Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program

Non-hunters may not approve of hunting. Perhaps this will offer a new perspective: hunters fund conservation efforts in Texas.

There’s no question. Because there’s an excise tax put on sporting arms and ammunition that goes into conservation that states use to manage WMAs [Wildlife Management Areas] and run programs.

Dave Morrison is waterfowl program leader. The various stamps hunters need to harvest certain species fund conservation.

If you look at the duck stamp since 1937, look at all the land that has been purchased and is out there in perpetuity for wetlands.

Morrison adds you don’t have to be a hunter to buy a duck stamp.

If people may not necessarily agree with hunting, or they don’t hunt themselves, one of the smartest things they can do is go buy a duck stamp. Because that duck stamp goes into acquisition of habitat that certainly benefits ducks, but benefits a whole wide range of species. Even if you don’t hunt, buying a duck stamp will show that you, too, are concerned about conservation, and that you are doing your part by spending that fifteen dollars, which in turn, is going into purchase land for our grandkids to be able to watch waterfowl as they migrate south.

Learn more about hunting and conservation when you visit passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…with support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program… funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motor boat fuels.

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program

Some hunters are required to take a hunter education course before heading into the field.

That’s if they’re born on or after September two, nineteen seventy one.

Terry Erwin, hunter education coordinator for Texas Parks and Wildlife, says there’s an easy way to find out if you’re required to take it.

If they’ll just take a quick look at their license, right under their city where they have HIP [harvest information program] certification, it should say HE [hunter education] required, or Hunter Ed required. If it’s on there, then that means they need to take the course. And we have plenty of courses scheduled throughout the state, especially right coming up before Thanksgiving, and again right before the Christmas holidays.

Those taking the course learn more than just how to aim and fire.

Oh, they learn firearm safety, they learn wildlife management, recreation safety, they learn about conservation, they learn about ethics, responsibility and game laws. All those things they need to be a safe, responsible hunter out in the field.

Find a link to Hunter Education classes at passporttotexas.org.

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

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program

White-tailed deer season is underway, and harvesting deer is vital to proper ecosystem management.

If we didn’t hunt deer in Texas, deer would eat themselves out of house and home. And not just themselves, but all species that thrive on that ecosystem.

Songbirds, for example, suffer when deer numbers are not controlled. Mitch Lockwood, statewide white-tailed deer program leader, says Texas has more than three–million white-tailed deer. And yet, surprisingly few hunters take full advantage of available bag limits.

One example is that in the Texas Hill Country, where we have the highest concentration of deer — where one can harvest as many as five deer a piece, the average hunter in the Hill Country harvests only one point one deer.

Most Hill Country hunters stop at maybe two deer.

So, with a harvest of 1 deer per hunter, we’re not ever going to meet our population management goals.

Lockwood stresses the importance of adequate doe harvest in most areas of Texas, and encourages hunters to take advantage of the bag limits by putting more antlerless deer in the freezer. However, if your freezer is full, there are programs to help you distribute the meat.

Hunters for the hungry program in Texas is growing. And there are other programs that help hunters defer some of those processing costs so that hunters can donate venison to the needy with minimal expense.

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

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program

It’s good to have choices, and the Hunter’s Choice program offered duck hunters just that last season, and again this season. While Hunter’s Choice reduces the overall daily bag limit to five birds — down from six – it increases the species hunters may harvest by eliminating season within a season.

So now [for example] rather than having a pintail season that only runs for 39 days, you can shoot a pintail every day [of the 74 day season]. So, if you’re out there hunting, you shoot a pintail…you can’t shoot a mallard hen; you can’t shoot a canvasback; and you can’t shoot a mottle duck. It’s an aggregate bag. It’s something we’re looking at as trying to look at a different way of approaching bag limits.

Dave Morrison, waterfowl program leader for Texas Parks and Wildlife. Before you go hunting, it’s a given you should know how to identify ducks. With Hunter’s Choice, a case of mistaken identity is less likely to land you in hot water.

You don’t know what it is – you shoot a pintail. Well, with season within a season, if you did it in the first part of the season – you’re in trouble. This, at least, allows you the opportunity that if you do make a mistake – I can take that bird home. But you need to learn your ducks. Try to learn how to identify them.

That’s our show for today…our series receives support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program… working to increase fishing, hunting, shooting and boating opportunities in Texas…

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program

Duck hunters are bracing for what could be one of the best waterfowl hunting seasons in many years thanks to ideal habitat conditions brought on by our rainy spring and summer. High Plains Mallard Management Unit season opened October 20… the north and south zones followed suit November 3 – all zones have split seasons.

Splits in seasons are a management tool, if you will. It provides an opportunity to let the birds rest. Because, if you give them an opportunity to rest, you get more birds coming in; it’s kind of like you get two opening days.

Dave Morrison is waterfowl program leader for Texas Parks and Wildlife. The north and south zones close Nov. 25, resume December 8, and all three zones end their seasons January 27. The 2007-2008 waterfowl season will also see the second year of the Hunter’s Choice program.

A lot of people like it, some of them don’t like it. Because when you went to Hunter’s Choice, you went from six total birds per day down to five. BUT, what it did, it did away with season within a season.

We have details on Hunter’s Choice tomorrow. Find all hunting regulations and seasons in the 2007-2008 Outdoor Annual.

That’s our show for today…our series receives support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program… working to increase fishing, hunting, shooting and boating opportunities in Texas…

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

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