Passport to Texas

Don Cash at the JD Murphee WMA

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This is Passport

This month, when you tune into the new season of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Television series on PBS, you’ll see some changes.

It’s going to have a little different look: new open, new music, new graphics—and as always—lots of new segments.

Series Producer, Don Cash, says new, shorter segments within episodes will offer viewers more variety.

We’re going to do a few less of the longer segments, and concentrate a little more on doing segments that are a little bit shorter—maybe three, four, five minutes. There’s just a lot of stuff that we want to put on the show. So, we’re going to concentrate a little bit more on doing some shorter things, and hopefully have more new segments than we’ve had in season’s past.

Viewers can still expect to see everything they love about the Texas outdoors on the show—and more. Improved, smaller cameras and micro-copters, help producers to tell stories on a more intimate scale.

These cameras allow you to get closer to things. Especially the Go-Pro cameras. You put a small camera on a kayak that you couldn’t do before. So, it does show a unique angle. And it allows us to really tell a story in a little different way.

The new season of the award-winning Texas Parks and Wildlife television series on PBS premiers the week of October 16. Check your local listings.

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

Solana Ranch near Salado, TX. Photos for TPW Magazine story “Hunting with Chef Marcus”

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Marcus Paslay, chef and owner of Clay Pigeon Food and Drink in Fort Worth, says he started hunting in Texas when he was around eight years old.

You know, I’d go with my Dad and my Granddad. We’d go hunt and fish. And then, you know, as I got older, and a little more responsible, I was allowed to hunt on my own. [laughs]

The restaurant offers a changing seasonal menu of made from scratch dishes that often include game.

Being a hunter, and using game, it just gives you a deeper appreciation for the ingredients in its raw state. You become a little bit more sensitive to throwing stuff away when you’ve seen it alive. And that’s what we do at Clay Pigeon. You know we’re a from scratch kitchen, so we’re buying everything in its whole, raw state. So, it’s just one of those deals that allows us, you know, a little bit more responsibility with our food.

Reid Wittliff wrote an article for the October issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine where he invited Chef Paslay to bow hunt on the Solana Ranch in Central Texas.

Any time that I can go out and hunt, and we can make a deal of it, where it’s eating what we hunted the next day, I mean, that’s pretty cool. And to be able to put that in an article for people to hear about it pretty awesome.

The October issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine is on newsstands now, and includes Chef Marcus Paslay’s recipes from the hunt.

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

Hunters patiently waiting.

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There is a registration fee of $50 for the New Hunter Workshop to cover costs, which includes lunch.
For more information or to register for the workshop, contact Bill Balboa at bill.balboa@ag.tamu.edu or call 979-245-4100.

This is Passport to Texas

A growing interest in the origin of the food they eat led some people, who’ve never hunted before, to seek out hunting opportunities.

And so what we’re trying to do is get them started from the very basics.

Bill Balboa, of Agrilife Extension, says a New Hunter Workshop, October 15, in collaboration with Texas Parks and Wildlife, will introduce interested foodies to hunting basics.

There’s not going to be any hunting, but there will be some firearm safety and some target practice with some .22s that Texas Parks and Wildlife Hunter Ed is going to loan us. And, they’re going to have some of their Hunter Ed safety instructors out there to help us. But there won’t be any hunting at this point. But, people will be provided all the information they need to sign up for public hunts in Texas.

Minimum age to participate is nine, accompanied by an adult.

What I’m hoping is, all folks who have the desire to do the field to table experience—we’re looking for those new hunters that don’t have much experience—particularly with the processing with the animal. The seminar is going to be heavily slanted in that direction. So, we would like to get those folks out—anyone who would like to come out and do that. New hunters in general.

The New Hunter Workshop, October 15, is at the Nannie M. Stringfellow Wildlife Management Area in Brazoria County. It’s limited to 30 people. Find a link to registration information at passporttotexas.org.

The Wildlife Restoration program supports our series.

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

New Hunter Workshop

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When families began to migrate from rural Texas to urban Texas, they left behind some of their traditions.

There are a lot of younger folks who weren’t introduced to hunting, and they would like to hunt. So, what we’re trying to do is get them started from the very basics.

Bill Balboa, Matagorda County Marine Extension Agent, is collaborating with Texas Parks and Wildlife to offer a New Hunter Workshop on October 15 at the Nannie M. Stringfellow Wildlife Management Area in Brazoria County.

So, what we’re trying to do is get them started from the very basics: where you can hunt in Texas, public lands access, what you need to hunt in Texas to be legal. What kind of firearms you might need to hunt certain types of big game. Then, we’re actually going to do some hands on field dressing and skinning and processing.

No experience required, just a desire to learn this time honored tradition of humane harvest.

There was a need for this, and Texas Parks and Wildlife Biologists agreed with me. So, that’s why we’re partnering to do this. And it’s going to be focused primarily on feral hogs, because they’re a nuisance. But dual purpose—food and eliminating the nuisance. So, that’s the gist of the whole deal.

The workshop is limited to the first 30 people. The cost is $50, which includes lunch. We have details at passporttotexas.org.

The Wildlife Restoration program supports our series.

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

Fishing at Cooper lake State Park

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This is Passport

Midway between Dallas and Texarkana, Cooper Lake State Park is two parks in one.

We’ve got two different units. We’ve got the Doctor’s Creek unit on the north side of the Lake, and then we have the South Sulphur Unit on the south side of the lake.

Together, the units encompass just over 3,000 acres. Kody Waters, Complex Superintendent, says visitors enjoy hiking, biking and horseback riding on the trail systems found on both sides of the lake.

One of them is fairly flat at the Doctor’s Creek Unit, but then the other trail system—you have to have a little more experience on riding that. But, both trails are great during the fall. As we’re coming into this fall, it’s going to be great to be able to go on the trail and see the change in the colors on the trail.

Visitors can reserve camping sites, RV sites with water and electricity, shelters, and fully loaded cabins—some with lake views. Plus, there’s plenty of water recreation and fishing.

At Cooper Lake, a lot of folks will say—in the park system across the state—it’s one of the best kept little secrets. Cooper Lake is truly a great fishery. You’ve got the hybrid striped bass. You’ve got great catfishing, great crappie fishing. And largemouth bass as well. We do struggle with our lake elevation—we have over the years—but we’re at a great level now, and hope to be that way as we continue.

Find more information about Cooper Lake State Park as well as events at the park on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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