Texas wildlife has a lot to offer a landowner

By MINDY POEHL | Central Texas Edition

Dr. Dale Rollins, founder of the Texas Quail Index, and Extension wildlife specialist, was a featured speaker at the "Texas Wildlife Experience-Toolbox for Success" program held in Abilene on Feb. 22-23. Rollins spoke about managing quail on farm land. Photo by Mindy Poehl

March 3, 2005 - Farmers and ranchers have always had a soft spot in their hearts for quail that live on their property. Whether hunting quail or trying to help them build their flocks people want their birds to stay on their property, but quail often find it hard to survive.

On Feb. 22-23 the Texas Cooperative Extension hosted the "Texas Wildlife Experience- Toolbox for Success" in conjunction with the Texas Farm, Ranch and Wildlife Management Expo held at the Taylor County Expo grounds in Abilene.

Dr. Dale Rollins, Extension wildlife specialist and Texas Quail Index (TQI) founder, told the crowd how to care for quail populations on farms and ranches. The goal of TQI is to develop practical management strategies to optimize quail populations.

Rollins spoke about collecting harvest data on quails. The best time to conduct the data collecting is in October. Rollins said to estimate the covey (group) abundance and the location of the quail. He advised taking notes on the locations of all of the covey calls (sounds). This helps the landowner know where the quails are located.

Rollins suggested collecting the age and sex information on the birds that are harvested. He said to record the juvenile to adult ratios by looking at the bird's wings. The juvenile birds have lighter ends on their wings. The ratio of juvenile to adult birds should be 70 percent or higher, Rollins said. He also recommended that during the record-keeping effort that sex gender - male to female ratio be included. Females have a darker, more distinct streaking on their throats.

"Quail rest into vegetation that was grown last year," Rollins said. "In 2005, the TQI 'Lite' will be adapted for smaller landowners and less intensive sampling will be done." The TQI 'Lite' program is a specific plan for collecting quail data on a particular area (ranch or farm).

The training session will be April 25-26 in San Angelo.

Quail have many predators, including humans.

"North of I-20, skunks and coyotes are quails main varmints," Rollins said. "South of I-20, there are more varmints."

The fox is the most efficient quail predator. Raccoons are the most abundant quail predators. And, he said the Cooper's Hawk is the most feared predator by the quail.

"The most important thing is that we want to keep our quail around," Rollins said. "People who have quail on their property learn to love those quail more than anything."

Johnnie Hudman of the Stasney-Cook Ranch in Albany was also on hand where he delivered information about another prevalent wildlife on most Texas farms and ranches - the feral hog.

Feral hogs are often found to be extremely damaging to many land operations. They can dig big holes, they can tear holes on net wire fences, they can root up grain fields and gardens.

"People always tell me that I have more hogs on my property than any place they've ever seen," Hudman said.

"But, they also tell me I have more quail on my property than they've ever seen. I tell them that the hogs must not be that bad."

Hudman uses the hogs on his property and capitalizes on them.

"We have them, so we're gonna make do with what we have," he said. "Seventy percent of the hogs we see are jet black. They look pretty good. They're fat. This month and next month will be hard on them."

Hudman said hunters absolutely love to hunt wild boars. People come from all over the country to hunt hogs on his property. Part of the reason is that a hog hunt in the United States is extremely cheap compared to one in Europe, and there is no closed season on hunting feral hogs.

"We don't hunt them in hot weather. The meat goes bad more quickly," Hudman said. "And, they are hard to find in hot weather. They are in the brush and you can only see them when they are around the watering hole."

Most of the hog hunters who visit the Hudman ranch hear about the hog hunts by word of mouth.

"Many people end up enjoying the hog hunts more than they enjoy the deer hunting," he said.

Some people come to find a "trophy boar" - a boar with over two inches of tusk. Other people kill them for their meat, he said.

"Usually the meat on big boars is not good," Hudman said. "The meat is good on a boar up to 150 pounds."

Hudman said he can cook the perfect hog for serving groups of around 25 people.

"I cook it in the ground," he said. "I skin the pig. I fill the body cavity with potatoes, onions, carrots and peppers. I wrap it four or five times in foil and use mesquite wood. When it's finished, you don't need a knife to cut it."

Hudman said hogs are easy to catch in a trap. He often donates hogs to charity auctions and he donates pigs to an orphanage in Mexico. Soon, he will begin to donate hogs to Hunters for the Hungry.

"I can see the bad side of feral hogs, if we had food plots, but we have them (hogs) on our property, so we're gonna do something with them," Hudman said.