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Mature Buck Harvest Up in Texas

Texas is known for producing high quality white-tailed bucks, but data shows that deer hunting is getting even better! The number of mature bucks harvested last year continues to rise, while the number of yearling bucks continues to fall. That trend could continue if the wet weather holds up this year and another good fawn crop throws off yet anther robust cohort of fawns. To put things in perspective, buck fawns born this year will be mature during the 2020-21 hunting season!

But Texas is not the only place where deer harvest management is paying off. Much of the U.S. is seeing similar trends with the percentage of mature bucks in the annual harvest going up. Increased habitat and population management along with hunter awareness are likely spurring the increase. Quality, mature bucks are king in deer hunting right now, and hunters are allowing them to get there.

Source: American deer hunters are killing the highest-ever percentage of bucks age 3½ and older, according to data gathered by the Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA) for its 2015 Whitetail Report, now available online.

In the 2013-14 season, the most recent season with complete deer harvest data available from all states, 34 percent of bucks harvested in the states that collect buck age data were 3½ or older. That statistic is up from 32 percent the season before, and significantly up from a decade before in the 2003-04 season, when only 23 percent of the national buck harvest was mature. These gains have been made while the percentage of yearling bucks (1½ years old) in the harvest has steadily declined, reaching a record-low of 36 percent.

“This is a testament to how far we’ve come as hunters in the past decade,” said Kip Adams, QDMA’s Director of Education & Outreach, who compiles the annual Whitetail Report. “More hunters are choosing to protect yearling bucks, and they are being rewarded by seeing and killing more of them as mature animals.”

This trade-off can be seen in state-by-state data. The five states with the lowest percentage of yearling bucks in the antlered buck harvest, according to QDMA’s Whitetail Report, are also the top-five states in percentage of mature bucks: Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas.

Comanche County Deer Hunting…

White-tailed deer are a popular game species in Texas and elsewhere throughout the US. Though most deer are taken legally, where there is temptation there will be people that do things illegally. So was the case in north-central Texas, where whitetail are quite numerous… and apparently the poachers are quite dumb/blatant. This illegal hunting story takes place in Comanche County.

Texas Parks & Wildlife Department — A Comanche County game warden had come home for lunch and parked his truck in the driveway when a knock came at the front door. His wife answered the door to find a young man asking if she knew where he could hunt hogs. She said she didn’t know and sent him on his way. The warden got to the door just as the man was getting into his white truck to leave. He felt there was something off about the encounter, so he moved his patrol truck behind his house and set up where he could watch the oat field just across the highway.

Comanche County Texas Deer Hunts

At dusk, he saw a white truck driving slowly on the highway and stop at the edge of the oat food plot. He then saw the man get out, remove a rifle form the backseat, sneak up to the fence and fire four shots into a herd of deer. Another car was coming down the road and spooked the man, so he ran back to his truck and made a U-turn just as the warden arrived to the scene.

The warden proceeded to handcuff, search and read Miranda rights to the man before asking him, “What were you thinking?” The young man said, “I didn’t think you would be home.” The warden then searched the field but did not find a deer or any blood. The man said he had just bought the .243 rifle and had not bothered to sight-in the scope.

The man was charged with deer hunting from a Texas public road and hunting in a closed area. His new rifle was seized.

Restoring Bobwhite Quail Populations in Texas

Despite the fact that the 2014-15 bobwhite quail hunting season was the best one in about 10 years Texas is putting more money to work to restore bobwhite populations within the state. It’s not simply a stocking program, but rather additional research to identify limiting factors affecting quail numbers. There is still some debate among landowners with regards to the “smoking gun” that has decimated bobwhite populations, although biologists agree many factors have contributed to the decline.

Habitat. The loss of critically-important quail habitat has been cited as the number one factor plaguing quail across Texas. Of course, fire ants, feral hogs, increased populations of raccoons, opossums, skunks, “clean” farming practices and overgrazing by livestock have only added fuel to the fire. In many areas, intense grazing by livestock has lead to the direct loss of the native bunchgrasses that bobwhite quail populations need to survive and thrive. Scattering seed grain and food plots for habitat improvement can help in local areas, but more is needed to make a difference at a larger scale.

The state of Texas has dedicated millions of dollars to help in the fight to boost quail populations. “There are a lot of generations now that haven’t even seen a quail,” said Matt Reidy, a wildlife biologist for Texas Parks and Wildlife.

The bird, once popular among Texas hunters, has seen a serious decline over the past decade in the state. Researchers believe that it is due to a loss of habitat. “It’s a bird that is really unique in that quail need specific habitat, and those habitats are declining,” said Reidy. He also noted that bobwhite quail are a good indicator of the health of grasslands, thus determining how well other species can survive in the habitat.

Rancher Frates Seeligson, who owns close to 5,200 acres near Stockdale, Texas, along with other landowners, has been helping fight the quail issue. Seeligson joined forces with Texas Parks and Wildlife four years ago and began the long process of restoring his land to its natural state. The move was intended to bring back native species.

“It’s not necessarily quail, while I love quail, and the quail are a game species and there’s a lot of money in hunting quail; it’s more for doing the program to get to the proper habitat and the balance that nature intended for this part of the state,” said Seeligson.

Seeligson believes the move has paid off. Now the state is also pitching in, to the tune of $6 million, to further fund restorations similar to what has taken place on Seeligson’s land. The hope is that quail will return to the area, and by most accounts, it is a process that has already started.

According to Seeligson, he recently discovered multiple coveys of quails on his land, for the first time in 15 years — an indication, he believes, that the program was working.

Wildlife Management Use Tax Valuation in Texas

The wildlife management use tax valuation is the new answer for Texas landowners asking themselves how they can keep those property tax rates low without having to maintain agricultural production on their properties. Livestock had been the go-to for landowners looking to keep an agricultural tax exemption. Livestock can be great, but on smaller properties where the focus is on wildlife and habitat management, then the wildlife tax valuation makes a lot of sense.

Since the 1990’s, the opportunity to claim a wildlife use to obtain a property tax exemption has been in place in Texas. But it’s not as simple as just signing up. An existing agricultural valuation is necessary before converting to a wildlife exemption, and then an application form and a wildlife management plan must be submitted to the appropriate central appraisal district.

Source: For several years, the opportunity to claim a wildlife appraisal to obtain a tax exemption on property has been in place. But the process can be a little bit daunting. “There are rules in several different places, the Tax Code, the Texas Administrative Code, and there are comptroller-created rules to go along with the guidelines created by TPWD,” said Keith Olenick, senior biologist at Texas Wildlife Company. “It can be hard for a landowner making the switch to a wildlife exemption.”

An existing agricultural valuation is necessary before converting to a wildlife exemption, and then an application form and a wildlife management plan must be submitted to the appropriate central appraisal district. “The application is available online, and the plan is based on a Texas Parks and Wildlife-created form, about 10 pages long,” Olenick said. The landowner can complete the form, but a biologist-prepared form covers the bases a landowner might miss that result in the application being denied, Olenick said.

“A lot of appraisal districts want more than the basic information,” he explained. “They want to see maps and descriptions of the activities that will take place. They aren’t always quick to agree to reduced taxes on thousands of acres in their district.” The Texas Tax Code includes wildlife management in the definition of agricultural uses of land and defines wildlife management.

“Basically, the plan must designate a targeted, native species and the practices need to benefit that species,” Olenick said. “This is the reason most plans are denied.”

Using wildlife management as an agricultural practice to qualify for the 1-d-1 Open Space Agricultural tax appraisal in Texas is not widely understood by many landowners or potential landowners, but implementing management practices can greatly improve hunting on just about any property. While it is relatively easy to switch from traditional agricultural uses such as cattle or hay production to wildlife management agricultural use, there are several guidelines that must be adhered to in order for the property to receive the special agriculture tax appraisal based on wildlife management.

The enjoyment associated with managing for wildlife, however, make the change in land use management worthwhile for many landowners. The results can be improved deer hunting, dove hunting or better populations of other small game species. Landowners are reminded that to qualify for the special tax appraisal, the following issues must be addressed:

1) The property must have already been qualified as 1-d-1 Open-Space Agricultural Use land the year prior to changing to wildlife management use.

2) The land must be used to support a sustaining breeding, migrating, or wintering population of indigenous wild animals. In other words, the primary use of the land must be for managing wildlife and/or habitat.

3) An application for 1-d-1 (Open Space) Agricultural Appraisal must be submitted showing the change in land use to wildlife management and submitted to the appraisal district in the county in which the property is located.

4) A Wildlife Management Plan for Agricultural Tax Valuation must be completed and submitted to the Central Appraisal District in the county in which the property is located.

