A Very Successful Wildlife Project

It never gets old. It was a beautiful spring day in just the second year of the Kiamichi Link Ranch project. Tucker Link the owner of the property was in his buggy followed by Vicky his wife who was driving a second buggy. Their buggies were carrying guest. A family of six.  Tucker was always bringing guests to the ranch and showing them around the wildlife management area. As Tucker and his entourage were easing along one of six miles of buggy trails on the 650-acre wildlife project. I watched them stop.  You could tell everyone was staring intensely at something. The guests were taking pictures and the kids were crawling all over themselves to get a better look.  After a few minutes they eased along again.  As they slowly moved along the trail, they repeating that scene of stopping and looking again and again until they reached me. The guests were like wow we've never seen anything like this before. What a neat opportunity to see wildlife up close and personal. Both the parents and the children’s faces shined with excitement as they described what they had seen. They said they had seen pairs of quail everywhere. They saw baby quail crossing the road. They watched as a hen pheasant stood between them and her clutch of babies. They watched several baby deer playing and one nursing. And witnessed two male pheasants fighting, and others strutting and crowing. 
The father mentioned this was one of the most unique experiences that they had ever had. As Tucker and Vicky pulled away Tucker smiled and said, “this never gets old”. Tucker was right.  
During my seven years on this project it never got old. For six months out of the year, Tucker and his guest enjoyed the best bird hunting anywhere. We had created this bird hunting utopia, During the hunting season we move hundreds of covey of quail and countless pheasants.  To make it even more exciting for our guest,  we experimented with hungarian partridge, grouse and other gamebirds. 
This was a new science. New technology and with new techniques. But it was more than incredible hunting.  It was watching the habitat and wildlife flourish throughout the entire year. Through out the year each month brought changes. Different species such a yellow finches and painted buntings would show up and stay for a while and then continue on their journey. Bald eagles, Golden Eagles , ducks and geese.  In the spring you would watch the flowers bloom and babies being born. Each season, each month and each day would bring something new and spectacular. From deer to turkey to the songbirds. At times the Bluebirds where everywhere. Throughout the property Hummingbirds and butterflies would gather on the wild flowers we grew. We even grew watermelons so our guests could pick their own and take it to our cabin in the management area to enjoy. This was truly an amazing project.
So please take a few moments to watch this video I shot just days after my encounter with Tucker and his guest. Enjoy the possibilities of what can be done in the future of wildlife projects. Maybe you would like to build one on your property for your family and friends. Or to build one so a whole community can come and enjoy nature in a special way.