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Feb 12th, 2024
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 Horned toads
#6393439
08/03/16 07:47 PM
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Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 135
N-Rut
OP
Woodsman
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OP
Woodsman
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 135 |
Just curious if anyone knew what wiped them out. I have heard it was due to fire ants, but was not sure.
Never miss the pleasure to take a kid hunting
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Re: Horned toads
[Re: N-Rut]
#6393450
08/03/16 07:53 PM
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Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 1,102
Bbear
Pro Tracker
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Pro Tracker
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 1,102 |
I've heard a couple of different things from biologist/TPWD folks and just plain 'folks'.
- Usage of pesticides like round-up
- fire ants (though I've seen one eat them without messing up their nests/mound)
- extended drought
- combination(s) of the above.
I have been seeing more of them this year than in many years before though. Hopefully, the little critters will come back.
[IMG][/IMG]
Pay it forward - Kids are the future.
Rifles are similar to boats and young women...there's no end to how much money you can pour into them without making them any more useful.
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Re: Horned toads
[Re: N-Rut]
#6393451
08/03/16 07:53 PM
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Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 3,177
sallysue
Veteran Tracker
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Veteran Tracker
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 3,177 |
Chemicals that we use and we've taken their habitat away On the impact zone at Ft hood they still have them and quail
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Re: Horned toads
[Re: sallysue]
#6393462
08/03/16 08:01 PM
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 32,486
kmon11
junior
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junior
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 32,486 |
Chemicals that we use and we've taken their habitat away On the impact zone at Ft hood they still have them and quail Agree about the chemicals hurting their population more than anything. Lease I was on in Callahan County had lots of them, very little use of chemicals on that place
lf the saying "Liar, Liar your pants on fire" were true
Mainstream news might be fun to watch
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Re: Horned toads
[Re: N-Rut]
#6394184
08/04/16 09:43 AM
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Joined: May 2006
Posts: 31,055
HWY_MAN
THF Celebrity
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THF Celebrity
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 31,055 |
I have to dodge hornytoads daily and my oil and water haulers do the same. Anybody coming on this ranch knows to give hornytoads the right of way. The biggest threat to hornytoads is road runners and we're having an explosion of roadrunners this year. I know the Roadrunner is protected but the state really needs to consider how much damage a roadrunner can create. Personally I hate the damn things! They'll eat anything they can swallow and small quail, inch and half hornytoads are no challenge. I put them on the same level as coyotes and feral hog's. On my plunger lift wells the scissor tails always nested behind the controller panel until the RR's figured it out, now I have no nests behind the panels. The state needs to take a serious look at these birds and let go of the emotion and look at hard facts, they are a top notch predator.
Last edited by HWY_MAN; 08/04/16 09:56 AM.
Yes! A Weatherby does kill them deader.
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Re: Horned toads
[Re: N-Rut]
#6394186
08/04/16 10:07 AM
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Joined: May 2006
Posts: 31,055
HWY_MAN
THF Celebrity
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THF Celebrity
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 31,055 |
Hornytoads need ant's! If your taking out ant beds your taking away a food source. Carpenter ant's seem to be their favorites, find a bed of them and you'll find a hornytoad within 15 ft. Fire ant's are a whole different story.
Yes! A Weatherby does kill them deader.
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Re: Horned toads
[Re: N-Rut]
#6394218
08/04/16 11:53 AM
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Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 2,869
topwater13
Veteran Tracker
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Veteran Tracker
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 2,869 |
^^^They love harvester ants. The big red ants.
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Re: Horned toads
[Re: N-Rut]
#6394319
08/04/16 01:30 PM
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Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 2,451
Dalroo
Veteran Tracker
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Veteran Tracker
Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 2,451 |
My understanding is that HTs feed on the big red ants. When the fire ants invaded, it forced the red ants out of habitat, so HTs lost part of food source and impacted their numbers. Good to see some making a comeback.
Same with quail - fire ants impacted them greatly, but also starting to see more in my fields, so hoping they continue to thrive.
And yes on roadrunners as well. We have a bumper crop of RRs in central Texas.
Dalroo
Deep in the Heart of Texas
How about that Brandon!
