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Deer Poaching in Texas: TPWD Bags Poachers

People that harvest wild game illegally, break the law, are called poachers. For as long as there have been hunting regulations there have been poachers. These individuals steal the public’s wildlife resources, taking game outside of regulations that are designed to manage wildlife populations. The poaching of white-tailed deer has always been a concern of landowners in Texas, but especially in recent years because of the increased monetary value that quality deer represent. An illegally shot deer not only aggravates law-abiding hunters, but it can be a direct shot to a landowner’s pocket book.

The Law Enforcement Division of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) is always on the lookout for poachers. In fact, they just wrapped up a big deer poaching ring that involved the unlawful taking of numerous deer. An extensive 16-month poaching investigation in East Texas that has netted stout fines and jail or prison sentences for four men responsible for illegally killing 30 whitetail deer in Wood and Rains counties.

Wood County Game Wardens Derek Spitzer and Kurt Kelley along with Van Zandt County warden Steve Stapleton began the investigation on December 7, 2010 when a dead deer was found hanging from an oil well pump jack on a wooded 1,500 acre deer hunting tract near Alba. Only the deer’s backstrap had been removed, with the rest of the meat left to waste. The subsequent investigation, which involved an estimated 270 man hours, uncovered an extensive pattern of deer poaching in both Wood and Rains counties.

During the course of the investigation, the wardens conducted several protracted interviews, secured a large amount of evidence, and were able to document the illegal killing of 30 deer by four individuals. All of the deer had been killed at night from public roads with the aid of a spotlight over a three-month period.

In one documented incident, two of the men involved were found to have shot two deer behind a high fence at night and returned later with a pair of bolt cutters, which they used to cut a hole in the fence and remove the deer. Most of the venison in the investigation was found to have been wasted, with the violators often only taking the backstrap from the animals.

While probing the hunting law violations, the wardens recovered multiple stolen items and several theft cases are still pending. A total of 528 offenses were determined to have occurred with 40 of those being state jail felonies. Of the total offenses known, 22 charges were brought forward in Wood and Rains counties. Nine Class A misdemeanor charges and two state jail felonies were filed in each county.

Of the four defendants, three made plea deals with prosecutors with one of them entering a plea in exchange for a one-year sentence for hunting deer without a land owner’s consent. The protracted investigation was finally closed on February 23 when the fourth subject changed his plea to guilty and received 3 years in state jail and $12,000 in fines for hunting deer at night, hunting with artificial light and hunting from a vehicle – all Class A misdemeanors. Sentences handed down added up to more than $41,000 in fines, 3,000 hours of community service and a total of 12 years of jail or probation time.

In addition, six firearms were seized and awarded to the state. Finally, all the defendants lost the privilege of hunting in the state of Texas for five years and will be paying civil restitution for the game animals taken.

Whitetail deer hunting in Texas is a big deal, so the unregulated take of game causes many problems. Lawful hunters pay thousands of dollars for hunting leases that “may” allow them the opportunity to legally harvest deer. In addition, long term deer management is one of the items that resource agencies such as TPWD are charged with carrying out. Poachers undermine both private landowners and the agencies responsible for ensuring populations remain viable into the future.

Deer Hunting in Limestone County Texas

Question: “I’ve lived in the northern part of South Texas for my entire life but may be getting a job a bit further north. I enjoy whitetail deer hunting and am thinking about buying some amount of land near in my new area, Limestone County. I just want to find out more before buying some real estate. Can you tell me if deer hunting in Limestone County is good, decent, or what? Thank you.”

Response: One of my college buddies hunted in Limestone there for about five years. Currently, it is a two buck county, one buck greater than 13 inch inside spread and one buck with at least one unbranched antler can be shot each year. Limestone County has a lot of deer hunting pressure. It will not have the quality of deer that you may be used to, but maybe it could. It all depends on the location. There is a lot of hunting pressure, so the early part of deer season is the best. Continue reading Deer Hunting in Limestone County Texas

Quail Hunting Not Hurting Texas Population, But Numbers Down

The plight of the bobwhite quail has been well documented. It seems the species can not get out of the way of its own demise. Everything is stacked against it. Habitat is disappearing and rainfall is sparse. The recent droughts have amplified the decline of quail in the state, even in the traditional strongholds. Quail experts have admitted they don’t exactly know what the limiting factors may be. Now, even Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has said that quail hunting itself is not impacting the population. Will quail populations and hunting persist in Texas?

