The famed wide-open spaces of Texas are under siege, threatened by ever-expanding suburban development and fragmenting into ever-smaller pieces as people in cities buy up land in the country. The good news is conservation-minded landowners stand as bastions against these trends, places like Llano Springs Ranch south of Junction, which on May 21 received the Leopold Conservation Award for Texas from Sand County Foundation and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, part of the department’s Lone Star Land Steward Awards program.

Every year, TPWD and Sand County Foundation recognize private land stewards in 10 ecological regions across the state, as well as the Leopold Conservation Award winner. For the fourth year, the Lone Star Land Steward Awards benefit from an association with Sand County Foundation, an international non-profit organization devoted to private landowner conservation. Ecoregion award recipients and the wildlife management association recipient receive $1,000 from the foundation, while the Leopold Conservation Award recipient receives $10,000 and the Leopold crystal. The purpose is to recognize outstanding examples of voluntary stewardship.

“I’m proud that we’ve taken a ranch that had been neglected for many years and turned it into something to be proud of, and we’ve done it ourselves,” said Tom M. Vandivier, part of the five-generation farm and ranch family which owns the 5,100-acre spread in Edwards County. He works the first part of the week as an attorney near Austin, then on Thursdays heads to the ranch and works all weekend.

“Whoever dreamed up this idea for land steward awards is right on target with what’s going on in ranching these days,” Vandivier said. “It’s a great motivator. When we learned about this, it got us motivated to do more. We’re thrilled to have won.”

The ranch contains the headwaters of the South Llano River, which flows into the Colorado. Years of work to remove water-sucking cedar and restore water-friendly native grasses are benefiting everything downriver, including thirsty cities like Austin. Land with restored grasses instead of cedar and rocks holds rainwater like a giant sponge, releasing it slowly and providing natural filtration. This helps aquifer recharge and prevents erosion, sending cleaner water downstream. (more…)

A study entitled “Population Characteristics of a White-tailed Deer Herd in a Bottomland Hardwood Forest of South-central Louisiana” has entered its final year. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) and Louisiana State University (LSU) Agriculture Center have spearheaded the study with help from various contributors.

The primary objectives of the study are to assess range and movements of male and female white-tailed deer, evaluate age and sex-specific harvest rates of white-tailed deer and evaluate survival and causes of death among male and female white-tailed deer in a Louisiana bottomland hardwood forest.

Researchers are conducting the study on approximately 40,000 acres of bottomland hardwood forest located west of Baton Rouge and east of the Atchafalaya Basin. The study area is currently leased to more than 30 private hunting clubs, and each club belongs to a cooperative that promotes quality deer management on the property. A. Wilbert’s Sons L.L.C. is the primary landowner and cooperator and is also providing technical, logistical and housing support for the researchers. (more…)

Dr. James Kroll, Stephen F. Austin State University professor, argues that spikes should be removed from restrictive antler regulation if the goal is to protect young white-tailed bucks.

With requests from hunters and landowners in hand, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is considering another round of expansion of counties operating under special antler restrictions.

Already the rule in 61 counties statewide, the department is now considering expanding into 11 additional Pineywoods counties for the 2009-10 hunting season. Those on the current shortlist include Angelina, Hardin, Jasper, Liberty, Montgomery, Newton, Polk, San Jacinto, Trinity, Tyler, and Walker.

Under the regulation a legal buck is described as one with an inside spread of at least 13 inches or a spike. Hunters are restricted to just one of the larger bucks.

The goal of the regulation is to improve the age structure of the deer population by taking more pressure off the 1 1/2-year-old and 2 1/2-year-old bucks. It is, some would say, a case of the state getting neighboring landowners and hunters to do what the landowners and hunters can’t get each other to do. (more…)

Whitetail fawns are usually born in May or June, but sometimes into July at southern latitudes. White-tailed fawns weight 6 to 8 pounds at birth. Fawns spend their early days clinging to their mothers, bonding and learning about the big new world. Sometimes does and their offspring gather in small groups. And, it’s within these groups fawns learn to walk, run and react in the face of danger. Fawns are playful and get exercise by nudging, jumping and boxing one another with their legs and feet.

The first few days and weeks are perilous for fawns. They survive best in areas with lots of cover. Fawns rely heavily on their natural camouflage. The white spots scattered across their reddish-brown bodies blend well with fallen leaves and brush. When a fawn beds down, they tuck their legs, head and neck into its body for ultimate concealment and remains motionless. This helps avoid predation by bobcats, coyotes, or anything else. (more…)

The rifle whitetail action in north-central Kansas continued to be slow but steady through the first full weekend of the season. The hunters and outfitters of Washington County, Kansas continue to be largely frustrated in finding the big bucks that this country is known for, although a handful of really nice bucks have shown up in the back of pickups at the local diner around lunch time.

The freezing rain that fell across much of the state on saturday morning dried up within 24 hours or so, making dirt roads passable again. Even with access restored, there was still pretty little shooting going on. (more…)

The good news and the bad news about Nebraska’s deer season is that it’s 9-days of rifle hunting smack during the middle of the rut. Good news, because hunting rutting whitetails is a hoot. Bad news, because young bucks experience lots of mortality, many never getting a chance to reach their potential. Couple this with the fact that hunters can each take two bucks (again, a good news / bad news kind of thing), and the bucks get hit really hard each year.

The 2007 Nebraska season appears to have been about average. The weather was warm, the warmest deer hunt I’ve ever been on, but the bucks were in full rut.

I hunted near Ogallala for the last 3 days or so of the season that opened November 10th and ended on the 18th.

The 4×4 I took was very hot on the tail of a doe, chasing her aggressively through the brush. Through a combination of tough luck and being selective (OK, mostly tough luck), I had not tagged a buck for several years, and when I saw he was a 4-point I knew I wanted to take him. (more…)

The rifle whitetail season in north-central Kansas has been slow, but some huge bucks have been taken in the state. The hunters and outfitters of Washington County, Kansas have largely been frustrated in finding the big bucks that this country is known for. Most of the hunters say they are getting skunked.

But, those who have scored, have scored big. I have seen a deer that was green scored at 190″, and I’ve seen two excellent bucks with 11+ total points. Another hunter at the hotel took a medium-sized 4×4, but most hunters are holding out for trophies.

Personally, I’ve only seen 4 bucks, including a 2×2, a medium-sized 4×4, a small 4×4, and a 4×4 that I regret not trying harder to take. (more…)

Hunters remain a powerful force in American society, as evidenced by the presidential candidates who routinely pay them homage, but their ranks are shrinking dramatically and wildlife agencies worry increasingly about the loss of sorely needed license-fee revenue. New figures from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service show that the number of hunters 16 and older declined by 10 percent between 1996 and 2006 — from 14 million to about 12.5 million. The drop was most acute in New England, the Rocky Mountains, and the Pacific states, which lost 400,000 hunters in that span. (more…)