Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

This Thanksgiving week is all about food. Starting with a head’s up about wild game cooking segments coming up on the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV show. Producer, Whitney Bishop.

65– We worked with bearded hipster, Jessie Griffiths. He’s a local [chef] food expert. He’s also an avid hunter and angler. And so we produced cooking segments with him where he shows you how to grill venison, how to fry redfish three ways, how to make teal yakatori, and feral hog tacos. So, why is it that TPW is producing segments on wild game cookery? Well, we’ve noticed there is really a growing interest in eating local food. People want to know where their food is coming from, so more people are getting interested in hunting and fishing … Jesse Griffiths is the perfect bridge between the hunting world and the cooking world. And, so what do you want your viewers to come away with? Well, in addition to actually showing you how to make the recipe, we go into a little bit of background about each animal that he’s working with; you get an appreciation for not just how to prepare it, but how it contributes to Texas. Where and when can people see these? These videos are all on our YouTube channel, we actually have a special playlist about Texas cooking. And then, they’ll also be on our TV show in upcoming months.

Thanks, Whitney

That’s our show for today’For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Passport to Texas with Support from the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program

Call it a sign of the times: hunting opportunities for women are on the rise. And Texas Parks and Wildlife TV producer, Abe Moore joined some women on a wild goose hunt.

60— We followed along some ladies on a goose hunt down by Bay City. It was a chance for more and more ladies to get interested in the sport of hunting. So, as part of our story, we like to find some interesting people – and we did. We found a couple of ladies – two Laurens, as a matter of fact. One, she’s a newcomer to the sport.

The big excitement is when you see that huge flock [Wow, look at that.] and there’s hundreds of them. [Y’all get ready.]

And the other, she’s into hunting big time; Lauren LaBorde is her name. And she does skeet shooting. She’s a hard core hunter. She likes to go out on this hunt as a way to escape the nine-to-five grind she has going on back in Houston.

We shot twenty birds today [Yeah?] pretty good for some ladies, here.

Normally the hunt ends at ten in the morning, eleven. And these ladies stayed past noon. I’m looking at the clock going: ‘Okay, I’ve got enough here. We can go home now – it’s windy. Cold.’ So, yeah, they did great. This show airs on Texas Parks and Wildlife Television the week of November 11-17.

Thanks, Abe.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series and is funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motorboat fuel.

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

This is Passport to Texas

This month on the Texas parks and Wildlife TV show, see how state of the art laser technology saved ancient rock art at Hueco Tanks State Park & Historic Site, Producer, Abe Moore:

67— Hueco Tanks State Park out by El Paso is really world class when it comes to rock art. There, they have more painted masks than anywhere else in North America. But one of the things that happened to come of this rock art is vandals damaged several of the pictographs with graffiti; and the thought was they could never be restored back to their original glory.

If the conservation is not done properly at this time, the aging and degradation process could actually accelerate.

Now, here’s where it gets really interesting. For the first time ever at the state park, conservators are using this state of the art laser that actually takes away the layer of graffiti and it leaves behind the original pictograph.

The fact that we are able to remove the graffiti and bring back the site to what it was to before the sites were vandalized is quite amazing.

It was amazing, because you could look at the graffiti and this laser literally just eats at it – right in front of your eyes. And it just kind of disappears and then you’re left with whatever the beautiful picture is underneath. This story will air on Texas parks and Wildlife TV the week of October 21st through the 27th. So, it’s some cool technology in action.

Thanks Abe.

That’s our show…For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.

This is Passport to Texas

More of what you love about the Texas outdoors is coming to a television near you during the new season of the Texas Parks and Wildlife’s TV series. Series Producer, Don Cash.

64—On October 21st the Texas Parks and Wildlife television series begins its 27th season. It’s been airing on the PBS stations in Texas and now we’ve got about 35 city channels we’re on as well. Like every season, we’re going to cover everything there is to cover in the state of Texas. We start out the season with a story using lasers to remove graffiti at Hueco tanks, and we end the season fishing for alligator gar. And in between, we profile a group of women going goose hunting of the first time. We meet an artificial reef biologist who spends a good portion of his career underwater; we’ll take a look at the feral hog problem and what people are doing about it. New this year is our wild game cooking segment with Jesse Griffiths. We’re going to cook venison, teal, hog, redfish…it’s a great segment for people who want to know what to do with that animal once they’ve gone out there and harvested it. So, I hope people will watch the show, find out some new things to do and some new places to go, and get out here and take advantage of it.

Thanks Don.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.

This is Passport to Texas

TPW TV producer Abe Moore takes us to the coast in September with a segment he did on fishing for and conserving southern flounder.

55—We hit the West Galveston Bay area – a place called Chocolate Bayou.

Chocolate bayou is an excellent spot for flounder. We have one of the shallowest bays in all the coast. And really and truly, we have the absolute place to fish in the world right in our own backyard.

In the story, we also go gigging for flounder. And one of the other things we touch on is the efforts underway to raise flounder at Texas Fish Hatcheries. We took the TV cameras out one night as some biologists tried to catch some of the males for the program.

When you come out here and catch one of these guys, and know that you’re going to take these back to the hatchery, and they’re potentially going to produce thousands and thousands of fingerlings. You can’t put a price on it. We’re very happy to be able to do this and be productive at doing it.

And you’ll have to check it out because it’s quite a ride. It’s like an airboat, and these nets. It’s kind of crazy. It’ll be on TPW Television the week of September 30th through October 6th. (Nice work).

Thanks, Abe.

The Wildlife and sport fish restoration program supports our series and celebrates 75 years of funding diverse conservation projects throughout Texas…

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