Hello! Welcome to the first newsletter of the Lavaca County Wildlife Association (LCWA). The officers of all five Lavaca county co-ops (South Central Lavaca County WMA, Honey Creek WMA, West Sandy Creek WMA, Vienna WMA, and Rocky Creek WMA) and Gene Rees met on Sunday evening, May 23, 1999 and formed the LCWA. The group (consisting of at least two representatives from each co-op) will try to meet at least quarterly to discuss issues pertinent to Lavaca county wildlife and the co-op members. The meetings will always be open to anyone who wants to attend. In fact, you are encouraged to attend and share your ideas with us.

 At the May 23^rd meeting, the group discussed the following:

1. Organized the June 19^th LCWA Deer Management Seminar.
2. Discussed a hog & coyote killing contest for this season. Some ideas were heaviest hog, most hogs, heaviest male/female or most coyotes. There would be prizes for each division. Plans should be finalized before the fall meetings of the individual co-ops. Please contact any officer A.S.A.P. with your input on this.
3. Decided not to have a buck contest. A representative from the K. of C. buck contest in Hallettsville will be invited to attend each of the fall meetings.
4. Discussed having caps made with a LCWA logo that would represent all Lavaca County co-ops. This will be discussed in more detail at the next LCWA meeting and at the fall meetings of the individual co-ops.
5. Decided to have a quarterly newsletter. The newsletter will be used to convey information to members about various topics including habitat improvements, all meetings, data collection, and seminars or other educational activities. We welcome suggestions and /or articles for the newsletter. If you have something you would like to share with the other members send it to Gene Rees.
6. Decided to have at least one educational seminar like the one held on June 19^th each year. We would appreciate any ideas you may have pertaining to topics, locations, dates, door prizes, or anything else to do with the organization of the seminars. It was discussed to try to hold the seminars in February or September to try to minimize conflict with as many other activities as possible.
7. Decided that we will have one spring meeting for all five (maybe 6) co-ops in Lavaca County. We thought this would give everyone a chance to get to know each other and discuss what’s happening in the different co-ops. At this meeting we would discuss the harvest, present prizes to the winners of the contests, have door prizes, have a meal, have a representative from each co-op discuss their goals and accomplishments so far, and anything else that might be of interest.

• To use Paul Marek’s words " If you missed the LCWA Deer Management Seminar on June 19^th, you missed a good one". The LCWA held it’s first ever Deer Management Seminar Saturday June 19^th at the K. of C. Hall in Hallettsville. A crowd of 71 interested hunters and landowners heard guest speaker Al Brothers address many of the issues that we face here in Lavaca County. Mr. Brothers is a noted white-tail deer biologist and has written numerous articles and a couple books on deer management. He asked questions of the audience and then discussed the answers with them. Gene Rees gave information on the status of the co-ops in Lavaca County and briefly described how to score a deer by the Boone and Crocket scoring system. There was an excellent display of antlers from Lavaca County and all around, thanks in large part to Mike Jurica. The evening ended with Gene Rees drawing Dan Jasek’s name out of the jaw aging contest entries for the final door prize, a feeder motor and timer donated by Texas Outdoor Feeder Supply Company. The following businesses set up booths and/or donated door prizes to help make this event a success:

• Anyone that plans to let the young men and women from the 4-H Shooting Sports Organization hunt for does or bucks on your property needs to contact Gene Rees at 361-798-2625 immediately so that he can contact the club leaders and they can organize this year’s hunts. At the very latest, get with Gene at your fall meetings. Last years hunts were a big success, but we started late and this year we would like to get organized a little earlier. We try to find young folks that would not have a chance to hunt without your generosity. Please consider this seriously. We all need to do our best to get the younger generation involved in hunting, fishing, and other related activities.

• First, I would like to say that I appreciate all of your interest in improving the quality of habitat and in improving the quality of our wildlife. When the SCLCWMA was first organized I knew almost everyone, now four years and four more co-ops later; I haven’t even met a few of you yet. I look forward to the meetings each year to get a chance to meet new friends and renew old acquaintances. We do not have to wait until meetings to get together. Any time you have a question or would like me to come look at your ranch to make suggestions, feel free to give me a call.
• I would like to thank everyone that was involved with helping to make the seminar on June 19^th a success. Doug and Sherri Grahmann, Charlie Leopold, Ed McCrumb, Mark Barton, Mike Jurica, Lee Hoffer, Paul Marek and others all worked very hard to make it work. I appreciate your effort.

• For those of you that plan to join one of the co-ops and just haven’t found the time yet-Please do so right away! It will simplify things at the fall meetings if we do not spend a lot of time signing up new members. I am going to try to fill out the permit issuance cards ahead of time this year to speed up the process. Therefor you have to be a member so that I will have your information before the meetings. I will discuss the number of permits with you and fill that out at the meeting as usual. If you want your permits before hunting season, you should really try to get them at the fall meeting. Sometimes I can be hard to find this time of year.

• Included in this newsletter you will find herd composition instructions and a data sheet. Make copies as needed. It is essential that every one collect herd composition data. Please follow the instructions precisely. Without data I cannot make harvest recommendations for your ranch. The completed herd composition forms need to be in my office by September 4^th, 1999. Either mail the forms to the address below or drop them in the box on my office door.

• I will be contacting some of you real soon to set up new spotlight lines. With the expansion of the co-ops into different areas we need to put in additional census lines. The lines need to be set up and ran in August. If you would like to get involved with the spotlight lines in your area give me a call. I may even give you a call asking you to assist if I don’t get enough volunteers. Anyone who already has a line set up on your ranch or in your area, run it the same as you did last year. If I haven't contacted you with new forms, contact me.

• Please try to complete all of the sign up forms (Landowner Request For Technical Assistance…, Landowner Permission For Release of Information to Individuals-if you are not the landowner, your co-ops Landowner Cooperative Agreement, and the Wildlife Association Habitat Survey) and return them to your co-op presidents or secretaries. I am particularly interested in the habitat survey. This allows me to get a good feel for the types of habitat improvements that are going on in the co-ops. You need to complete this form every year. I will eventually get every one on schedule to return the completed form for the previous year in early January so that I can summarize and discuss them at the spring meeting. I am not trying to meddle in your business. I will use this information primarily as a summary of the co-ops. It will help me make decisions to help you reach your management goals.

• Please make a point to attend your co-op’s fall meeting. Bring your spouse, children, hunters, or any one that is interested in what we are trying to do. If you have lease hunters, get them involved. If you are unable to attend your co-ops meeting, let me know and I will take your permits to whichever meeting you are able to attend. I look forward to seeing you at the meetings.

• Be sure to include clover and/or Austrian Winter peas in with your oats, wheat or rye grass this fall. The legumes provide better forage for the deer. Plant some area in just clover and exclude cows for maximum benefit to wildlife. Soil test first to make sure what will grow and how you need to amend the soil.

Gene Rees

304 South LaGrange

Hallettsville, TX 77964

361-798-2625