Texas Game and Fish, Volume 13, Number 4, April 1955 Page: 12
32 p. : col. ill.View a full description of this periodical.
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u4~Wild deer, three little Lucks and a doe, stand in R. L. Sabins' yard va'ting -o be
fed. They cone up every af-ernoon, like cattle, but are suspicious of strangers.H1TNTERtS
Harvest His C HOP
A quarter century ago, deer hunting
appeared on the way out in Texas.
Ranchers like R. L. Sabins can take
much credit for the rebirth and
steady revival of Texas deer herds.
By Bob Brister
Reprinted courtesy Hous-on Chronicle Magazine
Ar 8-year-old doe, eats oit of Sabins'
hand and follows h m I'ke a puppy.T HE little band of deer trotted out of the shadows and
into the golden strip of late-afternoon surunine
spilling over the rim of the canyon. They stopper in
the clearing, raised their ears in our direction only
casually, then placidly began grazing at the edge of
an gat patch.
Bob Sabins handed the binoculars t: me.
"See that little eight-pointer over next to the brush,"
he grinned. "Watch him. He's a new one to this bunzh,
and one of those other bucks will challenge hirm in
a minute."
I: wasn't even that long until the new back got too
close to the herd, arnd a husky 10-pointer made a
menacing run at him.
"You know every deer in these hills )y its irst name?"
I asked him incredulously. "How'd you know he was
going to do that?"
Sabins shrugged and we walked back into :he yard.
We'd seen the show from his back yard fence or- a
ranch about four miles from the business district of
Kerrville.
From where we sat in the shade talking, we could
see two separate groups of deer in :he clearing, and
there was another bunch feeding in the "front yar:1."
R. L. Sabins, fortunately for his deer, represents a
new and progressive group of Hill Scuntry ranichers
who are learning that deer are a vital economic crop
to :he area . . . and they're being treated accord-ngly.
Feeding deer through the rough times of the year is
nothing new. But managing them like a herd of :a:tle
is a far cry from the old-time policy of shooting every
buck available during the legal season.
Sabins, however, is cuick to tell you lee's a newcomer
to the game and certainly not bragging about any
accomplishments on his small ranch. He says he just
happens to like to fool with the deer, anc that s why
he started in the first place. That, and the fact that
otherwise the hunting would all be gore by now.
A former Houston contractor, he went to the Hill
Country because of ailing sinus eight years ago. Now
he says the ailment was the luckiest a man ever hi id as
far as he is concerned.
He lives in a sort of a sportsman's UtopiA, with a
TEXAS GAME AND FISH7
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Texas. Game and Fish Commission. Texas Game and Fish, Volume 13, Number 4, April 1955, periodical, April 1955; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1588361/m1/14/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.