Texas Wildlife - Javelinas - July 2023

Javelinas

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JUSTIN DREIBELBIS

It’s hard to believe that it is already Convention time again, but here we are in July—the time of the year when TWA members from all around the state converge on San Antonio for a long weekend of fun, camaraderie, education, organizational business, and fundraising. We are gearing up for another great event!

The first Convention was held back in 1986 at the YO Hotel in Kerrville. I’ve had the good fortune to get my hands on some pictures from some of those early meetings (you will see a few later in this issue) and let me tell you, they are special.

There are photos of potluck dinners by the pool, lively auctions emceed by David Langford and Larry Weishuhn, and lots of networking events with a recognizable cast of members that may or may not have grayed a little since those photos.

Although the size of the convention and the hosting hotel has grown significantly over the years, the important things have remained consistent. The event is a family reunion where members show up to support each other, the organization, and Texas natural resources. I’m also excited to say that the children of several of the members in those original photos now serve in TWA leadership roles.

Convention is a heavy lift each year. From a staff perspective, we honestly start planning the next convention the day after the current one ends. I’m extremely proud of the hard work our team puts into planning and executing the event, but it is the members who blow wind into the sails and have made it work for 37 years.

It is inspiring to step back and think about the amount of time and resources invested into the event on an annual basis to ensure TWA can continue carrying out our mission. Our loyal sponsors generously underwrite the event and make it a revenue generator for the organization.

The Convention Committee works tirelessly to secure sponsorships and auction items. Advisory committees work to ensure the best educational resources are available through the Private Lands Summit, educational seminars and youth education programs. And finally, the members show up every year and open their checkbooks to purchase registrations and auction items that directly benefit the organization. Thank you all for your continued support.

In closing, I would like to thank our outgoing President Sarah Biedenharn for her leadership over the last two years. Her calm, thoughtful approach has had a positive impact on the organization in many ways and I very much appreciate her support and guidance during my first two years back with TWA.

During Sarah’s presidency, I was continually impressed by the way she made it a priority to show up for events all around the state to represent TWA. As my friend David K. Langford often says, “The world is run by those who show up.” TWA has a long track record of “showing up” to represent landowners and hunters and Sarah certainly embodied this mantra in the way she approached her presidency. Thank you, Sarah!

We look forward to seeing you all in San Antonio July 13-15 for WildLife 2023. Thanks for being a TWA member.

Texas Wildlife Association

Mission Statement

Serving Texas wildlife and its habitat, while protecting property rights, hunting heritage, and the conservation efforts of those who value and steward wildlife resources.

TEXAS WILDLIFE CEO COMMENTS

by DAVID BRIMAGER

33 Staff Spotlight

Meet Andrew Earl

by LARRY WEISHUHN

38 TAMU News

A Versatile Tool for Aquatic Vegetation Management by BRITTANY

CHESSER and TODD SINK

40 Out of Asia by WILL LESCHPER

KASSI SCHEFFER-GEESLIN

44 Phenotypic Variability in Feral Hogs by AARON SUMRALL, Ph.D.

48 A Prickly Subject Javelina Make Great Table Fare by KRISTIN BROOKE PARMA

by SALLIE LEWIS SCHNEIDER

The collard peccary or javelina is one of the most iconic big game animals in Texas, and perhaps the least understood. With it’s pig-like snout, it can be mistaken as just another pig, but the javelina is a species unto itself. And in spite of it’s musky smell it makes great table fare. For a detailed look at this unique animal, check out Joseph Richards’ article and photos beginning on page 8.

Cover Photo by Joseph Richards

Photo by Joseph Richards

MEETINGS AND EVENTS

JULY

JULY 13-16

TWA’s 38th Annual Convention, WildLife 2023, San Antonio, JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa. For more information, visit www.texas-wildlife.org.

JULY 14

Texas Wildlife Association Foundation presents Shane Mahoney, guest luncheon speaker. JW Marriott San Antonio Resort and Spa, 12:00-1:30. Purchase tickets online at www.texas-wildlife.org. For information, contact TJ Goodpasture at tjgoodpasture@texas-wildlife.org.

JULY 22

Adult Learn to Hunt Program

Educational Sessions, TWA headquarters in New Braunfels. For information, contact Matt Hughes mhughes@texas-wildlife.org

JULY 29

Huntmaster Training, Sherman

FOR INFORMATION ON HUNTING SEASONS, call the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department at (800) 792-1112, consult the 2022-2023 Texas Parks and Wildlife Outdoor Annual, or visit the TPWD website at tpwd.state.tx.us.

AUGUST

AUGUST 4-6

Adult Learn to Hunt Program

Huntmaster, Volunteer Training, TBD. Contact Matt Hughes mhughes@texas-wildlife.org

AUGUST 8

Member Happy Hour, Corpus Christi. Contact Kristin Parma at kparma@texas-wildlife.org for more information.

AUGUST 16-18

Statewide Quail Symposium, Abilene

AUGUST 19

A Learn to Hunt Program Tamalada, TWA headquarters. Contact Kristin Parma at kparma@texas-wildlife.org for more information.

AUGUST 31

Member Happy Hour, Nacogdoches. For information, contact Matt Hughes at mhughes@texas-wildlife.org

SEPTEMBER

SEPTEMBER 21

Hunting Film Tour Austin

Hunting Film Tour San Antonio

Hunting Film Tour Dallas

Hunting Film Tour Houston

Contact Kristin Parma at kparma@texas-wildlife.org for more information.

OCTOBER

OCTOBER 10

Texas Outdoorsman Of The Year, San Antonio. For information, contact tjgoodpasture@texas-wildlife.org

OCTOBER 20-21

Panhandle Wildlife Conference, Lubbock. For more information, contact Kristin Parma, kparma@ texas-wildlife.org

DECEMBER

DECEMBER 11

7th Annual Houston Clay Shoot, Greater Houston Gun Club. Contact Kristin Parma at kparma@texas-wildlife.org for more information.

CONSERVATION LEGACY YOUTH PROGRAMMING

CONSERVATION LEGACY TEACHER WORKSHOPS

TWA’s Conservation Legacy team will conduct six Teacher Workshops this spring and summer. The workshops are 6-hour trainings that introduce attendees to TWA, in-class and outdoor lessons and activities, and how to incorporate natural resources into classrooms or programming. Lessons focus on teaching land stewardship, native wildlife, and water conservation and are Science TEKS-aligned for Grades K-8.

• Designed for Grade K-8 educators

• Open to all statewide formal and informal educators. The workshops are not restricted to a certain district or region.

• Workshops are offered at no cost

• Six, 6-hour workshops offer CPE credit

• Provides hands-on training for educators to incorporate natural resource and private land stewardship lessons into their teachings.

For more information, go to www.texas-wildlife.org/ educator-development-and-resources

TEXAS WILDLIFE

VISIT THE PROGRAM PAGES ONLINE AT https://www.texas-wildlife.org/youth-education/ for specifics and registration information.

TEXAS WILDLIFE

distinct

An adult javelina emerges from the South Texas brush. Javelinas are medium-sized, compact, and sport a

white collar circling the chest that contrasts with a dark salt-and-peppered hair coat.

JAVELINA

Status of a Texas Native

My ears were attuned to the chorus of sounds from the mesquite brush line. I sensed a presence in the thicket as the sound of approaching hoof steps echoed louder and louder. The dried leaves crackled beneath a large animal’s weight. I lifted my camera anticipating what might emerge. Within the span of a few seconds, the sounds of one animal turned into two, then three, and more.

Before I could catch a glimpse, I caught a hint of musk in the air. To my surprise, a herd—also called a squadron—of javelina rushed toward my corn feeder. With great determination, the javelina set up camp over the scattered corn—the sound of their munching filled the air.

Camouflaged and concealed, I witnessed the customs of javelina society unfold. The interactions between adult and

Article and photos by JOSEPH RICHARDS

juvenile javelinas seized my attention and were the highlight of my sit. Due to their limited range and elusive nature, very few people have first-hand experience observing javelinas in their environment. A wealth of buried knowledge pertaining to javelinas and their habits is destined to be revealed.

JAVELINA VS. WILD PIGS

Taking on the appearance of a pig, the collared peccary or javelina often suffers from mistaken identity. The javelina is one of three extant species of peccary that belong to the New World and are placed in the taxonomic family of Tayassuidae They are not true pigs which comprise the family Suidae and originated in the Old World.

Several physical characteristics distinguish pig-like peccaries from true pigs. Javelinas are medium-sized and compact. They sport a distinct white collar circling the chest that contrasts with a dark saltand-peppered hair coat. The neck and back harbor clusters of long, coarse bristles that can be erected voluntarily when excited. Wild pigs are medium to largesized animals that are highly variable in coloration. Male wild pigs are typically larger than females.

Atop the javelina’s back toward the rump is a large scent gland that can release a strong odor lending them the alternative names “musk hog” or “skunk pig.” They use this dorsal gland to mark or stain objects along territorial boundaries as a chemical message for other javelinas. The released odor can be detected by humans from several yards away. Wild pigs do not possess a dorsal scent gland.

Most notably, the javelina does not have a visible tail, making it easily distinguishable from wild pigs. The javelina has a single fused dewclaw on the hindfoot while pigs have two rear dewclaws which often appear in tracks.

The javelina’s spear-like upper and lower canines grow straight up and down and wear against each other to ensure razorsharp edges. The whole mouth holds 38 teeth. The upper tusks of a wild pig grow out and backward, and they possess 34 or 44 teeth depending on the species.

When on the move, young javelinas follow their parents closely and tend to stay right at their side.

Female javelinas only have four functional mammary glands and produce on average two young per litter. Far more prolific, wild pig sows have six to 20 mammary glands and can deliver more than 20 offspring at one time.

Less conspicuous features separating javelinas from wild pigs include a complex pouched stomach, a gallbladder and fusion of the foot and leg bones. Wild pigs possess a simple stomach, lack a gallbladder, and have unfused leg bones.

TPWD CALL FOR RESEARCH

A great deal of dramatized lore surrounds the mysterious javelina, resulting in many misconceptions and false notations about their character. However, fearsome stories told around the campfire have failed to generate enough interest in the management of the species. Today, the javelina represents to many the most neglected of Texas’ big game animals.

Limited research has gone into uncovering detailed information on javelina life history traits and population dynamics. In November 2022, the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) requested research proposals to help provide demographic information on javelina in South Texas.

“With whitetails, we have population models that we can plug in, observe numbers of does, bucks, and fawns so we can get population estimates. We can even manipulate those, given environmental variations,” said Dr. Whitney Gann, TPWD South

Young javelinas have strong bonds with their parents. When not napping or foraging, they can often be observed rubbing and nose touching with siblings or other herd members.