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Re: Horned toads
[Re: HWY_MAN]
#6394321
08/04/16 01:30 PM
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Joined: Mar 2016
Posts: 474
rex47
Bird Dog
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Bird Dog
Joined: Mar 2016
Posts: 474 |
I have to dodge hornytoads daily and my oil and water haulers do the same. Anybody coming on this ranch knows to give hornytoads the right of way. The biggest threat to hornytoads is road runners and we're having an explosion of roadrunners this year. I know the Roadrunner is protected but the state really needs to consider how much damage a roadrunner can create. Personally I hate the damn things! They'll eat anything they can swallow and small quail, inch and half hornytoads are no challenge. I put them on the same level as coyotes and feral hog's. On my plunger lift wells the scissor tails always nested behind the controller panel until the RR's figured it out, now I have no nests behind the panels. The state needs to take a serious look at these birds and let go of the emotion and look at hard facts, they are a top notch predator.
very true, they will wipe out a quail nest in a minute, and any other small criters.
when the going gets really tough, I sit down and rest
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Re: Horned toads
[Re: rex47]
#6394331
08/04/16 01:39 PM
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Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 686
MoBettaHuntR
Tracker
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Tracker
Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 686 |
I have to dodge hornytoads daily and my oil and water haulers do the same. Anybody coming on this ranch knows to give hornytoads the right of way. The biggest threat to hornytoads is road runners and we're having an explosion of roadrunners this year. I know the Roadrunner is protected but the state really needs to consider how much damage a roadrunner can create. Personally I hate the damn things! They'll eat anything they can swallow and small quail, inch and half hornytoads are no challenge. I put them on the same level as coyotes and feral hog's. On my plunger lift wells the scissor tails always nested behind the controller panel until the RR's figured it out, now I have no nests behind the panels. The state needs to take a serious look at these birds and let go of the emotion and look at hard facts, they are a top notch predator.
very true, they will wipe out a quail nest in a minute, and any other small criters. Road runners are like miniature velociraptors. I feel the same way about hawks and owls too. Cool as they are they capitalize on human disruption of habitats of prey species and decimate them. Look on the side of highways, fresh cut hay fields, new land developments etc. Sorry to get off topic back to horny toads...
-Those who say money can't buy happiness never bought a dog.
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Re: Horned toads
[Re: N-Rut]
#6394364
08/04/16 01:59 PM
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Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 5,038
jetdad
THF Trophy Hunter
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THF Trophy Hunter
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 5,038 |
Some of the older pesticides like DDT significantly hurt the harvester ants. This occurred when I was a kid, back in the 50's. Horned toads were everywhere then, nowhere to be found in the 60's. Fire ants have not helped the harvester ants but nonlethal pesticides (to the harvester ants) have helped boost their population and therefore helped the horned toad. I love the little critters. Very friendly and so cool to look at.
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Re: Horned toads
[Re: MoBettaHuntR]
#6394384
08/04/16 02:09 PM
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Joined: Jul 2013
Posts: 7,179
therancher
THF Trophy Hunter
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THF Trophy Hunter
Joined: Jul 2013
Posts: 7,179 |
Went to the big lake ranch last week and saw two ht's. One was being attacked by a road runner. He got rescued. He had been shooting blood from his eyes and was standing tall and swaying back and forth real slow and menacing. I had never seen that before. Here he is post rescue and the next pic is one that I saw later.  
Crotchety old bastidge
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Re: Horned toads
[Re: N-Rut]
#6394390
08/04/16 02:15 PM
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Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 686
MoBettaHuntR
Tracker
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Tracker
Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 686 |
-Those who say money can't buy happiness never bought a dog.
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Re: Horned toads
[Re: N-Rut]
#6394538
08/04/16 04:03 PM
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Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 12,861
PMK
THF Celebrity
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THF Celebrity
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 12,861 |
a funny little story my dad told ... after he went thru basis training back in WWII, he was stationed around Mineral Wells before being deployed to the European theater, he said there were a bunch of horny toads (and red ant beds) all around the AFB. He and a bunch of other guys would catch them and use an ink pen to write their names on the HT's belly so they could tell them apart ... a number of years later when he returned from Europe, he went back to the Mineral Wells AFB and said there were several older horny toads around that still had people's names written on them. The ink had soaked into their belly skin like a tattoo, probably had for the rest of their life.
we had a bunch around Burnet where I grew up, we would catch them and pet them. They got pretty gentle towards humans.
"everyone that lives dies but not everyone who dies lived..."
