Archive for June, 2017

Archery is a Sport for all Abilities

Friday, June 30th, 2017
Learning how to shoot with a bow.

Learning how to shoot with a bow.

This is Passport to Texas

Participation in archery, helps kids develop various skills.

Because you learn decision-making, and judging distances, and focusing—and tht sort of thing. So, there’s a lot of life skills.

Burnie Kessner is the archery coordinator for Texas Parks and Wildlife. The National Archery in Schools Program introduces students to the sport. What makes this sport and program special is that anyone of any ability can be successful.

Physical limitations are addressed by adaptive devices on the bow and arrow. We do archery at Special Olympics—that audience can do it. And, at the School for the Deaf and the School for the Blind [and Visually Impaired] in Austin, they do archery. So, all kinds of challenges can be overcome and still participate in archery.

In fact, Kessner says visually impaired students have successfully competed in state and national school tournaments with everyone else.

They can’t see the bow and arrow they’re holding. They can’t see the target. They just need someone else to assist them and be their eyes and give them verbal cues—and they can shoot just like everybody else.

Interested in bringing the Archery in Schools program to your district? Log onto the Texas Parks and Wildlife website and find out how.

The Wildlife restoration program support our show, and promotes the shooting sports in Texas.

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

Archery in Schools Levels the Playing Field

Thursday, June 29th, 2017
Burnie Kessner demonstrating how to use a bow.

Burnie Kessner teaching the teachers about archery.

This is Passport to Texas

Most individual and team sports demand a high level of physical agility or strength to compete—unless that sport is archery.

All ages. All sizes. All genders. So, it doesn’t matter; it really is an inclusive activity. And that’s one of the things that makes it very unusual.

Burnie Kessner is the archery coordinator for Texas Parks and Wildlife. More students are being exposed to the activity through the National Archery in Schools program.

It’s a non-traditional activity. It’s a lot of fun. And so, it’s very motivating for a student to want to do it. You know, you’re now going to shoot a bow and arrow. And we do it inside the building. So, you’re going to tell a sixth grader, ‘Hey, we’re going to shoot bows and arrows in the gym. [heh]’

That’s fun, right? Plus, archery has something in common with today’s technology.

It’s great immediate feedback. And they do it themselves—individual skills. They pull the arrow back. Draw the bow back, and shoot the arrow and see immediate results. So it’s great for today’s generation. They click buttons and send texts and get on the internet and find information immediately. Even though it’s an ancient sport and skill, it’s immediate feedback just like sending a text, because you see results right away.

Want to bring the Archery in Schools program to your district? Log onto the Texas Parks and Wildlife website to find out how.

The Wildlife restoration program support our show, and promotes the shooting sports in Texas.

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

Introducing Mule Deer to their New Home

Wednesday, June 28th, 2017
Black Gap WMA

Black Gap WMA

This is Passport to Texas

Shawn Gray oversees the mule deer restoration program for Texas Parks and Wildlife. Over the past two years, with the help of partners, the program identified available surplus animals on public and private land and moved them to Black Gap Wildlife Management Area.

We have moved over two hundred female mule deer.

Gray says the program radio collars 30 to 40 percent of the animals before release.

Some captured deer had a “soft release” which involved keeping them in a fenced area for a couple of weeks allowing them to acclimate to their surroundings. Then, when freed…

They don’t go as far; they tend to stay where you released them.

Other deer had a “hard release”. They were let out of the trailers and allowed to immediately run free.

We have seen one or two of our [radio collared] translocated animals go back to where they were captured. Those were the ones that were hard released. The animals that we have soft released, we have not observed them going back to their home. We’ve observed them doing a lot of exploratory type movements. Figuring out their new home. But for the most part, those animals are staying in and around Black Gap Wildlife management Area.

Which makes all the hard work, planning and coordination worth it.

The Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series.

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

Mule Deer Restoration

Tuesday, June 27th, 2017
Mule deer in Texas

Mule deer in Texas

This is Passport to Texas

The mule deer population is struggling in parts of the Big Bend region of far West Texas.

We’ve been trying to boost our populations in the Black Gap area since about 2015.

Shawn Gray oversees mule deer restoration. Unlike other mule deer populations, those at Black Gap never fully recovered after the last drought.

We had been monitoring that population for years, and it just remained stagnant. And so, the next decision we made was, well, let’s put some animals down there and try to boost it and see if we can’t get the population trending upward.

During population surveys last fall, biologists identified an available of surplus of animals at Elephant Mountain Wildlife Wildlife Management, and one private ranch in Pecos County. Using the helicopter and net gun method, they trapped the animals.

Once we caught them, we radio-collared and tagged them. We gave them a series of injections for health reason, and then loaded them in trailers and took them down to release them.

Shawn Gray says this spring they moved 98 female mule deer to the Black Gap Wildlife Wildlife Management Area and to the adjacent El Carmen Land & Conservation Company, which together comprise 135,000 contiguous acres dedicated to wildlife and habitat conservation.

Of those radio-collared animals, we monitor intensively, looking at survival and movement—habitat use. We use all those findings to help improve the habitat and help improve our survival.

The Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series.

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

Fourth of July Festivities

Monday, June 26th, 2017
Getting settled for the Fourth of July festivities at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center. Photo: Larry Hodge.

Getting settled for the Fourth of July festivities at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center. Photo: Larry Hodge.

This is Passport to Texas

This July Fourth Weekend give yourself and your family a treat, and spend it at one of your state parks.

Pack a picnic and dine al fresco. Depending upon where you go, you’ll dine under the shade of ancient oaks or pines or maples. Bring your hiking shoes or mountain bikes and enjoy the extensive trail systems.

Fishing is free in parks with fishing opportunities. Cast a line and see if you can reel in something tasty to for dinner so you can skip the grocery store on the way home.

If you live in Central Texas, the LBJ State Park and Historic site’s Sauer-Beckmann Living History Farm in Johnson City is the place to be on July Fourth. They plan to celebrate like early Texans. What does that mean? You have to go to find out.

For East Texas residents, one of the biggest fireworks display in your part of the state will light up the skies over the Texas Fresh Water Fisheries Center in Athens. Admission to the center is free after 4 p.m. And there’s free fishing until 8:30 p.m.

Whether you go to a park to celebrate your own way, or attend one of these events: bring your family, bring your friends, bring some snacks, but leave the fireworks and sparklers at home. Don’t worry, you’ll still have a blast.

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

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