Although they seem similar to wild pigs in appearance, the javelina belongs to its own family of Tayassuidae

JAVELINA

Texas ecosystem project leader at the Chaparral Wildlife Management Area, about the objectives of the proposed research. “Something like that does not exist for javelina.”

She explained that unlike other big game species such as white-tailed deer, there remains a lack of detailed harvest justification and recommendations for javelina. According to the TPWD proposal, the intended study will create a standardized survey methodology and a model for estimating populations that will be used by field biologists throughout the state.

“Hopefully through the process of developing the survey and model, the researchers will be able to give us the tools so that we can deploy the county biologists to evaluate exactly how far their [javelinas’] range is today and what the status of those herds are,” Gann said.

Javelina once occurred throughout two-thirds of the Lone Star State with historical accounts recorded as far north as the Red River and east toward the Brazos. The South Texas Brush Country and Trans-Pecos regions still boast high numbers of javelinas. In 2004, TPWD transplanted 29 javelinas into Mason Mountain Wildlife Management Area in attempt to restore the population in the Edwards Plateau. Outside of Texas, javelinas are also found in restricted pockets of Arizona and New Mexico with their range extending through Central America and as far south as Argentina.

“We are due now for an evaluation of which counties have them, how dense are their populations, and how often people are encountering them. All of these questions are worth answering,” she said.

Javelinas are often difficult to detect with traditional survey methods due to their preference for dense brush thickets,

chaparral, and mixed thorn-scrub woodlands. During the day, they spend long periods bedded in the brush with a heavy canopy for shade. In rocky terrain, javelinas will utilize caves and rock overhangs for cover. Most activity takes place in the early morning and late evening to avoid extreme temperatures.

“There’s a secondary factor associated with surveying javelina, and it’s the fact that they’re sexually monomorphic,” Gann said. “They look the same, and even between the juveniles and the adults it can be difficult to tell what you’re looking at.”

Relatively the same size, adult male and female javelinas are notoriously difficult to distinguish in the field, which makes it challenging during population surveys. Adults typically measure 3 to 4 feet long and weigh around 30 to 45 pounds. A very large javelina will tip the scale at more than 60 pounds with even larger sizes achieved in captivity.

Gann remarked that the call for research could not have come at a more appropriate time. Human population is growing across Texas, prompting more urban development. “The border is developing and growing, and there’s more instances of wildlife-human conflict as those urban centers expand and that can include a lot of different wildlife species, javelina being one of them,” she said.

Texas A&M University has been awarded the TPWD project to study population and spatial ecology of collared peccary across the western South Texas Plains. TAMU is working in collaboration with TPWD and the University of Montana.

“Collared peccary are unique critters adapted to more arid environments, and their study has largely been neglected, so this large-scale, five-year project will determine factors affecting population dynamics, movement, and habitat use while trying

Javelinas are often difficult to detect with traditional survey methods due to their preference for dense brush thickets, chaparral, and mixed thornscrub woodlands.

to develop more accurate and efficient survey techniques” said Dr. Stephen Webb, research assistant professor and principal investigator at TAMU.

The upcoming research will present a strategic chance to educate the public about javelina and the value in learning about one of our state’s unique and indigenous wildlife species, engendering pride.

“The conclusion of this study would be a prime opportunity to synthesize some of that information and use it as a starting point to begin an education program. . . Awareness, education and excitement about the species are ultimately where we’re hoping to end up,” she said.

JAVELINA BIOLOGY

Javelinas are gregarious, living together in squadrons averaging a dozen individuals with groups as large as 27 reported. The herd’s social structure consists of family members of mixed age and sex.

The herd maintains a territory with adults actively marking boundaries with scent from their dorsal glands. Within each territory, there are core areas of activity—bed grounds, feeding sites, waterholes, etc.—all connected by a network of trails. Javelinas travel along these trails in single file while continuously maintaining contact with members in the group. Use of these activity areas varies seasonally, but they remain important.

Observing a javelina herd can be an entertaining spectacle simply because of their modes of communicating with one another. Mutual rubbing is a common behavior that reinforces recognition and maintains herd cohesion. Head and neck nuzzling, nose touching, and licking are all mutual behavior patterns. Javelinas possess a keen sense of smell that is critical for exchanging scent between herd members. Their sense of smell is not only important for social behavior but also to detect predators and buried food.

In addition to tactile and chemical messages, javelinas communicate via vocalizations such as grunts, huffs, growls, and squeals. Low grunts are constantly emitted from a herd content in feeding. Huffs act as alerts for the whole herd to wait and lis-

ten for a possible disturbance. Aggressive calls like growls are loud and emitted between two javelinas during short squabbles. Rarely do adults squeal unless in distress, but young will squeal when they are separated or seek attention from their mother.

One of their more unique behaviors, javelinas clap their upper and lower canine teeth together making a “popping” or “clacking” sound as a sign of aggression. The level of speed and intensity varies, but the most impressive displays occur when an animal is cornered.

With bare tusks and raised manes, javelinas will confront predators to defend themselves or their young. High and coarsepitched game calls are known to bring in javelinas—probably with the intention of encountering whatever potential predator intrudes on their territory.

The javelina’s primary food is prickly pear cactus, which is a year-round food source for javelinas in the Southwest. Their complex, pouched stomachs create the conditions for breaking down the cactus pads—spines and all. How the spines dodge the inner vitals remains unknown. In areas lacking prickly pear, multiple species of cacti make up the food source, including lechuguilla, sotol, cholla, century plant, and other succulents that sustain their water needs during critical periods.

Javelinas also consume seasonal mast such as acorns, fruits, and mesquite beans. Forbs, grasses, rhizomes, tubers, bulbs, and occasional browse are also eaten. There is a substantial lack of evidence that javelinas regularly consume animal matter; however, they have been observed scavenging carcasses on occasion.

HUNTING JAVELINA

In 1939, javelinas gained status as a game animal in Texas, which protected them with harvest seasons and bag limits. Some

An adult javelina raises its head to analyze the air—possibly to detect any chemical messages from other herd members or odors from predators.

The javelina’s neck and back harbor clusters of long, coarse bristles that can be erected voluntarily when excited.

landowners label javelinas as a range nuisance or deer corn guzzler; however, popularity for javelina hunting has grown, especially for youth hunters who haven’t yet seen this indigenous animal. The prime example of this is the annual Texas Youth Hunting Program’s (TYHP) Mother-Daughter Javelina Hunt in Maverick County.

“My favorite part about the Mother-Daughter hunt is watching the hunters and moms progress throughout the weekend together, sharing in the memories of getting to spend time outdoors together,” said TYHP Huntmaster and TWA Engagement Coordinator Kristin Parma. “Those relationships I know are so important. It is an exceptional weekend, and it is hard to put into words how impactful it has become in my life—all because of the collared peccary.”

During the week, participants receive instruction about hunter safety and lessons on various outdoor topics. One of the program’s major takeaways is emphasizing the important characteristics that make javelina a unique game animal.

“I believe that before hunting a particular animal, you should take a little time to learn about them,” she said. “I make a strong effort to highlight unique aspects about javelina—their history and decline in Texas, status as a regulated game animal, how they differ from feral hogs, their main diet consisting of succulent vegetation, their scent glands used to identify their herd members, and more.”

With game in hand, participants learn from Parma about the rewards of preparing javelina from field to table. Javelina, contrary to the impressions of the masses, offers fine table fare, Parma has embraced the mission of proving they are not only edible but delicious.

“I make a point to serve all wild game dishes on my hunts, especially javelina, since one of the biggest misconceptions about them

is that they aren’t edible,” she said. “As residents of the Southwest, it’s only natural that they are perfect for creating dishes like tamales, adobo, enchiladas, and more. I haven’t let that stop me from using javelina in ragus, lasagnas, soups, and even egg rolls.”

As a wild game chef whose renown is growing, Parma said, “I love cooking with javelina because creating a successful and delicious meal is so rewarding and an inspiring way to keep advocating for this native species.”

Given their potential to introduce youth to the outdoors and recruit new hunters, the javelina is being reassessed as a source for generating revenue for landowners interested in providing opportunities for paid hunts. TWA includes javelina in its Texas Big Game Awards program. Youth hunters can have their javelina scored and receive a first harvest certificate and award. Javelina numbers entered in the program have seen some increase since it is a required species to earn the Texas Slam Award.

Many of the program’s participants arrive on the hunt having never seen a javelina. However, by the end of the week they depart with a new appreciation for javelina and the outdoors.

“Every year I find that the girls on my hunts embrace the javelina in full force. I love it when they are just as excited to see them in the wild as I am,” Parma said. “This year, we completed our fifth year hosting the only Mother-Daughter Javelina hunt, and I am very proud of that.”

With every encounter in the photo blind, I observe and photograph something new that sparks my curiosity about javelina. As the sunlight dimmed, my javelina squadron trotted back into the spiny brush, leaving me with a collection of memories and photos detailing their antics. As our awareness of this species grows, so should our pride in having access to this unique Texas native.

A startled javelina makes a quick dash to the brush. Although they typically flee, javelinas will confront predators if cornered or to defend their young.

State’s Top Big Game Showcased at WildLife 2023

More than 30 of the biggest and best big game animals taken last season in Texas will be on display this month at the Texas Big Game Awards (TBGA) Statewide Sportsman’s Celebration held during your TWA’s Annual Convention, July 13-16 at the JW Marriott Hill Country Resort and Spa.

Annually, the TBGA recognizes the top three white-tailed deer, mule deer, javelina, and pronghorn during this special

awards presentation in different categories, as well as the landowners where the big game was harvested.

Eight Texas Slam awardees will also be recognized at the convention. The Texas Slam is an award given to hunters and landowners who harvest and produce all four TBGA qualifying big game species, meeting the minimum score for regional entry into the program.

Take a look at a few of the winners in this year’s TBGA!

Article by DAVID BRIMAGER Photos courtesy of AWARDEES

Texas Slam Awardees 2023

Keith Eason ...............................Double M Ranch

Corey Fearheiley .......................Double M Ranch

David Fluitt ...............................Sweetwater Ranch

Trey Maxwell ............................High Lonesome Ranch

Ali Ryan

Wyatt Sanchez ..........................Paloma Ranch

Wesley Tidwell ..........................Fraizer Ranch

Michael Wilson

Biotic Pain

BY STEVE NELLE

“The practices we now call conservation are, to a large extent, local alleviations of biotic pain. They are necessary, but they must not be confused with cures. The art of land doctoring is being practiced with vigor, but the science of land health is yet to be born.”

