KERR WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AREA. The Kerr Wildlife Management Area, located in Kerr County, overlooks the headwaters of the North Fork of the Guadalupe River twelve miles northwest of Hunt. The Edwards Plateau, which includes the 6,493 acres of the preserve, is characterized by rolling hills, freshwater springs, cedar brakes, and live oak-shin oak thickets. The wildlife management area was established when the Texas Game, Fish, and Oyster Commission (later the Texas Parks and Wildlife Departmentqv) purchased the Mo-Ranch rangelands from the Presbyterian Synod of Texas in August 1950. The tract was acquired to allow domestic and wild animals to interact, to promote wildlife research, and for experimentation in range improvements and wildlife-management techniques. The entire compound is enclosed with 7½-foot-high, deer-proof fences; ten individual experimental plots of ninety-six acres each allow the study of sheep, goats, cattle, and deer under controlled conditions. In addition, the effects of grazing on range plants, deer-harvest methods, and herd productivity, as well as the effects of recently introduced exotics, are studied. Since 1954 the area has conducted a controlled hunting program that allows hunters to harvest surplus deer. Three wildlife species found in the area are the white-tail deer, the wild turkey, and the golden-cheeked warbler.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Frank Etheredge, "Kerr Wildlife Management Area," Texas Parks and Wildlife, November 1970. Kerr Wildlife Management Area (brochure, Austin: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, 1983).
