YOUR TEXAS AGRICULTURE MINUTE

Where do wildlife live?

By Gene Hall

Texas is home to a great wealth of wildlife species. They live mostly on private property in a state that is more than 97 percent privately owned.

Property owners have learned to manage this resource like any other crop. When property owners manage for hunting, there’s a direct benefit on several levels. Ranchers receive income, even when other crops are struggling. Small communities benefit with jobs and business from food to fuel to ammunition sales.

And wildlife is better off, too. If you’ve never seen the result of overpopulation in wildlife, especially deer, it’s not pretty. Too many animals can strip the landscape of food and cause widespread starvation. Hunters replace some of the apex predators that urbanization has forced out of many hunting ranges.

Some kinds of wildlife can do a great deal of damage, encroaching on areas where they interact with people. Managing these populations is the responsibility of private landowners and the hunters they work with every year.

The preceding commentary is brought to you by Texas Farm Bureau, the “Voice of Texas Agriculture.” Called “Your Texas Agriculture Minute,” TFB will issue thought-provoking editorials each week—via print and audio—to spark understanding of agriculture in the Lone Star State and its impact on each and every Texan.

You may read this week’s editorial above or listen to the audio version.

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