Most of us are averse to pain. We don’t like it and we try to find ways to alleviate it. For some types of pain, we take pills for temporary relief, all the while knowing that these do not address the pain’s cause.

There are different degrees of pain and different responses. Hitting the finger hard with a hammer causes intense and immediate pain, but it only lasts for a short time. There is usually no long-term damage. Other forms of pain are chronic, perhaps subtle, and with gradual, cumulative damage.

There is also pain of the land; what Leopold calls “biotic pain.” As with human pain, some is brief, severe, and heals quickly while some is long lasting and slow to heal.

Physical pain or land pain can happen due to our own carelessness, the actions of others, or things beyond our control. Drought, wildfire, ice storm, insect plague, anthrax or EHD are “acts of God” outside of our control. Neighbors who over-pump shallow alluvial wells and reduce or eliminate creek and river flows cause pain for downstream landowners. However, much of the land pain we experience results from our own actions.

While none of us enjoy it, we understand that pain is the body’s signal that something is wrong and needs attention. Because it is often a sign of a deeper problem, the best course of action is figuring out what’s causing the pain, and not simply attempting short-term fixes.

In Leopold’s day, the common application of conservation was the band-aid approach. For example, flood control dams were installed to catch and slowly release floodwater and creeks were channelized to quickly transport floodwater. Neither of these addressed the cause of flooding and both have side effects that can cause additional problems downstream. Now we have learned there are other ways of reducing flood damage by addressing the cause.

Bare ground is a common and serious form of land pain. It can be caused by overgrazing, soil disturbance, wildfire, drought, termites, or a combination of these. Some of the cures are straightforward, such as stop overgrazing, while others may require more intensive remediation that can take many years before results are evident.

Poor habitat quality, poor body weights and antler development in deer is a type of biotic pain that is usually caused by maintaining too many deer and/or exotics. The solution is reducing deer numbers, but often we attempt to alleviate the pain by supplemental feeding. It is a quick fix that makes us feel good, but it does not address the underlying problem.

A lack of quail where there used to be abundance is painful. It can be caused by poor land management, natural causes, or a combination of these. But sometimes the causes of land pain are largely unknown and these are the most frustrating of all.

When Leopold penned the opening quote of this essay, he maintained that the science of land health had not yet been born. He noted that “land doctoring” was treating the visible symptoms of sick land but there was little interest in discovering the root causes.

Today, the science of land health is being practiced by a growing number of landowners and is being refined, honed, and adapted for specific and practical application. More people are striving to understand the principles and the underlying causes of landscape problems, then selecting a customized suite of treatments to address the deeper problems and achieve individual landowner goals and improved land health.

When we see bare ground, erosion, excessive runoff, declining plant or animal diversity, loss of plant vigor, a decline in reproduction, or other forms of land pain, we should pay attention. The lesson is clear: do not ignore pain. Work to discover the cause, and don’t just treat the symptoms.

~ Aldo Leopold, 1941

Photo Courtesy of the Aldo Leopold Foundation and University of Wisconsin-Madison Archives

WRITER’S NOTE: Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) is considered the father of modern wildlife management. This bi-monthly column will feature Leopold's thought-provoking philosophies as well as commentary.

Coming Together for Conservation Education

Article by KASSI SCHEFFER-GEESLIN

As the programs of Conservation Legacy expand to reach Texans across the state, our network of conservation education partners continues to grow as well. These partners have served various roles—donors, hosts,

presenters—and our programs would not be the same without them. In 2023, these organizations, companies, individuals, schools, ranches, and their staff have provided invaluable impact and we thank them for working alongside us.

Women of the Land program at Welder Wildlife Foundation. Women of the Land Partners: Natural Resources Conservation Service; Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service; Texas State Comptroller’s Office; Texas Parks and Wildlife Department; Welder Wildlife Foundation.

Native Plant Expedition at TWA headquarters. Family Land, Water & Wildlife Expedition Partners are 5th Day Anglers; Austin Sunshine Camps; Bamert Seed Company; Blair Wildlife Consulting; Guadalupe River Trout Unlimited Foundation; Hershey Ranch; Inspiring Oaks Ranch; Line Cutterz; Long Acres Ranch; Lower Colorado River Authority; Native Backyards; Native Plant Society of Texas – New Braunfels Chapter; Texas A&M Forest Service; Texas Master Naturalists; Texas Parks and Wildlife Department; Travis Audubon; VetRecOutdoors.

Photo courtesy of TWA

Photo courtesy of Chad Timmons

their classrooms.

Center

Environmental Research; Biodiversity

Center (Coppell); Buescher State Park;

Park;

Student Expedition Day in Brenham. Student Land, Water & Wildlife Expedition Partners: Headwaters at the Comal; Kolkhorst Ranch; Lone Star Drone; Mustang Creek Ranch; Natural Resources Conservation Service; Northwest ISD Outdoor Learning Center; San Antonio River Authority; Spring Creek Ranch; Tarrant Regional Water District; Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service; Texas Master Naturalists; Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Photo courtesy of TWA

TWA Teacher Workshop, helping elementary teachers bring the outdoors indoors to

Teacher Workshop Partners: Austin Water

for

Education

Cleburne State

Delores Fenwick Nature Center; Discovery Gardens of Texas; Lake Houston Wilderness Park; Lewisville ISD Outdoor Learning Area; Long Acres Ranch; Quinta Mazatlan World Birding Center; Resaca De La Palma State Park; Sheldon Lake State Park; The Witte Museum.

TWA conservation educator presenting ‘Skins & Skulls’ at Natural Bridge Caverns. San Antonio Area Wildlife by Design Partners: Cibolo Center for Conservation, Natural Bridge Caverns, San Antonio Botanical Garden, San Antonio River Foundation at Confluence Park.

Photo courtesy of TWA

Photo courtesy of Natural Bridge Caverns

Small Acreage Big Opportunity workshop. Small Acreage, Big Opportunity (SABO) Partners: Bamert Seed Company; Natural Resources Conservation Service; Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service.

Photo courtesy of TWA

Texas Wil dl ife Association is pl eased to host its annual Private Lands Summit on Jul y 1 3 at the fabul ous J.W. Marriott in San Antonio, Texas This year's Summit wil l focus on innovative ways that Texas natural resource professional s are approaching some of the state's most pressing chal l enges--from species recovery and invasive management, to energy and the devel opment of our changing workforce

Notabl y, the 20 23 agenda wil l concl ude The East Foundation Three-Minute Thesis Competition, affording attendees the chance to hear from future l eaders in conservation on their research findings

TWA is proud the of the sl ate of experts coming together to share their l atest work with our membership. We hope to see you in Jul y!

ANNUAL PRIVATE LANDS SUMMIT

SUMMIT SPONSORS

TWA Convention

A Family Reunion from the Get-Go

Article by LORIE A. WOODWARD Photos courtesy of TWA

Current Author’s Note: Sometimes it pays to be an information pack rat. As I was getting ready to visit with TWA co-founder Larry Weishuhn and CEO (retired) David K. Langford about TWA’s early conventions as part our ongoing look at TWA history, I ran across the following story.

It was written in 2003. Twenty years later, some of the characters, including co-founders Gary Machen and Murphy Ray Jr., as well as Fannie Grace Hindes and Carol Ray, have taken their places on the eternal stage. But memories of them and the early conventions are alive and well. The article is republished as it first appeared in April 2003. The additional information from Langford is new.

Original Author’s Note: This story was born one morning last November [2002]. I called early trying to catch Gary Machen at

home, but, instead, I got his wife, Barbara, who was in the middle of cleaning up breakfast dishes and getting ready for hunters to come in later that day. Fortunately, she wasn’t too busy to visit with me, and after a few conversational twists and turns, we got on the subject of the first TWA convention. As she began telling me about pickle jars, welcome wagons, and baking brownies for 300 people, I knew the story was too good to keep to myself.

Many big things start small. An oak from an acorn. Seven-foot, five-inch Houston Rocket Yao Ming from a diaper-clad baby. WildLife 2003 [and now WildLife 2023] from its humble beginnings in 1986.

Back then, the founding members of TWA were traveling around the state trying to drum up support. TWA was the new

Have a convention with people who wear cowboy boots and what do you get? A dance, of course. TWA members enjoyed dusting up the dance floor at the 1988 convention.

kid on the political block and members were double-timing it with legislators and agency heads trying to establish a good reputation in Austin.

The meetings were held at ranches around South Texas. Most advertising was word-of-mouth. The newsletter was four, type-written pages, “printed” on a copying machine. Money was tight…very, very tight. One “staff” member, who was actually Sid Lindsey’s full-time secretary, tried to keep up with it all.

In the midst of these growing pains, someone, most likely the directors, decided that TWA needed an annual meeting to assist in spreading the word about its mission, to attract new members, and to help fill the coffers. Plans were made and the first event was scheduled for April at the YO Ranch Hilton in Kerrville in 1986.

At the time, TWA was a very hands-on organization because the early members believed strongly in what they were creating—and it didn’t have the luxury of being anything else. Some of the busiest hands belonged to Barbara Machen of Pearsall, Carol Ray of Somerset, and Fannie Grace Hindes of Charlotte.

While these ladies are quick to give credit to their husbands, Gary Machen, Murphy Ray, Jr. and the late Roy Hindes, for the long-term success of TWA, it is obvious that these women are equally dedicated to the cause, and their hard work laid the foundation for what has become the best convention in Texas. Bottom line: these women know what makes a good party.

“We had a lot of fun then—and we have a lot of fun now,” Fannie Grace said. “I don’t think wild horses could keep me from coming because a lot of TWA members have become just like family to me.”

And the family feel that sets the TWA convention apart from the faceless, nameless hordes that define most convention experiences, got its start at the very beginning. Many of the first attendees were relatives of the early members, and those who weren’t kin were family friends.

“To get people to come, we got on the telephone and in our address books,” Fannie Grace said. “Everybody just issued

During the 1990 TWA Convention, Larry Weishuhn (left) and David K. Langford worked the crowd for just a few dollars more during the live auction.

a personal invitation to all the people they knew.”

Despite the personal attention and the relatively small circle of people, not everyone who attended the convention knew everyone else. The Ranch Gals, as Barbara, Fannie Grace, Carol, and their TWA girlfriends have dubbed themselves, wouldn’t allow anyone to feel like a stranger.

Barbara, who claims to have the ability to talk to a door, said, “We just appointed ourselves the unofficial welcome wagon with the goal of introducing everybody to everybody else. If we’d see someone standing apart, we’d go introduce ourselves and then introduce that person to one more.”

Fannie Grace said, “We never had trouble getting anyone to talk because everybody had so much in common. You know, ranchers and other people who love the land, are just a big family anyway.”