From the pen of Carter P. Smith
Executive Director of Texas Parks & Wildlife Department

“For most of us, the quail hunting season started and ended with more of a whimper than a bang this year. Save and except for a few pockets of sandy country in deep South Texas, much of the state’s bobwhite quail range was bereft of the very thing hunters and their dogs desired — quail. For all who cherish the sound of a rooster’s penetrating “bob-white” cry on a crisp winter morning and the sight of an exploding covey rise over a good point, that’s a real shame.

Another casualty of the now famous, or infamous, dry spell of 2011, statewide bobwhite quail populations are estimated by TPWD biologists to be as low as they have been in decades. Regrettably, it is another step backward for a prized game bird that has seen its population decline steadily across its range from New Jersey to the southern Great Plains. The bird’s predicament has been the subject of considerable discussion — and debate, I might add — in chat rooms, emails and conference rooms and at coffee shops and kitchen tables from Pampa to Albany to Coleman to Kingsville.

Quail hunters are anything but shy and retiring when it comes to their favorite game bird, and this year has been no exception. That’s a good thing, because let me assure you, complacency is not an option. So, how did we get to where we are today?

It is important to note that Texas is situated at the western terminus of the bird’s range. Quail populations, like other species of fish and wildlife, are more susceptible to the annual boom and bust cycles of nature when they’re at the margins. In any one year, assuming suitable habitat exists in sufficient quality and quantity, most population variability in bobwhite populations can be explained by the timing and amount of rainfall. This axiom holds true for much of the state, except for the eastern portion, where rainfall is not a limiting factor but suitable available habitat is.

That’s not to say that suitable habitat is not a limiting factor elsewhere in Texas. The pernicious effects of widespread quail habitat fragmentation, proliferation of exotic and invasive grasses and conversion of native habitat to improved pasture are all taking their toll.

And, as hard as it is to imagine in a state revered for its wide-open spaces and vast places, scale may be a problem as well. Researchers at the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute have suggested that in order to maintain sustainable populations of bobwhite quail, we may need to maintain large blocks of contiguous habitat to the tune of hundreds of thousands of acres. Such is certainly true of other grassland bird species, including upland game birds like the lesser prairie-chicken, which is fighting an uphill battle to hang on in the wake of significant long-term habitat changes across its range.

Some quail enthusiasts and researchers, while acknowledging the unavoidable weather and quail habitat parts of the quail equation, have suggested that there may be other insidious forces to blame. Exploding feral hog populations or a cryptic disease or endo-parasite may also be negatively affecting quail populations. Or, perhaps just as likely, it may be a combination of “all of the above.”

If you are worried about the effects of quail hunting, let me quickly take that off your worry list. There are simply far too few quail hunters to make an impact at a statewide, population-level scale.

While hunters are not the cause of this decline, they absolutely will be a big part of the solution. Thanks to their investments in the upland game bird stamp, which funds the important work of wildlife biologists across the state, as well as their support of groups like the Quail Coalition and the efforts of research institutions like the Kleberg institute, the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch and Quail-Tech, hunters will help us get to the bottom of this most vexing of wildlife concerns.

I am grateful that hunters and anglers care so passionately for our wild things and wild places. We need them now more than ever.”

Deer Hunting in Dallas County, Rockwall County, Texas

If you don’t own land with deer, then you know that finding a place go white-tailed deer hunting in Texas can be hard. So it’s always a good thing when more hunting lands become available. That’s what just happened this past week in some parts of the state. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission approved opening a whitetail hunting season for deer in Dallas, Collin, Rockwall and Galveston counties as part of changes to the 2012-13 Statewide Hunting Proclamation.

