Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas outdoor Stories

Paul Dockery, from San Antonio, emailed his outdoor story to us through our website: passporttotexas.org.

He told us he’s an avid outdoorsman and a member of the Christian Outdoor Alliance. He shares his favorite times spent in the outdoors.

You know, it’s not that any one in particular thing happens. It’s just the fact that we get to get to get away and spend some quality time together. And we’ll be out on God’s front porch enjoying the beautiful weather and just enjoying each other. My favorite times in the outdoors are when I get to load up with my wife and the kids. And we’ll have an ice chest and some goodies in it, and some folding chairs and a portable grill, and we’ll drag our boat out to a riverbank somewhere in the Hill Country. And just spend the day getting by on what we didn’t forget to bring. We’ll have some fishing rods, and things like that, and probably take the dog with us, and spend the day out enjoying the Hill Country.

Visit passportotexas.org and send us your outdoor story. We may invite you to tell it to Passport to Texas listeners, like Paul did.

That’s our show for today… Remember: Life’s Better Outside…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

 

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This is Passport to Texas Outdoor Stories

Ask Eveline Evans about the value of spending time outdoors and she’s not shy about sharing her views.

:14–It’s just a great stress reliever. It’s wonderful to get out and get away from the urban areas, and enjoy the trees and the streams. I mean, it’s just wonderful to get away.

Eveline gets away with family whenever she can. She says sharing time outdoors with loved ones—even if it’s just taking a walk in nature—is critical to healthy, balanced relationships. It brings families closer…it encourages dialogues.

:32–Well, I think it’s very important. My husband and I, we go walking all the time together in different locations. We love the Texas state parks. We’ve done Big bend and the Davis Mountains, Caprock Canyon, Palo Duro Canyon…all of those are just wonderful places to go out and walk. You can talk about anything it seems like. Every little thing that comes up—you can explain to younger ones your value systems, or whatever. Why when you pass a snake you’re not supposed to kill it—you just leave it alone, that type stuff.

What do you love about spending time in the outdoors? We want to know. Go to passporttotexas.org and share your outdoor story with us.

That’s our show…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

 

 Texas Outdoor Story--Eveline Evans: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

When I say Texas Game Warden, what image pops into your head? Is it someone in uniform, patrolling field and forest looking for poachers? You’d be right…but it doesn’t stop there. Texas game wardens have varied jobs—all of which help protect our state’s natural resources.

Eric Howard is a 19 year veteran in the department. He currently coordinates the Operation Game Thief Program—a type of crime-stoppers for wildlife. But his career path in the force has been varied and satisfying.

I spent 12 years in the field, and in about the 12th year, I was able to become an instructor at the Game warden Academy. And when you have the opportunity to make an impression on young men and women, you know, you’re shaping and molding them. And that’s certainly a highlight. Then about a year and a half ago, I had the opportunity to become the program coordinator for Operation Game Thief. It’s really been a blast. It’s totally a different avenue, from being at the academy and being a field game warden. This one, you get to meet a lot of people. It’s really been a blast.

You can find information on becoming a game warden when you log onto the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

That’s our show…thank you for joining us… we record our series in Austin at the Production Block Studios… Joel Block engineers our program.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

 

 Outdoor Story: A Game Warden's Life: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas Outdoor Stories

When you love the outdoors, you may be hard pressed to come up with a single moment in nature as being the most memorable of your life. Texas Highways Editor, Charles Lohrmann, took on the challenge.

When you asked me to describe one of my most memorable Texas outdoor moments, I thought about a particular amazing sunrise over the gulf in Padre Island, and then sort of a psychedelic sunset at Big Bend. And then, one afternoon I was out birding, and saw a bobcat who seemed to watching me as I was birding.

And I feel like I can sense the earth’s heartbeat at that time, and that I’m connected to something far greater than my imagination.

Thanks, Charles…works for me. Have an outdoor story to share? Go to passporttotexas.org and tell us about it.

That’s our show for today… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

 

 Texas Outdoor Story: Winged Migration: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas Outdoor Stories

If you don’t think fishing makes memories, then you haven’t heard Scott Harris of Austin tell his real life fish story of the boy and the barracuda.

On one of my first deep sea fishing trips with my oldest son, in the gulf, out of Port Aransas, he wouldn’t concentrate. He was just playing with his bait, just up under the boat; nowhere near have the 230 or so feet where we were bottom fishing. And I was just about to admonish him to, you know, drop your bait down and see if you can catch a nice snapper. And I was looking at his bait bouncing on the water, just ten or fifteen feet below the boat, and a barracuda longer than him shot up like a lightening bolt and engulfed his bait, and zoomed up in an arc, and jumped and he reeled it in all by his tiny self. And we gaffed it and pulled it on the boat; and all the grown men jumped up on the benches as it was thrashing and gnashing the needle-sharp teeth. And, it was a beautiful fish that’s back out there now to give someone else a thrill. And it’s a story that comes up every single time we’re in a group of people who love to fish. Fishing makes great memories.

If you have an outdoor memory you’d like to share, do so at passporttotexas.org.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

 

 Outdoor Story: The Boy and the Barracuda: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download