesn't translate to people who weren't raised farming and ranching. Maybe most people can't relate to the connection that is made between a rancher and his land. I don't think I fully understood it until I set in our farmhouse the evening of March 7th with only an oil lamp for light watching the fires still burn in every direction. I felt like part of my ancestry had been removed. Generations of work, and sweat, and blood all gone. The fences my Dad spent every extra penny the farm made the last ten years to build so my kids wouldn't have to rebuild them gone. It is a terrible, helpless, numbing feeling that has lingered longer than I am comfortable with. But when I go through my facebook feed now all I see is people posting videos and photos of convoy after convoy of strangers coming in from all over the country to help. Hay, fencing, food, you name it. As me and 2 of my girls traveled down Saturday morning to go and get some work done we passed at least 20 trucks loaded with Hay. All of them had American flags strapped to the back of the round bales. Some said Kansas Bound. It has restored my faith in not only people but also in America. To be honest it doesn't matter if the News talks about it. It doesn't matter if everyone understands the pain of what has happened to those folks down there. Not everyone needs to. The people that do understand are the same people qualified to help. And they are the people leaping into action and coming into Ashland, and Englewood with truck after truck of supplies. Buses of volunteers coming in to rip out burnt fences. And construcion companies hauling in heavy equipment to bury the barns, sheds, and livestock. Last weekend there was grass growing. Not everywhere, but you could see patches of green showing up in the low areas and the places with better soil. The girls and I planted 3 acres of oats and an acre of Imperial Whitetail clover in hopes that the surviving deer might come back and live in our pastures again once the grass gets tall enough for cover. I got an insurance check that covers my losses so I have no right to complain about my situation. I hope that's not how this comes across. There is alot to look forward to now. There are lessens to be learned and I can promise the people in that part of the world are tough. They are only going to be tougher after this is all done. It seems petty to worry about what the deer herd I've spent the last 5 years building and trying to manage will do, but maybe this won't be as bad as it looks now. It may help in the long run and work out just fine. I guess time will tell. It's raining there now. Grass will regrow. Does will have fawns. Bucks will grow antlers and I will spend every extra minute and dollar obsessing about them again. Just not right now.
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