← The Origins Foundation Podcast
The Origins Foundation Podcast
Episode 588 - Wildlife Ranch Solutions || Ranching With Exotics
00:42:34
Chuck Dye and Joe Bailey of Wildlife Ranch Solutions in the Texas Hill Country join Robbie to talk about the world of ranching exotics in the United States. Robbie dives into exactly “what is” Wildlife Ranch Solutions - the people who do the work, how the education component works with landowners, and whether native whitetail can exist alongside certain introduced species.
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- [00:01]
A
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- [00:19]
B
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- [00:56]
C
Chuck Dye and Joe Bailey work for Wildlife Ranch Solutions. It's a company out of Texas that deals specifically with exotics. Joe Bailey is one of the co owners of the company and Chuck Dye is the operations manager, operations coordinator. And I wanted to have them on because obviously exotics in Texas are a super interesting topic to talk about. There's some crazy exemptions tied to agricultural livestock that pertain to exotics. And I just want to understand like, you know, what is it? Who, who does the work, who helps people understand how to buy exotics? What exotics? Grazers, browsers, all sorts of things. And so Chuck and Joe seem to be the most appropriate people to start with. Wildlife Ranch Solutions is a turnkey business operation that helps landowners get into the exotic business. Business plans, tax incentives, management plans. And then they work with the landowner month over month over month to make sure that their investments are doing what they're supposed to do. So if you're interested in exotics or just learning a little bit more about exotics, this is your podcast. So there's a reason why I started Blood Origins. And that reason is simple, is that I wanted to convey the truth about hunting.
- [02:25]
D
It brings awareness to non hunters that it's more than just killing animals.
- [02:33]
C
How do I start it?
- [02:35]
B
Brittany?
- [02:35]
C
My name. Does my hair look okay? My name is Mike Axelrod. Start again. Yeah, I hated it too. Braxton, you said something in the car to me. You said that you were living on borrowed time. There's a perception around who hunters are, what we're supposed to be. And a feminist that works for a non profit, that is a hunter that has only eaten wild game for the last 20 years is likely not the thing that people think about when it comes to a hunter. Joe's getting reprimanded before the podcast starts about how squeaky your chair is. But he said you're not going to move, right, Joe?
- [03:21]
E
I'm going to try not.
- [03:22]
C
Okay, so it's perfect. You're perfectly positioned. The only reason we're going to know that you move is if we can't see the gemsbok behind you anymore.
- [03:30]
D
That's right.
- [03:30]
E
Yeah.
- [03:31]
D
Look.
- [03:32]
C
See? Exactly. Exactly. Joe Bailey, Chuck Dye, welcome to the Origins Foundation Podcast. And I could. I don't get to say that. That's, like, the first time I've said it.
- [03:45]
E
Yeah. Thanks, Robbie.
- [03:47]
C
Not Blood Origins Podcast any longer.
- [03:51]
E
I noticed the name change yesterday on Instagram, so.
- [03:55]
C
So you guys have. You're both out of Texas, right? Correct. And you guys run Wildlife Ranching Solutions, or, sorry, Wildlife Ranch Solutions. I apologize for putting that.
- [04:09]
E
Wildlife Ranch Solutions. We're out of the Texas Hill Country.
- [04:13]
C
Like a Bernie area or is that.
- [04:16]
E
Our office is in Bernie, and we service clients all over. All over Texas and honestly, outside of Texas as well.
- [04:24]
C
This is a question I've always wanted to know, and it probably comes down to law and policy. Why is Texas like the mecca of exotic wildlife in America?
- [04:39]
E
So there's. There's several reasons.
- [04:41]
C
The, the.
- [04:42]
E
The first of which of the laws are conducive, these animals, which laws specifically? The exotics are considered livestock. So they're no different than cows, horses, horses, goats, things like that, domestic livestock. So, and. And the temperature, honestly, has a big part to do with it in Texas, you know, so big that there's, you know, you've got high desert in West Texas. You've got a sand sheet brush country in South Texas. You've got, you know, behind the pine curtain in East Texas. And, and you've got the. The plains up north. So there's a variety of habitat, and much of it is conducive for exotics.
