Kaufman County is splitting between fast growth on the Dallas side and working land toward Cedar Creek. On the land that stays rural, a wildlife plan is often the practical way to hold the valuation once cattle or hay stop paying.
Last reviewed October 2026. Your appraisal district has the final say, so confirm the details with them.
We walk your Kaufman County property, look at what the deer and other wildlife are using and what they lack, and write a plan around that. The plan names the practices, where they go and when, and who does each job.
We prepare your plan and help you file it with Kaufman Central Appraisal District. After that we can help with the yearly practices and prepare the annual report from your records.
West of Terrell and around Forney the county is filling in. East and south, toward Kemp, Mabank and Cedar Creek Reservoir, it is still Blackland Prairie pasture and hay ground with timbered creeks, and the East Fork of the Trinity runs through bottomland.
Deer move along the creek and river timber and use pasture edges. On smaller tracts, the biggest gains usually come from cover and food in the right spots, and from keeping hogs out of the bottoms.
Protecting and thickening timber along drainages is habitat control and the backbone of deer use here.
Small plots on old hay ground count as supplemental food and hold deer through winter.
Trapping in the Trinity bottoms counts as predator control.
Shelter and census practices that fit small tracts and are easy to record.
Every property is different. These are starting points, and the plan for your land comes from walking it.
Kaufman CAD's ag guidelines say a minimum of 12.5 acres designated to wildlife management is required.
The application and the TPWD wildlife management plan (PWD 885) are due between January 1 and April 30. Each later year, the district asks for the annual report on TPWD form PWD 888.
For an ordinary ag valuation, Kaufman CAD looks for at least nine contiguous acres and enough grass and water for three head of cattle on 9 acres, plus one per additional 8 acres. Hay needs two cuttings in a normal year. Beekeeping needs six hives on 5 acres, plus one hive for each additional 2.5 acres.
District website: Kaufman Central Appraisal District.
CHECK IT YOURSELF
LVG Wildlife Solutions prepares wildlife management plans and supporting records. We are not attorneys or tax advisors, and nothing on this page is legal or tax advice.
Plug in your acres and land value. The estimator uses Kaufman County's typical 2025 rural tax rate and the productivity value its appraisal district reports, then shows a rough yearly range and every figure it used.
Remember what it measures: the difference between full market-value taxes and an ag or wildlife valuation. If your land already has an ag valuation, a wildlife plan is how you keep that difference, not add to it.
See what goes into a wildlife management plan or ask us about your property.
Kaufman CAD's guidelines call for at least 12.5 acres designated to wildlife management. The land also needs to be in an ag or timber valuation already.
Yes. The guidelines call for an annual report on TPWD form PWD 888 each year after the plan is approved. We prepare the report from your records and help you file it.
Possibly, by switching to wildlife management. You file a 1-d-1 application with a wildlife management plan before May 1 and carry out three of the seven practices each year.
More questions and answers · How the Texas wildlife exemption works
Maps, practices, a year-by-year calendar, cost estimates, and the forms ready to file.
Read moreTHE FIRST STEPWe walk your Kaufman County property, find what it's short of, and tell you straight what would help most.
Read moreTHE PROCESSFrom the first call to the site visit, the plan, filing help and every year after.
Read moreSERVICESAssessments, plans, annual reports and habitat work, in the order your land needs them.
Read moreWHY USWhitetail and habitat specialists who walk every property and stay with you after the plan.
Read moreGET STARTEDTell us the county, the acreage and your goals. Plans are quoted to the property.
Get in touchTell us the acreage, how it's used now and what you want from it. We'll tell you plainly what would help most and what it would take.