While the personal touch was important in getting people involved with one another, the name tags didn’t hurt. In those days, Carol, who spent a lot of time

at various registration tables, recalled that the name tags were not the computergenerated, beribboned behemoths that adorn TWA’ers lapels today. They were the “Hello, my name is…” labels, completed by hand when attendees registered.

“Instead of computers, we had markers. Instead of a mile-long registration table, we had a card table. Instead of preregistration forms, we had relatively short lines of people signing in when they arrived,” Carol said.

The newsletter account of the first annual meeting notes that 300 people attended. The Ranch Gals recall a slightly smaller crowd, more in the neighborhood of 100 people.

Barbara said, “It didn’t seem like there were 300 people there, but there might have been. Of course, in those days, the reported number might have reflected a little wishful thinking.”

Fannie Grace said, “To get 300 people, somebody must have counted us coming and going.”

Of course, the smaller crowd meant that there wasn’t a scramble for hotel

rooms, although the YO Ranch Hilton is a much smaller facility than the Hyatt Hill Country Regency Resort.

“I used to call two weeks in advance to reserve our hotel rooms—and I was one of the early ones,” Carol said. “It is amazing to me how things have changed. Recently, a friend of mine told me that she had made their reservations [at the Hyatt Hill Country Resort in San Antonio] for the convention back in December. I would have never imagined that people would be making reservations seven months in advance just to ensure that they’d have a place to stay during the TWA convention.”

While securing rooms was easy, feeding the crowd was an interesting proposition. Because the organizers were trying to attract people and keep the overhead down, they cut costs wherever they could. On Friday night, attendees had cocktails and botanas [finger foods] outside by the hotel pool instead of the full-blown Mexican buffet that is the tradition now.

The Saturday lunch was “catered” by the members themselves in concert with TPWD and private wildlife biologists. Barbecue pits and fish fryers were hauled in from ranches all over South Texas and the Hill Country and set up poolside, so members could cook the feral hog, cabrito, fish, and the other offerings that had been donated. A huge pot of pinto beans simmered over a fire. And platters of brownies, candy, and cookies, prepared by Barbara and Fannie Grace spilled over, testing the willpower of everyone.

“Making all those sweets was our idea,” Fannie Grace said. “The men said, ‘We don’t need any dessert,’ but we knew better. Every single crumb was eaten up.” It’s a good thing that everyone had a sweet tooth because delivering the “dessert cart” had been a logistical challenge.

“We made all that stuff at home and hauled it to the hotel. We had so many sweets that we all ran out of Tupperware and ended up using Cool Whip containers to hold them,” Fannie Grace recalled. “We had to store all those containers in our hotel rooms and divvy out the desserts onto trays that we got from the hotel staff. Barbara and I still laugh about sharing our rooms with all those cookies.”

Wildlife experts from many Texas universities were early TWA supporters. During the 1988 gathering, Judy “Possum” Steinbach, Dr. Don Steinbach, and Dr. Steve Demaris enjoyed catching up.

After lunch on Saturday, the members turned the kitchen duties back over to the hotel staff, so they could get ready for their big night.

People, then, like people now, dressed up to enjoy the festivities.

Carol said, “At the first convention, it was hard to be overdressed or underdressed. People just wore what made them feel comfortable for a social event. Over the years, the definition of ‘party clothes’ has gotten broader and more elaborate, just as the crowd has gotten bigger and more diverse.”

For the big party on Saturday night, convention attendees enjoyed a catered banquet, an auction and a raffle, which over the years has become the silent auction, and a dance. While the auction offerings were less exclusive and extensive than those available now, the biggest change can be found in the Silent Auction room. Instead of clipboards and bidding, the then-Silent Raffle used to involve gallon pickle jars and tickets.

Organizers situated the raffle offerings accompanied by empty gallon pickle

jars on tables throughout the lobby and attendees were encouraged to purchase raffle tickets, which they then placed in the pickle jars by the items the supporters hoped to win. During the evening’s festivities, tickets were drawn to see who would claim the prize.

The Ranch Gals recalled that the pickle jars were alarmingly empty at the start of Saturday night’s party. Gary [Machen] suggested that Barbara help remedy that by buying tickets, hopefully enticing more people to participate. She went on a buying and stuffing spree that eventually turned into an unprecedented winning streak.

“Almost every time the announcer drew a ticket, he would say, ‘Barbara Machen,’” Fannie Grace said. “I’ve never seen anybody win so much stuff in one night. We still tease her about it.”

Barbara added, “I donated everything back, so that other people would win and have a good time. But it really was funny how many times I marched up there.”

Raffle-winning Barbara is just one memory among thousands related to TWA that brings smiles to the faces of the

Ranch Gals. Since 1985, when TWA was born, the organization has been part of their families and part of their lives.

The convention, which started as a labor of love, is a reunion, allowing them to reconnect annually with their adopted family—the people who care about wild things and wild places as deeply as they do. While the event itself has changed, the inclusive spirit is still going strong.

“The convention continues in a different form and on a bigger scale, but all the important basics—like friends, family and fun—have remained the same,” said. Fannie Grace. “It’s just something you have to experience to understand.”

THE EVOLUTION OF THE GRAND AUCTION as told by CEO (retired)

David K. Langford

In the beginning, the Grand and Silent Auctions funded a lion’s share—almost 100 percent—of TWA’s operating budget. Today, proceeds from the convention weekend provide about 20 percent of

For the first few years of TWA’s history, the YO Hilton hosted the crowd. As time went on, however, and TWA grew in membership and reputation, the association had to find larger digs.

the annual budget. In 2022, the gross proceeds were upwards of $900,000. That wasn’t always the case…

“When I came to my first convention in the mid-80s, I’d been working as a livestock photographer for a lot of the big ranches across Texas and the country. As part of my duties, along with shooting cattle and horses for ads, I’d cover their big auctions, so I had a point of comparison for what I saw at TWA.

Frankly, it needed some help, especially since there were so many big ranches represented in the room. The only professional was Anthony Mihalski, the auctioneer. The ringmen were all volunteers. People had donated generously, but there was nothing particularly special about anything that was being offered.

I’m not even sure what the first auction I attended raised. Maybe $25,000-$30,000. I thought to myself, ‘Holy crap, it should be a lot better, especially with all these heavy hitters in the room.’

At the next executive committee meeting, I made the mistake of saying that out loud. Big Roy Hindes said, ‘Congratulations, you’re our next auction chairman.’

The next year it was back at the YO and the crowd was only slightly larger. Anthony Mihalski was back, and he brought some ringmen. Larry Weishuhn provided color commentary. But the big difference was in the auction items themselves.

I’d realized that many of our members had great hunting places that were only accessible to their family and invited friends. The phrase that I came up with for the auction catalog, which TWA still uses today, said it all, ‘Not available to the public.’

I, along with Larry [Weishuhn] and others, convinced 30-40 people to donate exclusive hunts or experiences. When the last gavel fell, we’d raised about $130,000.

Everybody almost fainted because we raised so much money. After that, the format was set and we just continued to improve on the basic model. TWA is still using it to great effect today. Every president and officer team draw on their networks to expand TWA’s circle of friends. The power of ‘not available to the public’ keeps the excitement alive every time someone new comes into the TWA family.”

THE POWER OF PLACE as told by

David K. Langford

Depending on who is asked, attendance at the earliest conventions was somewhere between 100 to 300 people. In 2022, more than 1,500 people converged on the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa. While the convention moved through several hotels in San Antonio and even one in Austin before finding its home for 20 years at the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort and Spa in San Antonio, the convention grew into its potential at the Hill Country Hyatt…

“After a few years of holding the convention at the YO Hilton, we outgrew it primarily because of our ‘not available to the

public’ auction items. We bounced to a hotel in San Antonio, out by the airport, near Jones Maltsberger and Loop 410.

On the Thursday before our first convention at that San Antonio hotel, my phone rang sometime around 9 p.m. It was Fannie Grace Hindes asking, ‘David, how much potato salad do I need to make for Saturday?’ Somehow in all the discussions, nobody had informed the Ranch Gals that we were using caterers and they—and their Tupperware—were off the hook.

About that time, Charly [McTee] and I had come to run the office. We had one more convention at that San Antonio hotel and then we moved to Austin to provide easy access for legislators. It was at some Spanish-style hotel near the intersection of I-35 and US-290.

It was our first foray into big-time hotels and convention planning. We were green and didn’t know that you had to book every meeting room, ballroom, and hallway that you planned on using.

(Author’s Note: Next time you see Langford ask about the chaos that ensued when this oversight was brought to light late Saturday afternoon. As part of the “festivities” Langford had to convince a high school principal to move the school’s graduation party slated for the same Saturday night to the hotel bar so TWA would have all the space it needed.)

Then, if the challenge of moving everything around wasn’t enough, it came Noah’s flood. By Saturday, the Highland Lakes were overflowing, and dams were threatening to give way. Streets and highways were under water. Travel was almost impossible.

Incoming President Steve Lewis and I were beside ourselves because we just knew that nobody was going to be at the auction—and that TWA was going to be broke. Before the auction started, we peeked out from behind the curtains that surrounded the stage. There were no more than 75 people there and we had planned on 250-300. It was a literal washout.

Then it happened. There was a man and his wife who sat down at one of the front tables, most of which were conspicuously empty. Nobody knew them.

That night, there was not an auction item that came up that he didn’t raise his hand on—and he bought most of them. His generosity saved the night, the day—and TWA for that year.

The then-stranger was Jack Carmody, a contractor from Leander who specialized in heavy construction. He became a fast friend and one of TWA’s most solid supporters until his death in speed boat racing accident in Corpus Christi seven or eight years later.

We did another year in Austin, but it still didn’t feel like home. Incoming President Happy Rogers and his wife Elizabeth, both of whom were exceptionally involved in San Antonio’s high-visibility charitable organizations, changed that. Because of their experience with groups including the San Antonio Zoo and the Witte Museum, they understood the ambiance and amenities necessary for successful fundraising.

At the time, there was a new hotel being constructed out near Sea World. It preceded most of the development on that section of Loop 1604. Happy and Elizabeth insisted we move out there; nobody else was particularly enthused about the idea. Turns out that they knew better than the rest of us.

When we arrived on the Thursday before the convention, there were still painters on tall ladders working. The smell of fresh paint was all over the hotel and almost overwhelming. TWA was the first convention ever held there.

On Friday morning just a couple of hours before registration opened, Jim Chesnut, our IT guy at the time, and Sharron Jay, who eventually became our CFO, had finished setting up our computer network.

Remember, this was the mid-90s and technology wasn’t what it is today. We had hauled all the equipment from our offices over to the hotel and cobbled together a remote network.

