Passport to Texas

TPW TV: Winter Waterfowl Wonderland Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In east Texas near Palestine, the flooded bottomland hardwood forest at Gus Engling Wildlife Management Area is a winter wonderland for waterfowl.

06— It’s really a neat opportunity for the ducks that are here. We try to keep more water [in the forest area] and make things better for them while they are here.

Tucker Slack, a wildlife biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife, says the diversity of ducks is outstanding at the Wildlife Management Area.

10—Normally the ducks we’ll see are going to be wood ducks. Wood ducks live here. You’ll see mallards, but you’ll also see pintails… ring necks…so there’s quite a diversity of ducks that you’d see here.

The bottomland hardwood forest at Gus Engling is in nearly pristine condition.

07—A lot of your bottomland hardwoods throughout our state and nation have really been logged and have had tremendous impact by people.

Slack says some wood ducks are year round residents; however, their population was once in decline.

14—It caused some concern, and one of the things it brought about was artificial nest boxes. So, the wood duck nest boxes were really one of the first large-scale attempts that people were able to make, and it’s really been quite a success story as far as the wood duck goes, and their population.

Wood ducks, and other waterfowl and wildlife, thrive in this untamed land.

06—It’s really important, for a lot of reasons, to have these wild spaces. One of them is for the animals, themselves. They need somewhere that they can call home.

See Gus Engling Wildlife Management Area and the wood ducks this week on the Texas Parks and Wildlife PBS TV Series. Check your local listings. For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Outdoor Annual goes Mobile

CLICK HERE TO BE NOTIFIED WHEN THE APP IS AVAILABLE.

Hunting | Tech: Using the New Outdoor Annual App Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Texas Outdoor Annual is a handy printed and online guide filled with valuable information for hunters and anglers. And it just got better because now it’s an app.

08— Smart phones and tablets have become more popular among the general population, and our hunters and anglers are also using those devices.

Tim Peterson–director of creative and interactive services at Texas Parks and Wildlife–says the new app takes the guesswork out of which regulations apply to your location.

28—If an angler’s sitting in a particular water body or lake, or near or water body or lake, they can use the GPS function in the APP, locate the lake that they’re at or near, and they can see bag limits and exceptions for that particular lake. In addition, same goes for hunting. Same goes for hunting. If a hunter is in a blind, they can pull out the APP, and using the GPS functionality of their device, they could see which county they were in, and they would see the bag limits and season dates for that particular county.

The app is free and available for download now for apple and android devices. The Outdoor Annual app will improve over time providing hunters and anglers up-to-the minute information for a successful experience

08—The first version will include fishing reports. So, you will be able to see what’s biting at a particular lake at a particular time.

Find information on where to download the app for free on the Texas Parks and Wildlife Website.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series, and is funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motorboat fuel.

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

Outdoor Annual App

CLICK HERE TO BE NOTIFIED WHEN THE APP IS AVAILABLE.

Hunting | Tech: Outdoor Annual Goes Mobile Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

People who buy hunting and fishing licenses rely on a printed booklet called the Texas Outdoor Annual.

04— And inside the printed booklet they’ll find hunting and fishing regulations.

You’ll find those regulations on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website, too.

04—[But] our website is hard to take with you if you’re in the blind and you do not have cell service.

Developing efficient ways to access information is among Tim Peterson’s priorities. He’s director of creative and interactive services at Parks and Wildlife. Making an electronic version of the outdoor annual, with simple, intuitive navigation—accessible in cell-challenged locations—necessitated creation of an app.

22— Well, as you know, smart phones and tablets have become more popular among the general population, but we’ve also noticed that our hunters and anglers are also using those devices. And we are offering it, really, as another way for them to learn about regulations while they’re in the field, and also be able to do searches based on location.

The FREE Texas Outdoor Annual app is available for download for both apple and android devices wherever you get apps. Tim returns tomorrow to tell us about one of the many features of the app.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series; it’s funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motorboat fuel.

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

On a Texas dove dunt

Hunting: Preparing for Dove Season Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Unlike hunting other game where one or two people sit quietly in a stand or blind, dove hunting is social.

12— Yeah. And one of the big traditions that we do see in Texas is family and friends getting together for the opening of dove season. It seems to be a very popular thing to do around Texas. And you can talk and have conversations while you’re dove hunting.

Biologist Shaun Oldenburger says before you hunt dove on your own or with others, you have to have all your ducks in a row, so to speak.

22—Make sure – obviously – you have your right hunting license. You are going to need a migratory game bird stamp – a Texas stamp. And you’re also going to have to go and get HIP certified before you go dove hunting or you go hunt any other migratory game bird in the state of Texas. A lot of times September first approaches us pretty quick; we just want to make sure folks get the right licenses before they head into the field, and to also go out and actually practice with a shotgun before September first.

Opening day for dove in the north and central zones is September first, Labor Day. It opens September 20 in the south zone.

08— Per Fish and Wildlife Service regulations, the season will be 70 days this year. And the bag limit will be 15, which includes both mourning doves and white-winged doves.

Find complete dove season information on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series; it’s funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motorboat fuel.

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

David L. Yoes of Coppell Tx is hunting dove in Hays county.

Hunting: Dove Season Forecast 2014 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Despite exceptional drought along the Red River in North Central Texas and the extreme Panhandle, ample spring rains elsewhere promise good dove hunting this season.

14— Last year at this time about 45% of the state was either in an extreme or exceptional drought. [When] we get to those levels we see large-scale [negative] changes with habitat. And this year, we’re only at about 20%; so we’ve had a lot more precipitation around the state.

Biologist Shaun Oldenburger says the season includes mourning and white-winged dove—but don’t expect to hunt them in the same place.

08—With white-winged dove, over 90% of our white-winged doves in the state of Texas breed in suburban or urban locations compared to most of our mourning doves which tend to be more rural.

For white-winged dove, consider setting up in grain fields and pastures nearby urban and suburban areas…

15— …that may have good croton, or sunflower crops and then vetch, pigweed – stuff like that. For mourning dove, we look for perching habitat, we look for water and we look for food. And if you have a combination of those things, you usually can have a fairly decent hunt in those types of locations.

Find more information about dove season on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series; it’s funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motorboat fuel.

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