Nine Million Acres in Texas Game Demonstration Preserves 
 
          Almost 9 million acres of Texas farms and ranches are 
included in the 262 game management demonstration preserves which 
have been established during 1937 in cooperation with the Extension 
Service of the A. and M. College of Texas, the annual report of 
R. E. Callender, game management specialist, shows. 
 
          Farmers, ranchmen, and 4-H club boys to the number of 
 7,324 have banded together into cooperative game management associations

 in 54 counties. The associations run in size from two or three farms 
 to more than fifty parcels of land. In some instances these areas 
 involve an entire community and are composed of individual holdings 
 ranging from 8 to 40,000 acres per owner. 
 
           Each association makes its own rules, Callender said. The 
 first step is to make an inventory of the various species of game and 
 their abundance, and to take steps to increase the game. This is 
 accomplished to some extent through artificial restocking, but the 
 main improvement follows the provision of food and shelter, protection 
 from natural enemies, and by restricted hunting. 
 
           Game management research has established tha fact that game 
 will not increase beyond a point determined by the available amount of 
 food, shelter, and range, and a regulated harvest is recommended when 
 wildlife becomes abundant. 
 
           The rules of the association usually provide that, when game 
  is plentiful enough to permit hunting, permits or leases may be issued

  through the secretary of the group. Such hunting is strictly regulated.

 
            Revenue from hunting permits is divided among the members 
  on a predetermined basis and a reserve is accumulated for the intro- 
  duction of new game ene for further protective measures. 
 
            In addition to the establishment of the preserves for game 
  management demonstration purposes, 1,089 farm ponds or lakes with a 
  total area of 5,642 acres were constructed in 1937 and stocked with 
  more than a million fish 
 
            Callender gave credit for much of the success of the plan 
  in its initial year of operation to sportsmen groups and civic 
  organizations which recognized the possibilities of the game 
  preserves. 
 
 
 
 
 
  Activities Report, Texas Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, 
  College Station, Texas, April, 1939.