Texas Hunting Leases

Brad Paisley’s hit song “Ticks” has come at time where checking for them on something other than a wife or girlfriend may be a good idea for South Texas hunters and ranchers.    Hunters along the Rio Grande from Del Rio to Brownsville as well as Starr, Maverick, Dimmit and Webb counties are being notified that the state quarantine zone has been expanded by the Texas Animal Health Commission.  Under this quarantine, landowners may be required to treat deer and exotic populations for the disease. Hunters should leave harvested animal hides behind and both are encouraged to call the TAHC for inspections.

The disease does not affect humans but can be devastating to untreated cattle.  Texas Cattle Fever has a history dating back to 1886 where cattle in Illinois were killed by infected herds moving in from Texas cattle drives.  Cattle in Texas have long been treated for ticks by using a dipping method developed on the King Ranch by Robert Kleberg.  However, Mexican herds still carry the disease over the border where wildlife can be infected.  Modern ways of treating deer populations include a “four-poster” method designed to distribute tickicide to the head, neck and ears while feeding.  This method was originated by some Kerrville scientists for other tick-transmitted diseases such as Lyme disease.  “Use of ivermectin-treated corn and 4-poster technology is vital to the ongoing campaign to eradicate cattle-fever ticks introduced to southern Texas on hosts such as cattle, horses, white-tailed deer, or exotic ungulate wildlife that come across the Rio Grande from Mexico,” says entomologist John George, who leads the research at Kerrville. “By using all our resources and knowledge, it will be possible to minimize or eliminate ticks on white-tailed deer and other ungulate wildlife, keeping U.S. cattle free of Texas fever.”

When hunting these areas of South Texas, make sure that you work closely with your land owner and the local state and health officials to keep this disease in check.  The Texas cattle industry is an important one to our state and is connected to providing private hunting lands that we all enjoy