My son and I spent much of this past weekend deer hunting and watching animals of all sorts. We listened to the honks of geese as they migrated to the Texas Gulf Coast and we wondered how many blue-winged teal made the whistling sounds as the passed over our heads. Both of these observations were surprises as we were not in duck country, but sometimes Mother Nature throws a curve ball just to keep you thinking about biological processes. We were happy seeing the Rio Grande wild turkeys and watching squirrels chase one another, but like any deer hunters we had high anticipation of finding a nice mature buck.
My son has been on most field excursions since he was 4 years old. For those rare hunting or fishing trips that he missed, he was none too happy with being left behind - then and now! He is nearly 12 and has been a student of wildlife over that time and is an accomplished hunter at his young age. Even so, my son was unaware that he was following one of the prescriptions expressed by biologists and leaders of the Quality Deer Management Association. He let several young bucks “walk” and by passing up these deer he had the opportunity to take a nice mature 8 point. Perhaps those young bucks we saw will grow to become old “mossyhorns” of the future.
Now, understand that he has taken smaller bucks in times past, but his growing appreciation for mature deer is taking shape. That is what I want as a father and a fellow huntsman, as he is cultivating a hunter ethic that is in sync with mine and a growing number of other hunters and managers. I anticipate that he will learn more about the biology and skills needed to manage for age structure and more importantly the habitat, but for now he has an appreciation for waiting on the right animal to come along. Young Mr. Cathey will likely become a life-long student of wildlife including white-tailed deer. It is important that he learns information from science-based sources and melds data to form his own opinions and conservation ethics.
Spending time in the outdoors with friends and family is important from a lot of different aspects, but seeing things that make you wonder and then seeking out information to explain them leads one to become a much more knowledgeable person. If you consider yourself a student of nature and deer management, consider attending QDMA’s 2010 Deer Steward I course, held February 25-28, 2010 in Kingsville, TX. Much of the program will be given by some of my friends and respected colleagues from the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute at Texas A&M University – Kingsville. Topics include herd, habitat, and hunter management and much more. For more specifics, please see the agenda at QDMA's web-site.