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Technical & Factual Reasons to Hunt with Texas Ranch Services
We Put These Tools, into Use, As Part of Our Game Management Program
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Below are a few examples of those tools and tactics that ensure our customers the highest quality hunt they can pay for. Take the time to read it and make sure to ask any outfitter or landowner what their overall plan and implementation of those plans are. It will make a difference no matter where you are hunting as a consumer. Texas Ranch Services lives by the types of practices outlined below and we DO NOT compromise it regardless of circumstance. What this means for you as the hunter is an opportunity to be one of our many tools in growing and managing whitetail and wildlife to its greatest potential by hunting with us. The Deer Census provides us with an estimate of deer numbers, population trends, population density, age makeup and/or sex ratio using accepted survey techniques. Although the helicopter census is certainly the most popular, we also conduct site surveys throughout the year depending on the location of the ranch.
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Harvest Recommendations
Harvest is the key to managing a deer population. It maintains deer numbers within the carrying capacity, or food supply produced by the range. Harvest also is used to obtain and maintain a desired adult sex ratio and a desired age structure of the population by adjusting both the buck and doe kill. Harvest Recommendations area based upon that year's census data.
- Bucks: Buck harvest will primarily be based on your goals for the property. Depending on your desire for quality or quantity, buck harvest will differ. If your deer management objective is to produce bucks with larger antlers, then they must be allowed to reach older ages. This means that the harvest of young, Immature bucks should be restricted. Restricting hunters to mature bucks along with the harvesting of bucks with undesirable antlers is a good management strategy.
- Does: The recommended doe harvest will depend upon the overall deer density, the estimated carrying capacity of the range, the observed sex ratio, and fawn production and survival. Knowing approximately how many bucks, does, and fawns are present on your ranch at any giving time, the decision about how many deer should be harvested during the upcoming deer season can be made. Buck to doe ratios and fawns to doe ratios are also good indicators of your progress toward obtaining your goals and objectives.
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How We Plan
A Wildlife Management Plan gives accurate and invaluable knowledge on your property's historic and current use, establishes obtainable goals for the property, and provides a set of activities designed to integrate wildlife and habitat improvements to meet those goals.
Management plans for ranches are designed to meet the needs of the wildlife and cattle as well as the needs and desires of the landowner and sportsman alike. Whether managing for deer, game birds, or other species, the Wildlife Management Plan addresses the requirements of the species based on the habitat available as well as its potential availability. Depending on the goals set for the plan, and overall purpose of the property many factors determine what is involved in the development of the plan.
Most plans in South Texas are implemented in an attempt to overcome deficiencies that limit wildlife or harm their habitats. Each one of the activities should be practiced routinely or consistently as part of an overall habitat management plan. For example, sporadically scattering corn would not qualify as providing supplemental supplies of food under these guidelines.
The prescribed activities in a ranches wildlife management plan will be specific to the particular region of the state the property is located. There are many practices that are appropriate in some regions of Texas that are inappropriate in others.
