Passport to Texas

Nilgai can weigh up to 700 lbs., stand 4’5” at shoulder and be up to 6.6 ft long.

Big Time Texas Hunts South Texas Safari Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Big Time Texas Hunts raises funds for wildlife conservation by offering the public chances to win one of 10 premium hunt packages for $9 per online entry.

One of our most popular hunts is the Grand Slam. Where one hunter will go on four separate hunts over the course of a year… for whitetail, mule deer, pronghorn antelope and Desert Bighorn Sheep on one of our west Texas WMAs. So, it’s a dream hunt package that’s very popular—and one hunter gets drawn every year for it.

Justin Dreibelbis is Texas Parks and Wildlife’s program director for private lands and public hunting. The Grand Slam may be the biggest hunt package, but the newest and certainly a challenging hunt is the Nilgai Antelope Safari in South Texas.

It’s not your typical Texas deer hunt from a stand. This will be a hunt where you’re spending a lot of time in a jeep riding around trying to spot animals. And from that point, once you spot the nilgai, then it’s a spot and stalk. And, you’re actually out in the brush sneaking up on these critters. And it’s just a very fun, challenging hunt, that’s really a good test of a hunter’s abilities.

Enter online through October 15 at the TPW website; $9 per entry. You’ll pay a $5 online administrative fee, but it allows unlimited entries in a single transaction.

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

This could be you, if you enter Big Time Texas Hunts.

The Hunt of a Lifetime Awaits Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Big Time Texas Hunts is a yearly drawing offered by Texas Parks and Wildlife.

Big Time Texas Hunts is a conservation fundraiser, basically. We try to raise money that we can put directly back into wildlife conservation work on our wildlife management areas and all of our public hunting lands across the state.

Justin Dreibelbis is Texas Parks and Wildlife’s program director for private lands and public hunting. Big Time Texas Hunts provides a chance for you to win a once-in-a-lifetime hunting experience.

So, we have 10 very high quality all-inclusive hunting packages, ranging everywhere from big horn sheep and pronghorn antelope to white-tailed deer and alligators.

New this year: a nilgai antelope safari in south Texas.

They’re originally from India. They were brought in by the King Ranch in the late 1920s. And their populations have really kind of exploded in south Texas along the coast. It’s a really neat animal. A really big, hardy antelope species that is really challenging and fun to hunt. And it is delicious table fare, too.

We’ll have more on Big Time Texas Hunts tomorrow.

Enter online through October 15 at the Texas Parks and Wildlife website; $9 per entry. You’ll pay a $5 online administrative fee, but it allows unlimited entries in a single transaction.

All entries support the work of wildlife conservation in Texas.

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

Curved Bill Thrasher at Christmas Mountains Oasis

TPW TV - West Texas Wetland Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

In a region best known for its rugged terrain and dry desert ecology, avid birders, Carolyn Ohl-Johnson and her late husband Sherwood, created something magical in the Christmas Mountains of West Texas.

It’s a refuge for birds, butterflies.

Started in the 1990s, the couple developed ways to capture water that fell or flowed on their property.

And I told him how we could put in some diversion dams, and he just hopped right on that without greasing his equipment the same day! And so we started out with one tank that wasn’t nearly big enough.

So began a lifelong passion to establish an oasis in the middle of the desert to draw birds to her West Texas home. The Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series on PBS features Carolyn’s oasis on this week’s show.

I can be sitting here, just looking at the same old stuff, and bet money that nothing interesting’s gonna come along. And there, all of a sudden, oh my gosh, there’s a lifer! But it won’t happen if I’m not sitting here looking, so what do you do! You sure don’t get much work done, that’s for sure.

Tune into the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series on PBS through August fourth to see not only Carolyn’s oasis, but another lush wetland project in West Texas. Check your local listings.

The Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series.

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