- [05:25]
D
I think part of it.
- [05:26]
C
Introduce yourself. I know that. Go ahead, Chuck. Sorry. Go ahead.
- [05:29]
D
I was going to say, I think part of it, too, is just the mentality of Texans. You know, Texas is. Everything's bigger and better in Texas, and people want to have the coolest stuff. And it just happens to be that many of these animals are pretty stinking cool.
- [05:43]
C
Joe, introduce yourself and Chuck, then introduce yourself after Joe. Before we dive any further, I typically do a terrible job of letting people introduce themselves.
- [05:50]
E
No, no problem. My name is Joe Bailey and I'm the president and partner in. In Wildlife Ranch Solutions.
- [05:57]
D
And I'm Chuck Dye. I'm the operations manager for Wildlife Ranch Solutions.
- [06:02]
C
Both of you have history experience in wildlife management.
- [06:08]
E
Yeah, to a point. I, I grew up here in the hill country in around Kerrville, Texas and it's the epicenter. It's where the exotic industry started. Which ties back into your original question about exotics in Texas. The, the first exotics came to Texas 100 years ago. In the late 20s. Axis deer came from the San Antonio Zoo and were put on the YO Ranch, which is a historic ranch at one time was incredibly large just west of town. And obviously they breed. Fencing gets knocked down by water, water gaps get knocked out. And there's about 60,000 of them from free ranging into West Texas. They've crossed the divide into West Texas. They're all over. There's 50 of them every night in, in my backyard actually.
- [07:01]
C
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- [10:13]
D
Yeah, and then I grew up actually in Alabama originally. You know, it was deep into the whole whitetail scene over there. And then went to Missouri State actually got degree in forestry.
- [10:27]
C
When did you finish your degree in forestry and wildlife?
- [10:30]
D
I finished it in 2020. So I know you. I recently learned that you were at one point a professor there.
- [10:37]
C
Yeah, who was your. Who. Who you obviously had to be. Did you have a. Did you have a wildlife component to your forestry degree?
- [10:44]
D
I did, yeah.
- [10:45]
C
Okay, so who taught you? Applied Aquatic and Terrestrial Ecology.
- [10:51]
D
That was. It was a. I forget her name.
- [10:54]
C
Uh, see, if it was me, you would never have forgotten my name.
- [10:57]
D
No, no, no, it was not you. No, you would probably never forgotten my name either good or bad.
- [11:02]
C
I'll tell you what I. I am. There's. There's like, like folklore around me teaching terrestrial. Of aquatic terrestrial ecology. There were kids that would like, I told them, I said, number one, I don't take roll. And number two, do not come late to my class even for tests. You're not going to get an extension. Like if you're late, you're late. And this one woman came into my class or girl at The Times. And she was just like, hobbling down the stairs. This is at the, I can't remember what the auditorium was at the end of Thompson hall, right? She comes stumbling down. I was like, what is wrong with this girl? She sits down, she's like 15 minutes late. She opens up. I give her a test. She starts driving. She finishes, hands in. I said, hey, are you okay? And she's like, on the way to your test. I was riding my bike and I got hit by a bus. But I couldn't miss, not I know.
- [11:58]
D
This coming to your test.
- [12:00]
C
So I had to come. I had to come. I was like, like I would have been okay, like, redoing the test for you. You got hit by a bus.
- [12:09]
E
Valid excuse.
- [12:12]
D
That was a joke throughout my school years who were like, you know, exactly the same thing. You cannot be late. You know, all these things. But if you get hit by a bus, just let us know. And so I heard that exact story.
- [12:24]
C
Yeah. So. And then I would, after I, I, I probably taught that class for five years. And after year two, I would, for the first day of class. So Chuck. Say, Joe. Joe, Chuck's in my first day of class of this aquatic, applied and terrestrial ecology class. There's 85 kids in this auditorium. It's packed, okay? And I would have four kids from last year's class come, and I would stand up and I say, you guys have heard about this class. You've heard about my reputation. You've heard of the expectations that I have of you in this class. And you'd hear murmurings. Yes, yes, yes. I said, well, instead of me going through what I expect of you, I'll let your fellow peers, your students that were in this class last year tell you what to expect. And they were worse than me. They would lamb base the kids. They were like, don't you dare be late for Dr. Kroger's class. Do not wear a hat in his class. Do not wear any offending T shirts. None of that. Don't you disrespect this class. And I was like, okay.
