What resources are available for land management?

Such as wildlife biologists, etc. Who can come out, look at my place, and advise me on the steps needed to improve the land for deer? How do I get in contact with them?

County extension agent.

Please don't contact an extension agent unless it's a last resort. Also, just don't take the word of any wildlife biologist. Some don't know a dang thing about whitetail deer.

i wouldnt totally discount them, just like this forum, or field and stream, or tv shows, the county wildlife biologist should be used as another tool in your bag.

they will come out for free and help you with a WILDLIFE management plan, most of them probably hunt deer but their plan is an overall wildlife plan for your property. i had mine out in the spring and he recommended things like bird houses, selective mowing of fields for small mammals, digging out existing low spots as small ponds for small amphibians, etc...this was all to get a wildlife exemption on the place.

they are a good resource for plant identification and will be able to help you locate local resources and federal programs as well.

they, along with local feed stores, will also be able to recommend plants for food plots that grow well in your area too.

That is one of my concerns. I'm not clueless when it comes to wildlife
management, but I don't know a lot about manipulating the land, and I'd hate to follow through on poor advise.

How difficult is the wildlife exemption to obtain?

not hard, the biologist will give u the appropriate paperwork with all of the improvements you are going to make and u turn it into the county appraisal district.

there are 7 categories of "improvements" and u just have to be doing 3 of them, supplemental feed is one. u just have to maintain the 3 things u chose to do, if u get tired of doing it u can back to AG if u want to.

i may have a copy of mine in email form if u want to PM an email i can send it to u.

TPWD biologist, County Extension Agent and the NRCS agents. There are a few government programs that are cost share but funds are limited.

Our county agent came by my place with two other employees, asking if I would supply them with some census and harvest data. During the conversation, I asked why they didn't have a wildlife agent as did some of the other counties. One of the other employees was fresh out of college and brand new to the job. The county agent turned to the new guy and said, "Hey, you can be our wildlife agent". Not someone I would put any faith in, hence my post. Just be careful when listening to other's opinions and advice regardless of title and position held.

What is cost share?

That means the government will share some of the costs on a project. Not sure on how it all works now, but years ago a tank could be dug and the county ag office would pick up part of the cost.

Have wildlife exemption, the county tax office sent out an agent this year to inspection my place and make sure I was doing what I said. The agent said changes in law require the county to make site visit, I was his 105th site. He was very nice and gave me several pointers on how to fill the forms out each year and what additional information to,send

Good to know.

I have worked with numerous landowners and appraisal districts across the state in order to convert land from traditional agriculture to a wildlife valuation. The laws and guidelines are supposed to be uniform and consistent from county to county. However, I have not found this to be true. Some appraisal districts make up their own rules as they go along concerning qualifying requirements. Some require annual site visits. Some require an annual report. Then again, some appraisal districts aren't heard from again once the valuation is given.

I have never heard from our appraisal district (except to increase my taxes) and don't fill out an annual report either. I converted from AG when i bought it. I filled out the plan and it was granted. I have not had the NRCS reps out on this place but I did on the last property we had and they where extremely helpful. There was no money for help but I got good info on where I could put a tank to include them doing an on site core sample that kept me from making an expensive mistake on location. I'm going to have them out to this place to give me some input on habitat improvement. Like anything else some if this guys are really good and others...not so much.

i have also heard of them helping with herbicides to target invasive species and re-establishing native plants.

That would be handy. The place looks a little overgrazed to me, and I'd like to see more than just weeds come back when the cattle are removed.

So, do I need to contact the appraisal district to do the wildlife exemption?

contact the biologist first to get the plan then turn it in to the appraisal district

Okay. Thanks.

If you plan on any cattle farm operation at all, I would consider staying with the ag exemption. Runnels county has never questioned ours.

Do you know how many they require per amount of acreage?

I don't think it a set per unit issue, more like how many can the land handle.

The FSA office is across the highway from Walmart in Ballinger, about a block to the east. It sits on highway 67 and a FM road intersection. Looks like an ordinary brick office building, no big sign or anything. That would be my first stop.

I'll check it out, then.

I forgot, the Runnels County Appraisal District, that would be my next stop. It is straight east through town from FSA, just past the courthouse on 67, small building on the right. Sits between a restaurant and a convenience store. If you are familiar with Ballinger years ago it used to be a small grocery store.

I'm only recently familiar with it, but I can find that.

Sneaky-There are a bunch of free resources on the TPWD website that relate to range management, habitat management for specific species or general well being of the property. Most of these guides are designed for specific parts of the state since management practices differ so much based on the different regions. I spent some time looking through their site and saved a ton of documents in PDF relating to all sorts of management topics a while back. Shoot me a PM with your email and I can send anything I have that looks like it might help in your neck of the woods.

Great. Thanks.

Deer eat weeds, not grass.

The more agencies you get involved the more headaches you got. Try to do what ever you are trying to accomplish yourself.

Texas Wildlife Company has a website designed to help landowners handle the wildlife exemption process on their own www.wildlifeexemptiontexas.com It covers minimum acreages, wildlife exemption requirements, etc.

http://www.growingdeer.tv

You can do the Wildlife Management Plan yourself. A state wildlife biologist can help, but is not required.