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About the Forest - Game Animals
Game in the Forest
Many game species find favorable habitat in the national forests where timber stands range from recently harvested areas to stands more than 100 years old. The breaks or “edges” created where different aged stands meet are preferred by many species; so, the observant sportsman learns to recognize stand characteristics and the types of game animals to be found in them.
Where to Find Birds
Mourning doves prefer to feed in areas of open, bare ground with scattered stands of seed-producing weeds. Such conditions are found in recently logged stands where disturbed soil encourages weed growth. Bobwhite quail feed in these same stands and in stands up to five years after cutting, where grassy-weedy vegetation has grown and provides cover. Quail also use adjacent older timber stands for escape cover from predators and hunters.
Woodcock are a fairly common but lightly-hunted winter visitor to the national forests. They prefer dense thickets for protection, but can be found in early morning and late evening feeding in the same young stands as quail.
Most waterfowl hunting associated with the national forests is on the larger reservoirs that lie within or adjacent to them. Sam Rayburn Reservoir is managed by the Corps of Engineers, Toledo Bend Reservoir is managed by Sabine River Authority, and Lake Conroe is under management of the San Jacinto River Authority. Contact those agencies concerning use of their waters, including the construction of hunting blinds. Some waterfowl hunting is available in river bottoms during high water periods.
Turkey
The U.S. Forest Service, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the National Wild Turkey Federation are working cooperatively in a restocking program to reintroduce wild turkeys on national forest lands. Turkeys usually can be found in older timber stands that have some hardwoods, but they also need younger stands, especially during the breeding and brood-rearing seasons.
Small Animals
Cottontail rabbits can be found in the same habitat as quail. Gray squirrels and fox squirrels are the most popular small game animals in the national forests. Gray squirrels prefer stands of bottomland hardwoods 40 years of age or older. The trees in gray squirrel habitat must be old enough to produce consistent crops of acorns and similar food. Most major rivers and creeks that flow through the national forest have these hardwood stands within their floodplains.
Fox squirrels also prefer older age timber stands; however, they are generally found in the transition zone between the bottomlands and uplands where there is a mix of hardwood and pine, similar to turkey habitat. They can also be found in older pine stands that contain scattered nut-producing trees.
Large Animals
White-tailed deer can be found throughout the national forests. Deer are true edge species and do best where there is a mix of stands of various ages. The season will sometimes determine where you can find small concentrations of deer, such as in hardwood stands during acorn fall.
Small, scattered populations of wild or feral hogs live in the national forests. Although they are not classified as game animals, they provide some limited hunting opportunities, usually incidental to other types of hunting. Hogs are usually found in bottomlands.
Game on the Grasslands
The national grasslands provide favorable habitat for some of the small game animals found in the national forests. There is no commercial timber harvesting on the grasslands, and management is directed toward maintaining a stable or relatively non-changing vegetation type.
About 70 percent of the national grasslands is open prairie; the rest is wooded. Most of the wooded areas are in small clumps on the prairie and along the numerous small streams and drainages.
Cottontail rabbits, doves, wild turkeys and bobwhite quail are found throughout the grasslands. Fox squirrels can be found in the woods adjacent to creeks and drainages. Gray squirrels live in some of the bottomland hardwoods of the Caddo National Grasslands.