Passport to Texas

Ladies Goose Hunt outside of Bay City, Texas

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Hunting is attracting new groups of enthusiasts.

Women are the number one growing group in a lot of the outdoor activities—especially in the shooting world. More women today are shooting now and learning to shoot a firearm and to hunt than any other group.

Heidi Rao is a Hunter Education specialist for Southeast Texas. She says many among this new tide of hunters—both women and men—identify as locavores. People who seek locally sourced, sustainably raised food.

So, they’ve become more interested in hunting because they know the animal was naturally fed—in nature, of course—and so if they shoot it, they’re directly part of that process. And then they learn how to cook it and prepare it, so it’s a complete that circle of life.

Not all people with a budding interest in hunting are ready for big game like deer or feral hogs. For them, Rao suggests something smaller, but no less challenging.

Squirrel hunting is a very great way to introduce somebody to hunting whether they be a youth or an adult.

Heidi Rao returns tomorrow to tell us what it takes to have a successful squirrel hunt, and why small game like squirrel don’t seem to get the attention they deserve.

The Wildlife Restoration program supports our series, and works to increase shooting and hunting in Texas.

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

Enjoying a day of fishing at Possum Kingdom.

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Collaboration can bring about positive outcomes. Consider the teamwork between Texas Parks and Wildlife, the Brazos River Authority, and other supporters and volunteers. Together they made habitat enhancements at Lake Granbury, Possum Kingdom Lake, and Proctor Lake.

The work was designed to improve habitat for a variety of fish species, and to provide better fishing overall.

The enhancements include artificial structures made of recycled plastics, and natural structures made of recycled bamboo and Christmas trees. These items were vetted for safety, and deployed to create new habitat and improve areas with existing habitat for popular sport fish and prey species.

Environmental conditions such as golden algae, drought and the natural reservoir aging process can affect fish populations. The enhancement projects offer improved areas for spawning and feeding, in addition to providing cover from predators to help fish grow to maturity.

GPS coordinates and maps of the locations of the habitat improvement projects In Lake Granbury, Possum Kingdom Lake and Proctor Lake are available on the TPW web site.

The Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series.

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

Caprock Canyons State Park– a great place for nature photography.

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Last time my colleague Aaron Friar and I got together to talk about holiday events in state parks for the radio show, I also asked him if he had any resolutions for the New Year that include the outdoors.

Well, one thing that I would really like to work on is outdoor photography. I love taking pictures—I do it a lot now—but I want to do it more and hone my skills. Do a lot more dark sky photography. I think that’s really neat. I’ve seen that a lot lately, and that just really gets me excited. I have a camera; I really want to get involved in trying to get some of those really special shots. All it takes is getting out and doing it. Where’s a park you’d like to do some of that? Oh, that’s a great, great question. I’m actually in love with Caprock Canyons—and it’s so photogenic out there with the mountains and the colors and the wildlife. The sunsets out there are absolutely beautiful. So, that’s one site that I think is really, really good for that. But, then again, in the spring in the Hill Country…I mean, you can’t beat the wildflowers. I mean, it’s just so hard to say. That’s a really tough question. But I really am enjoying Caprock, and there’s a lot of great chance to get some good photography out there.

What do you want to do new or better in the outdoors this year? Let us know at passporttotexas.org.

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

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

Aerial view of Dundee Freshwater Fish Hatchery .

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The Dundee Fish Hatchery, Texas’ largest, suspended operations in 2011.

Yep. We had a big hiccup in production due to water supply. It was a very big drought in 2011, so we discontinued production here just because we didn’t have availability to water.

The hatchery produces striped bass, hybrid striped bass and catfish. Inland Fisheries Hatchery Program Manager, Carl Kittel, says the shutdown continued through 2015.

All of our hatcheries operate off water right that can be cut off. So we were without water and didn’t operate. Last spring there was plenty of rain—the water levels in the lakes came up—so we began operations.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Television Series on PBS features the challenges of bringing the Dundee Hatchery back online after a four year hiatus.

Starting up is a bit of a process. Personnel have to be reallocated and then hired and trained to do their job. Equipment has to be started and repaired and all those things take a little bit of gearing up to get going full speed.

Getting it back online benefits freshwater fishing in Texas.

The Dundee hatchery is a big part of the inland fish hatchery program. And we can produce more fish and better support fisheries when this hatchery is operating.

Catch the segment on the hatchery on the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV Series on PBS the week of January 22. The Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series.

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

Ralston Dorn [left] and a fellow workshop attendee [right] discuss Dorn’s success in the field. He shot his first deer (a doe) during a mentored deer hunt for adult novices, at Inks Lake State Park.

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Armed with his father’s vintage Weatherby 2506 hunting rifle, Dallas paramedic, Ralston Dorn, climbed into the idling pickup that would take him and his mentor to a blind at Inks Lake State Park, where they would wait and watch, and hope for a chance to harvest a deer.

We got there at 6 a.m. when it was dark. It was quiet. You got to watch the sun rise. The birds come in. The feeder went off at seven, and then five or ten minutes later, my guide ironically said: ‘Alright deer, come on out’ just as a joke. And sure enough, about five minutes later two doe popped out.

Under the direction of his mentor, Justin Dreibelbis, Ralston brought the rifle to his shoulder, and put the deer in his scope.

You know, my adrenaline’s flowing. And then he’s looking through his binoculars and I’m looking through the scope. And he’s telling me—alright–doe on the right is good to shoot. Alright, doe on the left is not good to shoot. Then it got to a point where the one on the left became the good one to shoot. My heart was racing. I did have to try and control my breathing. And so I took the shot. I just kind of let the trigger surprise me. And it went off and it was exactly where I was aiming. So it was a good shot. She ended up expiring about 20 yards from the blind. We waited for about 15 minutes in the blind, and then went to the point of impact.

Ralston Dorn shot his first deer during a new mentored deer hunt program for adult novices. Additional mentored hunts are in development.

The Wildlife Restoration program supports our series.

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