Passport to Texas

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

The annual arrival of colorful, fun-to-catch rainbow trout gets underway this month and continues through March.

They’re a good fish to catch and a good fish to eat.

Carl Kittle oversees the Texas Parks and Wildlife trout-stocking program.

Each winter we try to create an opportunity for fishermen. Right now we’re doing over a hundred and twenty sites, with about two hundred seventy to two hundred and seventy five thousand rainbow trout being stocked almost all over the state.

It gets too hot in Texas to support a natural population of rainbow trout, so anglers have to get ’em while it’s cold.

You can catch them with live bait. You can catch them with corn or some other bait; and certainly, they’re great on spinners and even fly-fishing.

What about a cane pole?

A cane pole and a worm is one of the best ways to catch trout.

Kittle says although relatively easy to catch, rainbow trout can offer a challenge to anglers.

In that they are aware of people above the water, and they can see out of the water if the water is clear. So, sometimes you have to be a little bit cautious about letting the fish see you from above while you’re fishing.

Having to hide from prying fish eyes below the water’s surface is just plain creepy. [Water bubble sound]

They’re nice eyes. They’re nice little fish—no reason to worry about them.

Find the trout-stocking schedule at passporttotexas.org. That’s our show…with support from the Sport Fish Restoration Program… helping to fund fish hatchery management and operations in Texas.

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

Winter Trout Stocking, 1 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

Jake “Bud” Dearing, has worked tirelessly to produce quality white-tailed deer on his ranch through the Parks and Wildlife Managed Lands Deer Program.

We got plenty of good deer here. They need a little push, a little help.

The Dearing Ranch, in Northern Erath County, stretches across 1400 acres, and has a 15-acre bass lake. Walking along one of the property’s many trails, Dearing points to a healthy stand of waist-high vegetation.

Right here we have this skunk bush, and I’m, and I’m proud of it. We have, uh, lots of it, and it’s one of the better foods for deer in this country. It is very important in a deer’s diet.

And deer get their fill at this all-you-can-eat buffet. Steve Whisenant works alongside the 78-year-old rancher.

I’ve worked with him on it since day one. And it’s just part of us. We’ve put a lot of our life into it. A lot of work, and it’s beginning to pay off now. He’s got world class game here; bass, turkey, white-tail deer. It’s just a dream for a sportsman or wildlife person.

Dearing says he’s not ready to slow down, because he’s having too much fun managing his land.

I enjoy it more since y’all have pointed things out to me that…I’d never thought about.

The Dearing Ranch earned the Lone Star Land Steward award for the Cross-Timbers and Prairies Eco-Region.

That’s our show…with support from the Wildlife Restoration Program…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
__________________________________________________________

The Dearing Ranch
http://www.dearingranchtrophywhitetails.com/

Lone Star Land Steward Cross Timbers & Prairies, 2 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

Jake “Bud” Dearing, has worked tirelessly to produce quality white-tailed deer on his ranch through the Parks and Wildlife Managed Lands Deer Program.

We got plenty of good deer here. They need a little push, a little help.

The Dearing Ranch, in Northern Erath County, stretches across 1400 acres, and has a 15-acre bass lake. Walking along one of the property’s many trails, Dearing points to a healthy stand of waist-high vegetation.

Right here we have this skunk bush, and I’m, and I’m proud of it. We have, uh, lots of it, and it’s one of the better foods for deer in this country. It is very important in a deer’s diet.

And deer get their fill at this all-you-can-eat buffet. Steve Whisenant works alongside the 78-year-old rancher.

I’ve worked with him on it since day one. And it’s just part of us. We’ve put a lot of our life into it. A lot of work, and it’s beginning to pay off now. He’s got world class game here; bass, turkey, white-tail deer. It’s just a dream for a sportsman or wildlife person.

Dearing says he’s not ready to slow down, because he’s having too much fun managing his land.

I enjoy it more since y’all have pointed things out to me that…I’d never thought about.

The Dearing Ranch earned the Lone Star Land Steward award for the Cross-Timbers and Prairies Eco-Region.

That’s our show…with support from the Wildlife Restoration Program…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
__________________________________________________________

The Dearing Ranch
http://www.dearingranchtrophywhitetails.com/

Lone Star Land Steward Cross Timbers & Prairies, 2 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

[birds] I’ll be seventy-eight years old in a week or two, and I’m having more fun now than I ever had in my life. I’m getting to do for a hobby what I used to have to scratch out a living out of. [dog barking]

Jake “Bud” Dearing has spent over thirty years piecing together fourteen hundred acres of north Texas cross timber land devoted to native Texas Wildlife.

I love my wildlife. I love deer. We try to use what the good Lord provided us. And then whatever we don’t have, then we try to supplement it, and we’ve come up with some very good deer.

He purchased the original land in the seventies with a veteran’s loan, and spent the next five years adding to his acreage. His land management goal is to improve plant diversity to benefit a variety of wildlife, which he has done with the help of Texas Parks and Wildlife.

Mr. Dearing is an extremely good partner with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

James Edwards is a Parks and Wildlife Biologist.

His openness and willingness to manage his land the way that it needs to be managed is one of the biggest assets that he has.

The Dearing Ranch earned the Lone Star Land Steward award for the Cross-Timbers and Prairies Eco-Region. Tomorrow: successful land management.

Y’all have pointed things out to me that I never thought about.

That’s our show…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.
__________________________________________________________

The Dearing Ranch
http://www.dearingranchtrophywhitetails.com

Lone Star Land Steward Cross Timbers & Prairies, 1 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

[birds] I’ll be seventy-eight years old in a week or two, and I’m having more fun now than I ever had in my life. I’m getting to do for a hobby what I used to have to scratch out a living out of. [dog barking]

Jake “Bud” Dearing has spent over thirty years piecing together fourteen hundred acres of north Texas cross timber land devoted to native Texas Wildlife.

I love my wildlife. I love deer. We try to use what the good Lord provided us. And then whatever we don’t have, then we try to supplement it, and we’ve come up with some very good deer.

He purchased the original land in the seventies with a veteran’s loan, and spent the next five years adding to his acreage. His land management goal is to improve plant diversity to benefit a variety of wildlife, which he has done with the help of Texas Parks and Wildlife.

Mr. Dearing is an extremely good partner with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

James Edwards is a Parks and Wildlife Biologist.

His openness and willingness to manage his land the way that it needs to be managed is one of the biggest assets that he has.

The Dearing Ranch earned the Lone Star Land Steward award for the Cross-Timbers and Prairies Eco-Region. Tomorrow: successful land management.

Y’all have pointed things out to me that I never thought about.

That’s our show…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.
__________________________________________________________

The Dearing Ranch
http://www.dearingranchtrophywhitetails.com

Lone Star Land Steward Cross Timbers & Prairies, 1 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download