Tis the season for newsletters and updates, so we at Echo Valley Ranch, would like to take this opportunity to greet all of our old friends, new acquaintances and friends we look forward to meeting!

Our year started with very little snow, mild temperatures and a very enjoyable spring.  We did not have any inclement weather to adversely affect our pheasant population.  With a cool summer, the bird count was reported to be slightly under the record breaking numbers we had last year, but still significantly higher than normal.  We had a total of 9 ½ inches of rain in September and October, which has finally saturated our ground, and we have water in the creeks and most of our dams.  This has set us up for a good growing season for habitat and food plots for the 05 season.
 

A special thanks to – Paula and Roger, for your insights and marketing ideas.

                                 - Wayne, Pam and Jason, for your support, brainstorming, and enthusiasm

                                 - Doc, for your prayers, and unending supply of stories and poems

                                 - Doug and Merv, for the privilege of hunting on your respective land  

It was great to have Rick stop this summer with his family to Prairie Dog hunt on their way to the Black Hills .  Just a thought for the rest of you – We always have our coffee pot on, even when it isn’t hunting season!

We enjoyed the camaraderie that was shared with the addition of our bus.  We still haven’t officially named it yet, but some of the suggestions are “The Bird Buggy”, “The Blue Streak”, “Da Bus”, and more recently, “The Fire Truck” & “Oops”, after it started a fire in a corn field.  Fortunately, Ron and Mike were able to contain it, after expending much energy beating it out with a gun case and their coats!

We didn’t give out many “Hen Hunter” awards, and we won’t name those who received them.  However, one of the longest tail feathers we have seen, which measured 27 ½ inches, was harvested last weekend by one of our Michigan hunters.  He found his way to our very talented taxidermist, instead of the freezer!

The Lord was exceptionally gracious, with moderate and consistent weather conditions throughout our whole hunting season.  The local corn harvest has been late, and is still in progress, which has been a haven for thousands of birds and a challenge for Mike and Ron, to decide where and how to hunt.

In November Mike enjoyed having an extra 7 enthusiastic buck trackers, as our Thanksgiving group arrived the day before our deer opener.   Although they weren’t able to hunt deer, we heard reports of where the deer were, how many and how big!  Check out our web site, to see one of the bucks that Ron & Mike bagged.

Although we still have our December groups to come, we have been blessed by each and every one who hunted with us this year.  We missed those of you who were unable to join us, and invite you to return in the near future.

Ron is working on some additional hunting leases for the 05 season, and is always planning new food plot designs and ideas.  We planted trees in three different locations.  It will take a few years for them to make a difference to our birds, but we are looking forward to the improvements for the future.  We are going to add some areas that will work for smaller groups, as well as some challenging areas for larger parties.

For those of you who would like to join us next year, we would encourage you to be in touch as soon as possible.  Our calendar is already starting to fill up.  We are keeping the deposit at $400/person, which we will need to secure your dates.

As this season draws to a close, everyone at ECHO VALLEY would like to wish each and everyone a joyous holiday season, and dreams of wild roosters, dancing in your heads!

Best Wishes,

ECHO VALLEY RANCH

Ron & Lynn Ogren

Mike, Shanley, Kaiden & Karsyn Dorris