5) If property has been reduced in size since the previous tax year, minimum tract size requirements must be met to qualify for open space land appraisal for wildlife management use.

Turkey Stocking in Texas: Habitat Management Before Hunting

Wild turkeys are found in robust numbers in many areas of Texas, but there are locations where turkey stocking is warranted. This is especially true in the eastern half of the state, where eastern turkey once roamed. Some of the turkey populations originally found there never bounced back after they were initially wiped out by unregulated hunting and changes in habitat. Now, those same areas are prime candidates for turkey stocking if property owners are willing and can work together.

For stocking stockings to work, however, it is going to require more large landowners to become involved. Land use practices of the past on commercial land, private tracts and even national forests have created challenges that are not favorable for turkey, but the turkey habitat found in some parts of the eastern half of Texas have improved dramatically. This mean stocking and, eventually, more turkey hunting in east Texas. But let’s not put the cart before the horse.

Source: “It was a cold, grey morning. Hardly the chamber of commerce type weather to welcome newcomers to the state. But there they were, 24 eastern wild turkeys from Tennessee and Missouri being liberated from the boxes that had been their homes for about 48 hours.

Once free, the 22 hens and two jakes flew off in all directions into the pinelands of Trinity County. Their new home is the White Rock Creek drainage situated between the Trinity River to the west and the Neches to east.

The release was the first round of this year of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s efforts to re-establish eastern wild turkeys in the state. The department released 248 on three sites in 2014. They will eventually release 80 on the White Rock Creek site, the only one approved for stocking this year.

To qualify for turkey release, a site must be at least 10,000 contiguous acres and meet stringent habitat requirements. It is a guideline that has proven harder to meet than expected when the department began its super stocking approach to wild turkey restoration.

The program is a true cooperative between TPWD and the states that provide the birds, the National Wild Turkey Federation that underwrites transportation costs and hunters whose upland game bird stamp supplies GPS tracking devices and pays for other portions of the project.

The often unmentioned key is landowners who not only allow the department to release turkeys on their properties, but also invest in the habitat management work necessary for the birds to thrive. Last year that included both a private and corporate landowner, along with a state wildlife management area.

King: One of the Biggest Free-Ranging Bucks in Texas History

With the nickname of “King” this buck was destined to make Texas deer hunting history. But as good as King looked, little did Houston County hunter Mark Lee know that the big buck he and his son Cullen were hunting during the 2012 and 2013 hunting seasons would end up in the number three position for free-ranging Texas bucks. Only two Texas bucks ever entered into the Boone & Crockett records have larger antler scores than King, but one is from over a century ago and the other is rapidly approaching that mark.

The “Brady” buck from McCulloch County taped in at a whopping 284 3/8 inches. The buck was shot by an unknown hunter in the 1890s. The Brady deer, a former B&C world record holder, still tops the list as the largest of Texas bucks. The number two position belongs to the the 272 0/8 inch non-typical whitetail that was found dead near Junction in 1925 by Fred Mudge.

Mark Lee’s buck, King, checked in with a B&C score of 278 5/8 gross, 268 4/8 net. Not at all bad for an East Texas deer hunting lease.

Source: “I’ll never forget the first time I saw him,” recalls Lee. “Cullen and I were out setting cameras and putting out corn when a bachelor group of bucks jumped a fence about 50 yards in front of us and took off across a freshly disced field. They were’t messing around, either. Their heads were down and there was nothing but a smoke trail behind them.”

As the bucks sped away, Lee said his son commented about the antler spreads on a couple of the bucks, and how tall one of the others was. Lee, meanwhile, was more interested in the buck that was bringing up the rear.

“I told Cullen, ‘dude, look at the other deer,’ and I handed him my binoculars,” Lee said. “He said, dang, dad, he looks like he’s got a big knot on his head.” A life-long deer hunter, Lee, 51, said he knew right away the buck he was looking was way more special than any he had ever seen.

“We watched them run for probably 2,000 yards and maybe 2-3 minutes,” Lee said. “I couldn’t tell exactly what he was, but guessed he had probably 18-20 points. His rack looked like a big crown on top of his head. That’s when I nicknamed him “King.”