Under the new deer hunting regulations, the current whitetail season structure in Grayson County will be altered to allow full-season, either-sex whitetail harvest. The amended Grayson County archery-only deer season structure will also be added to Dallas County, Collin County and Rockwall County. But that’s not all. The Commission also approved implementing the current Harris County season structure in Galveston County.

The deer hunting season in Collin and Rockwall counties has been closed since 1976 after farming and ranching development virtually eliminated all deer habitat. Since that time, agriculture has been gradually displaced by the extensive urban, suburban, and exurban growth of the Metroplex, which has resulted in highly fragmented deer habitat and minimal populations of white-tailed deer, mostly in riparian areas surrounding lakes and streams.

However, whitetail deer populations in others suburban parts of Texas have risen in the face of decreased habitat, creating political issues on how to control deer populations. The state’s move to increased deer hunting in these urban counties will no only provide hunters with more places to chase whitetail, but may alleviate deer population issues along the human-wildlife interface. This will really the help deer hunters in and near Dallas County and Rockwall County.

MLD Program – Deer Hunting in Texas

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s (TPWD) Managed Lands Deer Permit Program, commonly referred to as the MLD Permit Program, is an integral part of white-tailed deer hunting in Texas. Many landowners are involved in the MLD Program because they are interested in habitat management, deer management and the benefits that the program offers them in the management of their property. With the 2011-2012 MLD season completed, TPWD would like to remind all MLD cooperators that collecting and submitting completed harvest data before April 1 is a requirement of the MLD program.

The minimum harvest data requirements from cooperating landowners under MLD levels 2 and 3 must include the following for all harvested deer: date of harvest, sex of deer, age of deer as determined by tooth wear and replacement, field dressed body weight, number of antler points on both right and left beams, inside spread, one main beam length, and one basal circumference. This data is very valuable for evaluating the progress your herd is making, and tracking the impacts of management decisions on the deer herd.

The more detailed and accurate the data you collect, the more accurate our management decisions become. For those landowners wanting to take their management program to the next level we recommend additional harvest data, aside from the minimum requirements outlined above, which should include the presence or absence of lactation for does, full gross Boone & Crockett scores for all bucks harvested (except spikes) including cull bucks, and a picture of every buck harvested. Remember, detailed data with a good sample size will yield much more accurate management decisions.

TPWD is reminding landowners that failure to submit complete and timely data will result in delayed permit issuance the first time it occurs. Poor or tardy data over several seasons will result in dropping to a lower MLDP level or possibly being removed from the program. Any ranch suspended from the program for non-compliance with the wildlife management plan must wait three years before applying to enter again.

An additional requirement for MLD properties is that an annual late summer/early fall deer survey be completed and that information be submitted to your TPWD biologist. This information helps determine annual harvest, identify potential problems with the herd dynamics, and can be useful in tracking hunter satisfaction through time. If you have questions about your survey (timing, type, etc), contact your local biologist.

Landowners participating in the MLD program can now submit harvest data online in the Texas Wildlife Information Management System (TWIMS), or the data can be mailed or emailed to your cooperating TPWD biologist. By submitting it into TWIMS, you will be able to compare your data with other ranches by county (while still keeping all personal information confidential). The MLD Program is an important component of deer hunting and deer management in Texas, but it only works when willing landowners take an interest in managing their property.

Kerr WMA Hunting Based on Habitat Quality

White-tailed deer hunting in Texas is big time and everyone has heard of the Kerr Wildlife Management Area (WMA), located just west of Kerrville, Texas, in Kerr County. The WMA offers public hunts for many game species, so many hunters are familiar with Kerr WMA hunting. It’s a great place to hunt and anyone selected for a hunt out there is in for a treat. Additionally, the WMA pioneered whitetail genetic research in Texas and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) does a great job of managing the habitat found on the property. Here is TPWD’s account of the drought of 2011:

As was the case all over Texas, 2011 was the second driest year ever recorded on the Kerr Wildlife Management Area (WMA) since 1952. Total rainfall for the year was 10.92” which is 15.2 inches less than our average rainfall of 26.13”. Approximately one-third of that fell in the month of December. Though it did not beat our record low of 8.25” in 1956, it was just as devastating. Most of the rainfall came in several small events which resulted in little more than keeping the dust down.

