With the over abundance of harvested white-tail deer in south Texas during the Fall and Winter months I would like to help suppress the holiday hunger in south Texas.   Just the meat from one deer can feed a family of four for several weeks.  

Many of the unfortunate people struggling to provide for their families are unaware this
overabundance.   From personal experience on the Callaghan Ranch, I have donated meat to needy families coming by the ranch.  Yet this was only the product of “word of mouth”. My goal is establish a more direct approach between ranches and the needy people and families.  By establishing a direct connection between food banks and ranches we could serve more unfortunate people.  Creating a sign up list or providing families with phone numbers to cooperating ranches in their local area would be the most sustainable idea.
This would begin in the Laredo area, with ranches like the Callaghan and Killam Ranches which dominate a
large amount of acreage in Webb County.This can be beneficial to both ends, helping the ranch dispose of deer harvested to keep up with management criteria and at the same time helping the hungry.  

Hopefully with the establishment of these two major ranch connections, more landowners and ranches will join the battle to fight hunger.  This plan may take time, but slowly and surely will be an effective way to end hunger and give back to our communities during the holiday season.  
 


  

    In south Texas fall and winter are times when deer hunters flood the diverse brush rangelands in hopes to harvest a trophy buck.  Holidays give hunters time off from their daily lives to enjoy the great outdoors hunting with family and friends. The Christmas holidays are an especially important to trophy hunters, due to that the white-tail deer breeding season is underway.   This period of time gives hunters
a higher chance of harvesting a trophy buck.  On the Callaghan Ranch, where I work during the months of December and January, hunters are consistently roaming the ranch hunting.  Unfortunately for the past three years I have sacrificed my Christmas holidays to work on the ranch rather than being able to spend it with my family.  Being that my home is in North Texas, Amarillo, 
it makes it difficult to always make it back home for the holidays.  Holiday blues tend to set in for me when I see much of the hunters come to the ranch with their families and loved
ones.  Being eleven hours away from home seems to make it even harder to get back to visit.  Due to the high prices in gasoline it roughly takes me $250 round-trip.  This makes it even more of a challenge just to see my family.  Between work and the high price of living the holiday blues come out around Christmas time.

          The holidays are a time to help people out in need.  Many families and homeless people do not have enough to eat.  As part of the Wildlife Firm, I feel the importance to make an effort to help starving people like this through hunting during the Christmas season.  With abundance of harvested deer throughout south Texas ranches can help tremendously. With the numerous connections to ranches all over south Texas we can help those in need greatly.  Similar to programs like “Hunters for the Hungry” we can give and donate harvest deer meat to those that are less fortunate.  
                                
     For the past several years of working on the Callaghan Ranch, I have been giving the excess of deer meat to families around the Laredo area during the deer hunting season.  Now as a founding member of the wildlife firm, I would like to continue helping the less fortunate on a larger scale throughout the entire south Texas area.  Making connections with landowners and food banks could be a good start for this program. With the much excess of harvested deer ranches annually remove to meet wildlife management goals; we can help the surrounding communities as well as the ranches dispose/simplify finding people willing to take the meat. 
                                          
  The holiday blues of  starving can be resolved and give those in need a smile back to their face this
holiday season.  It is important that we give back to our communities and lend a helping hand to those that need it.  With the help of landowners, hunters, and the Wildlife Firm we can eliminate hunger and brighten our
community’s future.

For those of you avid hunters who do not know about the Callaghan Ranch, it is a historic ranch abundant with wildlife.  Here is a quick overview of how this ranch came to be.  The Callaghan Ranch was established in the late 1800’s. Since 1858 the Callaghan Ranch,  laying across the Old San Antonio Road between Laredo and San Antonio, covered an area of 250,000 acres, with headquarters near Encinal, Texas. From 1923 to 1947 Joe B. Finley was general manager of the ranch. The following year, the Callaghan Ranch was partially sold, and downsized. Acreage at that time was reduced to 131,000 acres owned and 46,000 was then leased. Shortly afterwards, Joe B. Finely began purchasing the Callaghan from Frost Bank.  After the purchasing of the Callaghan Ranch, and the passing of Joe B. Finely Senior, Joe B. Finely Jr. took over as general manager and part owner between him and his siblings.   After the passing of Jr. in 2011, the ranch is currently operated by Mrs. Finely, Joe. B. Finely’s wife, and her 5 daughters. 

                                                                                  http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/apc01

Currently the ranch is still at large covering 90,000 acres of one contiguous tract.  Although cattle are still a big part of the ranch, wildlife is the main emphasis.  Hunting consists of the main outdoor recreation.  The Callaghan Ranch has produced outstanding trophy white-tail bucks.   For the past three years, I have had the opportunity to see this first hand.  Since 2009, I began working for the ranch during deer hunting season (Oct.-Jan.).  Working at what is called “The Check Station,” every deer which is harvested comes to me to be recorded into the ranch data books.  Data such as weight, age, and antler score are recorded to measure progress throughout the year.  This information then can be analyzed to help manage the population structure within the Callaghan Ranch.  This has helped produce huge south Texas white-tails.  Due to the ranche's location, in Webb County, it lies within the golden triangle for deer hunting. The golden triangle is the three county areas in Texas where the highest scoring bucks are harvested annually.  Every year the Callaghan has produced bucks scoring in the 180 B&C to 190 B&C classes with the average harvested buck increasing annually.  The continuous harvest of large deer is partly due to the diverse bush community on the ranch, and the critical management tactics performed by the ranch.  Since 2009, I have had the opportunity to score countless bucks scoring 150-160 Boone and Crockett, and many scoring in the 170 class B&C.  Specific top scoring deer of the year which I scored was a buck in 2009 at 192 3/8 B&C, in 2010 a buck scoring 186 5/8 B&C, and last year (2011) a buck scoring 187 1/8 B&C.

 The opportunities to enjoy the outdoors on this ranch can be endless.  If you are interested in finding a trophy deer, or just spending quality time with your family hunting, contact them  callaghanranchltd.com