Big Spike Buck Could be New Record

Most hunters do not get excited about seeing a spike buck deer hunting, but there are spikes — and then there are SPIKES. Texas hunter Wes Wyrick recently harvested a spike of epic proportions which could go down in the record books as the biggest whitetail spike yet. Wyrick has a hunting lease in Val Verde County where he maintains game cameras to monitor deer in the area. The big spike deer definitely stood out, but it took some time for the hunter to get him in his sights.

LSO News: The antlers, each approximately 24 inches long, curve gracefully above the deer’s head to form a towering, smooth semicircle. If the length and symmetry weren’t impressive enough, Wyrick estimated the deer to be about 8-1/2-years old. All of this adds up to an once-in-a-lifetime kill.

“I knew I would never see another deer like that,” Wyrick said of the first time he saw the buck’s image captured on a game camera. “I was like, ‘Holy crap, I need to shoot that deer.’”

Wyrick has “been hunting since he could walk” and, when he isn’t hunting recreationally with buddy Cody Garrett and loyal dog, Newt, he is either studying wildlife at Texas A&M University-Kingsville or working as a gunner for Southwest Texas Helicopters shooting pigs. Needless to say, Wyrick knows a good deer when he sees one.

The hunter said there was no ground shrinkage on this big spike-antlered buck. The buck’s antlers total 48 2/8 inches in length, enough to put Wyrick in the lead for “Longest Spike” in three different deer contest. Looks like everything is really bigger in Texas, including spike bucks.

Culling Bucks for Herd Improvement: The Ability to Age Deer is Key

I believe there will always be controversy around the culling of white-tailed bucks. It’s one of those topics that never seems to be put to rest. I do feel like the term “cull buck” is way over used, often by hunters as a way to justify the death of the buck they just harvested. The number one problem for most hunters who want to employ culling practices to create a high-quality deer hunting property lies not only in having the opportunity to see and shoot the right bucks, but possessing the ability to precisely identify the age of the deer standing in front of them.

There is a substantial difference between a yearling buck with 8 antler points and a 4 1/2 year old buck with 8 antler points. Sure, most hunters can identify as yearling (1 1/2 year old) buck because they look like does with little antlers. Although these bucks can have from 2 to 10 points, it’s still an easy game to because their bodies are so small compared to older bucks. But after that buck tacks on another year or two in age, then the ability to age that deer on the hoof becomes a lot more complicated.

For example, go ahead and jump on any hunting forum and check out the photo section. There are, without a doubt, game camera photos featuring bucks. The person posting each of the photos will probably be requesting estimates with regards to the buck’s age and score. The most common guess will be 3 1/2 years of age, regardless of whether it’s actually at 2 1/2 year old or a 5 1/2 year old buck. But to be fair, there are a lot of photos of 3 1/2 year old bucks floating around, which is probably representative of the deer herd that hunters are hunting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hx5vu7FcMmM

Speaking of game cameras, they are a great tool that should be used to help us age deer in the field. For culling to be effective, it also boils down to correctly aging the bucks that we come into contact on our hunting properties. If we do not have the ability to age bucks before pulling the trigger, then the error will be culling deer simply based on antler size. The fact of the matter is that the culling of whitetail bucks should based on both age and antler size, says Dr. Charles DeYoung, a research biologist with the Caesar Kleberg Research Center in Kingsville, Texas.

“It’s fairly easy to tell if a buck is a yearling, but once they get up in the 2- to 3-year-old range, it gets more difficult to accurately estimate their age,” DeYoung says. “I can think of several bucks I estimated to be 2 or 3 only to find out they were 6 when I examined their teeth.” That’s why it’s virtually impossible to judge a deer’s age or potential simply by examining antler points, shape or mass and then deciding if it’s a cull buck. It takes being familiar with deer body characteristics, which varies by area, but even that still leaves you making an educated guess.

For the average hunter that does not deal with white-tailed deer day-in and day-out the best thing we can do is harvest the bucks that we consider shooters and let the others walk. This will vary by area and by hunter. A shooter buck to one hunter may not be a shooter to another hunter. Try to harvest the ones that meet your personal criteria and leave the bucks that do not. Besides, there’s no guarantee that a “cull buck” that appears inferior because of uneven or unusual antlers will remain that way. They might, but the average hunter really has no way of knowing if a deformed antler is the result of poor genetics or just an untimely accident. Of course, if it’s observed in subsequent hunting seasons then it can make the decision quite easy.

