Passport to Texas

Family at Kreische House during Trail of Lights.

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Thousands of twinkling lights illuminate a quarter mile walking trail this holiday season at the Monument Hill and Kreische Brewery State Historic Sites in LaGrange.

The trail of lights is open to the public five nights during the first part of December. That’s December third, ninth, tenth, sixteenth and seventeenth, from 6 pm to 8 pm. And our park is decorated with lots of lights and different ornaments throughout the grounds. Kreische house is open, it’s decorated for Christmas. We have entertainment, refreshments, and Santa Claus is there for children to tell their wishes to.

Dennis Smith is park superintendent.

[It’s] just a really pretty site here. We sit on a 200 foot bluff that overlooks the city of La Grange–and see the night lights of the city. It’s just a really spectacular opportunity for people to come out and enjoy a great Christmas celebration.

Smith says the trail of lights is the perfect family activity for the holiday season.

Every year we have comments from families that say we’ve been coming out here for the last 20 years. Families that come from Houston, Austin, San Antonio–just to come back to the trail of lights each year. We see more and more of that as we go by, and are just really glad to see these families keep coming back with more generations of their families to help celebrate the season.

Find complete details about the tail of lights at Monument Hill and Kreische Brewery State Historic Site in La Grange, including entrance fees at texasstateparks.org.

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

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Hunting blinds aren’t typically designed for people with disabilities. Inks Lake State Park tackled that issue by building four hunting blinds accessible to people with physical limitations. Chris Hall is with Inks Lake State Park.

We have dropped the windows down to access the height and level of the wheelchair. The carpet is nonskid surface, very good noise dampener.

Elias Brown, a first-time hunter, and his dad Chase were among the first to try the new accessible blinds.

My son has a prosthetic leg. So, it’s more accessible to get into it. Even if you can get a person with a disability up into a traditional blind, it’s going to be almost impossible for them to move around. So these things are eight foot by eight foot, with plenty of head space.

Elias bagged a deer on his first try.

It was my first hunting trip, first shot, and he dropped. So, that was great.

Dad, Chase Brown, says the family will be back.

I have a daughter in a wheelchair and she could easily get there with me and her brother or her mom. It just opens up worlds.

And Inks Lake’s Chris Hall predicts more accessible blinds are in the park’s future.

With the increased popularity, the success of this year already, I don’t know exact numbers but I can assure you we’re going to start constructing a few more.

View a segment on Inks Lake State Park’s accessible hunting blinds the week of December 4 on the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV Series on PBS.

The Wildlife restoration program supports our series.

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

Project Feeder Watch

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The Christmas Bird Count, a project of the National Audubon Society, is December 14 through January 5. Volunteers count birds during a 24-hour period inside defined 15-mile diameter circles throughout the state.

But there aren’t any on December 25th—you can’t compete with family time and ripping open presents.

Nongame ornithologist, Cliff Shackelford says if you’re unable to participate in a Bird Count circle, you can still contribute to the count as a feeder watcher.

That’s someone that just merely watches out their back window and looks at the birds coming to the feeder and just counting those things. It’s a really good niche for someone that’s not able to get out if it’s too cold, or you’re just not physically able to get out, or maybe you have a newborn at the house, These are people that might have their eyes open watching the feeder and can contribute.

Get in touch with your area Audubon Christmas Bird Count Compiler through the Audubon website.

Contribute to the world of citizen science all year long as a feeder watcher. Just go to feederwatch.org for details.

The Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series and funds diverse conservation programs in Texas.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Christmas Bird Count participants. Photo: Camilla Cerea/Audubon

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More than a hundred years ago people participated in a time-honored Christmas tradition.

People would go out and do what was called a side hunt, and the winning group would come back with the biggest pile of dead critters.

Most of the critters in those piles were birds. Cliff Shackelford, non-game ornithologist with Parks and Wildlife, says conservationists had a better idea.

Early conservationists thought that we ought to count birds and not try to collect birds.

Today we have the Christmas Bird Count, December 14th through January 5th. Volunteers, armed with a bird list and binoculars, head into the field on a specified day to count birds over a 24-hour period.

What people do is they get into teams, and they have a defined 15 mile radius circle that they’re counting in, and that circle never moves. The hope is that you would count that circle for decades and decades and over time you would see trends.

Everyone turns in their data to a compiler who sorts it out and sends it to researchers; they use it to assess the health of bird populations, and to guide conservation action.

Go to audubon.org for more information and to register.

The Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series.

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

Simon Majumdar, Pilgrim Party, Image courtesy The Cooking Channel.

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British food writer and judge of Food Network TV cooking competitions, Simon Mujumdar, hunts and eats game.

I love hunting. And hunting really speaks to the American identity, because without the first Pilgrims coming here and being taught how to hunt by the Native Americans, the Wampanoags, America wouldn’t exist.

Based on personal invitations, Mujumdar traveled the US exploring regional food traditions for his book Fed, White and Blue: Finding America with My Fork.

I did actually do a little bit of hunting in Mississippi; I went out into the delta, and it was dove hunting season. We did some wild hog hunting. We didn’t catch much. I say, no animals were harmed during the making of my book.

For Mujumdar, hunting is about putting meat on the table.

I would never go hunting just for sport. But if it’s to put food on the table… And actually, during the economic downturn, I have friends all over the country who used hunting to fill their family’s stomachs. And again, so that proves it is part of the American identity.

I asked Food Network TV’s Simon Mujumdar if he would ever hunt in Texas.

Well, I go wherever I’m invited. So, if people invite me, then I’ll go. I’m not claiming to be any good. But I’m safe. And I love doing it. I love the companionship of hunting.

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