Passport to Texas

TPW TV - ADA Hunt at Inks Lake State Park Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Hunting blinds aren’t typically designed for people with disabilities. Inks Lake State Park tackled that issue by building four hunting blinds accessible to people with physical limitations. Chris Hall is with Inks Lake State Park.

We have dropped the windows down to access the height and level of the wheelchair. The carpet is nonskid surface, very good noise dampener.

Elias Brown, a first-time hunter, and his dad Chase were among the first to try the new accessible blinds.

My son has a prosthetic leg. So, it’s more accessible to get into it. Even if you can get a person with a disability up into a traditional blind, it’s going to be almost impossible for them to move around. So these things are eight foot by eight foot, with plenty of head space.

Elias bagged a deer on his first try.

It was my first hunting trip, first shot, and he dropped. So, that was great.

Dad, Chase Brown, says the family will be back.

I have a daughter in a wheelchair and she could easily get there with me and her brother or her mom. It just opens up worlds.

And Inks Lake’s Chris Hall predicts more accessible blinds are in the park’s future.

With the increased popularity, the success of this year already, I don’t know exact numbers but I can assure you we’re going to start constructing a few more.

View a segment on Inks Lake State Park’s accessible hunting blinds the week of December 4 on the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV Series on PBS.

The Wildlife restoration program supports our series.

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

Cecilia Nasti’s father after a pheasant hunt.

Pheasant Hunters May Expect Successful Season Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Higher rainfall averages in the Panhandle bode well for pheasant hunters this season.

This year I had actually seen clutches in July and August. The past several years I hadn’t seen any babies at all.

Todd Montandon, a biologist based in Canyon, says the area’s seen successful hatches three years in a row. Even so, pheasant continue to play a game of catch up after years of drought.

The drought really, really did a number to pheasants. 2011 through probably 2013, there just weren’t good nesting conditions at all. There wasn’t any cover. There wasn’t any water on the landscape. Very little insect production. So, those nests that were successful, the chicks just didn’t make it to adulthood, because they couldn’t find enough food.

Despite the lower numbers of the game bird, Montandon says there are enough adults on the ground for a successful hunt, if you know where to go.

Typically, we’re probably going to see the best numbers around the Dalhart, Perryton, Stratford, Gruver areas. The Herford area also holds quite a few birds, and I’ve seen some hatchlings over there this year. And then as you get down around Tulia and Plainview it starts tapering off.

Pheasant season runs December 3 through January first. Based on current surveys, the recommended bag limit is three per day. Find more information on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Wildlife Restoration program supports our series.

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

Big Time Texas Hunt at Black Gap WMA

Hunting as an Act of Conservation Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Hunting is not only a tradition in Texas—it is also a commitment to wildlife conservation.

Hunters started to see declines in certain game species populations and habitat. And realized if they want to enjoy perusing game (it doesn’t even have be for harvest), just if they want to see that perpetuated so their kids, and future generations can enjoy that, they realized they needed to protect it.

Alan Cain, Texas whitetail deer program leader, says in the early 20th century, hunters chose to conserve wildlife through taxation.

In 1937, you had the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act – called the Pittman-Robertson Act – [signed into law]. Basically it’s a user pay system where the hunters said, ‘okay, we’re going to tax ourselves to help pay for wildlife conservation.’ And that’s been a huge success. In my opinion, that’s why North America has the best wildlife management conservation model in the world – because hunters pay for that.

Hunters pay with the licenses they buy, and the excise tax levied on firearms, ammunition and other equipment, which goes directly to fund conservation.

And then the second part of that is that hunters not only play a role in funding conservation that benefits everybody, but they also play a role in managing deer populations out there.

By removing deer from the landscape, they help keep habitat in balance for all wildlife.

The Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series and funds whitetail research in Texas.

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

Whitetail buck

Hunting and Fishing Licenses Help Feed Hungry Texans Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport

If you harvest multiple deer this season, perhaps you’d consider donating one of them to Hunters for the Hungry—a program of Feeding Texas.

Well, this is a wonderful program that helps us fight hunger.

Hunters and meat processors provide more than 9 million servings of venison to Texas families annually.

Celia Cole, CEO of Feeding Texas, says this year hunters and anglers have another way to donate to Hunters for the Hungry when they buy their license.

So, this is an opportunity for all sportsmen, who want to give back to their communities, they don’t have to donate venison directly—but they can make a financial contribution when they check that box on the hunting or fishing license. [Now], for the first time, this program has a revenue stream to support it. So, for us, this is an opportunity to grow this program in a way we’ve never been able to in the past.

Celia Cole of Feeding Texas tells us how she envisions these tax deductible donations being used.

My biggest hope is that we will be able to minimize the cost to the hunter and the processor of the donation. Ideally, we would want them to be able to request reimbursement from us for the cost of processing the meat. And then, it would be zero cost to the participating hunters and processors.

Purchase hunting and fishing licenses online from the Texas Parks and Wildlife website, or from license retailers statewide.

The Wildlife Restoration program supports our series.

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

Solana Ranch near Salado, TX. Photos for TPW Magazine story “Hunting with Chef Marcus”

TPW Mag - Hunting with a Chef Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Marcus Paslay, chef and owner of Clay Pigeon Food and Drink in Fort Worth, says he started hunting in Texas when he was around eight years old.

You know, I’d go with my Dad and my Granddad. We’d go hunt and fish. And then, you know, as I got older, and a little more responsible, I was allowed to hunt on my own. [laughs]

The restaurant offers a changing seasonal menu of made from scratch dishes that often include game.

Being a hunter, and using game, it just gives you a deeper appreciation for the ingredients in its raw state. You become a little bit more sensitive to throwing stuff away when you’ve seen it alive. And that’s what we do at Clay Pigeon. You know we’re a from scratch kitchen, so we’re buying everything in its whole, raw state. So, it’s just one of those deals that allows us, you know, a little bit more responsibility with our food.

Reid Wittliff wrote an article for the October issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine where he invited Chef Paslay to bow hunt on the Solana Ranch in Central Texas.

Any time that I can go out and hunt, and we can make a deal of it, where it’s eating what we hunted the next day, I mean, that’s pretty cool. And to be able to put that in an article for people to hear about it pretty awesome.

The October issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine is on newsstands now, and includes Chef Marcus Paslay’s recipes from the hunt.

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