Tag: deer management

Kerr WMA: Deer Management Seminars

For hunters and landowners interested in healthier deer and better hunting Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has announced some upcoming white-tailed deer management seminars. The habitat and wildlife management classes will take place at the Kerr Wildlife Management Area (WMA), which is located about 30 minutes west of Kerrville, Texas. This area offers a very educational view on the interaction between the whitetail and its native habitat.

The Kerr WMA is offering seminars free to the public on the first Friday of each month in August, September, and October. Seminars include an ecosystems approach as it pertains to range and wildlife habitat management with emphasis on whitetail deer management. Topics discussed include deer management, grazing management, prescribed burning and brush control as well as how these management techniques effect threatened and endangered species. You will get some insight into key deer foods and how to appraise the habitat found on your ranch. Continue reading Kerr WMA: Deer Management Seminars

Whitetail Deer Bedding Cover

Every hunter wants to shoot a big buck, but does every hunter want to provide quality habitat for their deer? The answer is no, and there is nothing wrong with that as long as those landowners realize that the choices they make impact the end product. When it comes to providing good habitat for whitetail, quality bedding cover is one of the most important things a landowner can provide, especially on smaller properties. So why is whitetail deer beddding cover so important?

Think about this just for a second: Where does a mature whitetail buck spend the greatest amount of time during the day? You may not have a good answer for me and that’s because you rarely see such an animal in the middle of the day. That’s because mature bucks are not standing in open fields throughout the middle of the hunting season, and they sure aren’t camped out in the middle of a food plot. Continue reading Whitetail Deer Bedding Cover

Warden Takes Kaufman County Monster Buck

Big whitetail harvested in Kaufman County

Texas has a handfull of gigantic white-tailed bucks harvested each year. The number of truly impressive bucks taken by bowhunters makes up a small amount of those big deer, but archers do get a few. While most hunters are trying or preparing to get their buck this season, TPWD Game Warden Eric Minter is all smiles. That’s because this past week the Kaufman County warden found himself as the lucky hunter staring down the buck of a lifetime! Yes indeed, Minter put his own tag on a whopper 27-point non-typical buck!

The buck has not been scored, but the multi-tined monster should score well above the 200-inch mark on the non-typical side of the scoring sheet. “I’ve been kind of leery of telling everybody just yet because I don’t know what he scores and I don’t want to guess and it be a lot lower or higher than I expected,” Minter said. “But this is unbelievable.” Continue reading Warden Takes Kaufman County Monster Buck

Dry Weather Impacts Native Wildlife

Drought impacts deer, turkey, and wildlife habitat 

Despite welcome rains in late March, much of Texas remains parched by prolonged drought of historic proportions, and wildlife die-offs of whooping cranes and deer have been reported. However, experts say native wildlife evolved to bounce back from drought, and a bigger issue is how human water use is changing the equation, and how drought underscores the need for water planning and conservation. “The current drought affecting all of Texas has reached historic proportions, with the past six months among the driest since the long-term drought of the 1950’s and 1917, the driest year on record.” That sentence begins the March 11 situation report from the governor’s Drought Preparedness Council.

The council report said last December through February was the driest period on record for the east, south central, and upper coast regions. It also noted the entire state was classified as at least “Abnormally Dry” according to the United States Drought Monitor. Continued dry range conditions could have a negative impact on wild turkey production and hunting prospects for spring turkey season, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologists. If parts of Texas remain parched, particularly the south, experts say Rio Grande turkey breeding activity and nesting effort will be greatly reduced or nonexistent. Rio Grande spring turkey hunting season runs April 4-May 17 in the North Zone, with special youth-only weekends March 28-29 and May 23-24. The South Zone season runs March 21-May 3, with youth weekends March 14-15 and May 9-10. Harvest data is collected and used for turkey management. Continue reading Dry Weather Impacts Native Wildlife

Great Land Management Takes Getting Involved

Learn how to manage habitats and wildlife 

It can be awful lonesome out there, facing the challenges and opportunities of working with the land. But holistic land managers have a tool that not only provides someone to talk to who really understands what they are doing, but a social and practical network of problem solving, brain-storming, and the camaraderie of like-minded friends. If you could use some input on the best wildlife management practices on your property, think about getting involved in a management club.

Management clubs all over the world have brought managers together in regional groups who are likely to face some of the same social, economic, and ecological challenges. The design of the clubs and what they actually do when they gather varies with the club. Each one designs itself. The Red River Graziers, for example, meet at a different member’s place each month. The host takes the group on a tour, pointing out the areas where he could use some ideas. Everyone chews on it awhile as they chew on lunch (usually self-provided or potluck). The afternoon is spent creating a list of practices that are working, those to stop doing, and those new one to incorporate. Continue reading Great Land Management Takes Getting Involved

Case Shows How Easy CWD Could Spread

CWD could spread easier than you think 

Criminal charges recently filed against a father and son who ran a Kent County deer farm provide a shocking look at just how easy chronic wasting disease (CWD) might have spread to Michigan’s wild deer herd. Michigan Department of Natural Resources agents say a day after CWD was confirmed in a deer from their herd, the pair crept onto their quarantined farm at midnight, tranquilized a deer and loaded it into a trailer. DNR agents watching the property say they saw it all. When stopped on a road, the two told DNR officers they planned to release the deer into the wild. They didn’t have proper paperwork for the deer, and wanted to get rid of it. However, tests later showed the deer free of CWD.

The DNR recently said that it may have found the source of the always-fatal disease that’s similar to mad cow disease. The taxidermy shop next to the Kent County deer farm had accepted two deer from customers who illegally brought them from CWD zones in South Dakota and Wyoming. Continue reading Case Shows How Easy CWD Could Spread

Chaparral WMA Facilities Spared by Wildlife

Directions to Chaparral WMA

A massive wildfire that torched 95 percent of the 15,200-acre Chaparral Wildlife Management Area spared much of the wildlife on the state’s premier public hunting site, according to initial findings during aerial surveys by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologists.

Biologists flew the area on Thursday, March 20, aboard TPWD’s law enforcement helicopter counting deer and other animals and will compare those findings with recent annual aerial survey results, which should provide an estimate of wildlife loss from the fire.

“I am amazed how adaptive wildlife can be during a natural disaster; we found very few carcasses and have observed a lot of live animals — horned lizards, whitetail deer, javelina and quail,” said David Synatzske, Chaparral WMA manager. “We have between 20 and 25 wildlife biologists and technicians on the site assessing damage and fixing fences and they are not finding dead animals. We discovered about 30 dead animals in one location, but have not found concentrations elsewhere. I drove the entire 30-mile perimeter fence line and found only two carcasses. Considering 95 percent of the area burned, that’s incredible.” Continue reading Chaparral WMA Facilities Spared by Wildlife