Passport to Texas

Hunting/Angling: Licenses go on Sale Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

It’s August: time to renew hunting and fishing licenses.

06—The licenses are effective beginning September first, but they actually go on sale August 15th.

Tom Newton manages licensing at Texas Parks and Wildlife. Heat and drought kept license sales down last year, but the milder temperatures and statewide rains in 2012 have seen sales rise.

23 –The fishing is broken down into saltwater or freshwater, or what we call an all-water, which covers both. There’s a couple of different hunting licenses, which is your standard deer hunters, or turkey hunters, or alligator hunters. With the hunting license you have to purchase a couple of stamps. If you’re a bird hunter you’ll need the upland game bird stamp and the federal duck stamp.

The best license to buy — if you plan on hunting and fishing — is the Super Combo. $68.00

17 – Which encompasses everything: All the stamps, all of your hunting options, all of your fishing options. The only thing you need in addition to that is your federal duck stamp. So, the Super Combo –– is the best priced license. And, like I say, you buy that, you need nothing else for the whole year.

Buy your licenses early and avoid the rush. They’re available online and at 17-hundred agents statewide.

06 –All of our parks sell licenses. All of our law enforcement sells licenses as we do here at Headquarters

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series, and works to increase fishing and hunting opportunities in Texas.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Boat/Fish: National Fishing and Boating Week Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Time on the water is time well spent. It’s not only an ideal way to connect with friends and family, it’s also a way to protect Texas waters.

First lines of defense for America’s waterways are the anglers and boaters that are out there. And it’s important that we maintain that strong commitment to taking care of the resource by being sure there are a lot of folks out there that enjoy using it.

Texas is one of the top states in terms of angler participation and the number of licenses sold. There are some tremendous fishing resources in Texas in both saltwater and freshwater.

Our state provides a great example for many other states as the right way to manage resources as well as how to be in touch with the anglers and boaters that are out there using it.

National Fishing and Boating Week, June 2nd through 10th.

It’s a time to celebrate being on the water …a time to unplug from the workaday world…where there’s nothing that gets in the way of communicating with your family and friends. It’s simply a great way to reconnect with those who matter to you, while engaging a resource that’s precious to everyone.

That’s our show, made possible by the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program…working to increase fishing, hunting, shooting and boating opportunities in Texas.

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

Wild Game with Chef Lisa Freeman Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The way wild game and fish taste depends greatly on what happens in the field as well as in the kitchen.

07—it’s really up to the hunter to take care of the meat. It’s all about how it’s harvested and dressed, and how it’s preserved and stored.

Chef Lisa Freeman, executive chef for NASCAR, and a hunter, specializes in cooking wild game. She was in Texas earlier this year demonstrating wild game cookery with olive oil at Central Market Cooking Schools.

14—I would say that you have your game meat first, and that’s the most important part of your dish to make sure your recipe’s going to turn out. And then the next would be the olive oil. It’s definitely a foundation for a great recipe. The flavors in the oils will compliment your dish and help you achieve great success.

Central Market Cooking Schools, in partnership with Texas Parks and Wildlife, are offering wild game and fish cookery classes as a way to reach out to home cooks who care about where their food comes from.

06— It’s truly organic meat. It’s got so many benefits, and if it’s cook properly, it should be a fantastic meal.

We’ll post information about upcoming game and fish cooking classes on the Texas Parks and Wildlife Facebook page as it becomes available.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series and is funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motorboat fuel. For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Drought and the Dundee Fish Hatchery Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The freshwater hatchery business is a risky one because it relies on the cooperation of nature—and it can be fickle.

Last year’s heat and drought took a devastating toll on the state’s water supplies, leaving reservoirs dangerously low.

06—This year it looks the Dundee Fish Hatchery may get to that point where we really don’t have enough water to operate.

I spoke with Todd Engeling, Chief of Inland hatcheries for Texas parks and Wildlife, in late February, and by mid-March, operations at the Dundee hatchery near Wichita Falls were suspended due to lack of sufficient water. Although many areas of the state received spring rains, Engeling said the area west of Wichita Falls around Lakes Kemp and Diversion did not.

As the hatchery is one of the state’s primary producers of striped bass and hybrid striped bass fingerlings for stocking into Texas public waters, what now?

20—We will be able to operate on a very limited basis, our spawning operations. So, we will be able to spawn our striped bass and hybrid striped bass as we have traditionally done there, because the systems we use are re-circulating systems. They don’t use a lot of water at all. So, basically the four remaining hatcheries in Texas would receive those fry and put them in their production ponds for grow out.

Find more information on the TPW website.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series and is funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motorboat fuel. For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Why We Stock Fish Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Millions sport fish found in Texas waters begin their lives at one of our state’s five freshwater hatcheries.

16—We may stock fish to start fish populations in a new or renovated reservoir or water body; we may do it to supplement populations where natural reproduction isn’t enough to sustain a population; we may do it to restore populations after some catastrophe where fish populations are diminished.

Todd Engeling, Chief of Inland hatcheries for Texas Parks and Wildlife.

05—We also do it to enhance genetic makeup of the fish, and really provide that trophy potential.

Striped bass, hybrid striped bass, crappie and largemouth bass are some of the species bred in hatcheries. Although these facilities are “enclosed” environments, it doesn’t mean they’re immune from the vagaries of nature, such as drought.

20—All industry is tied to water. So during droughts our water supplies become diminished. And in some cases we’re limited on what we can use based on some permit or contract, or an agreement with the permitting authority. In some cases, when water levels recede in reservoirs, then the amount of water we can draw for operations is reduced.

And sometimes drastic action is necessary; details tomorrow.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series and is funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motorboat fuel. For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.