We were patting ourselves on the back and heaving a sigh of relief, when a bartender from Charley’s Long Bar, which was directly behind our registration area, thought it would be funny to unplug our computers. I thought I might go to jail for murder before we ever got started.

We had a few missteps here and there, but TWA staff and hotel staff learned together—and it turned out to be a perfect fit for 20 years. In fact, the staff baked TWA a huge 20th anniversary cake for the last banquet we held there.

Because of the facilities, we were able to create a destination event with something for the whole family. Every year after the convention was over, we’d gather the staff and volunteers to figure out what we could do better and differently.

The trade show grew as did the thank you and specialty parties. The Little Lonestars Kids’ Program was inspired by the space as was the TBGA Statewide Awards Celebration with the display of mounts and even TWA’s own awards banquet. I’m not sure we could have hosted master falconer John Karger and his Last Chance Forever birds of prey demonstrations anywhere else. And on and on and on…

By the time we outgrew the Hyatt, we had grown our annual WildLife gathering into a must-attend event. And we’d made a lot of memories, like the time the Longhorn steer donated by Lee and Ramona Bass for the auction, escaped onto the golf course…”

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Predicting Habitat Overlap Between Montezuma Quail and Feral Pigs in the Davis Mountains of West Texas

Article by MAYA RESSLER, RYAN LUNA and JUSTIN FRENCH, Borderlands Research Institute, Sul Ross State University Photos courtesy of BORDERLANDS RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Montezuma quail inhabit the piñon-juniper woodlands of the southwestern United States and much of Mexico. Anecdotal reports suggest Montezuma quail historically had greater distribution throughout Texas. However, because they prefer rugged terrain and their diets and habits are similar to other quail, Montezuma quail are considered the most understudied quail species in the United States. As such, their populations have not been monitored in Texas outside of a relatively few dedicated studies.

Feral pigs are highly intelligent, adaptive ecological generalists, capable of surviving in a wide variety of habitats. In North America, feral pigs have been reported in 44 states and in portions of Mexico and Canada. In Texas, they have been documented in every county but one, El Paso County.

The movement of feral pigs into West Texas is fairly recent, beginning in the 1980s, and might have been caused by populations simply expanding their territories westward or by intentional introduction for hunting. Regardless, feral pigs

BRI researchers conducting feral pig presence surveys at the Davis Mountains Preserve, owned by The Nature Conservancy.

are known for their destructive and system-altering nature and are especially destructive when they occur in high numbers in localized areas.

One of the biggest issues regarding feral pigs is the extensive damage they cause to natural and agricultural resources. Nationally, crop damage is estimated to cost producers about $800 million annually.

The damage is caused by rooting as they forage for food and is the most common sign of their presence. Through rooting, feral pigs disturb the soil, which potentially reduces plant cover, alters soil composition, and ultimately causes nutrient loss and altered vegetation communities that other native species depend on.

Although scientists predict that feral pig densities are relatively low in West Texas compared with the rest of the state, there is concern about the damage to sensitive resources, such as the limited, free water sources found throughout the Trans-Pecos. A previous study conducted in the Davis Mountains found that feral pigs preferred open-canopy evergreen woodlands, evergreen savannah grasslands, and sensitive riparian habitats. These sensitive ecosystems and water sources occur predominantly in the sky island mountain ranges of West Texas.

Sky islands are high-elevation mountainous habitats that are isolated from other nearby mountain ranges. Some of the mountain ranges found in the West Texas sky island complex include the Davis Mountains in Jeff Davis County, the Chisos Mountains in Brewster County, and the Guadalupe Mountains in Culberson County.

Sky islands generate topographically diverse habitats that occur along an elevational-climatic gradient. With the increase in elevation, there’s an increase in precipitation and generally cooler temperatures compared with the lower elevations, which in turn generates increased habitat variability.

There are plants and animals that thrive within specific spaces of this elevation gradient, like the Montezuma quail in the Davis Mountains. The woodland habitats in the Davis Mountains support a biodiverse ecosystem that creates what we believe to be some of the most contiguous habitat for Montezuma quail in Texas.

In West Texas, Montezuma quail occupy open evergreen and oak woodlands, savannahs, grasslands, and riparian habitats. Though they have been documented in hilly, desert grassland habitats in lower elevations around 4,000 feet, Montezuma quail tend to occur in higher densities in the elevations from 5,249 feet and higher with more tree and grass cover. They depend on sloped areas with dense herbaceous cover for general use and foraging.

Montezuma quail forage on roots, tubers, and bulbs of certain plants, as well as seeds, mast, insects, and green leaf material. Their diet composition highly depends on season and land use.

Across their range, overgrazing has been identified as one of the biggest contributing factors to population decline due to loss of ground cover and reduced forage availability. Increased feral pig densities may alter the plant communities in a similar way as overgrazing. This could reduce forage resources in addition to the ground cover that Montezuma quail utilize for nesting, temperature regulation, and predator avoidance.

Though these birds are assumed to be relatively “immune” to regular droughts and changes to their environment, Montezuma quail might be vulnerable to more aggressive, generalist competitors, like feral pigs, that alter their environment and change or reduce choice resources.

Through this study, we wanted to predict feral pig presence and then compare it with suitable habitat for Montezuma quail in the Davis Mountains. Examining where these species overlap is the first step in understanding whether feral pigs could be affecting Montezuma quail populations.

To estimate feral pig presence in the Davis Mountains, we surveyed 65 plots measuring 250 square meters across the southern portion of the Davis Mountains Preserve, owned by The Nature Conservancy. Each of the 65 plots had 25 sampling points at which any observation of feral pig presence was recorded.

Figure 2. Predicted accuracy of feral pig presence map in the Davis Mountains, Jeff Davis County, Texas.

Figure 1. Map of predicted presence of feral pigs in the Davis Mountains, Jeff Davis County, Texas.

Long Term Hunters Wanted!

From these data, we fit a model to predict presence at other locations across the Davis Mountains Preserve. Elevation, slope, and tree cover had the most influence on the predicted presence of feral pigs. We then applied that model to the entire range of the Davis Mountains (Figure 1).

When we mapped this prediction outside of the Davis Mountains Preserve, we made inferences from the model, so the more dissimilar the environment is from the Preserve, the less confident our prediction is. This measure of confidence is mapped in Figure 2 where the lightest color indicates the most confidence.

Once we created a map of predicted feral pig presence, we were able to calculate how that overlapped with predicted Montezuma quail habitat (Figure 3). Comparing these resulted in a predicted overlap of 51 percent for predicted feral pig presence and predicted Montezuma quail habitat in the mapped region.

Feral pig presence doesn’t completely overlap with predicted Montezuma quail habitat but occurs in areas that are considered critical for Montezuma quail when their populations are low and resources are scarce. This opens the door to question if feral pigs might have an effect on Montezuma quail resources and habitats.

Overall, researchers know very little about Montezuma quail, especially the populations in Texas. It’s recognized that habitat loss and reduced ground cover from overgrazing are potentially the main causes for population decline.

When resources become limited, it’s predicted that their range might be more restricted to higher elevations where our model showed higher overlap with feral pigs. In areas of overlap, feral pigs may affect the limited choices available to Montezuma quail for food and habitat, especially during periods of resource scarcity.

Further fine-scale research is required to better understand which Montezuma quail resources are being affected by feral pigs and if their foraging niches and habitat selection overlap at any capacity.

This project represents the first time researchers have studied Montezuma quail and feral pigs for potential habitat overlap in Trans-Pecos, Texas.

Figure 3. Map of predicted overlap between Montezuma quail habitat and feral pig presence in the Davis Mountains, Jeff Davis County, Texas.

Meet Andrew Earl H

ello! My name is Andrew Earl, and I’m glad to have joined TWA as the director of conservation earlier this year. I come to the organization with roughly a decade of resource and sportsmen policy experience in the nation’s capital, and as the saying goes—I got to Texas as quickly as I could. In my short tenure with the organization, I’ve enjoyed working with not only my skilled colleagues at TWA, but also the powerful group of members and volunteers who inform the direction of our mission.

Previously, I served as the director of government relations with the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership in the nation’s capital, a national conservation group working to unify sportsmen voices on habitat and access issues. Before that, I managed natural resource and agricultural issues for a western U.S. Senator.

My love of the outdoors and passion for conservation took root digging for clams and fishing for striped bass off the south shore of Long Island. The Boy Scouts continued to drive me to the outdoors as I grew older. Recent years found me waterfowl hunting on the eastern shore of Maryland, and pursuing whitetailed deer in Virginia when opportunity allowed.

My role marries TWA’s policy work with our conservation curriculum, ensuring that the stated positions and values of the organization are represented in our expanding adult and family educational programs. As issues like land fragmentation, development, and water security continue to grow in Texas, I look forward to working with our team to ensure TWA remains a resource and voice of reason for lawmakers and landowners alike across the state.

Summer Time, Summer Time

Temptation often starts with a tiny itch, then transforms quickly to a constant gnawing.

I approached my wife to explain my itch for a couple of new hunting guns. She patiently listened, then commented with a sly smile, “Sure you didn’t get into chiggers?” I rolled my eyes, then continued trying to establish the necessity of purchasing a couple new guns.

“Think of all the delicious venison I can harvest…” She benignly nodded. I continued… “I need a new Mossberg 7mm PRC rifle and another Taurus Raging Hunter revolver in .454 Casull.” Her expression? Pure boredom.

Just when I thought she was not even listening, she smiled and said, “You’re going to get them anyway… Get pretty wood if you can.” She continued, “While you’re

at it, you might as well get another Trijicon AccuPoint scope for the new rifle and an SRO red dot sight for the revolver and Hornady ammo for both.” When I realized what she had said, I gave her a hug and immediately headed to our local gun shop.

It’s great to have an understanding wife. During our many years together, she has supported my decisions to hunt around the world and procure new guns even

Article by LARRY WEISHUHN Photos courtesy of LARRY WEISHUHN OUTDOORS

Summer is an ideal time to purchase a new rifle, scope and or ammunition. In this instance it was a Mossberg Patriot in .30-06, purchased the previous summer.

when I already had those appropriate for whatever I was about to hunt.

When asked the greatest attribute of my long career as a wildlife biologist, hunter/ conservationist, outdoor writer, television show host, podcaster, and other such things, I quickly and proudly proclaim, “My wife!”

Back to present. Summer is the ideal time to purchase a new rifle and scope, a new scope for an old rifle, or try different ammunition.

Me? I used to try to escape to the southern hemisphere during summer, but now spend my summers at the rifle range to learn the accuracy and capabilities of the guns I hunt with. It’s important to determine what my capabilities are with those guns shooting at the bench and from real-world hunting rests.

