It should be a good summer for white-tailed deer and other wildlife at the top of the Texas Hill Country as a result of favorable conditions and improved habitat.

Beneficial rainfall has helped produce a record hay harvest in Mills County, Warren Blesh, owner of the RRR Ranch near Goldthwaite, told the Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) Radio Network. It’s also helped wildlife flourish from the excellent conditions.

Blesh said he’s seeing many white-tailed deer fawns right now.

“As you know, fawns are kind of like a calf when they’re born. The mothers hide them out for about three to four weeks. It’s been about a month since the fawns hit the ground, and the mothers are now starting to take them around on their daily routine,” Blesh said. “It’s a lot of fun seeing those fawns come out, and we’re seeing quite a few twins this year. That’s also a result of the excellent nutrition.”

Blesh noted bobwhite quail have also returned to the county, and there appears to be an excellent turkey hatch in the area.

“It’s a wonderful time to be in the Hill Country, and I think this is going to be, for hunters, one of the top years going forward,” he said. “We’ll see more quality and better bucks than we have in the last 10 years.”