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LIVESTOCK MANAGEMENT
It's important that there always be a cattle operation on the Reed Ranch. Cattle is one of the tools used to improve wildlife habitat and soil ecology.
Paddocks (with electric fencing) 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.
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
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.
HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT
FERAL HOGS
Feral hogs include domestic swine gone wild, European boars, and crosses between the two, and have been in the area for a long time. These hogs were introduced into the area by area residents and have adapted well to the habitat.
Feral hog distribution in Texas is very similar to white-tailed deer, occupying most of the same habitat. Partly due to hunters releasing them in new areas for hunting, feral hogs have increased dramatically during the last decade. The tell-tale signs of rooted up pastures are common 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, an 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 if present.
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 can be trapped and shot on the Reed Ranch year-round and can produce good meat for the supper-table.
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.
(Photo by Jim Reed) |
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.
In other words, the land will not support any more deer. When this occurs, 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. Deer numbers crash as the changed vegetation cannot support as many deer as it previously could.
A Favorite Food for Deer (Photo by Jim Reed) |
After several years of abuse, it can take years for this vital portion of the habitat to recover. Generally, in the geographic area the Reed Ranch occupies, the bottomland habitat will support over the entire year about one deer per 10 acres, and upland habitat about one deer per 25 acres.
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 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.
Since that time, the four sites (three oak sites and one bald cypress site) that were established to monitor the survival rate of these seedlings have been checked periodically. During the last survival check of the oak sites (spring of 2002), it was estimated that approximately 10 - 50 percent of the oak seedings are still living. It appeared that the bald cypress seedlings were surviving at a higher rate than the oak seedlings.
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