Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife the Sport Fish Restoration Program

Don’t leave your good sense or your manners on the shore when you go kayaking.

Oftentimes you’re kayaking in very shallow water, and you think you won’t need a life jacket. But every now and then you can get into a channel or a deep pocket, and if you do happen to flip over…it’s very nice not to be worried about losing your life.

Jim Blackburn is a kayaking enthusiast from Houston. Another kayaking tip: there’s safety in numbers.

Always go with a partner. It’s something very easily enjoyed with a group. And I think that’s the way it should be done.

Blackburn would know. He’s been kayaking for years, and has written a book…

Called the Book of Texas Bays, that has a lot of stories about kayaking…a lot of experiences about kayaking in it.

In addition to being safe while paddling in Texas’ coastal waters, remember others are also enjoying the resource.

If you encounter people that are fishing, you might look at the direction the fisherman is wading, come around behind him… move away from the shoreline…go around the fisherman if they happen to be wading around the shoreline. Sometimes during the winter duck hunting is going on. Over in the Lighthouse Lakes trails there can be duck hunting. You want to make sure you don’t paddle into some decoys.

Download a Canoing and Kayaking resource guide.

Our show is supported by the Sport Fish Restoration Program… funded by your purchase of fishing and equipment and motor boat fuels.

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish Restoration Program

I’m uncoordinated, plus I don’t like feeling confined. So the thought of squeezing into a kayak, doesn’t float my boat. But, after talking with kayaking enthusiast Jim Blackburn, I realize I have options.

There’s hope for all of you out there that feel uncoordinated and have trouble – sit-on-top kayaks is the way to go.

Blackburn is kayaking enthusiast, and an environmental attorney and planner in Houston.

These open cockpit kayaks are really – in my opinion – the way to go because they’re so stable and they’re so non-confining. People who have had trouble with kayaks in the past absolutely love them. I have no trouble at all with stability with these sit-on-top kayaks.

The trade off with sit-on-top kayaks is… you get wet.

Water comes up around your bottom when you’re sitting there, so you get wet during the summer. During the winter, we wear waders when we waders when we use these kayaks.

Getting your britches soaked to get closer to the natural world is worth it, says Blackburn – who does his kayaking along the Texas coast.

With a kayak, you can glide right on top of water that’s only a few inches deep, and you can get right up on a lot of the birds for sure, and oftentimes can see a lot of the fish as well.

We’ll have kayaking tips and etiquette tomorrow.

Our show is supported by the Sport Fish Restoration Program… funded by your purchase of fishing and equipment and motor boat fuels.

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

Coastal Kayaking with Jim Blackburn, 2 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program

The March issue of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine is on newsstands now. And in it you’ll find an article by Jim Blackburn – an environmental attorney and planner from Houston — who writes about one of his more memorable kayaking experiences along the Texas coast.

We were out on Bolivar flats in our kayaks, and there were literally thousands of avocets, which are gorgeous black and white birds with sort of a brownish neck and sort of an upturned bill. They’re wading birds, probably about fourteen-sixteen inches in height. There were literally thousands of them, and they would sort of just rise and fall in a mass. Just the patterns that threes birds made, were just incredible to see. And I’ve just never seen that many avocets in one place.

When you’re on a kayak, says Blackburn, you can get closer to nature than you ever thought possible.

I oftentimes take my kayak to the rookery islands to see the large fish-eating birds – the herons…the egrets… going through their breeding rituals… and then later in the spring raising their young. And those are really, really nice experiences.

Download a Canoing and Kayaking resource guide.

That’s our show… made possible by the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program… helping to fund the operations and management of more than 50 wildlife management areas.

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

Coastal Kayaking with Jim Blackburn, 1 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Texas Amphibian Watch is a statewide volunteer program in which citizen scientists monitor frogs and toads in an effort to fend off the extinction of species currently in decline. Here’s how it’s done:

There are different levels of monitoring. The easiest of which is whenever you see an amphibian, you write down the time of day, the weather, the rough location, and then once a year you send that in to Parks and Wildlife and they’ll add that into one database.

Scott Kiester, Texas Amphibian Watch volunteer. If you prefer listening to amphibians as opposed to looking at them, there’s a way you can make a contribution.

There’s a program called Adopt-a-Frog-Pond, where you agree to go and listen and record the species you hear at a specific location. Once a month, sometimes more often than that, I’ll take 15 minutes and go out in the evening and listen to who’s out in the neighborhood croaking away. Frogs are a lot more active and do a lot more calling in that period of time after a rain, particularly if you can do it the day after a rain or if you get a rain in the afternoon go out and do it that evening. They just croak away.

Hop on over to the calendar section of the Texas Parks & Wildlife website to find upcoming Amphibian Watch workshops.

That’s our show for today…with research and writing help from Loren Seeger…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Wildlife Restoration Program

Turkey hunters look forward to spring.

Any time that I can be out in the spring where it’s starting to get warm and the flowers are starting to bloom, and the spring smells are out in the air, it’s a good time to be out in the woods.

Steve DeMaso is Upland Game Bird Manager.

There have been times where I’ve called birds up and not even thought about shooting them, just call them in and watch them strut and relax and enjoy the scenery.

For those who do wish to harvest a bird, DeMaso says the season – which varies around the state — looks promising.

Throughout the state we’re expecting this spring to be a pretty good turkey season, if we get good hunting conditions. And by good conditions I mean it’s not abnormally hot, dry, or we don’t get a month of thunderstorms. But if we can get some nice spring days, I think we ought to have a pretty good season this year.

And where will hunters find these big birds?

The Edward’s plateau, the cross timbers, the rolling plains and south Texas would be the primary area for the Rio Grande. And then the Pineywoods, over in northeast Texas would be the primary area for the Eastern birds.

Remember to always consult your Outdoor Annual for hunting regulations

That’s our show… made possible by the Wildlife Restoration Program… helping to fund the operations and management of more than 50 wildlife management areas.

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

Spring Turkey Season with Steve DeMaso Play Now | Play in Popup | Download