Passport to Texas

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

Squirrel hunting was considered a right of passage for young people, but that’s changing. TPW TV writer/producer Ron Kabele tells us about a story airing this month called Last of the Squirrel Hunters.

We followed a father and his daughter, who were hunting on Engeling WMA. Her name was Macy; and she was very enthusiastic—she was about 12 years old.

I have four daughters. Macy is my outdoors person, so she likes to go and tromp out in the woods as long as the bugs don’t bother her too much.

And, his fear is that at some point, Macy’s generation is going to be the last generation of squirrel hunters. Squirrel hunting is actually a very good way to get people into hunting, because you’re moving around the forest, you’re not sitting in one place, you have lots of targets to aim at if you’re in good habitat. In other words, there’s lots of action.

(ambience walking) That other squirrel’s gotta be right here. Dad, put it in your pocket. Whoa. That’s cool.

A lot of time with hunting, it’s that first experience that determines whether someone’s going to be a hunter or someone’s not.

That’s our show for today…thank you for joining us…we receive funding from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program… providing funding for the operations and management of the Gus Engeling WMA.

We record out program at the Production Block in Austin, Texas. Joel Block engineers our show.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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Find out on which PBS stations the Texas Parks and Wildlife Television series airs when you click here.

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

If you’re not a hunter, but you have friends and family who are, you probably get left behind when they go to public hunting lands to bag game. Not any more.

We offer a twelve dollar limited use permit, which is kind of a companion permit to the forty-eight dollar annual public hunting permit.

Vickie Fite is public hunting coordinator. While the permit is a type of companion to the annual public hunting permit, it is a stand alone document that’s good for an entire year.

With that permit, the only thing that you’re not allowed to do is any of the hunting activities. You can actually even fish with the limited use permit.

People who don’t know any hunters can still take advantage of this inexpensive way to access public lands.

If you’re not a hunter, you’re a birdwatcher or just a nature lover, you can spend that twelve dollars and you’ve got access to all of these areas. At times when hunting is allowed, you have to be careful and wear your hunter orange. But you’ve also got access tot his property at any other time also. For just doing the nature watching type things. Over a million acres of land. Ready. Right there. Waiting for you to come out and spend an afternoon watching nature.

Visit the Texas Parks and Wildlife’s web site for detailed information about public hunting and the limited use permit.

That’s our show…supported by 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

It’s fall hunting season in Texas, and various game species are “on the menu.” According to the most current statistics, hunting is good business.

Break duck hunting out if you will. There’s about almost fifty million dollars of economic impact to the state through retail sales.

Dave Morrison is waterfowl program leader. He says the statistics he’s quoting are ten years old, and he expects new data soon. Nevertheless, overall, hunting has been good to Texas and Texans.

The economic impact to Texas, based on 1996, was over a hundred million dollars, and it supported about a thousand jobs and earnings of almost twenty million dollars.

It’s the small Texas towns, says Morrison, that really feel hunting’s positive economic impact.

And you look at some of these small towns…you go down to Katy…on opening day of duck season. There are people everywhere. The motels are full. People never need to lose sight that even though it is for enjoyment and recreation, it is a very, very big business.

Not only does hunting support the economies of many small towns, the various fees paid by hunters support conservation in the state.

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

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 Wildlife Restoration Program

You own land and want maintain healthy habitat and wildlife, but you’re not sure what to do. Lucky for you, Parks and Wildlife biologists are at your service.

We have biologists that are responsible for every county, and those folks are the ones that work one-on-one with landowners to help them understand their resources, help them understand what kinds of management will enhance their properties for the various types of wildlife they’re most interested in.

Linda Campbell is program director for private lands and public hunting. She says the agency helps landowners take an ecosystem approach to land management, and never insists and owners follow a certain path.

It’s always their decision, it’s their plan, but we offer the free consultation, the free advice to them in helping them achieve their management goals.

Landowners learn to read and understand their land with the help of biologists. From this understanding, they discern the possibilities.

Many landowners today are interested in wildlife diversity; they just want diverse habitats that support a lot of different types of wildlife. So, that’s a goal that we help landowners achieve as well as species specific type management.

Find links to landowner assistance information at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show for today… with support from the Wildlife Restoration Program… providing funding for the Private Lands and Public Hunting Program.

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

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