Passport to Texas

Caving at Colorado Bend State Park.

TPW TV - Cave People Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Modern day cave explorers duck, climb, crawl, and squeeze their way through the dark and mysterious world that exists beneath the surface. Take a cave tour with Jason Hairston at Colorado Bend State Park the week of September 11, on the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series on PBS.

Usually when you’re in your campsite, on a trail, you don’t typically think about what is 20, 30, 40 feet beneath you…But what is beneath you is another world. And it’s a world that is ready to explore. And so on cave tours here we give people an opportunity for people to get just a little taste of what it’s like to be a cave explorer. So we do get a lot of questions and concerns from potential cave tour participants about how challenging is it? Is it too tight? Is it going to be too dark? Is it too scary? When you start a cave tour, it’s not something you normally do. There’s going to be some discomfort. Maybe a little anxiousness. That’s normal. And that’s part of this whole process. It’s working through that. It’s a challenge, right?

The segment called Cave People airs the week on September 11 on the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV Show on PBS. Check your local listings.

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

How to Sight Your Rifle Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Bring a properly sighted rifle into the field this hunting season. You may have your own method, and here’s another to consider:

With an unloaded firearm, make initial adjustments on the scope by bore sighting with a device or the naked eye. Yet, a shooting range is where real adjustments occur.

Practice with the same ammo you’ll use when hunting. Different brands and cartridge weights vary in performance. If you sight in your firearm with one kind of cartridge but hunt with another, you risk missing your target.

At 25 yards and using a paper target with a one-inch grid pattern, shoot three rounds, aligning the scope’s crosshairs at the exact center of the target. This three-shot group will reveal how far off center your scope is set.

Based on the average of your shots, use the scope’s dials, to make adjustments. For vertical movement adjust the elevation. For horizontal movement, adjust left and right, called windage. At 25 yards, you can adjust for windage, but for proper elevation, it is best to move the target back to 100 yards and shoot three more rounds.

Depending on the average distances you shoot at game in the field, you may want to center your group either at the bulls-eye or at one inch high at 100 yards.

Find a sighting demo video at passporttotexas.org.

The Wildlife Restoration program supports our series.

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

You could be saltwater fishing in Matagorda Bay.

A Year of Outdoor Adventures Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

What if someone gave you a year’s worth of outdoor adventures? It could happen for one fishing or hunting license buyer when they enter the Win Your Dream Year Outdoors drawing, through November 30.

Go to a special web page that we’ve set up and enter your information: your email address, your name, and your customer number and you’re entered.

It’s free to enter the drawing. Guided fishing and hunting trips are just the start. Janis Johnson, with Texas Parks and Wildlife, says priceless outdoor experiences will provide a lifetime of memories for the winner.

We’re also giving these one of a kind experiences that money can’t buy. You can’t buy a trip to go out on a bay troll on a research vessel with a coastal biologist. Or to go longline sampling in the Gulf of Mexico to learn more about the bay systems and how we keep them healthy and thriving. And, you cannot at this point, buy a kayak fishing adventure with a team of TPW biologists on the Devil’s River, which is one of the most pristine and beautiful and untouched rivers in the whole Southwestern United States.

The license buyer who wins the Grand Prize also receives a premier dove hunting trip, a shotgun, a trophy catfish trip, and $2,000 in Cabela’s merchandise and gear, and more—and it’s all tax free.

And here’s another exciting point. Every trip is for at least two people with accommodations for the travelers.

Find details about the Win Your Dream Year Outdoors drawing on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website, search using the phrase “Dream Year”.

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

Win your dream year outdoors with Texas Parks and Wildlife.

Your Dream Year Outdoors Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Most folks who work indoors all day long wish they had more time to be outdoors.

We can’t give them more time outdoors, but we can certainly make it a lot more fun when they’re out there.

That’s Janis Johnson with Texas Parks and Wildlife. She says anyone purchasing an annual, combo or lifetime license can enter a free drawing for a Dream Year Outdoors.

And the way you enter is to buy your license either online or at a local retailer—get your customer number off of your license, and simply go to a special web page that we’ve set up on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website and enter your information.

So what would this dream year outdoors look like?

It starts with a Cabela’s Celebrity Bass Trip, where you get to go fishing with two of their TV hosts. And this will be televised and shown nationally. There are five fishing trips; a saltwater trip—guided. There’s a freshwater trip. There’s a Devil’s River Kayak Fishing Adventure. There’s a Be a Coastal Biologist for a Day fishing trip. There’s a dove hunting trip from a premier outfitter. And all of these trips include hotel lodging.

The Win Your Dream Year Outdoors drawing runs through November 30. A winner will be drawn December 1.

Janis Johnson returns with additional details on the drawing for a Dream Year Outdoors tomorrow.

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

Know what’s below before you start planting your wildscape. Image: Texas811 blog.

Call Before Starting Your Wildscape Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

As the weather cools, a wildlife loving homeowner’s thoughts turn to creating a wildscape. But before picking up a shovel, pick up the phone, and call Texas 811.

Texas 811 is the statewide “call before you dig” service.

Mike Losawyer is President and CEO of Texas 811, a nonprofit organization based in Dallas. He says many gas lines—as well as utility lines—lie just below the soil’s surface.

Anytime you’re going to be digging in the state of Texas, call 811 from anywhere in Texas, and you’ll get our call center. We’ll take a little bit of background information from you, and we’ll send the utilities out in your area, and they’ll come out and mark their underground facilities for free, so you don’t damage them when you’re excavating.

Calling Texas 811before you begin work on any outdoor digging isn’t a suggestion—it’s the law.

There is a law regarding this that says you actually need to call two working days prior to beginning excavation; we’ll send somebody out to mark those lines. The service is free. It just takes a little bit of planning ahead. So, really the gardens, trees, fence post, a mailbox post—any of those things would require that you give us a call.

Homeowners who call 811before digging to have underground utility lines marked on their property can plant a wildscape with confidence. Find details at Texas811.org.

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

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