Passport to Texas

White-tailed buck

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This is Passport to Texas

2015, marks the 24th year of Texas Big Game Awards.

17-Texas Big Game Awards started in 1991 as a partnership between Texas Wildlife Association and Texas Parks and Wildlife, as a means to document the great, big game resources that we have in the state. And also, to celebrate our hunting heritage and recognize young and new hunters.

Justin Dreibelbis is the new Private Lands and Public Hunting Program Director at Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. When we spoke, he was the Hunting Heritage Director at the Texas Wildlife Association. Texas hunters sent in their entries, which trained scorers evaluated using criteria specific to each region.

22- And then, we also have unscored categories, which are our youth division and our first harvest division. A youth division entry is any youth hunter who takes a native big game animal in the state. A first harvest division is for a person who take their first native big game animal in the state of Texas-whether they-re eight years old or 80 years old.

The Texas Big Game Awards recognizes large antlers with the understanding that they are a direct result of well-managed habitat, said Dreibelbis. Winners receive their awards at regional banquets. The first is May 16 for regions 5, 6 & 7 in Lufkin. Find additional information at texasbiggameawards.org

The Wildlife Restoration program supports our series.

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

Whitetail deer in snow.

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Hunting is about more than trophies. It’s about creating healthy habitat.

05—That’s exactly right. And our tagline at TBGA [Texas Big Game Awards] is Hunting equals Habitat.

Justin Dreibelbis is Hunting Heritage Program Director at the Texas Wildlife Association, which coordinates the Texas Big Game Awards, or TBGA.

25— Those big deer are not an accident. They are a direct response to the habitat that they were grown on. And that’s why we celebrate antlers and horns at Texas Big Game Awards. Not because it’s some big trophy and that’s what’s important. We celebrate antlers and horns because we recognize that’s a direct result of the habitat that that animal was raised on – and that’s what we’re trying to get back to. It’s all about habitat and our hunting heritage.

The TBGA is currently accepting entries of white-tailed and mule deer, pronghorn antelope, Desert Bighorn Sheep and javelina. Find a list of certified volunteer scorers at texasbiggameawards.org.

18—Contact them and they’ll get the animal scored for you. You fill out the form and send it in to us – it’s completely free. If it’s a youth or first harvest category, you don’t even have to contact a scorer. All you have to do is go to texasbiggameawards.org, print out a copy of the youth and first harvest form, fill it out and send it in. And that’s all there is to it.

Deadline for entries if February 15, 2015. Three Regional Sportsman’s Celebration banquets will be held to honor winners and program participants. Find more information at texasbiggameawards.org.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series.

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

Big Buck at Choke Canyon State Park

Hunt | Habitat: Texas Big Game Awards Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Texas Big Game Awards started in 1991 as a partnership between the Texas Wildlife Association and Texas Parks and Wildlife as a means to document the native big game resources we have in the state.

05—And also, to celebrate our hunting heritage and recognize young and new hunters.

Justin Dreibelbis is Hunting Heritage Program Director at the Texas Wildlife Association.

12— We have scored entries that have to meet a certain scoring criteria for that particular region. And then we also have unscored categories which are our youth division and our first harvest division.

Texas Big Game Awards recognizes white-tailed and mule deer, pronghorn antelope, Desert Bighorn Sheep and… this was a surprise… javelina.

08—At this point it’s still kind of a well-kept secret. But it’s something that we do want to publicize that javelinas are actually able to be scored and entered into TBGA, too.

The awards showcase quality big game in Texas, and prove thoughtful land management can produce big healthy game animals, especially deer, anywhere. And, Justin says that makes landowners take notice.

19—It kind of opens up people’s eyes to going, hey, you know what – we’ve never grown any big deer around here before, but it’s possible. And that’s something we’re constantly telling people: if you let a deer get old enough, and you manage the habitat so that it has plenty of groceries at every point during its life, you have the ability to grow a big deer anywhere in the state.

More on the Texas Big Game Awards tomorrow. That’s our show… with support from the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Texas Mule Deer

Hunt | Habitat: Texas Wildlife Association Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Healthy habitat means healthy wildlife. The non-profit Texas Wildlife Association – a TPWD partner – ensures both by empowering private landowners to embrace good land management practices.

15—With private land, making up, upwards of 95 percent of the land in Texas, [landowners] they’re the ones making the real decisions that affect all the people that live in our state. And, so, we need to give them the tools and resources they need to make wise use of the land that they’re the stewards of.

Justin Dreibelbis is Hunting Heritage Program Director at TWA. The organization documents the result of good land management practices through its annual Texas Big Game Awards Program, which proves quality bucks, for example, are not the sole domain of South Texas.

13—Our Texas Big Game Awards has helped us document those exceptional big game harvests around the state; we’ve been doing it since 1991 as a record-keeping program for the state, identifying those exceptional big game animals that are taken each year.

He says TWA reviews this large dataset and the variables associated with producing exceptional big game animals.

08— And so that data set allows Parks and Wildlife to go back and look at trends with rainfall and land use and make large-scale management decisions around the state.

That’s our show… with support from the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program.

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