Coyote and Bobcat Population Management

This is a Landowner Association for Livestock and Wildlife Predator Control in Mason County Texas


Mason County Livestock and Wildlife Protection Association
P.O. Box 837
Mason, Texas 76856


Mason County is crisscrossed with rivers, creeks, dry stream beds and gravel county roads. With the vast majority of the property being low barbed wire fences, predators typically can move freely in and out of these properties either traversing the "sometimes" water gap fences or just walking in via the properties cattle guards.

The bounty program works because landowners who do not hunt predators understand the value of participation in the bounty program. The predator may not be taken on their land but the land adjacent. Coyotes routinely cover areas of 2-3 miles from their den, and at times 8-10miles depending on prey availability.

A Model Bounty Program

Our Mason County Predator Bounty Program serves as a model for surrounding counties looking to establish wildlife and livestock protection groups. Predator management is a necessary component for any livestock operation dealing with razor thin margins of profitability, especially those involving goats and sheep.

Predator and prey populations ebb and flow and usually neither population becomes so low or so high as to cause undue concern for wildlife managers. However, in times of continued drought or sustained human incursion, predation can significantly threaten game and other wildlife populations.

Coyotes in particular have proliferated because they are filling an ecological niche once filled by larger predators that are no longer in the area. Coyotes remain abundant in the face of hunting and trapping pressure and continue to expanded their range.

Neighbor Helping Neighbor

Through this program, livestock producers alongside wildlife management landowners are working together to protect young goats and sheep as well as whitetail fawns that are especially susceptible to predation.

Facts

This predator control program provides incentives to remove coyotes and bobcats from participating Mason County landowner's property.