Predator Control Necessary In Today’s Wildlife Management

In today’s politically correct environment the animal rights people keep trying to force the rest of us not to eat meat, wear leather, fur or use animal products. My belief is that GOD placed animals here for us to use responsibly and humanely. Whatever your thoughts the truth is that with fur prices no longer worth the hunting or trapping that has taken place in the past most predators are multiplying out of control in many areas of Texas. Raccoons have gotten out of control in our part of the State and are responsible for destroying many game bird and song bird nests. Just driving on the highway we see large numbers of them that have been run over by traffic each night. They tear up our supplemental wildlife feeders, bird feeders and make nightly raids on cattle, sheep and goat feeders every night. The bird nest boxes we put up are often raided and hummingbird feeders are destroyed on a regular basis. Nothing that smells of feed or food is safe as they come out every night in large numbers. Free ranging poultry is completely out of the question.  What will happen is that they will eat themselves out of house and home unless controlled. As the population increases they become susceptible to disease breakouts of rabies and other diseases dangerous to us along with our livestock and pets.

We have chosen to manage the predator population on our place so we can have some of them present but not enough to cause too many problems or have a disease outbreak. We will be hunting and trapping until we feel we have the raccoon population under control again. It is sometimes a hard decision for some to make but letting Mother Nature control the population is no longer something that will work in today’s environment. The raccoon really has no natural predators except in extreme wilderness areas and disease or starvation is not a choice anyone would choose for the population. Use humane methods and check your traps daily if that is one of the methods used. I like the dog proof traps and cage traps as they allow me to release anything I want and don’t hurt pets if they should get caught. I also encourage people to skin and have the furs processed for your own use, if you must remove something from the population it would be a shame to waste it if it is usable. Wildlife management decisions are not always easy so make the best decisions you can for the whole environment. Wild Ed

Central Texas Again Short of Rain

I watched three does run across what is left of one of the food plots at the place and they left dust trails.  My truck is covered in dust and dirt after a day working in the dry conditions.  The only thing left in the food plots are weeds and if it does not rain soon the weeds will die.  I hope this is not the new normal as our area is turning to desert.  This lack of rain is also hurting the wildlife as there is not much food and most of the shallow tanks are dry.  We are building another small water trough just for the wildlife and hope it will help some of them survive.  If you have the means to help out the wildlife with either food or water be sure and do so.  Even if it is just a little extra for the birds all will be appreciated.

We sat out on the barn patio the other night and marveled at the stars we are able to see when we get out of the glow of the Austin Metroplex area night lights.  While watching the stars were were serenaded by a pair of Great Horned Owls with background provided by several Screech Owls.  It was a wonderful way to end a hard day of work.  Get out and enjoy nature wherever and whenever you can, it restores your soul.  Wild Ed

The Twins and Dusty's Buck


Yesterday my eldest daughter brought two new hunters into the world.  Paeton, Parker and Mom are all doing fine. I will spare you the pictures of newborns but hope to have them on these pages in the future.

My daughters have a friend that is like a daughter to us and they refer to her as their sister by choice.  Yes Sarah we mean you!  Anyway she recently got married to this guy that turns out to be one of those great guys.  Don't let this increase your hat size Dusty.  Back to the real world, Dusty sent me a picture of his opening morning buck taken near Henly, Texas.  Nice buck Dusty and job well done.  Wild Ed