Passport to Texas

K-9 Game Warden Ruger ready to protect and serve.

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This is Passport to Texas

Texas Game Warden, Christy Vales says her partner has a knack for sniffing out illegal items. Of course he does. After all, her partner is a K-9 police dog named Ruger.

He is a certified Peace Officer, you know he’s been commissioned. His badge number is K-9-5. All of our dogs are very high drive, they need a job. The job that we give them is to use their nose. You know it’s just a win-win for everybody.

Catch Officer Vales and Ruger in action the week of October 7 on the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series on PBS.

So I got a call this morning from Sonny, the Game Warden out of Bastrop County, and he entered a property to check a group of dove hunters. Sonny felt maybe there is, there was a chance that they hid a shotgun, so, I was going to assist with Ruger to do an article search. [Christy] How’s it going Sonny? [Game Warden Sonny Alaniz] We’ve got a 13-year-old that just came out right now. He claimed that he wasn’t hunting. [Christy] How y’all doing? State Game Warden Christy Vales. So are you doing any hunting today? [Hunter] Uh, no ma’am. [Christy] Do you have a hunting license? [Hunter] No I do not. [Christy] Okay. So I’m going to get my K-9 partner out Ruger just to clear the area. What we’re going to do is if you can just go back there and just stay with Officer Alaniz and then I’m going to get my K-9 out, okay? (dog barks).

See Officers Vales and Ruger in action the week of October 7 on the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series on PBS….and find out of the young man was telling the truth.

Our show receives support from RAM Trucks: Built to Serve.

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

Mule deer at sunset.

Mule Deer Antler Restrictions Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

When Mule Deer season opens mid-November hunters must abide by antler restrictions on bucks in six counties in the southeast panhandle.

We’re using the same model as the white-tailed deer.

Restrictions implemented in the early 2000s in six east Texas counties for white-tailed bucks prevented hunters from taking very young animals from the landscape. The experiment saw an increase of bucks, and more natural buck age structure and sex ratios.

Shawn Gray is the state’s mule deer program leader. For white-tail bucks hunters use an inside spread restriction.

But, for mule deer—to protect the age classes that we want to protect, and to allow hunters harvest of the animals that we would like for them to harvest—instead of an inside spread, we’re going to use an outside spread of the main beam.

Which is ear tip to ear tip. There’s a 20-inch minimum restriction on the outside antler spread of the main beams on mule deer bucks.

And, we’re going to monitor that through voluntary check stations. Also, through our population surveys to see if we can improve our age structure of the buck segment of that population over there.

When hunting is not a factor, natural selection determines which bucks reach maturity. Antler restrictions on mule deer bucks are in Briscoe, Childress, Cottle, Floyd, Motley, and Hall counties

The Wildlife Restoration program supports our series and funds Mule Deer management in Texas.

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

White-winged dove hanging out in a suburban backyard.

Citified White-winged Doves Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

White-winged doves, originally associated with the Lower Rio Grande Valley, have expanded their range. Changes in land use practices sent the species farther north into urban areas. Suitable habitat kept them there.

Probably 80-85% of the white-wing dove population in Texas is associated with urban and suburban areas.

Nesting white-winged doves prefer established residential neighborhoods with large live oak, pecan, and ash trees. The availability of consistent food and water sources (birdbaths and bird feeders) make the living easy. Owen Fitzsimmons, Texas Parks and Wildlife’s web-less migratory game bird leader says Texas Parks and Wildlife staff conducts yearly urban dove surveys. He encourages citizens to share their observations of the species, too.

That being said, there are a number of citizen science information collection methods—things like eBird. That’s something that is not run by states or by fish and wildlife service, but it’s something I guarantee, that everybody looks at. It’s a very valuable information source. So, while we don’t have citizens of Texas doing the urban dove survey, I encourage them to report whatever they find on eBird. You know, because, that information is looked at as well.

The Wildlife Restoration program supports our series and funds research on White-winged Dove Density, Distribution, and Harvest.

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

TPW biologist Trevor Tanner releases a Rio Grande turkeys on Price 77 Ranch near Blooming Grove, Texas

TPW TV --Game of Gobblers Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

When European settlers started coming to East Texas, turkeys were thriving. But those settlers quickly changed the landscape.

Around 1925, a hunter could harvest up to 25 turkeys a year. By the 1940s there were less than 100 eastern wild turkeys throughout East Texas. Over-harvest as well as habitat decline really led to the demise of the population.

Kyle Hand is a Texas Parks and Wildlife Natural Resource Specialist. In the 1970s, the agency started a program of bringing wild trapped turkeys from other states to Texas. The program looked promising. Over the next 20 years, more than 7000 eastern wild turkeys were stocked in East Texas.

Now we’re using a super stocking strategy where we release 80 turkeys onto one area of good habitat in hopes that the population will grow from there.

Thanks to the success of these stockings, hunters like Terrence Jackson of Houston have an opportunity to enjoy spring turkey hunting in parts of East Texas.

When I’m on these turkey hunts, basically I love to get away from the busyness of Houston and work and the crowdedness. The sound of the birds, the quiet in the morning and walking through the woods. It’s something that pulls at you.

Experience an East Texas turkey hunt the week of September 23 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.

Previous winner, Steve Knowles, with his mule deer from the Ultimate Mule Deer Hunt.

Big Time Texas Hunts Deadline Approaches Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

When you enter Big Time Texas Hunts, you enter for a chance to win one of ten premium hunt packages while also supporting conservation.

Big Time Texas Hunts is a conservation fundraiser, basically. We try to raise money that we can put directly back into wildlife conservation work on our wildlife management areas and all of our public hunting lands across the state.

Justin Dreibelbis is Texas Parks and Wildlife’s program director for private lands and public hunting. Big Time Texas Hunts includes 10 premium hunt packages for a wide range of game animals.

The easiest way to buy chances for the hunt is to go onto our Texas Parks and Wildlife website and search Big Time Texas Hunts. There you’ll find opportunities for all 10 of these hunt packages. And you can buy as many as you want online; they’re nine dollars apiece.

There’s a $5 online administration fee, but it allows unlimited entries in a single transaction.

Right off the top every year, a portion of that money goes into our desert bighorn sheep program. It pays for surveys and a lot of that translocation work. We’re trying to put new populations in new mountain ranges in West Texas where they originally occurred. It also goes directly back to our Wildlife management areas for habitat projects. It includes all kinds of access improvements for our public hunters. So, it’s all going back to things that our public hunters care about.

The deadline to enter Big Time Texas Hunts is October 15th. Find complete details on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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