- [13:31]
D
They took your point.
- [13:33]
C
Yeah, yeah. Anyway, yeah. So good. You got a wildlife management forestry degree from Mississippi State. Great university. Great degree. And yeah, so I, I guess maybe going back to the whole, like, why wildlife in Texas? Why exotic wildlife in Texas? Was there a law change? I know, climate, definitely, right. Obviously. Cold climates, anything sort of north of Texas, you're going to have freezes, you're going to have. Things just are not conducive for exotics. But was there a Law, Was it sort of a politically motivated scenario? Do we know back a hundred years ago that they're like, let's make this livestock so we can do something with it?
- [14:12]
E
I don't think there was a law passed or a law not passed. I think that they just got put in under livestock. You know that they're just classified as livestock, which allows them to qualify for an ag exemption. So you don't need a wildlife exemption. You just.
- [14:31]
C
What do you mean an ag exemption? What does that mean?
- [14:33]
E
So 1, A, 1 D, 1 open space exemption. It's. You get a break on your taxes for, for participating in a livestock or agriculture activity. So you can raise livestock, you can do hay, bees, there's wildflower stuff. But you get a break on your property taxes is the point. So is. Excuse me, instead of Hereford cattle, you could have a herd of sable and you still qualify for your agricultural or agricultural tax exemption.
- [15:09]
C
Gotcha. Gotcha. And so, you know, one of the things that I talked to Chuck about, for those that aren't familiar with what Wildlife Ranch Solutions does, maybe they've seen Wildlife Partners because your logos are very similar. Can you sort of break down the difference between Wildlife Partners and Wildlife Ranch Solutions?
- [15:33]
E
Yeah, certainly. So Wildlife Partners is, is the largest breeder in North America of, of exotics. They own about 5,000 head. So they're, they're an alternative investment company. You can invest into these herds, you can receive the tax deductions. Those animals are then raised on one of four ranches that Wildlife Partners operates in Texas. Total about 12,000 acres. When those animals have offspring, those offspring are sold. And that's tax favored income, meaning it's taxed. That taxed as a long term capital gain. So the tax incentives are enormous in this business. So that's what Walleye Partners does. They breed on behalf of investors. Wildlife Ranch Solutions came about. There's no service component this industry. There was no standalone company that concentrated on the health and happiness of the animals on a property. So historically the, the largest consumer of exotics in Texas you would think would be hunting it. Up until about six to eight years ago, it was death loss. So you don't know how to take care of a bongo mineral requirements. There's, there's, you know, there's some ins and outs to these animals. There's, they're not like going and throwing out a round bell and I'll see you next week. Um, so death loss was rampant. Rampant. I've got all the stories. Just terrible stuff, right? Massive death loss and then people Would be like, well, I don't want to do this anymore. Because animals die. Well, there's a reason why they're dying. So after the, the COVID storm In the early 2000s death loss, we weren't ready for that. A lot of people were. Texas. The. We is Texas. And there was some death loss from that, from that ice storm and lots of it. Yeah, lots. I mean, just wild numbers. Wild numbers. I mean, I, I know of. I know of three or four people that lost. Lost close to 100 kudu cows total, which is an incredible loss. It's super unfortunate and, and remind me.
- [17:40]
C
Just not to remind me, but remind people a kudu cow right now is going for 30 grand. 40 grand.
- [17:49]
D
30.
- [17:49]
E
Between 30 and 40. And you can get higher than that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [17:54]
D
Just run in the mill. Cuda cows, you know. No, no background arm, just that is in fact a cudu cow.
- [18:01]
C
That's nuts, man. Yes, it is nuts.
