I will never forget seeing two big sika bucks standing in the middle of Highway 12 between Deweyville and Mauriceville. Undoubtedly, escapees from a nearby exotic ranch, the two beautiful deer, which are native to Japan, looked out of place but somehow blended with their surroundings.
That encounter nearly 15 years ago got me to ponder just how the wilds of Southeast Texas would change with the constant introduction of exotics. Recently, a conversation with someone at my church inspired me to write about these introduced animals and other mysterious wildlife of the region.
Just a few years ago, police in West Orange told me they saw a big axis deer buck about 500 yards from my parent’s home. If that had happened when I was a kid, I would probably still be out there with my bow looking for it. I was one hardcore hunter bent on getting back strap and antlers back in those days.
Around the same time, someone stocked Rocky Mountain Elk on the Louisiana side of Sabine Pass and they would cross back and forth into Texas across the ship channel. I remember on several seeing huge bull elk standing out in the water around Lighthouse Cove.
Not exotic but certainly not something you would expect to see in East Texas, the black-tailed jackrabbit is known for dwelling dry country. However, by thumbing through an excellent book called the “Mammals of Texas” you see, that according to known county records, they range into most of East Texas.
I personally do not know of anyone who has ever seen a jackrabbit in East Texas, but according to these records, the Pineywoods is part of their range.
I found this book very interesting because unlike many that show extremely limited animal ranges; this one showed a lot more realistic possibilities for a number of species.
The ringtail or “ringtail cat” (not actually a cat) is another such animal with a mysterious range. Like the jackrabbit, they are associated with the Hill Country and Trans Pecos, but their distribution map shows them ranging throughout the state.
Unlike the jackrabbit, I do know someone who reported seeing one years ago in Orange County. My high school art teacher and renowned wildlife artist Tommy Humphrey told me of a ringtail sighting near what is now a developed area of the county. The book denotes a confirmed sighting in Jefferson County.
There were several animals in the book that most people would find surprising to ever range in Texas. One is a beautifully-marked wild cat called the margay.
“The margay is a neotropical felid that ranges from northern
Mexico to northern Argentina. It is recorded from Texas on the basis of a specimen taken near Eagle Pass in the 1850s. Eddleman and Akersten found remains of this cat in Pleistocene deposits along the Sabine River in Orange County, so a few thousand years ago it ranged over a considerable part of southern Texas.”
“The margay inhabits the forested areas of tropical America. It is not a common animal and its habits are not well known. It is expert at climbing trees, in which it is likely to be found resting during the day. The margay spends some of its time foraging in trees catching birds and small mammals, but also captures prey on the ground. Very little is known about its food habits except that the opossum is known to be included in its diet.”
The West Indian manatee sometimes range through Southeast Texas. Just last month there was one found near Corpus Christi and in the last decade there have been several in the Houston Ship Channel. Scientists believe they migrate up and down the Intracoastal Canal and this occasionally brings them into local waters.
The book said, “Manatees are extremely rare in Texas although near the turn of the century they apparently were not uncommon in the Laguna Madre. Texas records also include specimens from Cow Bayou, near Sabine Lake, Copano Bay, the Bolivar Peninsula, and the mouth of the Rio Grande.”
The long-tailed weasel is another animal I have never heard a report of anywhere in Texas, but according to the book, they are present statewide with the exception of portions of the Panhandle.
They are reported as being, a “slender, long-bodied carnivore with small head, long neck, short legs, and relatively long, slender tail; upperparts yellowish-brown; head blackish; spot between eyes, broad band (confluent with color of underparts) on each side of head between ear and eye, chin and upper lip white.
The tip of their tail is black and while their underparts are
“orange buff, which color extends down back of front legs over forefeet and on inside of hind legs to foot and sometimes onto toes.”
The grizzly bear is another such mysterious Texas animal or it was at one point in time.
“Only two specimens of grizzly bears are available from Texas.
According to Vernon Bailey, who wrote of this bear in his Biological Survey of Texas, a large and very old male grizzly was killed in the Davis Mountains in October, 1890 by C. O. Finley and John Z. Means.”
“Mr. Finley reported that the claws on the front feet were about 31/2 inches long, and the color of the bear was brown with gray tips to the hairs. Its weight was estimated at 1,100 pounds "if it had been fat."
The book also details that a Walter Dalquest reported, “examining the partial skull of a grizzly bear that had washed out on the banks of the Red River (Montague County) about 1950. This specimen has since been lost.”
Texas despite its growing human population still has lots of wildlife habitat and it is sanctuary for many fascinating creatures. One thing I have learned in a lifetime of wildlife study is that animals cannot read maps and just because some books show them with a limited range does not mean they can’t cross a county line and head into new territory.
You can check out the online edition of the Mammals of Texas
http://www.nsrl.ttu.edu/tmot1/
Chester Moore, Jr. is the Port Arthur News Outdoors Editor. To contact Chester Moore, e-mail him at saltwater@fishgame.com. You can hear him on the radio Fridays from 6-7 p.m. on Newstalk AM 560 KLVI or online at www.klvi.com.
