Passport to Texas

2018 Grand Slam winner, Greg May ,at right, with his stepson Cauy and their professional guide, Greg Horak. Greg harvested a very nice 6½ year old 11-point mule deer that gross scored 171.

On Deck for a Grand Slam Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

It’s time to step up to the plate and see if you can win the Texas Grand Slam.

Of all our Big Time Texas Hunt packages, the granddaddy of them all is the Grand Slam package.

Texas Parks and Wildlife’s Private Lands and Public Hunting Program Director Justin Dreibelbis.

This is where you hunt four iconic big game species all around the state in one calendar year.

That’s desert bighorn sheep, desert mule deer, pronghorn antelope and white-tailed deer. This is your opportunity to hunt with professional guides on some of the best wildlife management areas and private ranches in the state. Plus, you’ll get full lodging, meals and taxidermy with each hunt provided by Woodbury Taxidermy.

Enter online for only $9. There’s a $5 online administration fee, but you can enter as many times as you want in a single transaction. Just search for Big Time Texas Hunts on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

You don’t want to miss this chance of a lifetime. Take it from Greg May, the 2018 Texas Grand Slam winner.

To me it was the biggest dream come true in the world. I would tell everybody put your chances in, you might be the lucky guy or lady that wins it. If I can win it, anybody can.

The deadline to enter is October 15, so don’t stay on the bench. Hit a grand slam with Big Time Texas Hunts.

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

Deer suffering from Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD).

CWD Containment Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

During its March meeting, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commissioners expanded the state’s chronic wasting disease (CWD) Panhandle Containment Zone. This action followed the discovery of CWD earlier this year in a roadkill white-tailed deer.

Texas Parks and Wildlife’s wildlife veterinarian, Dr. Bob Dittmar says: “The state’s wildlife disease management response… focuses on an early detection and containment strategy… designed to limit the spread of CWD from the affected area… and better understand the distribution and prevalence of the disease.”

The test positive roadkill was among more than 10-thousand deer, elk and other susceptible exotic game animal samples…collected from a variety of sources by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department personnel… for CWD testing during the 2017-18 collection year.

Of the samples, more than 2-thousand came from roadkill. The rest were obtained through mandatory and voluntary hunter harvest submissions.

Since 2012 when the state first discovered the disease among mule deer, Texas has recorded 100 confirmed cases of CWD.

Details about each CWD detection in Texas are available on Texas Parks and Wildlife web site.

The Wildlife Restoration program supports our series.

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

Deer with Chronic Wasting Disease

Chronic Wasting Disease Monitoring and Reporting Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Chronic wasting disease, or CWD, is a neurological illness not known to affect humans…but is eventually fatal to infected deer.

Chronic wasting disease has been a concern in Texas since 2012 since the first discovery in the Trans Pecos.

Alan Cain is whitetail program leader at Texas Parks and Wildlife. Texas has three designated CWD zones:

West Texas, and one in the Panhandle, and one in South Central Texas. In each of those zones, it is mandatory sampling of hunter harvested deer, and also mandatory carcass movement restrictions. So, hunters are encouraged to go on our Parks and Wildlife website, and check out the CWD page, where they can find more information.

Although the agency requires hunters’ cooperation when monitoring CWD in the three zones—that shouldn’t stop anyone from getting into the field.

Sufficient rains and healthy habitat also boosted the mule deer populations in West Texas.

We’ve had some good rainfall out there in West Texas, and we expect hunters to have a good season out there, probably average, just as we’d expect for the whitetail deer hunting.

Whitetail season runs through January 7th in the North Zone and January 21 in the South Zone. Mule Deer season begins November 18 in the Panhandle, and November 24 in the Trans-Pecos.

Find CWD monitoring information on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series.

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

White-tailed buck.

2017-18 Deer Season Outlook Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

According to Alan Cain, Whitetail Program Leader at Texas Parks and Wildlife, the 2017 deer season is shaping up to be a good one.

We started off the winter and early spring with good habitat conditions, which sets the stage for good antler growth and good body condition and fawn production.

Late spring and early summer, Mother Nature was stingy with rainfall across the state, which Cain says, may mean only average antler growth.

But the deer population is very healthy. We have a robust deer population in Texas.

A robust deer population is good news for some rural Texas towns.

Deer hunting in Texas is a thriving industry and it really helps the rural towns out there where deer hunting is a big part of their everyday life.

Cain says in counties where deer populations are high, he encourages hunters to take the full bag limit.

And by doing so, it helps improve the habitat. If they don’t want to put that meat in the freezer, they can certainly donate it to Hunters for the Hungry, or different charitable organizations around the state.

Whitetail season began November fourth in the north and south zones. The Texas Outdoor Annual provides hunters with necessary rules, regulations and bag limits. Find it on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Wildlife Restoration program supports our series.

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

You can help support Hunters for the Hungry and Fund for Veterans at the time you buy a hunting or fishing license.

Buy a License, Feed the Hungry & Help a Veteran Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

When licenses go on sale August 15, Texas hunters and anglers may donate to one of two worthy non-profits.

You can make the voluntary contribution of either one dollar, five dollars, ten dollars or twenty dollars to either the Fund for Veterans Assistance, or to help feed Texas families with a donation to Hunters for the Hungry.

Justin Halvorsen is revenue director at Texas Parks and Wildlife, and says donating is voluntary and easy.

It’s through any one of our sales channels. Either online, over the phone, at a retail agent, or any one of our parks and wildlife locations.

The agency keeps close tabs the donations.

And then, at the end of every month, it’ll go into a separate pot, and we’ll send it along to those respective entities [nonprofits].

The program debuted last season and Texans were generous; Texas Parks and Wildlife distributed, $193-thousand to the Fund for Veteran’s, and $106-thousand to Hunters for the Hungry. You may ask: is my donation tax deductible?

That is a great question. And there will be a receipt that gets printed as part of this that specifically says that this is a donation to the Veteran’s Fund or Hunters for the Hungry. And then, really, it’s up to the individual and their tax preparer to make that ultimate decision.

Request an itemized receipt from retailers, and find more information on the TPW website.

That’s our show… Funding provided in part by Ram Trucks. Guts. Glory. Ram

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