- [18:04]
E
I mean a sable cow is 50K and, and up, you know, 4050K and up. So, you know, there's. And they're tax deductible. That doesn't mean we're going to let them die. You know, that doesn't mean we're not going to do our best to take care of them and see them produce offspring that you can take back to market. So that's why we exist.
- [18:23]
C
So Chuck, it's almost like you guys are a specialized habitat consultants, really. Dare I move it further? Habitat Wildlife consultant. You're like a QDM kind of organization, but for exotics.
- [18:42]
D
Absolutely. I mean, I'd say the pr. Our primary day to day is, is exactly that. We go out into these, you know, client ranches and potential client ranches and look at the forages, look at the soil, look. And just look at the overall environment and help them, you know, take in their, of course, their financial goals and what they, what they want to raise, what they want to see, but see figure out how we can sustain them based on the native forages. You know, I think a lot of people think of this industry and they think it's kind of feedlot. It's just you're going to have a sable cow stand out on some dirt, what, maybe a tree. But we're, we're very intent and I guess we're very focused on an environmental side of things and trying to in fact improve the land base through the, through the ownership of these animals instead of just turn them out and seeing what happens.
- [19:32]
C
There's gotta be some generalizations though, right? Are there generalizations across? Because how many exotics are you dealing with, Joe? 50 species. Different species.
- [19:43]
E
You have roughly 50, 50 to 60 species. Correct.
- [19:46]
C
Okay.
- [19:47]
E
Browsers, grazings, dual feeders.
- [19:50]
C
Is it generalizations across those guilds? So you generalize, you're generalizing your management objectives to the grazers, Generalizing your management objectives to the browsers?
- [20:03]
E
Yes. Yeah, in a nutshell, yes. You know, we're not going to turn Kudu out on 250 acres of open open grass plain. It's just not going to work. Right. They're not going to eat.
- [20:15]
C
So does a landowner approach you before he does something like that? Because let's be honest, not always. Somebody wants a kudu. I'm just going to, I've got the money, I'm going to go buy 40 grand worth of or two, about 80 grands worth of cuda, turn them out and all there is, is grass.
- [20:33]
E
I've seen it happen.
- [20:35]
D
I've seen it happen to that point. It's a lot of what we do is education and people think in Texas a lot, I'll say Texas, but really everywhere in the United States that, you know, these animals are, it's the same, it's either the same as a cat Angus cow or it's the same as a whitetail deer. So where you reference to the. All those same practices have to be applicable to kudu. And you know, and many of the audience will know that that's not necessarily true. Some of that stuff does, will be to benefit and oftentimes the management for kudu, for example, is beneficial towards the white tail. But of course there's some, there's some different management objectives that you have to kind of skew for some of these browsers. But we like to stock ranches and on their goals with a variety of, of of feeders, you know, have some, some short grass grazers, having long grass grazers, having dual feeders and browser obligate browsers, you know, trying to, again, you do have to generalize to a point, but also making sure that one hand isn't fighting the other hand.
- [21:40]
C
Yeah. Are you influencing landowner decisions? And again, I've got a separate question off this. Are you influencing landowner decisions? When he, when say for instance this landowner has kudu, he's got good browse but he really doesn't have a grazer on his property and he's got good grazing. Are you consulting him saying, hey, you've got an opportunity here, don't let's not get another browser, let's put in a grazer Or a couple of grazers here.
- [22:09]
E
Yeah, that's a big part of what we do. That's a big part of it for a number of reasons. You know, a lot of times what you see is a guy will get into the business and he'll have an amp, he'll have been to Africa and he'll say, man, I really love kudu. I want to see some kudu out here. Sure, no problem. We can get you kudu. Here's our recommended holding or recommended carrying capacity for this area.
- [22:34]
D
Here's your kudu.
- [22:35]
E
They see the kudu out there, inevitably and most times the landowner is going to come back and say, and I want to see something else. Like our first question is, what do you want to see? If it's gemsbok, sable, something like that. Sure, no problem. Yeah. If they say, hey, you know, I want to add more kudu depending on the size of the pasture, well, you can, you know, you can sustain X number more kudu or not. But we can add 10 gemsbok or 10 sable to this pasture and it'll have no effect on, just depends on, on the land base, actually.
