Passport to Texas

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

People who don’t live in Texas are usually surprised by the amount of water we have here, as well as the extensive and diverse angling opportunities available in the state.

If freshwater fishing is your thing, and bass your bag, then Lake Texoma, near Oklahoma, Falcon Lake on the border with Mexico, Caddo Lake near Louisiana, and even the White River Reservoir in the panhandle have healthy bass populations just waiting for you to reel them in. Each lake also has plenty of species like catfish and crappie for your angling pleasure.

For some… saltwater angling is a passion — and if it is for you — consider Goose Island State Park, where you won’t find any geese, but you will find prolific waters of Aransas, Copano and St. Charles Bays. Mustang Island, meanwhile, offers primitive camping on a first come first served basis, as well as prime opportunities to get into the surf and pull in rockfish, red fish and maybe sea trout, as well as other sport fish.

Come to passporttotexas.org where you’ll find useful links to help bring out your inner angler.

That’s our show…made possible by the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program…working to increase fishing, shooting, fishing and hunting 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 Sportfish and Wildlife Restoration Program

Next time you are on the water, and decide to forgo wearing a life jacket, consider this:

About eighty-five percent of the drowning fatalities, a person is not wearing a life jacket—and that’s huge.

Brandi Bradford, state boater education coordinator, says all personal watercraft passengers, including those being towed, must wear life jackets…including the kiddos.

The law says that anyone under the age of thirteen must be wearing a life jacket while the boat is underway. We recommend that everyone does.

Boaters have reasons why they don’t like wearing life jackets, but those excuses don’t hold water.

People usually don’t like to wear them because they’re heavy, they’re bulky, they make you hot. You know, it’s a hundred degrees outside in Texas. There are actually new forms of life jackets. We have belt pack inflatables, over the shoulder (they look like little harnesses) inflatables. They’re real lightweight; they won’t mess up your tan, and they don’t get in your way when you’re driving around.

Life jackets are widely available at department and sporting goods stores. Find additional information about life jackets at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…we receive support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program…working to increase hunting, shooting, fishing 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 Wildlife Restoration Program

Warren Blesh is president of the Simms Creek Wildlife Management Association, in Mills and Lampasas counties.

We’re really 75 landowners that have come together in cooperation with Texas Parks and Wildlife. We work with the recommendations from the biologist to manage the deer herd for our ranches—and what we’ll harvest each year.

The landowners have adjoining properties, and Blesh says since the association began seven year ago, they’ve seen improvement in their collective deer herd.

The ages are getting a lot better. When we started the association the average age of our deer harvested was one and a half, two and a half years old. We’ve moved that up to two and a half three and a half, and tree and a half to four and a half.

Older deer lead to a better herd. Association treasurer, Damon Holditch says improving the land, with thoughtful hunting, creates a stronger, healthier herd and turns shooters into hunters.

A shooter shoots the first thing that comes out. A hunter will actually work his particular ranch or blind area and select which deer should be harvested for the betterment of the whole herd.

Holditch says hunter education—Simms Creek style—weeds out the shooters from the hunters.

I think some of the guys who think they’re hunters and they’re shooters, they only stay around one year because they don’t want to be harassed—but that’s fine—we don’t want them here anyway, because they’re not good for the herd. The guys who really are hunters they do appreciate it.

That’s our show…with support from the Wildlife Restoration Program…working to restore habitat 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 Wildlife Restoration Program

Biologist Mike Miller dropped his jaw during at the spring meeting of the Simms Creek Wildlife Management Association.

[bones rattling] Sorry. At’s awright. You’re a biologist, not a basketball player. (laughter)

A little ribbing and a lot of “jawing” went on during the annual meeting in Star, Texas. Landowners listened to speakers in one room; hunters with leases on their property were in another with Miller.

We’re actually taking a look at their the deer jawbones from this past season’s harvest. And I end up writing a harvest summary for the association during the summer months. And that’s when we kind of revisit their goals and objectives, and see how close they got with this year’s harvest with the goals that are set for them.

Don Jackson, founding member of the Simms Creek Wildlife Management Association, says one of their goals is managing their land for better deer, which they do through Parks & Wildlife’s Managed Lands Deer Permit Program.

And you have to do a lot of different things to qualify for that. You have to run census lines, you have to put in food plots, you have to count deer when you go out, and you have to improve waterways or improve water systems. And you also have to turn in your jawbones as we’re doing here for aging.

Simms Creek WMA—improving herds and hunters—that’s tomorrow.

That’s our show…with support from the Wildlife Restoration Program…working to improve habitat 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 Wildlife Restoration Program

Biologists Billy and Bonnie McKinney’s reintroduce black bears to West Texas. TV Producer, Ron Kabele, tells us about a segment this month that highlights their work.

Parks and Wildlife a few years ago decided to try to reintroduce the black bear back into west Texas; and that’s what Billy and Bonnie have been working on the last few years.

You see a bear out here in this country and they’ve been gone so long, and then to have them back—it’s a pretty incredible deal.

Hopefully we can give him some help to go ahead and finish his expansion into historic range.

And it’s also putting back a part of Texas that we thought was gone forever.

And what was interesting in one case was one of them got a call from Alpine; it’s a small town that’s close by.

There’s a bear in a tree at Alpine, and I’ve got the drug kit with me. Bill is in route, and Don’s gone over to pick up the covert trap, so we are on the way.

Billy went up into the tree and tranquilized the bear.

Okay, y’all get back a little bit. We’re going to drop him down. We’re going to attempt to drop him down.

And then, the bear fell out of the tree—which is what they do—and then they took it back into the bear’s original habitat.

We really moved him for his protection, not for people’s protection.

See it for yourself this month on Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series.

That’s our show…with support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program… providing funding for black bear research and relocation.

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

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