Passport to Texas

Children enjoying the outdoors

Nature: Feeling Ownership of the Outdoors Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods and The Nature Principle is coming to Texas in April for the Children in Nature Network Conference. As a child, he says he felt ownership of the woods near his home, the kind of ownership that often eludes today’s youth.

As an 8 year old, I pulled out –I think—hundreds of survey stakes that I knew had something to do with the bulldozers that were taking out other woods. I think I held ‘em off for a while. In any case, I was telling the story about pulling out stakes [at a conference]. And afterwards in the discussion period a rancher stood up, and he was sunburned, he was in his sixties, white handlebar moustache…And he said, you know that story you told about pulling out survey stakes? And he said, I did that when I was a boy. And then he began to cry in front of five hundred people. And despite his deep sense of embarrassment, he continued to speak about his sense of grief that his might be one of the last generations to have that kind of sense of ownership of land that has nothing to do with money—it goes deeper than that.

Help children connect with the land. Learn more about the Children and Nature Network Conference April 7 – 9 at passportotexas.org.

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

Mourning Dove

Research | Hunt: Learning From Dove Lethality Study Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Lead shot is the most common load used when hunting dove in Texas. In high accumulations it is a potential environmental toxin. Texas carried out a two-year study to evaluate effectiveness of lead versus non-toxic shot, should ammunition regulations change in the future.

02—We went into this study no knowing what we would find.

Corey Mason, Wildlife Region Three Director says it was a double blind study.

23— Everyone that was in the field – the observer recording the data and the hunter pulling the trigger – they did not know what kind of ammunition they were shooting. All of the ammunition looked identical on the exterior: all in the same brass, the same hole. No one knew what they were shooting. So, it removed all of that potential bias so that the study results are as objective as they can possibly be.

Mason says Texas needed to determine if a non-toxic ammunition alternative would be as effective as lead.

19—Secondly, we needed to know that information because of our harvest management strategies in which we base the number of days, the daily bag [limit], the opportunities to hunt these birds based on current knowns. And so, if those efficiency and wounding rates were to change it could potentially have an impact on the number of days in dove season, the daily bag – all those sorts of things.

Mason says the final analysis shows virtually no difference in effectiveness of lead versus steel shot. So, for now, it’s hunter’s choice.

03— We believe in hunter choice, but we want that to be an informed hunter choice.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series.

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

Silhouette of dove hunters at end of day with sunset

Research | Hunt: Dove Lethality Study Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Texas leads the nation in dove hunting with roughly a quarter million hunters bagging 5 million mourning doves each fall.

03—Dove hunting is kind of a rite of passage for fall for many hunters.

Corey Mason is Wildlife Region Three Director. He says in December (2014), the agency released results of a two year study examining the lethality of lead versus non-toxic shot for mourning dove.

07— Long story short, what this [analysis] told us is that bagging, wounding and missing rates, they really did not differ across ammunition types.

Mason said the most commonly used shot is a 2 3/4-inch 12-guage shell, one and one-eighth ounce 7 1/2 lead shot.

10— We compared that to a one ounce seven steel, and a once ounce six steel. It came out with very comparable results. So that statistically speaking, there was really no difference.

Texas Parks and Wildlife staff, trained as observers, spent two years in the field collecting birds bagged by hunters at commercial hunting operations.

14—There were over 5-thousand shots fires; there were over 11-hundred birds bagged. Every bird that was shot was necropsied, x-rayed, and examined. We took information gained in the field – as well as the terminal ballistics – [to determine] the effects those particular pellets had on the birds.

Again, researchers discovered negligible differences between ammunition types. But why study this at all. That’s tomorrow.

The Wildlife and Sport fish Restoration Program supports our series.

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

Independence Hall, Washington-on-the-Brazos

History: Texas Independence Day Celebration Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Celebrate Texas Independence at Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site February 28 and March 1.

07—And, there’ll be lots of activities going on in the park. They’ll have special programs and demonstrations down at the Barrington Living History farm…

Houston McGaugh is director of the Star of the Republic Museum for Blinn College.

12— We’ll have some various demonstrations going on in the museum, and just lots of activities in the park. Food. And, it’s a free, two-day event for people to come out and enjoy and learn a little Texas history.

We remember The Alamo, and the Battle of San Jacinto and their roles in gaining independence for Texas, but what about Washington-on-the-Brazos? On March 2, 1836, it’s where delegates signed the declaration of independence from Mexico.

21— And, I think that’s something we always keep coming back to. That, you know, it’s not necessarily battles; it’s the documentation; it’s the representatives of the people that come together and say, you know what, we’re not going to do this anymore. We’re going to be a free and independent country, and have a democracy. And that’s really what we celebrate here, I think. It’s the birthplace of a democracy. The Republic of Texas.

Find details about this year’s Texas Independence Day celebration at Washington-on-the-Brazos on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

Funding for our series provided in part by Ram Trucks. Guts. Glory. Ram

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

Art Morris with his saltwater catch.

Fishing: Saltwater Fishing in 2015 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Variety and quality – that’s what anglers can expect when fishing in Texas bays.

12— Spotted sea trout and red drum on any given cast. Throw on the occasional flounder and black drum…. There’s just tremendous opportunity there for any sort of skill level at any time of the year for that matter.

Art Morris, with coastal fisheries says his favorite is the Upper Laguna Madre.

24— I’ve been fishing it since I was a child, and it’s those trophy sized spotted sea trout that I like to go after. You’ve got clear water, shallow grass flats; you’ve got deep water reefs, and you use top waters and site cast the fish. And, oftentimes, it’s just the perfect setting for sport fishing on the Texas coast – for me, personally.

Each bay system is different and requires different tactics and baits.

25— As you move down the coast, the water tends to get clearer, so we tend to use more variety of stuff on the lower coast as far as artificial lures and bait. On the upper coast the water gets a little more turbid; you get more into live bait fishing, dead bait fishing. Some artificial use up there, but yeah, as you move down and up the coast, each bay is unique and have their own techniques that work best in those particular areas.

Want more? Check out Art Morris’ article on bay fishing in the digital fishing issue at tpwmagazine.com.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series.

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