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The Quail Comeback
By Russell Graves
After a banner year across Texas’ quail lands, spring brought optimism. Each morning in the haunts where wild bobwhite quail are found, male bobwhites incessantly cry their familiar call in search for a mate. It’s a comforting and hopeful sound if you are a quail hunter. The hope is that the male finds a female with which to mate and populate the brush with dozens of new baby quail.
Throughout much of Texas, spring rains have been ample enough to give bloom to a host of seed-producing plants and a hatch of bugs that are essential sources of protein for young chicks. While the volume of rain that’s fallen this spring is paltry compared to 2015, it’s generous when you compare it to the long term drought that plagued the state in the early part of the decade, a drought that decimated bobwhite populations to the point that some die-hard hunters wondered if they’d ever return.
Silas Ragsdale was one of those hunters. “This has always been a good quail place up until a few years ago when the birds started to disappear,” lamented Ragsdale, speaking of his quail hunting spread located near Hedley in the southeastern Texas Panhandle. “They were never really completely gone over the past few years, but their numbers were noticeably scarce.”
On his first day back in the field this past season, Ragsdale already had a renewed optimism in regards to the future of bobwhite quail. The birds, it seemed were back and his worries were assuaged—at least for now.
To read more pick up a copy of the November 2016 NTFR issue or call 940-872-5922 to subscribe.
By Krista Lucas Wynn
Each year, when the professional rodeo season wraps on Sept. 30, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and Women’s Professional Rodeo Association announce the Nutrena Horse of the Year, presented by the American Quarter Horse Association, in each event. This is a prestigious award, voted on by the members of the associations. To be named Horse of the Year by fellow competitors is a high honor only a few achieve.
To read more, pick up a copy of the November edition of North Texas Farm & Ranch magazine, available digitally and in print. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
By Heather Welper
Husband and wife duo, Heather and Calvin Welper, are the Co-Owners and Operators or Two C Livestock, located in Valley View, Texas.
The pair’s operation has a show cattle focus where they raise and sell purebred heifers of all breeds and club calf Hereford steers.
When it comes to show cattle, the Welpers know a thing or two including how to prepare for the cold winter months and the Texas major show season run.
To read more, pick up a copy of the November edition of North Texas Farm & Ranch magazine, available digitally and in print. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
By Tony Dean
Snow on the Mountain is an annual forb that is part of our landscape almost every year.
It is adapted to most of Texas and grows north to Montana and Minnesota and south to Mexico.
Although is seems to be most adapted to clay soils, this plant can be found on a wide variety of soil and moisture conditions.
To read more, pick up a copy of the November edition of North Texas Farm & Ranch magazine, available digitally and in print. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
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