Passport to Texas

Feral Hog, image TPWD

 Outdoor Story: Shea and the Wild Boar: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Insert sfx of hogs roaming around

Opportunistic eaters, a campsite packed with trail mix and hot dogs would be prize winnings to a feral pig – except, they’re not always welcome.

Hearing a raid on his campsite one night, young camper, Shea Prihoda tells us about the scare his grunting visitors gave him.

21 – I was camping once and I was sleeping and I woke up because something fell beside my tent and it caved in. So I started hitting and it started growling like a boar. So I started screaming because I was scared cuz it was right by my head. Then, one of the adults, I heard his tent unzip and he threw something, and then we heard a bunch of boars stampeding through our campsite. Anyone that woke up from my screaming heard it.

That night, the pigs and the food were left unscathed; but another encounter is something Shafer…and the pigs…want to avoid

03 – I would kill a pig if I could these days. Let’s go hunting!

Before you go hunting, Shea, you’ll need to pass a hunter education class and purchase a license.

Frightening or fun: we want to hear your memorable outdoor experience. Share it with us at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…we record our series at Block House Studios in Austin…the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Mike & Gloria Quinn, http://www.texasento.net

 Outdoor Stories: Mike Quinn and his Bugs: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Mike Quinn is an invertebrate biologist who used to ply his trade with Parks and Wildlife He says his interest in bugs developed through an interest in birds.

60 –My parents were birdwatchers, and I had an interest in outdoors as a child. But it wasn’t until I was in my twenties… I was helping ornithologists at UT study painted buntings at McKinney Falls State Park, and walked around the bend, and we saw this large butterfly there sunning itself – absolutely gorgeous in the sun – and Anita Fauquier says, “I think that’s a giant swallowtail.” And it hit me like a ton of bricks. It was an epiphany for me that you could put a name on an insect. Why that was a revelation to me I still don’t quite don’t know, because I could identify birds by sight and sound, and plants and herps and etcetera. But putting a name on an insect was somehow a foreign concept. And I went home and I borrowed my mother’s butterfly field guide (which I haven’t quite returned yet), and just from that point on I started paying much closer attention to insects, and that led me to my degree now that I have in entomology.

Go to passporttotexas.org, and share your outdoor story with us…and we might share it with Texas.

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

 Legacies: Garaldine Watson: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Beginning in the 1960’s Geraldine Watson, a self-trained botanist from Silsbee, Texas, worked tirelessly with the Big Thicket Association to persuade government officials to pass a bill that would create a national park from land in southeast Texas known as The Big Thicket. Her path was fraught with twists, turns and roadblocks – some of which came from preservation proponents.

56—Well, like every other organization, everybody involved had their own ideas about what needed to be done. There was a faction that wanted ten thousand acres in what we call the traditional thicket – which is dense thickety wetland. And then there was another faction that was interested in the ecological Big Thicket. And it was sort of a war that went on between the proponents of the preserve at the time. And we all really wanted to see the bill passed. And we realized that it would never get passed as long as we were fighting one another. We did manage to get together and come to a compromise with something to present to the park service and to congress to where we could all stand together on it. So it came down to a plan of a number of different scattered units amounting to – oh, I forget – seventy-something-thousand acres. But we managed to work together in the end.

The Wildlife and sport fish restoration program supports our series and is celebrating 75 years of funding diverse conservation projects throughout Texas…

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

 Outdoor Story: Philipp Hubner: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Philipp Hübner, from Austin, spent his formative years in Tennessee. His outdoor story is about the value of befriending landowners.

One of the things that strikes me about the great outdoors is there are so many beautiful places that are on private lands.

And, from there, we just really grew to appreciate the relationships that people can build with other people that might have beautiful scenery and other attractions on their own private land. So, I’d encourage anybody that has the opportunity to do that, by all means do it. And, enjoy what’s out there.

Thanks, Philipp. Visit passportotexas.org and tell us your outdoor story.

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

 Archery and the Hunger Games: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Hunger Games is a high octane movie that keeps viewers on the edge of their seats; but that’s not all. Archery plays a significant role in the film, which may have contributed to an uptick in the public’s interest in the sport.

09—Every few years it seems like a big movie comes out and archery is in the movie. And, usually the hero is doing the archery—so that’s good. Great for business, I guess.

Burnie Kessner oversees the archery in schools program for Parks and Wildlife. He cautions young people who’ve been inspired by the motion picture, to seek guidance before doing any shooting.

12—Go to your local archery shop; find one that’s nearby. Talk to them, and they’ll really make sure you’re getting fitted with the equipment correctly, and you can probably try different equipment. They’re the experts who can really get you started right.

In addition to safety considerations, Bernie Kessner says know the laws where you live before shooting an arrow into the air—or anywhere.

18—If you live in town, it may be against a city ordinance or something to just walk out in your yard and shoot a bow and arrow. So, you really ought to check local laws and codes and things like that. And there are safe dedicated places to do archery. So, figure out where those are—or that local archery shop will tell you.

For more information on archery visit the TPW website.

The Wildlife and Sport fish Restoration program supports our series and works top increase shooting sports in Texas.

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