Welcome

Hi everyone,
My name is Andy Thies, and I am the ranch manager of Elkhead Ranch near Bruner, Missouri.  I was born and raised in small town Sterling, Nebraska.  I am 30 years old and married to an art teacher. 

Together we are the proud parents of a beautiful baby girl, Harlea Mae, who was born 13 days ago.  I am 10 weeks away from an Associates of Aplied Science Degree in Divesified Agriculture Production.  I was in the Army Reserve for 8 years, and during that time I served 2 tours of duty overseas in the Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom campaign.  It was shortly after my second tour that I asked my beautiful wife Kristie to marry me.  Shortly after that I decided to pursue a degree in Agronomy.  I thought that with an Agronomy degree I would create more employment oportunities in Southeast Nebraska, and planned to get into the wildlife food plot business one way or another.  As luck would have it, I met Randy and Jane Miller who own Elkhead Ranch. They had serious intentions of creating a guided hunting service on the ranch, and had a need for a ranch manager with a hunting background and a willingness to learn the ins and outs of the bison business. The rest is history.

I am pleased to announce that after 5 years of habitat management and wildlife nutrition practices at the ranch, we are officially open for business guiding whitetail, turkey, and buffalo hunts. 

Throughout the year, I will be keeping you updated on what goes on in the day to day operations of a working bison ranch and hunting retreat.  I will share with you the experiences of everyday life on the ranch.  This includes working the bison, calving season, wildlife management practices for deer and turkey such as planting food plots, habitat improvement, controlled burns, etc., and of course, monthly game camera pictures.   

Thank you for following our blog from the beginning, and I hope that you will share the experiences of the ranch with us through our blog, and in person. We would like to welcome you into our ranch family.