None of the places I hunt have a shooting bench positioned exactly where I need it when I find a buck or doe I want to harvest. With that said, I can get a good solid rest shooting from my Orion Hunting Products (www.huntorion.com) deer blind, aided by shooting sticks.

After determining how accurate my guns are at 100, 200, 300, and 400 yards from the bench, I am ready for some real-world shooting practice. If a gun is not capable of shooting 1-inch or smaller groups at 100 yards, it should not be shot at an animal much beyond 200 yards, and certainly not beyond 300.

Years ago, an outdoor writer friend, Dave Petzal, in a “Field & Stream” article, said, “Inaccurate rifles are boring!” I agree. I want my rifles shooting less than 1-inch, three-shot groups at 100 yards (i.e. 1 MOA, meaning 1 minute of angle). Then I know if I do things right, my rifles will shoot 6-inch or less groups at 400 yards. A 6-inch group is smaller than the average whitetail deer’s vitals, heart, and lungs.

I also want to know what the pointblank range is in the rifles and ammo I hunt with. Point blank is not up close. It is the distance at which a bullet will neither rise above a certain height, usually 3 inches, nor fall below 3 inches of a straight line out of the barrel. Point blank range varies with caliber, round, bullet design, and load.

After hunting for a year with a .44 Mag Taurus Raging Hunter handgun, Weishuhn had a serious itch for a .454 Casull Taurus Raging Hunter.

With any new rifle, start out at the range to sight in at the bench and determine accuracy near and far.

Fast forward, I did indeed buy a new 7mm PRC Mossberg Patriot Predator. I scoped it with a Trijicon 4-16x50 AccuPoint; 4 to 16 meaning the magnification and 50 meaning the size in millimeters of the objective, or front lens. The Trijicon AccuPoint is built on a 30mm tube, as opposed to the traditional 1-inch tube most scopes were built on in the past. The 30mm tube along with the 50mm objective assist in gathering light, early or late.

The AccuPoint scope has ¼ MOA adjustments (“clicks”). This means the vertical and horizontal crosshair move the point of impact ¼-inch at 100 yards with each click. For the reticle to move 1 inch at 25 yards requires 16 clicks.

In my new 7mm PRC Mossberg/Trijicon combination I am shooting Hornady’s Precision Hunter, 175-gain ELDX loads. The bullet leaves the muzzle at 3,000 feet per second. The new 7mm PRC is in every way is a very efficient, effective, flat shooting, and hard hitting round.

For my upcoming Texas whitetail and mule deer hunts, I am sighted in 1.5-inches high at 100 yards. With that particular sight-in, my bullet strikes dead-on at 200-yards and 6 inches low at 300-yards. So I can hold dead-on out to 250 yards without holding over, or making a reticle turret adjustment.

I very rarely shoot at an animal farther than 300 yards. Remember, hold over does not mean holding over the deer’s back, but holding over an appropriate amount where you want your bullet to strike. On a deer at 300 yards, that means holding the horizontal crosshair immediately below the deer’s back, using guns like the 7mm PRC.

I know from shooting at the range my 7mm PRC bullet drops 18 inches at 400 yards. If for some reason a long shot is required, I can make an appropriate reticle dial up based on a ballistic chart. My goal is always to get as close as possible before squeezing the trigger.

Summer is also time to check deer stands, clear shooting lanes, make sure your hunting attire still fits after having “wintered well,” and start making serious fall hunting plans.

See you at the range.

The 7mm PRC, a new cartridge recently arrived on the scene, has garnered a lot of interest from Texas hunters.

Triploid Grass Carp

A Versatile Tool for Aquatic Vegetation Management

There are two types of herbivorous fish that can be stocked in Texas to control certain species of aquatic vegetation—grass carp and tilapia. Each has its own regulations and each has its own preferred aquatic plant

species to consume, so they should not be confused or used interchangeably.

Grass carp generally like to consume soft vegetation that is submerged in the water column, including aquatic plant species like hydrilla, southern naiad,

and many pondweed species. They do not prefer aquatic plants that are stiff, like watermilfoil species, or plants with spiny projections.

While general recommendations can be made, there is no stocking rate for

Article by BRITTANY CHESSER, Aquatic Vegetation Management Program Specialist, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and TODD SINK, Associate Professor and Aquaculture Extension Specialist, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Photo courtesy of TAMU AGRILIFE EXTENSION

Grass carp from natural populations in the wild are diploid (two sets of chromosomes) and will reproduce in flowing waters under ideal conditions. Triploid grass carp contain three sets of chromosomes and are sterile, ensuring that if fish do escape into non-impounded waters, they will not reproduce.

Hydrilla is a non-native, invasive aquatic plant species that grass carp prefer and will consume in large quantities.

grass carp that can or should be applied to every situation. That’s because diet and consumption rates can be greatly influenced by age and gender of individual fish, along with site-specific factors such as aquatic vegetation species, abundance, diversity, and placement in the water column. These fish do not offer control for emergent plants they cannot reach, or tough, fibrous, woody, or waxy species, and offer little to no control of filamentous algae or phytoplankton.

In Texas, only sterile triploid grass carp can be stocked after receiving a permit from TPWD. Since grass carp are known to seek out flowing waters, the permit requires that there be a fish barrier installed on spillways and overflow pipes to limit grass carp escapes. Up to 10 grass carp per acre can be approved within a one-year period and if approved, all new permits holders will have up to 36 months to stock fish.

Because grass carp are difficult to catch and remove once stocked, it is recommended to stock lower densities initially, and if needed, more fish can be stocked within the 36-month period if the maximum approved number is not exceeded.

Grass carp should be 10 to 12 inches upon stocking to reduce loss to unlawful escapement through outflows or predation from catfish and bass. It may take up to a year to see control but if sufficient and desirable aquatic plants are present during warmer months, grass carp can consume 40 to 300 percent of their body weight per day.

While they can grow to more than 60 pounds and live longer than 10 years, feeding decreases over time, and while still present in the pond, grass carp may not be an effective control measure five years or more after stocking. Therefore, grass carp may need to be re-stocked every five to seven years if vegetation control is still desired and plants they consume are present.

More information on using triploid grass carp to manage aquatic vegetation can be found at https://aquaplant.tamu. edu/files/2022/06/TriploidCarp.pdf Information on other aquatic vegetation control options and plant species identification can be found at https://aquaplant. tamu.edu/ Permitting information can be found on https://tpwd.texas.gov/

OUT OF ASIA

Article by WILL LESCHPER

The nilgai antelope is right at home in deep South Texas. These current residents of the Brush Country are descendants of the first “blue bulls” from southern Asia that were transplanted on the famed King Ranch in the mid-1920s. Their numbers have steadily grown, to the delight of some and the consternation of many others, from a few dozen to tens of thousands in the past century.

Nilgai are distinctive to say the least, with a number of wellknown traits and forage habits. Males can tip the scales at more than 600 pounds, though they don’t sport the same headgear as other sought-after antelope species. A monster bull’s horns will be slightly less than a foot long.

Nilgai also feature a unique beard that sprouts midway up their throat. Males are dubbed blue bulls due to their blue-gray

coat, though some younger males may have tinges of brown. Cows and calves are light to pale brown. They are hardy animals that can do well across the scrub country formerly known as the Wild Horse Desert.

In fact, nilgai are now found from the Baffin Bay area all the way down to the Mexican border. There are currently free-ranging populations in Brooks, Cameron, Hidalgo, Kenedy, Kleberg, and Willacy counties, which also are home to exceptional whitetail, turkey and dove hunting.

The heaviest nilgai concentration occurs south of the Port Mansfield area and down into the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, which today offers drawn hunts for the exotics that feature an unlimited bag limit. Nilgai also are known to cross the Rio Grande between the U.S.-Mexico border.

Nilgai are right at home in deep South Texas, which provides a habitat ideally suited for the ancestors of antelope native to southern Asia.

Photo courtesy U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

PAST AND FUTURE NILGAI MANAGEMENT

While their current home range and behaviors are easy to quantify, the overall management of the nilgai population in South Texas has been somewhat of a mystery. After they were introduced by Caesar Kleberg of King Ranch lore, they took root and slowly expanded without much in-depth study of their nature. It wasn’t until noted researcher William J. Sheffield looked into nilgai biology more than four decades after they were introduced that we started to know more about Asia’s largest antelope.

Sheffield deduced that nilgai are much like other hooved species, exhibiting differing territorial behaviors during different periods of the year. Nilgai segregate into male and female groups except during the breeding season, Sheffield noted in his research. Bulls also do not maintain a fixed territory but defend a space around themselves.

Since the treatise written by Sheffield in the 1970s, not many studies have focused on nilgai despite being a part of the South Texas landscape for nearly a century. However, because the South Texas ecosystem contains culturally and economically important native wildlife and cattle, the need arose to better understand the position of the nilgai in the ecological network.

As a result, the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute in Kingsville and other state and federal collaborators including the East Foundation have been studying nilgai for a number of years. They have been working to answer questions relating to cattle-nilgai interactions, especially centering on cattle fever ticks (CFT).

There is an effort to eradicate CFT from U.S. soil because the ticks carry a parasite that causes fever in cattle that often is fatal. Nilgai are known to carry CFT, which prompted an interest in documenting nilgai movement patterns to develop management strategies to contain and effectively eradicate CFT.

One interesting study involved the nilgai on the East Foundation’s El Sauz Ranch in 2015. The research framework included the capture of 30 nilgai—15 bulls and 15 cows—which were tagged and released back onto the landscape for researchers to track and study their movements for a year.

The data in subsequent months showed some interesting trends, including that about half of the antelope remained on the 10,000-acre ranch tract. Among the animals that moved away from the ranch, the distances varied widely—from a single mile to roughly 30 miles away.

The study also focused on important questions involving nilgai management, including: Do cattle fences act as a barrier to nilgai movement? And do nilgai relocate to new areas after being exposed to helicopter activities?

The research yielded impressive results in terms of both exotic game management as well as the CFT issue.

Nilgai notoriously have little regard for fences. While researchers discovered that nilgai did not perceive cattle fences as a barrier, they did note that cattle fences do affect nilgai movement when the fences run parallel with highways. Because of that, they noted that fences were useful in formulating CFT management zones.

The nilgai antelope was introduced to South Texas by Caesar Kleberg in the mid-1920s and the population has grown into the tens of thousands today.

Numerous studies on nilgai movement and behavior have been conducted on large South Texas ranches across multiple counties.