- [23:14]
C
Yeah.
- [23:15]
D
And I think the timing is pretty on, spot on with the great migration. You know, that's really in the news right now across the mouse imara. The wildebeest following the. So the wildebeest are following many of the zebra species. And so we kind of, we try to mimic that here as well. Of course they're not, these animals aren't migrating. But having the short grass grazer like a zebra or a longer. I apologize for, you know, to kind to reduce the height of that grass so it is more palatable, is more a natural feeding type for say the white bearded wildebeest or the black wildebeest or gbach, what may have you. So we look at that as well.
- [23:49]
C
Listen, I just, I need to educate both of you. It's a gemsbok.
- [23:52]
E
Yeah, sorry.
- [23:53]
C
Not a, not a, not a gemsbok.
- [23:55]
E
I'm not up to date on my Afrikaans.
- [23:57]
C
I need you to work on that.
- [24:01]
D
We'll work on it.
- [24:02]
C
Yeah, please, please. How do you, how does, do you supply the same consulting management expertise? Because to me there's two types of farms, right? There would be, maybe there isn't. You guys can enlighten me. There's the guys that want to see the animals out there grow up their population. Oh, here's a calf that I can sell. Here's a sable I can sell and generate income that way. Or there's the guys that are Hunting it specifically. Is management different for those two scenarios?
- [24:40]
D
I think they kind of go hand in hand. Of course, you know, for the most part, females are. They're of a higher value here in the US it's like a sable like how earlier says 40 or 50 grand a bull around the middle bull is say $7500 as a yearling. And of course, I can go up from there depending on size. But I would say from our perspective, we apply the same management techniques. You know, the. The end goal is to sustain and augment the genetic diversity on these ranches. Grow, of course, grow bigger animals. You know, everyone, they got sable. They want to see the biggest sable on they can regardless on if they want to hunt or not. But end of the day, there's a finite amount of land on each of these people's properties. And so they're going to have bull calves and, you know, sable, of course, bull does not appreciate the young guys coming in, cutting in on his. On his ladies. So they've gotta, you know, they've got to be sold or moved. And ultimately some of these animals get hunted for sure.
- [25:44]
C
So.
- [25:44]
D
But we want to make sure those are the healthiest, you know, animals as well.
- [25:49]
E
That's right.
- [25:49]
D
But we're not involved directly in hunting.
- [25:51]
C
Sure.
- [25:52]
D
At least not in the United States.
- [25:54]
C
So why. Why did. I guess maybe a bigger question. I want to move almost into the conservation space now. Why did these landowners decide to move away from a native wildlife system into an exotic wildlife system? So.
- [26:15]
E
Find. Because. Because exotics are tax deductible.
- [26:20]
C
And at the end of the day.
- [26:21]
E
If you can afford them, would you rather look at a sable or a cow?
- [26:26]
C
No, I mean like whitetail versus sable.
- [26:30]
E
Oh, the whitetail business in general.
- [26:32]
C
Yeah. Why is wise. What I meant was, and maybe I'm again making an assumption here.
- [26:38]
D
Yeah.
- [26:39]
C
That it's either or, like you can't have native wildlife whitetail system and your.
- [26:45]
E
Exotic system, you certainly can. You absolutely can have native whitetail on your ranch with exotics. No problem. No, no issues. As far as, from a business standpoint, you know, the whitetail business was on fire in Texas for, for 25, 30 years. And I think that the state of Texas regulated it to death, period. And because of chronic wasting disease, a lot of people have moved away from the whitetail business. Of course, if you were in the whitetail business, you have a set of whitetail pens, you have a working facility, you have, a lot of times, you have a vet room. Some of the bigger players had all that stuff and acres and acres of pens. So the transition is easy. You can, you can transition to an exotic species that thrives in a pen and continue your operation, continue doing things that you love and having some exciting animals on the ranch. So, yeah, we've seen a lot of people cross over from whitetail to exotics. As far as genetic breeding for superior genetics. Native whitetail, no issue. You can have them with your exotics and go on. They'll appreciate the supplemental feed, I can assure you.