The typical emergence of new grass and forb growth was non-existent. Some woody plants managed to leaf out and put on growth, but it was not long before they also shut down. Due to the lack of spring growth, deer were forced to begin eating available low protein browse early which depletes their winter food source. This became apparent around mid-summer as brush showed signs of heavy use and deer began showing poor body conditions. Looking across the landscape one could see large areas of defoliated oaks and rusty colored cedar trees.

Landowners were justifiably concerned about the welfare of wildlife on their ranches. Despite high feed prices, many of them chose to continue supplemental feeding on into the fall and winter. This drought has taken a toll on all wildlife. It not only affects health and reproduction, but it also changes the movement and activity of animals as food and water sources become dangerously limited. This was evident to many as they were seeing half the expected number of deer along survey routes, but yet there was no indication of an unusually high mortality. It was unclear how to move forward in this extreme situation.

There was even some debate among biologists about whether to greatly reduce deer populations to hopefully avoid a die off, or to maintain the current population so that if a die off occurred the herd would have enough individuals to recover. Fortunately, we were blessed with some fall moisture that resulted in considerable forb growth which improved the outlook…at least for the winter.

This past deer season the Kerr WMA estimated its lowest historical fawn crop (wildlife and habitathealth so we chose to make our normal harvest even though it could result in a considerably lower deer density for next season. We have always followed a simple rule, “If you can grow plants then you can grow animals, if you cannot grow plants then you cannot grow animals.” With fewer animals on the range we hope that the plants will make a faster recovery, and eventually we will grow more animals once things return to “normal.”

Improve Deer Habitat – Improve Deer Hunting

Most landowners want to improve deer habitat and improve deer hunting. However, a major challenge for many landowners in the Texas Hill Country is the proper management of white-tailed deer populations. Proper management includes the challenges of harvesting enough does to have the desired impact on the population density and the habitat in addition to allowing bucks to mature enough to be of good quality. Landowners, or their hunters, will often say, “If I don’t shoot the first decent buck I see, that buck will just jump across the fence and my neighbor will shoot him” – even though it may be a young buck far from his prime. Good deer management means abandoning that philosophy.

So where can one start? Reducing deer numbers to appropriate levels will improve overall health of the animals and improve the quality of the habitat for deer and other wildlife. This population management is a big part of deer habitat management. In addition, a balanced harvest of bucks and does can also improve the sex ratio as well as the age structure of bucks, resulting in better quality mature bucks.

Another major challenge for some landowners is getting the benefit of livestock grazing without owning the animals. Cattle can be both bad… and good! You’ve no doubt heard this before, “I just don’t want to mess with livestock anymore.” While periods of rest can be very beneficial to habitat, the long-term removal of grazing from the land can be detrimental in some cases. Periodic cattle grazing can maintain and improve native grass stands and at the same time can increase forbs (wildflowers) that are part of any healthy Hill Country property.

Each of these land management challenges impact the habitat and deer herds found in an area. They can be addressed by actively managing the plants and animals found on your property. You can also get assistance from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) or join a local Wildlife Management Association in your area. Wildlife co-ops have been formed around the state by groups of landowners interested in properly managing wildlife populations and habitats.

Many WMAs were formed around the goal of improving the quality of white-tailed deer. Landowners in these WMAs know that their neighbor shares the same goals and objectives for the deer population and that together they can have the desired impacts on the population and habitat. Even if you don’t hunt you can work with your neighbors to have the proper number of deer harvested in your area so you have healthier deer and healthier habitat for all wildlife.

Landowners can also work with their neighbors who have livestock and allow their land to be grazed. This way the landowner without the livestock gets the benefit of grazing without the day to day work of owning the animals. The key to using livestock as a tool in land management is periodic rest. Even landowners with small acreage can benefit from working with their neighbors. The landowner just needs to think of their property as a pasture that the livestock are rotated through for a short period of grazing.