Photo courtesy U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Photo courtesy East Foundation

Nilgai also had large and variable annual home range sizes, researchers noted, but they detected a trend of young females exhibiting large movement during June through August. Understanding high-risk periods when nilgai may introduce fever ticks into new areas can assist with CFT monitoring strategies, according to researchers.

The collaboration on research also examined nilgai responses to multiple types of helicopter-based ranch activities that are common in South Texas: cattle gatherings, large mammal surveys, deer captures, nilgai harvest. and nilgai captures. Researchers found that typical ranch management activities such as cattle gatherings and large mammal surveys did

not result in the collared nilgai relocating into new areas, which should be an interesting aside for both cattle ranchers and for land managers and biologists.

As one might expect, capturing nilgai to affix collars produced the largest average distance moved relative to the other helicopter-based activities, according to researchers.

MORE SIGNIFICANT NILGAI DATA

Another pertinent nilgai management topic is the competition between exotics, cattle, and white-tailed deer for local forage sources. Previous researchers investigating nilgai diets concluded that the antelope consumed a large amount of grass and that nilgai diets overlapped more with cattle than with white-tailed deer.

Researchers examined the diets of all species as part of a recent four-year study in South Texas, with interesting results. It was found that nilgai were flexible foragers, consuming diets similar to deer during drought, with a typical diet composed primarily of forbs and browse. When rainfall was normal or above, nilgai diets were more variable, similar to cattle at some study sites and were composed largely of grass, while remaining similar to deer at other study sites, researchers noted.

Before the research, the general consensus among land managers was that nilgai do not compete with deer for forage, researchers documented. However, their results indicate that during times when forage is limited, nilgai do have the increased potential to compete with deer for browse. Managers who are interested in managing habitat primarily for white-tailed deer would benefit from keeping nilgai numbers low, the findings concluded.

An in-depth study a few years later between the East Foundation, CKWRI, and other collaborators focused specifically on CFT and delved into how nilgai could possibly be treated utilizing their biology.

As researchers noted, treatment options for fever ticks on cattle are straightforward, successful and remain largely unchanged for the past century. Treatment for cattle requires frequent gathering for six to nine months when cattle are treated with an insecticide

Nilgai exist in different color phases, with older, more dominant males looking almost dark blue. For this reason, they’ve been dubbed “blue bulls.”

Nilgai have become a prized big-game quarry across South Texas and the Rio Grande Valley, offer a challenging hunt.

Photo courtesy

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Photo courtesy Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

or pastures can be vacated of cattle for an extended period of time. Whitetailed deer tick treatment options also are quantifiable, involving treatments through regularly visited feeders.

Researchers looked at a pair of options for possible tick treatment of nilgai: latrines and fence crossings. Nilgai regularly use the same locations, known as latrines, to deposit waste and also use common fence areas to come and go. Researchers recorded latrine visits and fence crossings for two years on ranches in Cameron, Willacy, and Kenedy counties, and repeatedly walked more than 30 miles of transects to locate off-road latrines during that time.

Latrine sites were found roughly every 3 to 7 acres, resulting in tens of thousands of those sites across the landscape of those large ranches, researchers noted. Based on the prevalence of the sites, researchers concluded that individual nilgai use multiple latrines and those areas would not serve as suitable sites for targeting nilgai with treatments aimed at controlling cattle fever ticks. It also was documented that latrines are used by cows to communicate reproductive status, and by bulls to publicize territories and dominance.

In the fence crossing study, more than 10,000 “events” were documented on game cameras by more than a dozen species. Nilgai accounted for 12 percent of those, researchers noted, with an almost 50-50 split between bulls and cows. Game camera footage even captured a large bull slipping through a gap in a fence that was only 17 inches wide.

The research was conducted on ranches that graze cattle and as such, many fence crossing gaps used by nilgai and other species had to be patched. Researchers found multiple nilgai returned to the patched sites they previously used and attempted to push through, highlighting multiple return visits.

However, it ultimately was determined that like the latrine study, fence crossings likely wouldn’t be useful in deploying tick treatments, leaving researchers focused on other opportunities to further study the issue.

Moving forward, nilgai will continue to be a large part of the South Texas land-

scape for numerous reasons. Researchers and biologists also will continue to focus on sound scientific methods in management practices for years to come, both from a hunting standpoint and the interactions between the antelope and thriving cattle operations.

NILGAI FACTS AND LIFE SPAN

According to “The Mammals of Texas, Seventh Edition” by David J. Schmidly and Robert D. Bradley, nilgai avoid densely wooded areas, inhabiting relatively dry areas of flat to rolling country with a moderate cover of thin forest or scrub. The South Texas Brush Country is ideally suited to these animals.

Forage preference is based primarily on availability. Nilgai both graze and browse, with grasses constituting the bulk of the diet. In Texas, mesquite, oak, partridge pea, croton, nightshade, and a variety of grasses are eaten.

Nilgai typically herd in small groups of about 10 animals, although larger groups of 20–70 are occasionally seen. Males and females remain segregated for most of the year, with bulls joining the cow–calf groups only for breeding.

In Texas, most mating activity occurs from December through March; however,

breeding can occur throughout the year. The gestation period is 240–258 days, and nilgai commonly bear twins. Under favorable conditions, females 18 months of age can conceive, but few females mate before 3 years of age. Males become sexually mature by 2.5 years of age but usually cannot compete successfully with other males until they are about 4 years old.

In South Texas, the life expectancy of nilgai is about 10 years, providing they survive the most vulnerable period, from birth to about 3 years of age, when adult proportions are attained. In Texas, coyotes are the primary predator of nilgai calves, but coyotes are not large enough to take full-grown animals.

In addition to humans and coyotes, cold weather can cause significant mortality among nilgai in South Texas. Nilgai have a thin coat and store only a meager winter fat reserve.

Although rare in South Texas, prolonged periods of cold temperatures will dramatically reduce nilgai populations. During the severe winter of 1972–1973, 1,400 nilgai were killed by the weather in southern Texas. This die-off was exacerbated by previous brush clearing, which resulted in forage loss and increased competition with livestock and other wildlife.

Nilgai can be found across the South Texas Brush Country and are prized for their meat, which is lean and similar in many ways to beef.

Photo courtesy Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

PHENOTYPIC VARIABILITY IN FERAL HOGS

Article by AARON SUMRALL, Ph.D.

Ihave the honor and privilege to travel extensively, meet new people and experience new cultures while researching feral hogs (Sus scrofa) and educating people about their biology and necessary management. Seems that every time I get to a new location or a new audience, I hear the same statement: “My feral hogs are different.”

When I hear that, I follow up with a question of my own: “As compared to what feral hogs?” That question is typically followed by silence before an answer comes that varies about as widely as the terrain feral hogs inhabit.

Land managers/owners begin to describe their feral hogs accurately, almost exclusively from a phenotypic observation. According to the region, descriptions will vary from black, white, red, spotted, belted, striped, and even tri-colored. These observations continue with descriptions of feral hogs with short legs to those with long legs and even some with curled tails.

Many say the shape of “their” hogs’ heads is similar to a yard dart and, if thrown hard enough, would stick in one of the vast, majestic oaks of the South. Others state that head shape is

compact and very robust. Descriptions of feral hogs frequently include frail, thin-boned animals with a traveling gait similar to that of a coyote to deep-bodied, heavy-boned, lumbering animals bulldozing through obstructions rather than going around them.

Let’s take a look at how feral hogs vary with a foundation we were exposed to in biology, animal science, and wildlife classes. Biology 101 introduced us to the Punnett Square, with animal science classes expanding on this by exploring hybrid vigor or heterosis. Both animal science and wildlife classes cover several rules of nature including Bergmann’s Rule which explains several descriptions of feral hogs.

The Punnett Square explains traits passed from generation to generation. The Square’s complexity is nearly limitless when it comes to what one can plug into the process to see what simple genetic combinations would result. A simple analysis might plug in color and height at the shoulder and roll the dice. The square would provide the probabilities of various combinations of color and shoulder height expressed in the offspring.

Sounders where the feral pigs look alike are more genetically similar to one another and likely result from intentional translocation.

Photo courtesy of the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture and Forestry

One thing tough to predict is the likelihood of ancestral traits rearing their little heads. For example, a red male and a black female producing white offspring. Where the heck did that come from? The white trait was somewhere in the individuals’ lineage; it is much like finding feral hogs with curled tails and uncommon colors due to a historical origin as a domestic livestock species.

Feral hogs come in three flavors: Russian/Eurasian boar, domestic-turned-feral, or a combination of Russian/Eurasian and domestic lineages. Pure breeding lines will consist mainly of offspring with a generally similar appearance, while crossing lineages can, and often does, produce offspring that may not look much like either parent. This crossing we first learned about in biology, animal science, and wildlife classes is referred to as hybrid vigor.

About 60 percent of all feral hog litters have multiple sires. The promiscuity of the female and the determination of the males will result in litters that could have multiple colors or even racing stripes in the same litter.

Head shape is explained through this combination of genetics. Long, yard-dart-looking heads are common in strains extensively removed from domestic breeds. A compact, robust head structure is common to the Russian/Eurasian boar and can be found across an ever-increasing landscape. Feral hogs exhibiting this trait are commonly referred to as Piney Woods Rooters. Why? I don’t know because you can also find this same look in pigs in arid landscapes.

The combination of the two will result in any variation in between.

Many folks have accurately noted that phenotypic changes have happened over a relatively short period. This quick shift in phenotypic appearance can be attributed mainly to illegal transportation. Individuals trucking in new blood to release on the landscape is the equivalent of a rancher with a crossbred cattle herd. Offspring look a bit different. The other feral pig fallout is that, with heterosis, litter size will likely increase.

THEN THERE’S BERGMANN

We have all heard of Murphy’s Law, and some of us would like to put our hands on ol’ Murph. Wildlife science also has laws to explain why things happen the way they do or why things are the way they are. Enter Bergmann’s Rule.

The environment will determine Bergmann’s Rule, which explains structure and conformation of the population. Have you ever wondered why white-tailed deer have a larger body size in the North compared with those in the South? Why do southern deer typically have more prominent ears and longer legs proportional to body size compared with their northern counterparts?

Well, if a species has long legs and large ears, that increases the time that blood is close to the body’s surface, thus cooling the body more easily. It is simple thermoregulation.

Feral hogs occupying Provincial Canada must deal with long periods of frigid temperatures and are doing so quite well. As with deer, feral hogs in colder climates (the name Russian can explain the climate of origin) are going to be short-legged, thick-

Because pigs can’t sweat, they must cool themselves in other ways. Wallowing, of course, is the main event, but thermoregulation plays a part, too. That’s why wild pigs and white-tailed deer have longer legs and smaller bodies in the South than the North.