- [28:02]
D
Yeah, many, like I said earlier, many of the same management principles we apply to these animals stands to benefit the, the, the white tub, the native foragers. You know, you're doing all the same silicultural practices. You know, you're doing the food plots. You're, you know, you're, you're opening up different stands of timber, you know, what may have you. Except with the exotics, it's. You're able to have that financial incentive to pay for that. Instead of you subsidizing this hunting property, you have, you can have the ranch subsidizing itself a little bit. And so there are, there's numerous individual out there that, that do it for that reason as well.
- [28:35]
C
You know, one of the things, every time I talk about high fence in Texas, the number one thing that we get hit with is that you've stopped the native wildlife from moving.
- [28:51]
E
I mean, it depends on the size of the place. So, yeah, you kind of do to a point. Obviously, there's more high fence places where I live than there is a low fence, period. I mean, there's just everywhere you look, it's high fence, but it's because people want to protect their investment. If I pay $50,000 a head for 10 sable cows, they're not going behind a low fence. I can assure you. I've got all the stories you want to hear about expensive animals jumping out of their enclosures. Like Ed the zebra. That was just viral all over the news in Tennessee. He, he jumped out of his low fence. And, you know, my brother had to go to Tennessee and catch him. And so, yeah, it is what it is. Exotics and high fence go hand in hand.
- [29:47]
D
I wouldn't call it a, an, a common occurrence, but we do still see when you say that, and most people reminds me of the jump to, well, my white tail on my place. Can't go to your place. And I wouldn't say it's a common occurrence, but I've witnessed it in person. But whitetail do in fact still jump in and out of these pens you know, their fence goes up and there are zero whitetail and thermal drones. Everything we've looked at, there's no whitetail on there. And then six months later, well, there's two does and two fawns in there just living their best life. So, you know, there is where there's a. Well, there is still very much away.
- [30:21]
E
Yeah, pigs open up holes under fences, you know, water gaps get bent, water gaps get washed out. I've seen some incredible animals that have escaped from high fence places on the side of the road. I mean, I've, I, I've, I know of a bongo bull that was on the side of the road. I've seen elk, black buck, fallow, you name it it, and it's all there. So like I said, raising exotics and high fence go hand in hand, you know, so you've got to protect your investment.
- [30:52]
C
So when somebody says, you know, I want to work with wildlife ranching, sorry, because I've said it the first time, I'm messing it up. Everybody, that's okay. Wildlife Ranch Solutions, what do you bring to the table for the landowner specifically?
- [31:12]
E
So everything from, we consult on the business startup, whether that's, you know, your corporate, corporate structure, your LLC structure, your business plan. We build business plans for people that are wanting to get into this business. And the number one reason to have a business plan is a defense against an audit from the irs, and IRS has released that information. We do that, evaluate their land, make animal recommendations. What is going to work here, what's going to thrive in this environment, what's going to be happy, healthy, producing offspring in this ranch, on this property? So we've got customers that have, you know, 100 acres and we've got customers that have thousands upon thousands of acres. The same thing may not work on 40 as it will on 40,000. So everything we do on the lead up is, is education. This is like Chuck mentioned, short grass grazers, long grass grazers, browsers, dual feeders. We really take pride in educating our customers about the ins and outs of the animals and the business and while, while taking into consideration their goals. What are your goals? What are your financial goals? Do you have any financial goals? Are you trying to offset a tax bill? You name it. From like I said, business startup to the delivery of the animals, we're there, we're there to answer questions mainly after, after the education piece and we decide on what animals are what. We're in constant communication with the client, answering any and all questions that they have.
- [32:55]
D
It goes back to the, you Know, having the correct mineral for some of these different species, having the correct feed, just supplemental for protein, you know, what does, you know, hey, do stable graze on this? Do they do that? And final, I kind of that trying to mitigate that learning curve for owning these animals. You know, regardless of your motive for owning these animals, you know, you're not going to have a $40,000 kudu cow and just forget about it. You know, whatever happens, happens. You know, you want to do whatever you can to best support that animal and have it see as many babies you can. That's, that's what we, you know, that's our function.
