Running V Ranch Has Worked the Same Atascosa Ground Since 1916

Running V Ranch covers 5,600 acres of Atascosa County brush country. Suzanne and Pat Schuchart's family has managed the property since 1916. Texas Parks and Wildlife named it the 2025 South Texas Lone Star Land Steward winner.

The ranch has built water systems and cross fences. It also uses herbicide from the air and machines on the ground to control brush. The work supports forage and a mix of plants for cattle and wildlife. The same ground holds white-tailed deer, quail, Rio Grande turkeys, mottled ducks, other waterfowl, and migrating songbirds.

Some of the work reaches beyond the fence. Running V has hosted youth hunts, dog-training trials, field tours, brush-control tests, and studies of mottled ducks and old-world bluestem. The ranch is private, but its experiments and field days are meant to be shared.