Deer management is about manipulating the plants as wells as the animals found on your property. If you are serious about doing something for deer or any of the wildlife found on your property, I’d recommend contacting a wildlife professional to get you started in the right direction.

Whether you want to improve the quality of the deer and other wildlife on your property, or use livestock as a tool for habitat improvements, it may be as simple as looking across the fence for a partner in good land stewardship. TPWD has county biologists that can meet with you free of charge, already paid for by your hunting license purchase. They can give your some ideas to improve deer hunting on your property. Additionally, you may be able to get valuable information from a WMA in your area. Build it and they will come!

Deer Hunting on Arkansas Public Hunting Lands

Question: “I’m an archery hunter from Utah interested in deer hunting in Arkansas. I’ve hunted mule deer but love chasing elk, now I am looking to get into whitetail deer hunting. My wife is also just getting into the sport. She’s small and can’t pull a whole lot of bow. I was thinking a whitetail hunt might be the thing for her too. I’ve heard Arkansas has lots of whitetail. We are both college students and don’t have a ton of money to pay for a private hunt. We are going to start saving up for travel and permits for next season. We are just interested in a fun deer hunt, not after huge trophy bucks.

Does anyone have any suggestions being that I have never been to Arkansas? How can I plan a good fun deer hunting trip in Arkansas? What do I need? Also, is there any kind of private land hunting that would not cost me as much as the car I drive? Even cull or “management bucks” would work. Any help is greatly appreciated. I work summers here for the forest service and would be thankful for and Arkansas deer hunting ideas.”

Deer Hunting in Arkansas - Arkansas Publc Hunting Lands

Response: Deer hunting in Arkansas is very doable. Arkansas has a lot of public land to hunt. Here is some good news for you – none of the wildlife management areas (WMAs) in my area require a hunting permit. We have Mount Magazine WMA, Petit Jean WMA, and Muddy Creek WMA. This probably will provide you and your wife with all the public land you could ever want to hunt. Bow hunting season opens in mid-September of each year.

A five day deer hunting license will include whitetail, bear and small game. Turkey hunting will be closed due to lower numbers in recent years. Arkansas public lands hold good deer numbers and even a few nice bucks. As with deer hunting elsewhere, food sources will be key during late September and early October. My recommendation for stand locations would be to find white oak acorns on a north facing ridge. Find deer sign and hunt it hard.

The best bow hunting time for deer in my opinion would be the week prior to our ML season open, which is mid-October. Deer movement, and especially buck movement, during this time of the season will be high. Rattling for whitetail bucks will work too, but you will need patience. Some of the areas will also have feral hogs, just make sure to shoot them all if you can.

Arkansas really is a friendly place to out of state bow hunters. If you plan on deer hunting in Arkansas on public land make sure you go to the state web site and look around. Hunters can find the harvest numbers for the different WMAs under the deer hunting section. Good luck to you and your wife.

Trapping Axis Deer in Texas: Who’s Right?

There is no doubt that Texans like their deer. Not only do people like seeing and feeding deer, but they like deer hunting as well. Of course, these “people” are not all the same, not everyone is a hunter. But it’s deer trapping, not hunting, that is now a hot topic. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department regulates the trapping of game species such as white-tailed deer, but not the trapping of axis deer and other exotic wildlife. And some Ruby Ranch residents, a subdivision east of Buda, Texas, do not like the trapping of these non-natives either.

As it turns out, some Ruby Ranch residents are legally trapping exotic deer including the spiral-horned blackbuck antelope and axis and fallow deer that roam the neighborhood and are either moving the animals or selling deer to Texas ranchers. That has other animal-loving residents are demanding that the Ruby Ranch Homeowners Association change its covenants to forbid the trapping of axis deer and other exotic ungulates.

“The deer enhance the value of our properties,” resident Chris Scallon said of his rural neighborhood. “And the way some people are trapping deer is inhumane. We know of one resident who is luring the deer into a fenced enclosure in his backyard, and then he loads them into a horse trailer, where they can hurt themselves in transport.”