- [33:32]
C
So in that business plan, once you go out and you evaluate the property, are you giving them a list of exotics that you recommend would work on the property?
- [33:42]
E
Yes. Part of the business plan. In the back of the business plan, we have return on investment or ROI charts for every species that you want to raise or would consider raising in the future. So the back of the business plan, it's big pictures of whatever it is. Bongo, sable, kudu, we have cape buffalo. It's all in the back. And we talk about re the difference between retail value and wholesale value. We talk about the difference in pricing between males and females, and we give a little bit of information and, well, not statistical but factual data about the animal itself. Again, it's feeding style, maybe it's lifespan, its gestation. All that's included in the back of the business plan. Certainly. Yeah. Stocking rates is an. Is. Is. Is one of the most important things when you're considering stocking a ranch. You don't want to overstock, but you don't want to necessarily understock if you're trying to reach an ideal carrying capacity. So stocking rates is a big part. Nutritional requirements is a big part. So yes, we do.
- [34:53]
D
Absolutely.
- [34:55]
C
Who are you guys involved on the back end? Like, once I've done this, for instance, I'm one of your clients. We've interacted, we got the business plan, we've got all the recommendations. Okay, cool. I put these five species on my ranch. I know what salt I'm giving them, I know what supplements I'm giving them. Who's interacting with me six months later? Is it you guys or is it a private land consultant? What's that?
- [35:17]
E
That's what we do. We have a consulting service. It's a contractual service. Or we. We're on your ranch once a month. Chuck manages that entire program. So we take feals, we look at the fence, we top to bottom the Ranch. And then that culminates into an electronic report that, that gets sent out to the ownership, which includes, you know, high, high quality photos so you can track corn growth on some of your animals. You know, you want to know how that sable bull is doing? Well, we've got month over month pictures for the last two years of him and, and now there's software that, you know, you can upload that picture to it. It'll tell you how long he is. So, yes, every aspect of management we consult on, on holding back certain calves, trading a bull, moving excess bull calves to a different pin on the other side of the ranch because, you know, sable will fight through a fence. They'll. They'll pull a high fence out of the ground and. Yeah, yeah, so that's, that's a big part. That's the meat and potatoes of our, of our services.
- [36:21]
C
Yeah, gotcha.
- [36:22]
D
And part of that too is part of that when you are signed up, we have a contract with us for that service. We always, we talk about a lot the 247 access. So of course we're there on site one time, you know, ideally one time a month here everything's going well, but you know, that may have been today, but in a week time you might have some questions. Good, bad or ugly, you know, at midnight you can call or text and if it's an emergency, we're going to be there to help you. You know, we're going to, we're always going to answer there. We're there to answer any and all questions. You have to try to give you the most security, you know, in your decision making you can.
- [36:57]
C
To close us out. I got a very. Probably a strange question, but maybe not too strange. What are your top three exotics that you're like, man, these are, these are the top three that I'm like, I love these three that maybe somebody's never heard of.
- [37:12]
E
Personal. Personal.
- [37:13]
D
Top three, yeah.
- [37:14]
C
Personal.
- [37:16]
E
Man, that's a good one. So I like giraffes. I like it. I had a giraffe. It was a wonderful experience. I would have another one. Sable.
- [37:26]
C
What's a draft going for in Texas right now?
- [37:29]
E
A female bottle, baby.
- [37:31]
C
Oh, God. Oh, my God.
- [37:32]
E
250 to 300.
- [37:33]
C
Oh, my God.
- [37:35]
E
Yeah.
- [37:36]
D
Don't tell him about cape buffalo.
- [37:38]
C
All right, so you don't want. Buffalo's your second. What's a Buffalo go for?
- [37:43]
E
400 grand.
- [37:45]
C
Holy smokes. For a female.
- [37:47]
E
Yes, sir.
- [37:48]
C
I need to go find her. There must be a random female running in the bush of south Texas somewhere. That we can go wrangle.
- [37:55]
E
Call me if you find her. There's not a lot of people. There's probably 10 people in America that have Cape buffalo, maybe less. She had 10 to 12.
