West of the Brazos Wildlife and Land Judging Contest
Challenges and Recognizes Students

There were no April Fools among the students from 22 high schools who competed in the 16th annual West of the Brazos Wildlife and Land Judging Contest held at Cooper Farm on April 1. The contest has grown from four high schools and 16 participants in 1993, to 22 high schools and 119 participants in 2008.

The 24 wildlife teams used their knowledge and skills in fish and game laws, compass and pacing, plant identification, biological facts, habitat evaluation and management, techniques, and hunting/boating safety. The 16 soil teams evaluated and rated four fields based on the soil texture, permeability, depth, slope, erosion and runoff. The students also had to select conservation management practices for each field based on the soil ranking and the scenario provided to them at each station.

Awards were presented to the highest-scoring individuals and to the school teams who had the total highest collective individual scores.
 

Team Winners for the Land Judging

Team Name	Team Members	Score	Rank
Klein	Kassidy Adamek, Kolten Burkes, Kristin Burkes, Jennifer Schneider	596	1
Deer Park	Joshua Biggs, Lauren Seiter, Michael Smithson, Scott Thornton	522	2
Weimar	Chase Anders, Colin Kasper, Jeremy Maupin, Kelsey Vana	504	3
Klein Oak	Austin Peiffer, Dakota Savacool, Nick Seitz, Stacey Sharp	501	4
Schulenburg	Frank Hinojosa, Chad Pavlicek, Justin Sytinek	487	5

Individual Winners for the Land Judging

Team Name	Name	Score	Rank
Schulenburg	Chad Pavlicek	264	1
Klein	Jennifer Schneider	219	2
Huffman	Buck Williams	211	3
Klein Oak	Austin Peiffer	203	4
Klein	Kassidy Adamek	189	5

Team Winners for the Wildlife Judging

Team Name	Team Members	Score	Rank
Weimar	Dalton Ervin, Baron Kloesel, Jeremy Maupin, Jonathan Treptow	307	1
Tomball #1	Kara Meyer, Kelsey Morris, James Ponder, Anthony Sacchieri	265	2
Klein	Taylor Baron, Patrick Davis, John Soileau, Kyle Stokes	233	3
Angleton	Garrett Barnett, Stewart Roye, Cullen Standard, Toby Tyler	230	4
Flatonia	Ethan Benton, Brandon Burklund, Bryce Mica, Eric Velasquez	214	5

Individual Winners for the Land Judging

Team Name	Name	Score	Rank
Weimar	Dalton Ervin	114	1
Weimar	Preston Langhoff	105	2
Tomball #1	Anthony Sacchierri	102	3
Weimar	Jonathan Treptow	99	4
Angleton	Toby Tyler	98	5

Sponsors for the contest were USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service and the county soil and water conservation districts (SWCDs) of Austin, Fayette, Burleson, Lee and Washington.

High school teams were from Angleton, A&M Consolidated, Bellville, Caldwell, Columbia, Columbus, Crosby, Deer Park, Flatonia, Hempstead, Huffman, Klein, Klein Oak, Lockhart, Needville, Schulenburg, Sealy, Snook, Stony Point, Thorndale, Tomball, and Weimar.

For all team and individual rankings for the contest, visit www.judgingcard.com.

Click on thumbnail for larger image.

Students closely examine one of the plants in the plant identification.	Students tried out the boat after they were tested on fish and games laws and hunting and boating safety.
Compass and Pacing was one of the wildlife skills test that students in the West of the Brazos Wildlife and Land Judging Contest competed in as individuals and for team scoring.	Four different fields put the students soils and land knowledge to use as they measured soil depth, texture, permeability, slope, erosion and runoff.

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