Say "
King Ranch" and chances are most of us immediately get images of cherry red Santa Gertrudis cattle grazing on south Texas rangelands. The historic 154-year-old ranch is forever linked in the mind's eye to the development and production of the first true American cattle breed. So it may come as a surprise to learn that cattle share equal billing with recreational hunting and nature tourism in the production of revenue on the famed ranch.
"Our shareholders recognize that leasing the land for commercial hunting is very important for keeping the ranch profitable," says Butch Thompson, wildlife and range manager for the King Ranch. "We're convinced that properly managing our range is the key to good wildlife management as well as good cattle management."
In addition to leasing out approximately one-half million acres of land for hunting, the Kingsville, Texas, ranch has a Nature Tourism Department that conducts guided tours for birdwatchers and people who enjoy seeing various species of game in the wild.
South Texas is one of the most biologically diverse regions in the world, according to Fred C. Bryant, director of Wildlife Research with the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, Texas A&M University-Kingsville. He says this area is home to more plant, butterfly and vertebrate species than any other region of Texas.
The King Ranch is no newcomer to wildlife conservation. Caesar Kleberg was the inspiration for many of the initial steps. He was a nephew of Robert J. Kleberg, who took over management of the ranch from its founder, Captain Richard King. An avid sportsman, Caesar Kleberg introduced nilgai, a type of antelope, to the ranch in the 1920s.
Kleberg required hunters to abide by conservation rules that were strict for his day. They could only hunt wild turkeys with rifles—not shotguns—and only head shots were allowed. They were not permitted to fire at the covey on its initial rise, could only shoot two or three birds per covey and could not kill hens. Hunters also could not shoot deer at watering sites.
But the big conservation push came in 1988 when King Ranch shareholders voted in an intensive game-management program. As a starter, the 100,000-acre Encino division was leased out for hunting to three corporations.
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"I asked Dr. Sam Beasom of the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Institute to help set up a game-management plan," Thompson reports. "We started to do thorough game surveys, collected biological data from hunters on ages and weights of deer harvested and established buck/doe and doe/fawn ratios.
"Randy Fugate, Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission biologist, was very helpful in getting us started and remains actively involved."
Currently, Thompson heads a staff of four full-time biologists and a professional wildlife specialist. Three part-time employees serve as hunting guides.
"We practice whole-systems ranch management," Thompson says. "Everything we do to our range is geared to what will offer the best cohabitation for cattle and wildlife."
The ranch uses a variety of brush management tools, depending on soil type and vegetation. Methods include root plowing, roller chopping, two-way chaining, spot grubbing and prescribed burning.
"Our objective is to have about 65% open area and 35% cover," Thompson explains. "We leave strips of brush in between cleared areas so quail do not have to fly more than 50 yards to get to cover and so deer can get from strip to strip and not be exposed too much in open areas.
"By disking the ground in the spring and fall, we create forbs production for deer and quail," he continues. "We do not plant food plots. We have so many natural forbs, there is nothing we can plant that is any better than what is already available, assuming we get rainfall."
Obviously, the program involves compromises. "We could make more money from cattle by having mostly open areas with a few trees for shade," Thompson concedes. "And we could have more wildlife by having more brush and fewer cattle in the mix."
By design, cattle and wildlife each average producing 50% of the ranch's net annual revenue, although that can vary from year to year.
Currently the ranch leases out roughly 60% of the land on all four of its divisions for recreational hunting.
Wildlife of King Ranch