- [38:09]
C
She.
- [38:09]
E
Two years ago, there was about eight. So.
- [38:11]
C
Okay. And then the last one you said was bongo.
- [38:15]
E
Bongo, yeah.
- [38:16]
C
Different kinds of bongo, right? Don't you have two different kinds of bongo?
- [38:20]
E
Yes, yes.
- [38:22]
C
So it doesn't matter. You're, you're, you're for both.
- [38:25]
E
Yeah, yeah. Bongo. I like bongo. Kenyan mountain bongo. Yes. They're rare. I think they're just a visually striking animal.
- [38:35]
C
Crazy.
- [38:36]
E
It's a mix between the rarity and just the. They're beautiful animals.
- [38:40]
C
Yeah, I've seen, I've seen bongo. I was fortunate enough when we'd filmed Dan Cabella on his property just outside Dripping Springs. He's got some there and it was so cool to see.
- [38:51]
E
Certainly, certainly chuck your three.
- [38:56]
C
You can't, you can't copy. You can't copy. Joe, he took three.
- [38:59]
D
Oh no, don't worry. Greater kudus high up on my list. I love Sitatunga. I think they're just a wildly cool animal.
- [39:09]
C
How is Tonga living in the Texas hill country? They're swamp animals, man.
- [39:15]
D
Yeah, you'd be surprised. You find them all over. I'd say the ones that look and act the happiest are further east, but pretty far south. There's, there's a lot of great, really great country for them. They seem to be, they, they seem to do very, very well. You know, it's not exactly similar, but in a lot. In some areas we can get pretty close. Good duck pond management in South Texas produces some pretty top notch. So the Tonga country.
- [39:45]
C
Yeah, I can see that. Okay, so that's two. What's your third?
- [39:50]
D
I'm gonna have to say, I'm gonna have to say the Kenya Mountain Bongo. For, for the conservation value of them. I think it's just okay, they're wild, they're, they're, they're a challenge. You know, they're highly, highly specialized animals. I think there's less than a hundred and one hundred in Kenya right now. But they only live on that one mountain range. And I think the latest study was 240 something plants. Different plant species they're consuming there. So trying to dial in on their management here in Texas. Figure out what, what, what do they prefer? You know, what are they preferentially browsing? What kind of minerals do they really need? You know, trying to just contribute to the was largely unknown. Science I think is just, it's fantastic. It's, it's fascinating to me.
- [40:29]
C
And do we have an idea of how many Kenyan bongos can Kenyan mountain bongos we have in Texas in the.
- [40:36]
E
US I'm going to say 500. I'm, I'm thinking I know of a place in Florida. They've probably got a hundred, maybe more, maybe a little more. Just an educated guess. Yeah. 500 in the United States.
- [40:51]
D
Pretty cool.
- [40:51]
E
350 of them in Texas.
- [40:53]
C
Cool. I am disappointed in both of you though. Neither of you said lions or tigers.
- [40:59]
E
Yeah, we don't mess with lions and tigers. I don't do anything that'll eat you.
- [41:04]
D
His name, his name may be Joe, but it's not Joe. Exotic. That's right.
- [41:09]
C
You just stole my line. Thank you, Chuck Dye. I was prepping those whole bloody podcasts.
- [41:14]
E
Thanks, Chuck. Cut them off at the pass.
- [41:16]
D
Yeah, I saw, I saw my shot.
- [41:20]
C
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Guys, where can people find more information.
- [41:23]
E
About Wildlife Ranch Solutions wildliferanchsolutions.com on the Internet, Wildlife Ranch Solutions on Facebook and wildliferanchsolutions on Instagram.
- [41:36]
C
Joe, Chuck, thank you so much, man. I really appreciate both of you. And let us know if we can do anything else for you, okay?
- [41:42]
E
Certainly. Thank you, Robbie.
- [41:43]
D
Thank you. Thanks.
- [41:45]
E
Thanks.
- [41:47]
C
Well, that's it for today. I appreciate you listening. As always, leave a review, share it with your friends, and most importantly, do what's right to convey the truth around hunting.
- [42:00]
A
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