Passport to Texas

Leopold Lone Star land Steward Award winner 2014, Winston 8 Ranch.

Conservation: Lone Star Land Stewards Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The key to healthy habitat and wildlife populations rests in the hands of landowners. In Texas, we honor their skillful management.

09—Lone Star Land Steward is an award program where we recognize those landowners in Texas who are doing an exemplary job of managing their habitats and their wildlife.

Linda Campbell oversees the state’s Private Lands and Public Hunting programs.

13—We have all kinds of focus on these landowners. We have a great diversity of people. We have a regional award for each of the ten eco-regions. And then we have an overall award, the Leopold Conservation Award, for the overall statewide land steward.

Nominations for the awards opened June first, and will continue until the end of November.

23—Nominations can come from the landowners themselves, or those that assist them. We will take nominations from any member of the public. All of those nominations are evaluated, and we do site visited on those. We just want to make sure that we hold up those who are doing such an excellent job managing the resources of Texas.

Find nomination forms on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series…and funds the Private Lands and Public Hunting programs.

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

Hunter Education field class.

Hunting: Gun Safety Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Hunters are taking their firearms out of the gun case and preparing them to go afield this fall. Prep work should also include reviewing gun safety rules.

15—Number one: always point the muzzle in a safe direction. Number two: Treat every firearm as if it were loaded. Three: Be sure of your target; what’s in front as well as beyond. And, then the fourth is unload your firearms when not in use.

Robert Ramirez, Texas Parks and Wildlife hunter education manager, says his department produced a new video – available on YouTube September 6th – illustrating the first four, of ten, rules.

05—In our hunter education course, obviously, we go over all ten gun safety rules.

Ramirez says you and your hunting party should commit the first four rules to memory before going into the field.

03—Firearm safety is everyone’s responsibility.

And if you have not taken hunter education, or need a refresher, it can only serve you well.

20—Hunter education is for everyone who is planning on going afield regardless of age. In the state of Texas, it is mandatory certification if you are going to hunt – 17 years of age or older. There is a grandfather date of September 2, 1971; if you’re born
on or after that date, it’s mandatory [to take] if you’re going to hunt alone.

Visit the Texas Parks and Wildlife website to find hunting rules and regulations, as well as hunter education classes – including online certification classes.

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

How to Avoid Hunting Accidents

Banding a dove.

Research | Hunting: Reporting Banded Doves Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

An important game bird in Texas, the mourning dove (although there are other dove species in Texas) is the subject of a nationwide banding program. By crimping tiny silver bands around their legs, biologists track the harvest rates of these birds.

08—We’ll also determine survival rates, where they go, when they get there, and when they leave. And all kinds of good information.

Jay Roberson… wildlife research supervisor at Parks and Wildlife…says the bands are small, but packed with information.

13—And it has the toll free number on it that people can call. And a nine digit number and the office location of the bird banding lab in Laurel Maryland.

Newer bands even have a website where hunters can report their findings. Roberson asks dove hunters to examine their harvest for leg bands. The information on the bands hunters supply is invaluable when managing the species.

19—All the work we put in on banding doves is for naught, if they’re not reported by hunters or people who find them. And, it’s very important that hunters check their birds that they bag – make sure that their birds are banded. If they are, we ask they report the number to the toll-free number: 1-800-327-BAND.

Find more information about reporting dove data when you visit the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

Our show’s receives support from the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program, which provides funding for the Private Lands and Public Hunting Programs.

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

Mourning dove in Texas

Wildlife Research: Banding Mourning Doves Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Mourning doves are the focus of an ongoing, nationwide banding study.

17—We’re banding mourning doves to determine harvest rates or percent of fall population taken by hunters. We’ll also determine survival rates, and where they go, and when they get there and when they leave.

Jay Roberson, wildlife research supervisor, said returned bands also help estimate population size – which ties directly into the national harvest strategy. He invited me to observe as he banded doves.

07—And we’re going to go and take some birds out of the traps and see what we’ve got and put the right band on the correct leg.

The trapped bird flapped excitedly as we approached. Jay covered the cage with an old blanket to calm the animal. Taking it from its cage, he brought it to a picnic table for banding with a small silver ring that fit easily around the bird’s leg.

14—Those are the bands for the adults and the unknown age birds. Now I slip the open band in the pliers over the lower leg. And now I’m going to crimp that pliers down until it closes.

After Jay determined the animal’s age, he transcribed the number of the band, the date and location into a book, and then released the bird.

If you harvest a banded mourning dove, report it by calling the number on the band. The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program program supports our show and provides funding for the Private Lands and Public Hunting Program.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Stewardship: Sycamore Canyon Ranch Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Ruthie and Johnny Russell, with their sons McLean and William, own and operate the 87-hundred acre Sycamore Canyon Ranch—along the Devil’s River in Val Verde County. This family understands the importance of preserving the wide, open spaces for both livestock and wildlife.

15— We don’t want fragmentation to occur here. We love the open spaces. And you really can’t protect water, wildlife and habitat without big, open spaces. If I were a billionaire I’d buy as many ranches as I could and protect them. [laughs]

Ruthie says their goal is to protect, share and communicate the public benefits of private lands stewardship, including preserving beautiful vistas, native wildlife habitats, clean air and water.

08—We look at this as a wilderness area. A wild area. We want to preserve it. We want to protect it. And, it’s just the perfect wild place to protect.

Some range management strategies they’ve used include deferred grazing and aggressive whitetail population control. In addition, they put their ranch under a conservation easement to protect it for generations.

11—My brother and I were both raised on ranches and in the outdoors. It would never have crossed our minds had this not been put under a conservation easement to sell this land.

The Russell’s Sycamore Canyon Ranch is a regional Lone Star Land Steward Award winner for 2014.

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

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