~PMK~
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Re: Horned toads
[Re: N-Rut]
#6394736
08/04/16 06:38 PM
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Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 2,663
CRAnderson52
Veteran Tracker
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Veteran Tracker
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 2,663 |
We see about one a year on our place in Coleman!
You can run but you can't hide...
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Re: Horned toads
[Re: N-Rut]
#6394831
08/04/16 07:50 PM
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Joined: May 2007
Posts: 8,166
westtexaswatkins
THF Trophy Hunter
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THF Trophy Hunter
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 8,166 |
I have a lot of horny toads at my house and the ranch. Not many roadrunners at my house and lots of ants but no fireants. I did kill a prairie rattler in my front yard a few years ago with a big belly. We cut it open to see what he ate and it was a large horny toad.
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Re: Horned toads
[Re: N-Rut]
#6394840
08/04/16 07:56 PM
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Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 110,795
dogcatcher
THF Celebrity
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THF Celebrity
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 110,795 |
Our horned toad population went down hill when they started spaying for boll weevils. Now that the boll weevil spraying has about stopped the population is slowly making a coming back.
Combat Infantryman, the ultimate hunter where the prey shoots back.
_____________"Illegitimus non carborundum est"_______________![[Linked Image]](https://texashuntingforum.com/forum/pics/usergals/2018/09/full-3152-162968-charge_air_assault.jpg)
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Re: Horned toads
[Re: westtexaswatkins]
#6394849
08/04/16 08:15 PM
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Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 365
Buccaneer
Bird Dog
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Bird Dog
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 365 |
I have a lot of horny toads at my house and the ranch. Not many roadrunners at my house and lots of ants but no fireants. I did kill a prairie rattler in my front yard a few years ago with a big belly. We cut it open to see what he ate and it was a large horny toad. I killed a rattlesnake in Young County a few years ago and when I skinned him I also found a fully intact horned lizard: 
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Re: Horned toads
[Re: N-Rut]
#6395411
08/05/16 04:26 AM
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Joined: Jun 2016
Posts: 13
Scrap
Light Foot
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Light Foot
Joined: Jun 2016
Posts: 13 |
Alive and well around San Angelo
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Re: Horned toads
[Re: Buccaneer]
#6395412
08/05/16 04:28 AM
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Joined: Jun 2016
Posts: 13
Scrap
Light Foot
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Light Foot
Joined: Jun 2016
Posts: 13 |
That's actually what I call a rusty lizard and not a horned toad. Look at previous pictures.
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Re: Horned toads
[Re: N-Rut]
#6395940
08/05/16 06:47 PM
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 907
Triplesnake
Tracker
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Tracker
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 907 |
We have a good population of harvester ants on our place in llano, but have never seen a horny toad. We also have a good population of road runners though...
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Re: Horned toads
[Re: N-Rut]
#6395980
08/05/16 07:27 PM
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Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 716
Gary Willmann
Tracker
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Tracker
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 716 |
Saw a cool video this morning on TPW's web site where they just hatched 25 little HTs. I hope they survive.
We used to see them by the hundreds when I was a kid living in Midland in the mid 70's. Hard to believe they are so scarce. Awesome little creatures.
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Re: Horned toads
[Re: N-Rut]
#6396475
08/06/16 03:27 AM
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Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 1,806
MathMan
Pro Tracker
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Pro Tracker
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 1,806 |
I saw two dead on the road today while I was jogging. Sad. Haven't seen any alive down here in about 4 years.
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Re: Horned toads
[Re: N-Rut]
#6396500
08/06/16 04:25 AM
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Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 9,719
Mickey Moose
THF Trophy Hunter
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THF Trophy Hunter
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 9,719 |
When I hunted in Putnam a few years ago I saw a couple. Really neat for me since I had never seen one in person before.
My botnet is bigger than yours.
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Re: Horned toads
[Re: N-Rut]
#6399777
08/09/16 02:47 AM
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Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 3,469
vanguard
Veteran Tracker
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Veteran Tracker
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 3,469 |
i think our eco system is just changing, horned toads were everywhere back in the day, now i see things i never use to see back then, like geckos, thos frogs that stick to walls like in the rain forest, porcupines, never seen those around here back then, bull frogs are also darn near non existent around here. our seasons are shifting, like a month or two late, when i was a kid i had to wear a jacket when school started and when i went dove hunting, that was september, now were lucky if its cold in november. and now were still seeing cold fronts march and april
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