Habitat Management
 
Back
Home
  
   
         
Photo Albums | Newsletters  |  Ranch Management  |  Habitat Management  |  Calendar
Hunting Club  |  White-Tailed Deer | Hog and Varmint Hunting | Duck Hunting
Lone Star Award  |  Ranch Info and Links  |   River and Wetlands
  
 


WILDLIFE HABITAT AREAS

Twenty-three ranch wildlife habitat areas have been sectioned off for ranch management purposes. Ranch wildlife habitat areas designated for the whitetail deer season include:

east cut-off mesquite flats
northwest cut-off south hill
southwest cut-off shark lake north
wood lot shark lake dam
east lanes no-man's land
moonshine woods uncle jack's spot
oak grove south pasture
red bird patch horn lake drainage
north pasture horn lake spot
high water crossing big food plot
front pasture south valley
bearman lake



WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT PLAN

Here's a copy of the Reed Ranch Wildlife Management Plan for your information. This wildlife management plan was written in 1993.

 

RANCH ECOLOGY

The Reed Family Ranch is located within both the blackland and oak woods prairies of north central Texas. Most of the Ranch is located within the wildlife habitat rich Trinity River Basin - which extends from north of the Dallas area all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.

The map on the left shows the location of the Ranch - in the county of Navarro - within the State of Texas.

Directions for getting to the ranch can be found by clicking HERE.

 

 

LIVESTOCK MANAGEMENT

Cattle is one of the tools used to improve wildlife habitat and soil ecology. Paddocks - with electric fencing (as shown on the map on the left) - have been developed to rotate the cattle's grazing across the Ranch.

This is an excellent way to improve the composition of the soil and create more healthy wildlife habitat.

 

FERAL HOGS

Feral hogs include domestic swine gone wild, European boars, and crosses between the two, have been in the area for a long time. Feral hog distribution in Texas is very similar to white-tailed deer, occupying most of the same habitat. The numbers of feral hogs have increased dramatically during the last decade. The tell-tale signs of rooted up pastures are common in upland sites as well as marshes, creeks, and river bottoms.

Feral hogs compete directly with deer, turkey, squirrels, and other wildlife for acorns, fruit, mushrooms, and other native foods, especially in bottomland hardwoods. They are opportunistic in their feeding habits, eating anything from corn to dead animals. Deer have the tendency to avoid feral hogs, and will usually not stick around if one is present.

Some say that the feral hog is the most prolific large animal in the United States. A sow may have two litters a year, averaging four to six pigs per litter. These pigs normally begin breeding at 8 - 10 months of age.

Feral hogs are hunted and trapped on the Reed Family Ranch year-round and can produce good meat for a hearty meal.

WHITE-TAILED DEER

Usually, landowners, hunters, and wildlife watchers would prefer seeing two or three times more deer on a tract of land than the land can support over the long term.

When populations increase to the extent that deer do not have sufficient nutritious vegetation to sustain them in a healthy condition, deer populations are considered to have exceeded carrying capacity.

When deer populatons exceed the carrying capacity of the land, browse lines on vegetation may be obvious; fawn survival is poor, body weight and antler size is poor, and losses from parasites and disease increase due to malnutrition.

Most grasses, especially non-native grasses, are seldom utilized by deer. The deer's digestive system, unlike that of cattle, is unable to digest the course cellulose and fiber of mature grasses. Deer can utilize grass only when it young and tender. Deer have been known to starve while their rumen is full of grass.

NATIVE GRASSES

In the geographic area which the Reed Ranch occupies, mostly during the mid 1950's, acreage of uplands woods and well-drained bottomlands were cleared and planted with non-native grasses, thought to be highly valuable to improved cattle management.

Also, during this period, increased continuous grazing of large numbers of cattle had a negative impact on the viability of native grasses such as switchgrass, gamagrass, and bluestem.

When the viability of native grasses decreased, much of the food and cover also decreased for various forms of wildlife. A portion of the Reed Family Ranch's goals is to increase the viability of native grasses over all the Ranch.

In the bottomlands, alamos switchgrass and eastern gamagrass are the two species that are being introduced and managed with a cattle grazing system. In the uplands, the Ranch is seeding pastures with oscela, tripoli, and arrowleaf clover; and is increasing the amount of singletary peas, vetch, and bluestem though cattle rotation.

FORESTED WETLANDS

In 2000, the Ranch was the recipient of a forested wetlands cost-share program with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. During the summer of 2000, a selective cut of mostly cedar elm and green ash removed about half of the overstory for the planting of wildlife friendly seedlings.

In the winter of 2001, over 16,000 oak seedlings were planted in the area behind the cut-off, as well as about 400 bald cypress seedlings being planted directly in the cut-off. The success rate of these plantings continues to be monitored.