Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program

Dove season ushers in the fall hunting season. The question is: will you be ready?

Those hunters need to be thinking about some primary things that deal with safety.

Terry Erwin oversees Hunter Education programs at Texas Parks and Wildlife.

They need to make sure they have their hunter education class completed; they need to make sure those firearms are in good, operable condition; and one of the most important things is to get out there in the field and practice.

And Erwin says dove and quail hunters would do well to get in some practice with sporting clays, because nothing is more frustrating to a hunter than to spend a day in the field with only missed shots to show for it.

Sporting clays typically simulates the shooting scenarios that you’ll find in the dove field, or out in the quail fields. So, take advantage of this time and get out there an practice.

Erwin also offers some sobering advice to hunters.

And don’t forget. It’s really hot out there this time of the year. Keep hydrated. Keep the liquids flowing. But remember, don’t drink that alcohol.

That’s our show for today…supported by the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program. Working to increase fishing and hunting in Texas.

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

 

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program

Are you in need of a hunting forecast, or a place to experience nature at its most wild? Then look no further than the September issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine. Managing Editor, Louie Bond.

In September, we always have our big hunting forecast. It’s much more than the dates and the permits required. We actually have lot’s of biologists who contribute to the interview, and tell us about how, perhaps, rain has affected the particular season and other environmental factors—just to tell us how’s it looking this year for quail and javalinas and things like that. So, it’s a really thorough, up-to-date look at what the hunting season is going to look like.

Another thing we have in the September issue—we featured Big Bend in our August issue—and if Big Bend is a little too populated for you, you can head out that way and go to Black Gap WMA. And it’s the biggest one in the state, and it’s really for roughing it, but it’s just huge and there’s so many things you can do out there, and the hunting is great out there, they’ve reintroduced the big horn sheep…but there’s also a lot of recreational opportunities for people who aren’t afraid to rough it. So, check out our September issue and find new ways to get outdoors.

The September issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine is on newsstands now.

That’s our show for today…we receive support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program… providing funding for the operations and management of more than 50 wildlife management areas …For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

 

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Wildlife Restoration Program

Big Time Texas Hunts offers hunters the chance to win one of seven exclusive hunting trips.

Big Time Texas Hunts is a fundraising effort to generate money to provide additional public hunting opportunities and to fund wildlife research and conservation efforts throughout Texas.

Linda Campbell is Program Director of the Private Lands and Public Hunting Program. The entry fee is $10 or $9 when you purchase an entry online!

This will be our twelfth year. We’ve been very successful with this program—it has grown—and we’ve generated over two million dollars in revenue for wildlife conservation.

For your entry fee you’ll have a chance to win a hunt of a lifetime on some of the finest private ranches and prime wildlife management areas in Texas

And we offer some awesome packages here, with big game packages, upland bird hunting, waterfowl, gator. So, we’ve got a lot of different options here, and even if you don’t win your money goes to support the work of the wildlife division, both in research, management, restoration of bighorn sheep, for example, and enhancement of our public hunting opportunities throughout the state.

Find a link to Big Time Texas Hunts at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show… with support from the Wildlife restoration program…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

 

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Blackland Prairie once covered more than 20-million acres in Texas. Jason Spangler of the Native Prairies Assoc. of Texas says because of cropping and livestock overgrazing, less than one percent of this native habitat exists today.

It’s the most endangered large ecosystem in North America.

You can find a thriving 500-acre example of Blackland Prairie in Bell County thanks to the restoration efforts of Bob and Mickey Burleson.

I don’t think that any of our neighbors think of it as anything but Burleson’s folly. They all think that grass is for grazing to the ground.

Over four decades the Burleson’s visited remnant prairies collecting seeds they later used to restore their land.

Eventually it started working naturally to come back to a climax of what had been here. And, it’s still doing that. We haven’t gotten to the place where the Big Bluestem is the dominant—and that’s what would have been at one time—but we’re getting there.

The Burlesons won the Lone Star Land Steward Award for their dedication to land restoration and stewardship.

It’s what belongs here. This is where I live, This is my home, And this is what I love. (birds chirping)

Learn about land management at passporttotexas.org.

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

 

 Lone Star land Stewards: Burleson's Prairie, 2: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

The Blackland Prairie, a tall grass prairie, once dominated a large area of the Texas landscape.

There were believed to be 20-million acres of tall grass prairie in Texas. Of that 20-million acres, it is believed that less than one percent of the tall grass prairie is left.

Jason Spangler is a member of Native Prairies Association of Texas. Bob and Mickey Burleson are founding members of that Association, and have spent four decades restoring 500 acres of former cropland and overgrazed pasture in Bell County back to tall grass prairie.

We bought the property in 1969, and started immediately to convert part of the cropland into original Blackland Prairie. At the time we bought this property, there was virtually no Blackland Prairie left around here.

By collecting and planting local ecotype native seed from area hay meadow prairie remnants, removal of invasive plants and use of various management tools, the Burlesons successfully restored the prairie.

We went out and spent every weekend for a year collecting seed from every tiny remnant in Bell, McLennan, Williamson and Falls Counties. And then, come fall in 1969, we planted it all at one time. That was our start. Then we’ve added to it every year since then.

It’s that kind of dedication that won the Burlesons the Lone Star Land Steward Award for the Blackland Prairie eco-region. We’ll learn more about Burleson’s Prairie tomorrow.

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

 

 Lone Star Land Stewards: Burleson's Prairie, 1: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download