Feral hogs often show coats of many colors in the same sounder. This is due to several things, chief among them the mating habits of pigs.

Photo courtesy of the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture and Forestry

Photo courtesy of USDA

bodied bulldozers. Since hogs can’t sweat, their southern counterparts must regulate temperature with a different conformation of longer legs and tubular bodies.

Let’s take this discussion to the landscape and look at a few things that affect phenotypic characteristics. Say you live in an area that does not have much food or water. If your body structure is like mine, you need calories to maintain it and even more to grow.

So, if you are a strain of a species that is a heavy-boned, lumbering animal that moves slowly, you are not going to do well in areas of limited resources that require travelling great distances. If this is the case, Mother Nature is going to favor those animals that are slower growing, thinner boned, capable of long-distance travel, and need less to stay alive.

If water sources or food resources are miles apart, if available at all, the species will need to evolve a gait that will allow them to travel long distances while burning minimal calories. This requirement does not bode well for strains exhibiting strong Russian traits.

So, back to the coat of many colors worn by feral hogs. Why such an array in the color palette of feral hogs? There are many thoughts and arguments, but let’s consider something a bit more inclusive than just the Punnett Square.

The Square can and does explain why we have the likelihood of a wide array of colors in a single sounder, but where does predator management factor into phenotypic appearance? While every

species on the planet that has meat in its diet likes pork, consider that once a piglet is weaned, predatory take is cut to nil.

Take a litter of six pigs. The sow is not entirely concerned with rearing all of them. She will do her best, but piglet mortality is high. In that litter of six piglets are three black, two red, and one white. Let’s say you are a coyote. Which piglet will stand out most to you? Yes, the sore-thumb white one.

I bring this up because, in instances where predator management is high on the management list in livestock operations, what will be the result? Every action has a reaction, and the extensive removal of piglet predators will result in the increased survivability of piglets. With fewer predators, more color variability in piglets can occur, resulting in more color variability to put into the Punnett Square, resulting in more phenotypic combinations.

Stating, “My feral hogs are different,” is very accurate when considering them from a phenotypic perspective. Beyond that, all feral hogs are the same.

Feral hogs are a scourge on the landscape, negatively impacting native flora and fauna, domestic livestock systems, water bodies, golf courses and new subdivisions, and EVERY pocketbook, either directly or indirectly.

Feral hogs, by definition, cannot be rehabilitated or persuaded to perform differently. You will have to either accept the destruction of all that is natural to feral pigs or do something about it.

Choose wisely. Our native species and water quality depend on it.

Feral hogs cause millions of dollars in damage, from crop fields to golf courses.

Photo courtesy of USDA

A PRICKLY SUBJECT

Javelina Make Great Table Fare

It was late January in Maverick County when I stepped out of the deer blind after a cool morning sit with ranch manager and good friend, Scott Krueger. The collared peccary (javelina) we had been watching most of the morning was seemingly unbothered by our presence. This gave me the confidence to try my hand at spot and stalking with my camera.

Tripod in hand, I snuck a few yards closer, took a shot…a few yards closer, took a shot…and so on. Then it happened; the bachelor javelina caught a whiff of my presence and instantly inflated. In the blink of an eye the 40-pound peccary turned into an 80-pound behemoth.

Crouched in the field, I found myself eye to snout with my favorite Texas native species. I wondered if this was it—my Steve Irwin moment. I’ve spent many years advocating on behalf of this unique animal; however, I had never found myself in this predicament.

Unsure what my next move should be, I kept taking photos as the curious javelina circled me, trying to figure out if I was a threat. Seconds turned into minutes, and when he finally slipped away into the brush, I returned to a chuckling Scott with both a sigh of relief and a big grin on my face.

I DIDN’T CHOOSE THE JAVELINA, THE JAVELINA CHOSE ME

I saw my first javelina from a ground blind in Live Oak County in 2015. At the time, I was a relatively new adult-onset hunter with no preconceived understanding that javelina had earned a reputation among most Texans as aggressive, smelly, inedible, nuisance animals.

That javelina was my first big game animal harvest and statewide it ranked second place in the Texas Big Game Awards (TBGA), the official hunting recognition program of Texas. Thanks to the generosity of private landowners, I have been

Article and photos by KRISTIN BROOKE PARMA

Long despised because of their peculiar musky odor, javelinas do indeed make great table fare, in addition to being a truly unique Texas big game animal.

hunting javelina and helping others top my first javelina’s TBGA score ever since.

My mission to bring light to this native game species doesn’t end with hunting. Regardless of your feelings toward javelina, they do, in fact, make great table fare.

Naturally, I have heard every excuse not to eat javelina. Most of these justifications come from grown men who pride themselves on their machismo, yet have a hard time tackling a relatively small, somewhat smelly critter. With prickly pear, other succulents, and forbs making up most of their diet, they are one of the leanest proteins produced on our great Texas landscape.

When field dressing javelina as with all game animals, process and cool the animal quickly. Because of its low fat content, javelina is easy to overcook and under season, which leads to a dry, dull, and tough eating experience.

Javelina is not well-suited for throwing on the smoker and walking away for several hours. While it can be prepared in multiple ways, in my opinion, javelina are best cooked low and slow in a slow-cooker or Dutch oven with added liquids or fats to help break down and add moisture to the meat.

Over the years, armed with a slogan to “Eat More Javelina,” other aficionados have joined me at my pro-peccary table, and I have witnessed a softening in the way javelina are viewed by some. Even so, the javelina still has a long way to go before it ends up on the dinner plate of most hunters in Texas.

Let’s change that with a few recipes:

JAVELINA ADOBO TOSTADAS

Ingredients

• 1 javelina ham or shoulder (bone-in)

• 3 Roma tomatoes

• 1 white onion, roughly chopped

• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled

• 10 dried guajillo chilies

• 1 dried ancho chili

• 5 dried chilies de arbol

• 3 cups stock (chicken, vegetable or wild game)

• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

• 1 teaspoon ground cumin

• 1 teaspoon oregano

• ½ teaspoon ground cloves

• 2 dried bay leaves

• Sea salt, to taste

• Extra virgin olive oil

Preparation

1. Heat a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add extra virgin olive oil, tomatoes, and onion to the pan and cook until the tomatoes and onions start to char.

2. Add the dried chilies and garlic. Sautee for a few minutes, making sure not to burn the garlic. Add 2 cups of your stock of choice and reduce heat to a simmer for 10 minutes.

3. Remove ingredients from the pan to a blender. Add the remaining cup of stock, vinegar, pinch of salt, and spices. Blend

until smooth. No electricity at camp? This chili sauce can be made ahead of time and frozen before your next trip.

4. Heat a large cast iron Dutch oven on high or over a live fire. Add olive oil and javelina, and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side, turning to prevent burning.

5. Once browned on all sides, add the chili sauce into the pot (reserving a few cups) with the javelina. Add bay leaves. Stir to combine and let it come to a boil. Lower the heat to medium or medium-low, cover and simmer until the meat is fork tender. A slow cooker works here, too—cook on low for 8 hours.

6. Once finished, the javelina meat will fall off the bone and can easily be shredded. Add the reserved chili sauce back to the meat or set aside as a condiment. Remove the bay leaves and serve on freshly grilled or fried tostada with your favorite

A Dutch oven or slow cooker is the best way to prepare javelina. Because it’s very lean, it’s easy to overcook and under-season the meat. But when prepared and seasoned properly, like these adobo tostadas, javelina can grace any well-set table.

accoutrements. I prefer cotija cheese, shredded purple cabbage, pico salsa, crema, and homemade chili pequin hot sauce.

FIERY PALOMA

An ode to the landowners who allow me to chase these peculiar peccaries

Ingredients

• Chili pequin salt

• Chamoy

• 1 ½ oz Marfa Spirits grapefruit liqueur

• ¼ cup lime juice

• Ruby red grapefruit Italian soda

• Fresh grapefruit, sliced

Preparation

1. Pour chamoy and chili pequin salt (made by grinding dried chili pequins and coarse sea salt together) on a small plate. Dip the rim of the glass into the chamoy first then the chili pequin salt, all the way around.

2. Fill cocktail shaker with ice. Add lime juice and liqueur. Securely fasten the lid and shake well.

3. Pour the mixture into your prepared glass with ice. Top with Italian soda.

4. Garnish with fresh grapefruit slice and enjoy.

Enjoy a perfect camp combination of freshly cooked javelina tostadas and a Fiery Paloma to wash it down.

FARM & RANCH SALES

Reaching For the Moon

Article and photo by SALLIE LEWIS SCHNEIDER

My appreciation for the moon has been with me all my life, but it wasn’t until 2019 that it truly skyrocketed. That year marked the 50th anniversary of the lunar landing, and a rash of news articles and commemorative specials brought the thrill of the history back to life.

Since then, I have found myself looking up at the night sky in awe and wonder. For centuries, men and women have done the same, expressing their observations through music, art, jewelry, and literature.

One of my favorite written resources on the moon was published in 2019 by “Wildsam Field Guides.” This Austinbased travel publication known for its pocket-sized guides to American cities and national parks is a favorite in my house. The company’s “Field Guide to the Moon,” is one of the brand’s zanier offerings, though no less impressive.

Over more than 120 pages, you can read interviews with astronauts, planetary scientists, and eclipse chasers, or learn the roles the moon has played in everything from religion and geopolitics throughout history. There are even personal stories from the likes of Pulitzer–winning novelist, Larry McMurtry, along with insights and trivia that bring the moon into closer focus.

In writing this column, I’ve realized how much the moon has cast its light on my own memories over the years. In September 2002, my beloved grandfather, who served in both WWII and the Korean War, passed away under a full harvest moon. Twenty years later to the month, I found myself in Rockport, one of his favorite places, watching a spectacular harvest moon climb over the sea.

In the past decade, I’ve seen ancient lunar cave paintings in France’s Dordogne region and driven through dark sky sanctuaries in Del Rio, Texas and Page, Arizona. By moonlight, I have fished, swam, prayed, and pondered how something so far away can have such a powerful presence and impact on our daily skies, our ocean tides, and even our gardens.

My father was born in San Antonio on July 20, 1955. Although he’s not big on birthdays, my family’s love for him makes the whole month of July a special and celebratory occasion. Fourteen years to the day after he was born, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon, taking their “one small step for a man and one giant leap for mankind.”

With each new month—and every night for that matter— we can rediscover this celestial gift that waxes and wanes throughout the year. Very soon, the first full moon of summer will make its slow, silvery rise over the skies of Texas. Rest assured, when the sun sets on Monday July 3, you can find me outside, standing beneath the stars, ready to receive the light.

Regardless of the horizon or what you find below it, the rising moon is always captivating.