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TEXAS RANCHERS EARN EXTRA CASH FROM HUNTERS
"The deer-hunting season is in full swing now and Henry Louis Welge has scarcely had time to look at the 100 Herefords that roam his range here. Mr. Welge has been herding accountants, salesmen, dentists and other urban creatures who pay him good money for the privilege of crouching behind a tree on his ranch and bagging a 10-point buck. These winter days are bitter ones in the vast Southwestern cattle lands. For all its glamour, cattle ranching has become an economically marginal enterprise, and many a hard-pressed rancher has come, often reluctantly, to see the value of exploiting the recreational value of his land. Once a resource that ranchers gave away to friends or bartered for services, hunting leases are now a major source of supplemental income for most Texas ranchers, and some of the more aggressive operators, like Mr. Welge, make more from hunting than from cattle."
Excerpt from The New York Times
Overcoming Problems In Managing Hunters
"Let me explain that our ranch is located in Doss, Texas, wich is in the northwestern part of Gillespie County near Fredericksberg. Our operation consists of about 3,500 acres and our deer population is one deer to 3.2 acres of land. Our livestock business is a cow-calf operation. Calves are born in the early spring and we sell in the early summer."
"What I would like to talk about today are some of the things we have learned and a few of the experiences we have had. All of this has helped us improve our operation over the past 24 years. In our operation we put a lot of importance on service, wich is really nothing more than taking care of the hunter's wants and needs from the time he arrives until he leaves. Service is one of the few things a rancher has wich he can offer to the public. He can ask big city prices for the service he gives and receive dollars in return."
Excerpt from Henry Louis Welge