Commercial Deer Breeding and Hunting Operations Under Fire

It’s increased exponentially is recent years and has turned increasingly negative attention towards white-tailed deer hunting: Captive deer breeding. Pen-raised deer have fueled a segment of the hunting industry that many have tried to ignore, yet others see the breeding and hunting of captive deer as a necessity. Opponents say hunting preserves violate the fair chase concept. But what’s fair? That’s always a gray area, in any discussion.

“Did the animal have a fair chance to escape?” asks Keith Balfourd of the Boone and Crocket Club, a conservation group founded by Theodore Roosevelt. “They’re not hunts, they’re shoots,” he says, “and the club denounces that activity.” Critics of captive deer hunting operations think it’s like shooting fish in a barrel. Proponents cite managed herds with optimal nutrition, not to mention genetics. It’s a discussion that pits hunters against hunters.

Source: Breeders sell the deer they raise to owners of private hunting preserves, where bucks and does are kept confined to fenced-in areas for high-paying customers to hunt. A prize buck can fetch $100,000 for breeders.

“It was a small cottage industry to begin with, but in the past 10 to 20 years, more and more folks have gotten into it,” Mark Smith, a wildlife biologist at Auburn University, said.

Landowners across the country have long allowed hunters to shoot deer on their property, but recently breeders and farmers have built high fences to trap deer in smaller areas for hunters who are willing to pay a high price to get access to those smaller areas. While some animal rights activitsts oppose this practice on ethical grounds, wildlife managers criticize the role these preserves play in spreading chronic wasting disease among the nation’s wild deer population, and they would like to see tighter regulations.

Deer farmers and preserve managers argue that their operations provide a boon to rural economies that are strapped for ways to make a living. Ohio, for instance, is home to between 500 and 550 facilities that breed deer or host private hunts, Erica Hawkins of the Ohio Department of Agriculture said. A typical deer farm in Ohio yields $71,391 in annual revenue, according to a 2010 report prepared for a coalition of deer farmers in Ohio. Each farm is a slice of a $59.2 million statewide industry that generates 1,254 jobs. A 2007 study estimated that the industry generated $103 million a year in Pennsylvania and $652 million in Texas — the only two states with a larger industry than Ohio.

“We feel we are approaching a $1 billion industry,” says Chase Clark, president of the Texas Deer Association and a deer farmer himself.

Turkey Hunting Could Change in East Texas

It looks like the spring hunting season for eastern turkeys is a changing. Well, not so much changing as in going away, at least in some cases. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is considering closing spring eastern turkey hunting in 11 East Texas counties, restructure the season in two other counties and extend the youth-only fall turkey season. The recommendations are among a brief slate of proposed turkey hunting regulation changes for 2015.

If adopted, hunting season for eastern turkey would be closed in 11 counties (Angelina, Brazoria, Camp, Fort Bend, Franklin, Harrison, Hopkins, Morris, Titus, Trinity, and Wood) and on National Forest lands in Jasper County. While closed, TPWD wildlife biologists will evaluate the prospects for future eastern turkey restoration compatibility and restocking efforts. The agency’s goal is to reopen hunting should the eastern turkey populations in the affected counties become capable of sustaining harvest.

TPWD is also proposing to restructure the existing spring turkey hunting season in Wharton and Matagorda counties. The proposal would continue to allow for a 30-day spring only, one gobbler season and eliminate mandatory harvest reporting. In an effort to expand hunting opportunity for youth and reduce regulatory complexity, the department is proposing to expand by 14 days the late youth-only season in counties having an open Rio Grande fall turkey season, to run concurrent with the late youth-only season for white-tailed deer.

Comments on the proposed rules may be submitted by phone or e-mail to Robert Macdonald (512) 389-4775; e-mail: robert.macdonald@tpwd.texas.gov, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, 4200 Smith School Road, Austin, Texas 78744. Comments may also be submitted through the department’s web site and at the following public meetings. Comments may also be submitted through the department’s Internet web site www.tpwd.texas.gov in February once the proposals have been published in the Texas Register and at the following public meetings.

Public hearings are scheduled for Tuesday, March 3 at 7 p.m. in Zapata at the Zapata County Technical and Advance Education Center, Room 128, 605 N. US Hwy 83, and in Lufkin at the Angelina County Courthouse, 159th District Courtroom, 215 E. Lufkin Avenue. A live online public hearing via webinar will also be held at noon on Friday, March 6. Details and instructions for participation in the online public hearing webinar will be made available on the TPWD website.