Passport to Texas

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.

Image courtesy http://www.star-telegram.com.

Control Breeding Sites to Control Mosquitoes Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Apply sunscreen this summer, and while you’re at it, apply products with DEET or essential oils that repel Aedes aegypti, a mosquito, suspected of spreading Zika virus.

It’s an introduced species, and it is most common around the eastern half of Texas.

Austin-based entomologist, Mike Quinn, says one way to lessen exposure to Aedes aegypti is based on the time of day you’re out and about.

The Aedes aegypti is a day biting insect, so it’s a little different [than other mosquitoes].

While reports of the virus in the US are travel related, pregnant women are encouraged to use caution, as zika has been linked to neurological issues in newborns. Quinn says the insects breed in standing water.

The Aedis isn’t a long distance flyer. So, controlling breeding sites on our property can be a very effective way to reduce the mosquito. And, it’s what we call a container breeding mosquito. And it’s in pots and barrels and toys and bottles; it can breed in a very small amount of water—a tablespoon or less even. But, it takes about a week under optimal conditions to go from egg to adult. So, doing a weekly cleanup of property—checking for water sources; changing out the birdbath water on a weekly basis is a good way to keep the population down locally.

Find links to more information about Aedes aegypti and the zika virus on the passport to Texas website.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation supports our series and helps keep Texas wild with the support of proud members across the state. Find out more at tpwf.org.

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

Black drum ready to be filleted or frozen.

How to Humanely Dispatch a Fish Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Like to fish? Then you should know this Saturday, June fourth, is Free Fishing Day in Texas.

People don’t need a fishing license to fish on that first Saturday in June.

Great news, right? Texas Parks and Wildlife aquatic training specialist, Caleb Harris, says everyone can fish free in state parks with fishing opportunities any day, but Free Fishing Day opens all public waters for your angling pleasure. Harris says when you reel in a fish you intend to keep, there is a humane way to dispatch your catch before it becomes dinner.

Most people say that the kindest way to care for a fish that you want to keep [for dinner] is to put it on ice as fast as possible.

The cold temperature, says Harris, causes the fish’s bodily functions to slow down…way down.

The ice will anesthetize it; it’ll be virtually painless at that cold temperature; the fish will get cold and will slowly pass. So, yeah. If you have a boat, and you have the ability to bring an ice chest, you know—catch the fish—if you intend to keep it, make sure it’s a legal size, and put it right on ice.

When you get the fish home, you’ll want to immediately filet it and either cook it up right away, or freeze it. Find a video on how to filet fish, and a link to information on the best way to freeze fish at passporttotexas.org.

The Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

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Dump out standing and stagnant water around the outside of the home to limit breeding areas for all mosquitoes. Image courtesy of freshorganicgardening.com

Reduce Mosquito Breeding Sites Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Aedes aegypti is a mosquito known to carry the zika virus we’ve heard about in the news. It’s an introduced species found in the eastern half of Texas. But Mike Quinn says there’s no cause for alarm.

There’s no locally acquired cases in the [50] United States.

Quinn is an Austin entomologist who’s been following reports of the virus and its host species. This mosquito is different than most.

We mostly we think of large numbers of mosquitoes at dawn and dusk and through the night. But the Aedes aegypti is a day biting insect.

Aedes aegypti is a creature of the summer months, and most active May through August. One way to control it is to prevent it from breeding.

Controlling breeding sights on our property can be a very effective way to reduce the mosquito [population]. It’s what we call a container breeding mosquito. [It breeds] in pots and barrels, and toys and bottles. It can breed in a very small amount of water—a tablespoon or less, even. But it takes about a week under optimal conditions to go from egg to adult. So, doing a weekly cleanup of property, checking for water sources, changing out birdbath water on a weekly basis, is a good way to keep the population down locally.

Using products containing DEET on your person can be an effective deterrent. We have links to more information about the zika virus at passporttotexas.org.

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

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More information about the zika virus; copy and paste links into your browser.

http://www.cdc.gov/zika/prevention/

http://www.who.int/features/qa/zika/en/

http://www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk/advice/disease-prevention-advice/zika-virus-infection.aspx

Bullfrog Pond Family Fishing Event.

Become a Volunteer Angler Education Instructor Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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You don’t have to be a pro to teach angling to others.

I used to be a school teacher, and you just need to know a little bit more than the person you’re instructing. We have people come that have no background knowledge whatsoever in fishing. Picture a scout troop in which none of the leadership has a background in fishing, and yet they want to extend that to their scout troops.

A dedicated volunteer base allows Texas Parks and Wildlife aquatic education training specialist Caleb Harris and his crew to reach a larger audience than they otherwise would.

That’s exactly why we need them. They extend our outreach efforts to hundreds of places a weekend. We’re a staff of four in our outreach office, and so they really multiply our efforts as a department to get the word out.

Harris says becoming a volunteer angler education instructor begins with a weekend workshop.

Our instructor workshops are normally on Saturdays, and they’re held all over the state. They’re listed on our Texas Parks and Wildlife calendar of events, and they’re free for anyone that wants to attend them. And they normally last about six hours, five hours. They’re, I’d say, about half classroom time and half playing the type of games and learning the type of fishing skills that we’d like our instructors to pass on. So, they’re pretty active workshops.

Find an angler instructor workshop near you in the calendar section of the Texas Parks and Wildlife website…and get ready to get hooked.

The Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series.

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