Passport to Texas

Geocaching in a state park.

Recreation: Geocaching in State Parks Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download

State park visitors hunt for containers filled with trinkets when they’re geocaching. Yet, in time, they discover the real treasure is spending time in nature.

03—I guess maybe that’s the secret cache; the unknown one.

Cassie Cox, with the Texas Outdoor Family Program, aims to change that. The staffs of the Texas Outdoor Family program and state parks teach visitors geocaching as a way to connect them with the natural world.

17—It’s bridges nature and technology. It uses that technology to encourage children, and families and other people to get outdoors, and to get on the trail. You have a mission [to locate a cache], and you’re using that technology to help you find it. And along the way you may discover things that you haven’t ever seen before.

Like wildlife, plant life, or unusual geologic features.

Using coordinates from geocaching.com and a hand-held GPS or smart phone, visitors hit the trail…and ideally… don’t stray far from it.

08—It’s best to stay on the trail – that’s a Leave No Trace principle. It helps you be safe, and it helps protect the resources in the park.

September is the time to learn about geocaching; it’s the outdoor activity of the month at Texas State Parks.

09—Just go on the [TPW] webpage, look at a park near you to see if they’re offering geocaching workshops. Trust me, you’ll have a
great time; it’s addicting. It’s so much fun.

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

Camping at Inks Lake

Camping: Texas Outdoor Families Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download

Longer nights and cooler temperatures make fall an ideal time for overnight camping at a Texas State Park. But if you’re new to the activity and don’t know a tent flap from a flap jack, the Texas Outdoor Family program can help.

05—We provide them some gear and get them a little more comfortable before they actually get out there and do it on their own.

Lindsay Carter is a Park Ranger with the Texas Outdoor Family program. During weekend workshops, rangers and volunteers teach families how to set up camp and get comfortable with the gear. Then there are activities.

14—We love having planned activities for them, which is, of course, not required – but stuff that they can do if they want to hang out with us. Kayaking, geocaching, fishing, outdoor cooking…things like this. We like to have a lot of activities to keep them busy while they’re out there.

Up to six peopek per family can sign up for a one or two night workshop. It’s $65 for one-night workshops and $85 for two-night workshops. TOF provides the tents and cooking gear…

10—We ask that they bring groceries that they would like for the weekend. Sleeping bags. Pillows. We have a list on our website of things to bring. But, basically, that’s it.

Texas Outdoor Family workshops take place throughout the state beginning this month. Visit the Texas Outdoor Family page at texasstateparks.org to find one close to you.

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

Endangered Ocelot

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An estimated 50 endangered ocelots survive in the thick brush and shelters of the Lower Rio Grande Valley… including Cameron County. As the human population there grows, so do cat/car run-ins. The USFW service reported four ocelot deaths on Highway 100, which goes to South Padre Island, in as many years.

09—TXDOT is working with US Fish and Wildlife Service to determine the best way to keep ocelots off the road, but also allow for disbursement into other habitat areas.

When it comes to roads and wildlife, TXDOT gets involved. Octavio Saenz works out their Pharr office.

19—We’re also trying to determine the best locations to place wildlife crossings to allow the ocelot and other wildlife to travel under the roadways. And, in the interim, we’re trying to determine the best locations to fence and allow the ocelot to travel across the roadways at narrow locations to minimize the number of mortalities on the roadway.

Until then, if you live in or are visiting that area of Texas, be aware of who and what shares the road with you.

13—In Cameron County, look out for the wildlife crossing signs; slow down to a safe speed when you see the signs. And also, be alert – especially during the dawn and the dusk hours – when the ocelot will be most likely traveling.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series.

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

Big Time Texas Hunt at Black Gap WMA

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Big Time Texas Hunts offers entrants a chance to win any of eight premium hunt packages on some of the finest private ranches and prime wildlife management areas in the state.

09 —We bill it as once in a lifetime type of hunts. [We have] Really great hunting packages for deer, and birds, and waterfowl, alligator…

Linda Campbell is program director for Private Lands and Public Hunting at Parks and Wildlife.

13 — These are fully guided hunts, and so everything is provided: lodging and food; all the guiding is also provided. You just have to get yourself to the location. But other than that – everything is taken care of, including the taxes on the hunt, itself.

Each hunt package is a different drawing; enter as many of the drawings as many times as you like. Entries cost $9 online or $10 by phone, mail or at retail locations where you buy licenses. Deadline to enter is October 15.

Some Big Time Texas Hunt packages permit winners to bring along a friend.

16— The Whitetail Bonanza, for example. The Exotic Safari – you can bring hunting companions with you. The Grand Slam, which is the hunt for the premier big game animals in Texas – pronghorn, big horn sheep, mule deer and whitetail – you can bring a non-hunting companion on that one.

All proceeds from Big Time Texas Hunts benefit wildlife conservation, research and public hunting in Texas.

We record our series at The Block House in Austin, Texas and Joel Block engineers our program.

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

Inside Kickapoo Cavern

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At Kickapoo Cavern State Park near Bracketville … nature is almost untouched, the way it used to be.

06— It’s a great place to just get away from it all. You can unplug from all the distractions of the city, and just get back in touch
with nature.

Mark Garrett, is a ranger at the park, which offers visitors 64-hundred acres of birding, hiking, and mountain biking. That’s just what’s above ground. Below, in the cavern, ranger Steve Blair says there’s even more to explore, and regularly takes park visitors down under.

17—You’ve got twin columns; the column on your right is the largest column in the state of Texas. It’s eighty feet high, which is a little over 8 stories. You can see the different colored drapery off of it – all the jellyfish looking stuff – I see Mother nature at its best.

From the depths of Stuart Bat Cave at Kickapoo Cavern State Park, Mexican Free tail bats emerge nightly throughout summer to the delight of visitors.

10— The bat flights are pretty spectacular. There are 500-thousand bats here at the cave. It takes approximately an hour and a half for all the bats to get out of the cave.

Ranger Mark Garrett says park staff works hard to keep the site as natural as possible so we can all…

03— Enjoy a part of Texas a lot of people have never seen.

View a segment about Kickapoo Cavern SP this week on the Texas Parks and Wildlife PBS TV series. Check your local listings.

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