Texas law does not protect non-native species like blackbuck antelope as it does native white-tailed deer, said Clayton Wolf, a spokesman for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. “It’s allowed to trap, transport and sell them,” Wolf said. However, he added that cities, towns and homeowners associations must apply for permits to get rid of whitetail deer.

In Ruby Ranch, the story of the exotic deer and their fate centers on the Ruby Ranch Homeowners Association and its position not to govern the trapping, some residents say.

“The homeowners association has sat on this deer trapping issue for too long,” said Sonny Hollub, who started HOG (Homeowners Oversight Group), a group of more than 40 homeowners who are fed up with the homeowners association not doing anything about the trapping of exotics. Homeowners association board President Kevin Rodriguez acknowledges that some residents have trapped deer for several years but said there has never been a consensus for new regulations or to stop the practice.

“In our annual meetings, we get 100 residents who attend, and they’ve been split 50-50 on the issue. Our position has been that we’re not sure what people want,” Rodriguez said.

Tuesday night, the homeowners association and its attorney met with residents to explain that the association can’t change the covenants. Instead, it’s up to the concerned residents to get at least 75 percent of the 300 homeowners to agree to new language in the covenants to bar the practice.

“Our hands are tied,” Rodriguez said. “There are no state or local regulations to stop this. Homeowners are asking us to stop the trapping and hunting of these animals, and we can’t. And there are no restrictive covenants that say you can’t trap or hunt the deer found in the subdivision.”

“If they get 75 percent of the homeowners to agree, then that’s it. It becomes official,” Rodriguez said. The residents may ban the trapping of axis deer, fallow deer and blackbuck antelope, but are they sure it’s a good idea? These animals are not native to Texas, and other subdivisions around the state are already facing issues with native white-tailed deer overpopulation. What if these non-natives become an even bigger issue? What do you think should happen?

Prairie Chicken Hunting in Texas – Survey Data Says No

At one time prairie chicken hunting was all the range in the Texas Panhandle, but the Lesser prairie chicken population has declined dramatically over the past 50 years. Prairie chickens numbers are low, but how low is what biologist hope to find. This spring, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) will collaborate with state fish and wildlife agencies from New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado, West Ecosystems, Inc., and Texas Tech University to conduct a large-scale aerial survey for lesser prairie-chicken booming grounds across the High Plains region in all five states.

Information from these prairie chicken surveys will be used by TPWD and the other state agencies to help conserve the bird and it’s habitat in partnership with landowners and private industries, including oil and gas, wind energy, and electric utilities.

“These surveys represent a unique effort by state fish and wildlife agencies across the region to work together to monitor bird population trends over time and to effectively manage for this species,” said Lubbock-based TPWD wildlife diversity biologist Sean Kyle. “This information, combined with other ongoing conservation efforts, could help avoid the need to list the lesser prairie-chicken as federally endangered in the Texas Panhandle or elsewhere. The prairie chicken surveys will provide more data to inform the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision about whether to list the species.”

Surveys will begin about March 24 and will continue through mid-May, with biologists hunting for chickens from the sky. Agency staff from the five states have randomly selected about 200 eighty-five square-mile blocks located in and around the estimated range of the species. These blocks cover an area ranging from the southern plains of the Texas Panhandle and southeast New Mexico up to northern Kansas and Colorado.

Surveys will be flown at 35-40 mph about 80 feet above ground. Pilots will fly two to sixteen north-south oriented transects across selected blocks. Towns, feedlots, and houses will be avoided. Pilots involved have extensive experience conducting aerial surveys for deer and other wildlife as well as gathering livestock with helicopters. They will make special effort to avoid hazing pronghorn, mule deer, whitetail and livestock on pastures as well.

Prairie chicken numbers may have declined markedly from decades ago, but hopefully the survey data can be used to identify where the birds remain. Habitat loss is cited as the number one reason chickens have declined. The same can be said of bobwhite quail in many parts of Texas. Will prairie chicken hunting ever occur again? Only time will tell.