ON LOCATION AT ELLIOTT LAND AND CATTLE IN TULARE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA Not your typical real estate video production.
We recently had a great opportunity to really explore the possibilities of this vast and beautiful ranch in the Sierra foothills bordering Sequoia National Park. The property has been put together parcel by parcel over generations. It is now being offered for the first time ever by La Tierra Home and Ranch, co-listed with Ranch Marketing Associates.
Most of the film crew (Bimarian Films and Marc Alt ) arrived on site Saturday evening to prepare for an early Sunday shoot.
Camping at the Sheep Creek corrals, we spent the evening listening to guitar music under the stars with our horses quietly enjoying their dinner in the corrals behind us.
Before daylight we awoke to cowboy coffee and a hearty breakfast prepared for us by Graham Goodfield of Los Padres Outfitters.
Cowboy coffee
As the sun came up, the riders gathered cattle from the holding field, pushing the cows and calves along under the Sycamores by the creek, past ancient Indian grinding rocks hidden near the stream.
I have always thought that it is a good sign to see Indian rocks on a property. The native Americans could have made their camp anywhere they liked- so if they chose this place then it must have all the right stuff.
The film crew was busy doing their magic, collecting amazing shots and video footage of gathering, sorting and roping.
The dramatic setting combined with perfect weather and clear skies was truly breath taking.
Gathering along Sheep Creek
At noon, we stopped and had our lunch at a large swimming hole along the north fork Kaweah River.
When I checked the map, I found that Elliott Land and Cattle owns over two miles of frontage along this river.
With the kids swimming and splashing around in the river and adults relaxing in the shade of large cottonwoods, we really didn’t want to go anywhere else.
But we had a large amount of country to cover and film. So we packed up the horses and moved camp to the western side of the ranch (about 20 miles away) to gather shots of the lower part of the property.
One might be able to ride across this property in a day. But it would be a very long day indeed -and you’d want to bring a spare horse just in case.
The western part of the property is the more gentle rolling side of the ranch with great feed, plentiful water, and also tons of game.
A very large covey of Valley Quail made for some incredible upland hunting footage,
The quail cooperated like perfect “extras”, flying back and forth from willows to brush pile and back while the film crew got their shots in (though of course not a shotgun was actually ever fired)
I can’t remember ever seeing abundant quail like this in such a perfect upland setting.
Cottonwood Creek
We saw so many turkeys, abundant doves. Even a great flock of ducks were feeding on the large stock pond. The whole scene erupted as they took to the air when we rode up. The ducks circled several times before deciding they didn’t like the video drone in their airspace and flew off to another pond.
The kids had brought their fishing poles and proceeded to catch and release a dozen bass, some weighing over 3 pounds.
We spent an amazing weekend learning firsthand about the great hunting and livestock possibilities of this vast acreage.
To sum it up, I’d have to say that if the new owners of this ranch have even half as much fun as we did in our 3 days filming, they are going to love this ranch.
