Passport to Texas

Hunt and fish for the rest of your life for free.

Drawing for a Lifetime License Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

The cost of a hunting or fishing license is money well spent. But, what if you could enjoy these activities for a lifetime—free? Enter the Lifetime License drawing from Texas Parks and Wildlife and you could find out.

A lifetime license gives a winner the opportunity to hunt and fish for the rest of their life without ever buying another license in Texas.

Marketing specialist, Nicole Goodman oversees promotion for the drawing, which previously took place in summer & fall. They’ve since added a third drawing, and moved them all to fall.

The deadlines to win are September 30th, October 31st, and November 30th. The winners will be chosen the following business day, and any entry that’s not chosen, will be automatically entered in the next drawing.

Entries are available where you buy licenses; the $5 fee goes toward conservation projects in Texas.

And that [enters you to win] a license that’s valued at eighteen hundred dollars, and you won’t have to buy another license ever again.

Seasoned outdoorsmen and women can extend the benefits to their kin.

Yeah, the really great thing that we’ve seen is a lot of our winners—if they’re older—they will transfer their license to their kids or their grandkids so that they have the opportunity to use it for years to come.

Find details on the Lifetime License Drawing on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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

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.

You could be saltwater fishing in Matagorda Bay.

A Year of Outdoor Adventures Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

What if someone gave you a year’s worth of outdoor adventures? It could happen for one fishing or hunting license buyer when they enter the Win Your Dream Year Outdoors drawing, through November 30.

Go to a special web page that we’ve set up and enter your information: your email address, your name, and your customer number and you’re entered.

It’s free to enter the drawing. Guided fishing and hunting trips are just the start. Janis Johnson, with Texas Parks and Wildlife, says priceless outdoor experiences will provide a lifetime of memories for the winner.

We’re also giving these one of a kind experiences that money can’t buy. You can’t buy a trip to go out on a bay troll on a research vessel with a coastal biologist. Or to go longline sampling in the Gulf of Mexico to learn more about the bay systems and how we keep them healthy and thriving. And, you cannot at this point, buy a kayak fishing adventure with a team of TPW biologists on the Devil’s River, which is one of the most pristine and beautiful and untouched rivers in the whole Southwestern United States.

The license buyer who wins the Grand Prize also receives a premier dove hunting trip, a shotgun, a trophy catfish trip, and $2,000 in Cabela’s merchandise and gear, and more—and it’s all tax free.

And here’s another exciting point. Every trip is for at least two people with accommodations for the travelers.

Find details about the Win Your Dream Year Outdoors drawing on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website, search using the phrase “Dream Year”.

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

Win your dream year outdoors with Texas Parks and Wildlife.

Your Dream Year Outdoors Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Most folks who work indoors all day long wish they had more time to be outdoors.

We can’t give them more time outdoors, but we can certainly make it a lot more fun when they’re out there.

That’s Janis Johnson with Texas Parks and Wildlife. She says anyone purchasing an annual, combo or lifetime license can enter a free drawing for a Dream Year Outdoors.

And the way you enter is to buy your license either online or at a local retailer—get your customer number off of your license, and simply go to a special web page that we’ve set up on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website and enter your information.

So what would this dream year outdoors look like?

It starts with a Cabela’s Celebrity Bass Trip, where you get to go fishing with two of their TV hosts. And this will be televised and shown nationally. There are five fishing trips; a saltwater trip—guided. There’s a freshwater trip. There’s a Devil’s River Kayak Fishing Adventure. There’s a Be a Coastal Biologist for a Day fishing trip. There’s a dove hunting trip from a premier outfitter. And all of these trips include hotel lodging.

The Win Your Dream Year Outdoors drawing runs through November 30. A winner will be drawn December 1.

Janis Johnson returns with additional details on the drawing for a Dream Year Outdoors tomorrow.

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

You can help support Hunters for the Hungry and Fund for Veterans at the time you buy a hunting or fishing license.

Helping Veterans and Hungry Texans Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Now, whenever Texas hunters and anglers buy a new license, they have an opportunity to voluntarily make a charitable donation to two different non-profits.

You can make the voluntary contribution of either one dollar, five dollars, ten dollars or twenty dollars to either the Fund for Veteran’s Assistance, or to help feed Texas families with a donation to Hunters for the Hungry.

Justin Halvorsen is revenue director at Texas Parks and Wildlife. This new giving opportunity came about through passage of SB 1978 and HB 1584 by the Texas Legislature.

It’s through any one of our sales channels. Either online, over the phone, at a retail agent, or any one of our parks and wildlife locations.

Halvorsen says if you make a donation, your bill at checkout will naturally go up by that amount.

And then, at the end of every month, it’ll go into a separate pot, and we’ll send it along to those respective entities [nonprofits].

If you’re feeling generous, you can donate to both. Of course you may wonder if your donation is tax deductible.

That is a great question. And there will be a receipt that gets printed as part of this that specifically says that this is a donation to the Veteran’s Fund or Hunters for the Hungry. And then, really, it’s up to the individual and their tax preparer to make that ultimate decision.

You may need to ask for an itemized receipt from retailers. Find additional details on the TPW website.

That’s our show… Funding provided in part by Ram Trucks. Guts. Glory. Ram

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