Big Charlie on the Kerr Area.

by John Jefferson

That title is misleading. Research isn’t dead. And may it never be!

But the future of white-tailed deer research suffered a near-fatal blow this fall.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) reported that chronic wasting disease (CWD) was detected in a captive whitetail buck in the research pens at the Kerr Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Kerr County. ALL DEER in the Research Pens were euthanized by TPWD staff.

The Kerr WMA includes 6,493-acres and is situated in the heart of the Edwards Plateau habitat. Deer on the rest of the area other than in the research pens are still there –except for some removed during “public drawn hunts” this season.

But that means the nearly fifty years of research into whitetail science is temporarily halted. The records from those years are still available, however, there might need to be an asterisk in the data for the time following the fall of 2023 and later unless research is resumed soon.

It’s too soon to know what will happen. Currently, there are no plans to restock the research pens.

There is some outside chatter about TPWD having not established surveillance or containment zones quickly near the Kerr Area, as it did when CWD was discovered in private breeder pens. That complaint, too, is premature. This occurred suddenly. Timing interfered.

The complaints are reminiscent of the old definition of a spilt second: That instant after the light turns green before the car behind you honks its horn! It takes time to draw the zones, solicit and take public comments, move employees around to staff check stations, and for the Commission to act on the zones.

That’s a slow process whenever CWD is discovered; it’s more of a challenge during holidays and hunting seasons. Employees are already involved in check stations where CWD has been confirmed. The complainants could have given TPWD an instant or two more before honking. That was an easy rock to throw. But it may have boomeranged.

I contacted TPWD’s Wildlife Director, John Silovsky, and Big Game Program Director, Alan Cain. Zones for Cherokee and Medina counties– where CWD was detected in breeder pens PRIOR to detection at Kerr WMA – HAVE NOT BEEN APPROVED YET by the TPW Commission. CWD wasn’t detected in time for the November Commission meeting. The agenda for the January 24-25, 2024, Commission meeting is yet to be finalized, but it’s expected that Zones for those counties plus Kerr and Coleman counties could be on the agenda.

Cessation of the white-tailed deer research, though, IS a real concern. Kerr WMA research through the years has provided significant information to Texas hunters, landowners, and wildlife managers regarding heritability of antler characteristics and the effect of too many mouths to feed on marginal habitat. Much useful information has also been disseminated concerning rotating livestock herds and the beneficial use of fire to improve habitats. Kerr research has awakened deer managers throughout America, too.

And to those of us with personal connections to the area, it’s saddening.

JJ