Passport to Texas

A gorgeous gobbler.

Hunting: Turkey Hunting Isn't Just a Fall Pursuit Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download

Spring hunting season for turkey wraps up this month.

04— In Texas – the majority of the state – the western two-thirds of the state are going to be Rio Grande Turkey.

Robert Perez, upland game bird manager at Parks and Wildlife, says over the long term, Rio Grande turkeys are doing well in their range. Another sub-species is the Eastern Wild Turkey, which occurs in deep East Texas.

13— And it’s population, for many years, Texas Parks and Wildlife and partner –the National Wild Turkey Federation – worked very, very diligently to restore that bird. But there is a spring eastern season in certain east Texas counties only.

You can find those counties in the online version of Outdoor Annual on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website. Meantime, if you plan to take advantage of the waning days of spring turkey season…

13— To hunt any upland game bird, there’s the upland game bird stamp – a seven dollar stamp – required to hunt pheasant, quail, turkey, or chachalaca. So, to hunt those species, you buy that stamp, and then that goes toward the conservation of that bird.

Find license, hunting and management information for all game species on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series, funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motor boat fuel.

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

Spring turkey season in Texas. Photo by Bill Reaves, TPWD

Hunting: Spring Turkey Hunting on the Rise Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download

Upland game bird hunters needn’t put up their rifles just yet. You still have about a week to get into the field and flush out a turkey…and you won’t be alone.

08— In Texas, what we’ve seen over the last several years – maybe over the last decade – is a continuing interest and growth in the number of spring turkey hunters.

Robert Perez is the upland game bird program leader at Parks and Wildlife. Perez says fall turkey hunting is often incidental to deer hunting.

05— Say, someone’s in their deer hunting blind, and they see some turkeys and decide, “Okay, I’m going to take a turkey.”

But, in springtime it’s all about the bird.

25— It’s more involved as far as calling a strutting male, or a male that’s going into breeding season. He’s going to be more colorful; he’s going to be looking for hens and responding to a hunter’s call. So, he’ll [the hunter] be imitating the calls of the hen, completely decked out in camouflage at the base of a tree or somewhere – trying to get that bird to get close enough to him to shoot. And it can be a very exhilarating, very exciting experience to successfully call in a bird. So, it’s quite addictive.

Log onto the Texas Parks and Wildlife website and find out when and where to hunt turkey this month. Just click on the hunting tab and then season dates by animal.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series, funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motor boat fuel.

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

Hunting/Food: Hunting and Eating Rabbit Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Andy’s Mother in Law’s Gumbo Recipe. Substitute rabbit for the chicken; if you don’t have venison sausage, any good smoked sausage will do.

Hunting/Food: Hunting and Eating Rabbit Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Andy Gluesenkamp calls rabbit the third white meat.

04—Rabbit really is all white meat; it’s like a cross between pork and chicken. It’s very, very lean; there’s very little fat in the meat, itself.

A herpetologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife, Andy has hunted and eaten rabbit since he was a boy.

07—I grew up eating curried rabbit that my mom made. And no one makes better curried rabbit than my mom.

A self-professed “good cook,” Andy Gluesenkamp likes to prepare rabbit he’s harvested. Preparation, he says, begins with properly field dressing the animal, which, he adds, is “easy to clean.” Rabbit is a versatile and healthy protein that lends itself to a variety of cooking styles.

18— I think my buttermilk fried rabbit is pretty good. I also make rabbit gumbo, based on my mother-in-law’s gumbo recipe; and that is exceptional. I’ve also done rabbit pot pie, and Teriyaki rabbit, and grilled rabbit, and poached rabbit. It’s really hard to mess up rabbit.

Find Andy’s recipe for Rabbit Gumbo at passporttotexas.org. It’s no curried rabbit, but it’s still tasty.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series and is funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motor boat fuel.

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

Andy Gluesenkamp’s son, Jack, with a rabbit harvest.

Hunting: Hunting Around the Edges Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download

Expect success nearly every outing when rabbit hunting—especially when you hunt around the edges.

04—[Those are] Areas where people aren’t necessarily going to be conducting other activities.

Andy Gluesenkamp, a herpetologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife, and an avid rabbit hunter, says hunting rabbits provides a “walk in the woods” experience. But what about those edges?

21—You would look for fence lines along fallow fields, or old pasture, or berry patches and cactus patches… So, there’s less competition with other land use – like cattle grazing. Rabbit hunting usually won’t disturb cattle. Or, you’re not going to be competing with deer hunters who are going to be in another kind of habitat.

Ask landowners about hunting their property, or consider hunting on Texas Parks and Wildlife’s public lands. Hunt rabbits year-round; however, the cooler months have their advantages.

14—It’s pleasant – getting back to that walking in the woods experience – also in summertime when it’s really dry, they can be a lot leaner. I prefer to eat them when they have a little bit of fat on them. If there’s green grass on the ground – that’s the perfect time
to go rabbit hunting.

Rabbit as a tasty treat. That’s tomorrow.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series and is funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motor boat fuel.

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

Rabbit photo courtesy TPWD

Hunting: Rabbits Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download

When most people think of hunting, they think: deer, dove, duck and feral hogs. But, TPW herpetologist, Andy Gluesenkamp, isn’t most people.

04—I hunt primarily rabbits; rabbit hunting is really near and dear to my heart.

Andy’s love affair with rabbit hunting started when he was a boy spending time in the field alongside his father.

15—I have really fond memories of hunting rabbits with my dad. So, I can say I think it’s the best way to start kids on hunting,
because I can look at my personal experience and tie my love of nature all the way back to those early experiences.

Hunting for small game like rabbit has its own rhythm.

12—Rabbit hunting is the perfect balance between the abject boredom that goes with sitting in a deer blind, and maybe or maybe not seeing a deer, and maybe or maybe not getting to shoot at it, and the battle zone, front line, fire fest that can be a good day
of dove hunting. So, somewhere between being bored out of your socks and sounding like you’re in an air raid is rabbit hunting.

Andy Gluesenkamp says it’s like a walk in the woods interspersed with the excitement of sighting your prey and taking a good shot. More on rabbit hunting tomorrow.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series and is funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motor boat fuel.

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