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Untangling the High Fence Low Fence Debate for You As a Sportsman
There are a lot of misguided ideas and false claims surrounding the "HIGH FENCE" in Texas and elsewhere including the African Continent. Look guys, heres the truth. High fences especially in South Texas where ranches are generally 500 densely wooded acres or more arent the "canned hunt" or enclosure most people envision or have even experienced. While we offer both high and low fence hunts of equal value and cost the hunt itself and challenges do not differ. High fences in excess of 100 acres in native habitat and brush are as wild as any hunters skills from novice to experienced can handle in South Texas. While the smallest ranch with a fence we hunt is well over 1000 acres the fact is that smaller ranches would still offer a significant challenge equal to any low fenced ranch of the same terrain and ground cover to all hunters and land managers equally. The onset of the high fence came along as a management tool for landowner to prevent continuous interruption of management practices not practiced by neighboring ranches. The myth that they are entrapments or capable of holding native wildlife like a cage are just not the case. While hard to swallow for a lot of hunters the individuals who can put it out of mind to see it for themselves will quickly realize that a ranch implementing a high fence as part of a much greater and complex management prescription will almost always offer a better overall experience afield. How the hunting becomes more enjoyable is strictly because of the ability to better control numbers or what are referred to as densities in the wildlife world. During 23 years of aerial surveys on endless amounts of acreage we see deer jump these fences every time we are in the air and a lot of times on the ground as well. Not to mention the fact that hogs illegal immigrants, predators and general wear and tear make it almost impossible to maintain a fully enclosed fence for the landowner. Animals are going to travel but it cuts down on the people and inferior animals from outside coming in as much as animals going out. Regardless it's important for all of us as sportsmen to understand that high fences are here to stay and understanding their limitations, value and purpose will change even the most diehard individuals' opinion about what they are used for from a wildlife managers or landowner perspective. Even low fenced ranches can't guarantee you that at least one neighbor doesn't put a fence up before or when you show up to hunt which is often the case in Texas. Very few ranches throughout the southern plains and Gulf Coast regions are completely low fenced anymore. You have to decide beforehand which side you want to be on. The side that chose management through fencing the landowner who wouldn't manage or the other side. Tough to change when you are hunting! Just be sensible about the quality of what you are purchasing and all should be fine.
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Range Management & Its Importance to You As a Hunter
Management of the range is the primary tool used for managing wildlife in North America and most extensively in South Texas. Without proper food, water, or cover, wildlife species cannot survive. Whether you are managing for abundant quail populations, large white-tailed deer or diversity of native songbirds, range management is vital to the success of your goals. As a paying hunter this is something you will appreciate the importance of after you quiz your landowner or outfitter on in regards to his operation before you comit to a booking.
Livestock management means shifting livestock and grazing intensity to increase food and animal cover or to improve a specific animals' habitat.
Grazing Management Focuses On:
- the kind and class of livestock grazed,
- stocking rates,
- periodic rest for pastures by controlling grazing intensity, and/or
- excluding livestock from sensitive areas to promote vegetation protection and recovery or to eliminate competition for food and cover.
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Fencing
The installation of a perimeter game fence is a management tool that we feel can sometimes assist you in meeting your goals faster and more efficiently. At times, this may be the only way to ensure that your goals will be met. While we certainly encourage neighbors working together in wildlife cooperatives to meet a similar objective that's hardly ever the case regardless of state or county these days.
Range Enhancement
Our main focus of Range Enhancement primarily deals with establishing native plants. In particular, we work with landowners to increase grasses and forbs (weeds and wildflowers) on their property that provide food and cover for wildlife or help control erosion. Range enhancement also includes protecting, restoring and managing native prairies. Our re-seeding mixtures are appropriate for the ecological regions, soils, and wildlife needs of our property. Our mixtures provide a diversity of vegetation on our property, which in turn, provides abundant forage for wildlife and/or seed production the entire year. This is a major factor for growing whitetail everywhere and should always be a part of the decision making process when booking a hunt for whitetail.
Brush Management
Brush management may involve maintaining, establishing or selectively removing targeted plant species to encourage the regrowth of desirable trees, shrubs, grasses and forbs for forage and cover for selected wildlife species. Brush anagement in South Texas also includes keeping the proper kind, and distribution of amount woody cover for the particular species you are interested in.
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Educating Our Customers
We adimately administer all these practices as applicable on our ranches as well as professionally for regional landowners for more than thirty years now. You can rest assured that educating our customers on the hunting or consulting side is something we feel is of great value to our customers and to us alike. Times are certainly changing but what we as sportsmen want from the outdoors isnt. If you have any questions about any of the topics discussed here please do call or email anytime. We hope we are your choice for your hunting experience in South Texas and if not then let us earn your business after you choose the competition. God Bless and Good Luck Outdoors this year.
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| Contact our hunting ranch right away at (888) 366-2602 in Moore, Texas, to make your reservations today. |
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