Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

Make your wildlife viewing trip to a state park “picture perfect’ when you bring along a camera. Our State Park Guide, Bryan Frazier, offers tips on taking great shots.

60—If you’re a beginner, in particular, get a versatile lens – something that has some zoom capabilities, but also has some wide angle capabilities. If you’ve got one or two lenses that have some versatility it will save you on fatigue, and also keep you in the game where you can make some adjustments on the fly. Another one I like to tell people is to use a tripod or a monopod. And a lot of times these will double as a hiking stick. So using something as a stabilizer, like a monopod, will make a difference. The other thing – don’t ignore landscape shots. Sometimes the wildlife just doesn’t cooperate. So when you’re out in nature, look for the unique scenery. Look for the wildflowers; look for the colorful skies that can sometimes save a trip from a photography standpoint even if the wildlife doesn’t cooperate. Get kids involved in it – cameras these days are easy to use. You’ll want to take some extra batteries and extra memory cards. But, it’s a great way to engage the whole family in a memorable outdoor experience.

Thanks, Bryan.

That’s our show for today…with funding provided by Chevrolet, supporting outdoor recreation in Texas; because there’s life to be done.

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

This is passport to Texas

Not all surveys are conducted over the telephone in the middle of your dinner hour. Baseline surveys conducted by wildlife biologists take place at wildlife management areas, over time.

13 – We conduct baseline inventories and surveys on the wildlife management areas, first of all so that we can understand and have a catalog of the different types of vegetation that grow there, the different types of animals that grow there, and what the habitat are that help support those animals.

Dennis Gissell is facilities coordinator for the state’s 49 Wildlife Management areas, or Wildlife management Areas.

10—After we do the baseline inventory we do regular follow-up monitoring of those populations to determine how they’re doing. And compare that to habitat conditions and what we can do to help make it better.

After the data is collected and analyzed, management recommendations for the Wildlife Management Areas are established and implemented. This type of active stewardship may include hunting to improve conditions.

14—Hunting provides a valuable tool in terms of population control for different wildlife species. Various game species can produce to the extent that their populations exceed the capacity of the habitat to support them. And so that’s why hunting is an important component.

That’s our show…funded by the Wildlife Restoration Program… helping to fund the operations and management of more than 49 wildlife management areas.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…Cecilia Nasti

This is Passport to Texas Outdoor Stories

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.

This is Passport to Texas

Legendary Texas rancher, Charles Goodnight helped preserve the last of the southern plains bison… the descendants of which are the Texas State Bison Herd at Caprock Canyons State Park.

Texas parks and Wildlife TV Producer Bruce Beirmann says expect a segment this month that explores the herd’s legacy and their new enclosure.

56—Just recently, the park opened up a whole other pasture so they now have a thousand acres to roam.

So, our goal is to expand their territory here in the park and have a unique experience to where you come in the park you are in the habitat with the bison.

The day they opened up the new pasture, I was at ground level looking into the gate where those bison were coming out. The experience of being at eye level with the bison as they’re charging towards you into this new pasture was just really awe inspiring.

These magnificent animals, the last remnants of the great southern plains bison…these animals belong to the state of Texas. They’re your animals. It’s a great opportunity to come view these animals –the last of their kind –as we do our best to expand their range and grow the herd.

You have to go see these bison. It’s the one place where you can still get right up to them [but you must remain in your vehicle] and experience it. It’s an experience you don’t want to miss.

Thanks, Bruce.

The show air the week of January 13

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

Passport to Texas with support from the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program

When it comes to quail, TPW biologist, Robert Perez, says they’ve had it rough. Habitat fragmentation and drought beat them up in Texas. Working with adjacent landowners to manage their properties for quail is helping to address fragmentation – but what about drought?

26— Where it’s dry, what you can do is be proactive. And so you have proactive strategies for drought, which is leaving residual cover; leaving standing grasses; leaving standing vegetation and not mowing it down; shredding it, or putting cattle on it or other livestock that will remove that vegetation. So you have to have something standing there for them, which is difficult to do in a drought. But there are areas that you can protect. And those quail will kind of hole up in those refugia until things turn around.

Thanks to a new grant from the Wildlife Restoration program, Robert Perez says the agency can now monitor the recovery efforts to help these native game birds.

20–By monitoring I mean you need to go in and count how many animals there are on the front end, and then you have your treatment or your improvements. You then continue counting and seeing if there is actual response by that species. So, we just got a grant from the Pittman Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act Fund – a federal grant – to go in and start measuring the impacts of our works at three different locations in the state over the next four years.

And we’ll follow along and report on their progress.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series and funds diverse conservation programs throughout Texas.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti