EDITOR’S NOTES by Chester Moore

THE TF&G REPORT
January 25, 2016
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
January 25, 2016

Discovering Wildlife

W hat is out there?

That is the question that has led me to spend vast amounts of time in the woods and on the water since childhood.

What is out there?

I have yet to pass a woodlot, marsh or meadow without pondering whether there is a giant buck hidden beyond the shadows, or if there might be a wily coyote peering through the grass.

And just as intriguing are the anomalies and misunderstood behaviors and habits of wildlife.

From the mystery of thousands of “black panther” sightings in Texas to the rarity of melanistic (black) deer, there are many unique facets to the animal kingdom that need discovering.

That is why beginning February 1 at fishgame.com we begin broadcasting a new video series, Kingdom Zoo: Discovering Wildlife.

Each week on Monday we will release a three to five minute video that examines the mysterious, misunderstood and majestic side of nature. It has been a passion of mine for years and now we have a video format that allows us to tell a story, keep things exciting in a short format and also have the contacts to traverse wild grounds not only statewide, but worldwide.

If you are signed up for our Texas Fish & Game e-newsletter you will get a link to the video sent to your inbox with the newsletter every Monday. If you would like to get that newsletter, e-mail cmoore@fishgame.com and I will sign you up.

A link will also be posted to our Facebook page and that is how you can help us out. The first four videos are on the subject of “Monster Hogs “so everyone who shares our video will be put in a weekly drawing. The winner will get a super cool wild boar necklace and pendant.

A possible “micro” deer from Michigan. It’s hard to tell in this position but the head and antlers seem large in proportion to the body. The reports from other areas including my family’s from Texas were more evenly formed deer, just super small.

Kingdom Zoo: Discovering Wildlife

Get ready for in your face wildlife action, obscure facts and maybe even a few mysteries solved along the way. 

Check it out at fishgame.com.

Speaking of unusual wildlife.

In 2014 I wrote about my father and uncle seeing fully developed whitetail bucks that were about 1/3 the size of the average Texas Hill Country buck, putting the animals at about 30 pounds.

Here are a few we have received from around the country.

From Josh in Alabama…

Just wanted to let you know I believe we have miniature deer in our area of north Alabama. I’ve only seen them twice in my life. The first time was while hunting on Redstone Arsenal with my father 33 years ago. It was a fully formed doe (in November) that was the same size as our miniature poodle (about 16 inches to the top of the shoulders).

The second time was yesterday. I saw a very small, fully formed doe, about the same size and coloration of the one I had seen 33 years ago. Our regular whitetails in this area are pretty big, and I see them crossing our property all the time.

The doe I saw yesterday was no more than 18 inches (estimate) and less than half the size I would expect this year’s fawns to be by now. I can’t find any info on the internet about miniature deer in our area.

From Ron in Michigan…

I saw a post of yours online asking for photos of dwarfism in whitetail deer. I took a pic of a deer I believe is a dwarf at our local buck pole on Nov. 15 2014. It was half the size of other bucks in his age class, with a small body, short legs, but a normal size head and neck. I believe he is 3 or 4 years old.

Have you ever had a bad run-in with feral dogs? 

I have had two in my life, one in Newton County and the other in Jasper County and both were quite intense.

One involved a pack of random medium to large dogs and the other was a lone pit bull. While conducting research on the issue of feral dogs, I uncovered some interesting and unsettling facts from around the country.

We will be increasing our dialogue with you, the TFG community to help us with our stories and we need your help with this feral dog issue.

If you have had a run-in or experience with feral dogs killing your livestock or maybe you have seen them killing wild game, e-mail cmoore@fishgame.com.

The impact of feral dogs in some areas is tremendous, and we will be investigating this for a future article. Again, we will be doing much more outreach to all of you to help us put together the most in-depth, Texas-centric, unique articles to be found anywhere in outdoor media.

Email Chester Moore at

cmoore@fishgame.com

 

 

Email Chester Moore at cmoore@fishgame.com

 

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