Category: Outdoor News

Toyota Texas Bass Classic 2008

Texas Bass Classic

The Toyota Texas Bass Classic, a Professional Anglers Association sanctioned event, is only one month away from its return to Lake Fork. The April 18-20 team competition benefits Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) efforts to introduce young people and urban families to fishing and the outdoors.

Title sponsor for the event is Toyota. Tournament partners include Bass Pro Shops, Nitro, 96.3 KSCS and 96.7 the Texas Twister.

Lake Fork is one of the most prolific fishing spots in the United States for largemouth bass. TPWD manages the lake with rules designed to protect fish of certain sizes and maintain a healthy fishery. Fish in a length “slot” between 16 and 24 inches must be returned to the lake immediately when they are caught. The tournament’s rules have been designed to obey the slot limits without inhibiting the anglers’ competitive zeal. Independent observers on each boat use Boga-Grip scales to weigh each fish and live scoring keeps the fans up-to-date throughout the day. Fish are released immediately after weighing.

Continue reading Toyota Texas Bass Classic 2008

Chaparral WMA Facilities Spared by Wildlife

Directions to Chaparral WMA

A massive wildfire that torched 95 percent of the 15,200-acre Chaparral Wildlife Management Area spared much of the wildlife on the state’s premier public hunting site, according to initial findings during aerial surveys by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologists.

Biologists flew the area on Thursday, March 20, aboard TPWD’s law enforcement helicopter counting deer and other animals and will compare those findings with recent annual aerial survey results, which should provide an estimate of wildlife loss from the fire.

“I am amazed how adaptive wildlife can be during a natural disaster; we found very few carcasses and have observed a lot of live animals — horned lizards, whitetail deer, javelina and quail,” said David Synatzske, Chaparral WMA manager. “We have between 20 and 25 wildlife biologists and technicians on the site assessing damage and fixing fences and they are not finding dead animals. We discovered about 30 dead animals in one location, but have not found concentrations elsewhere. I drove the entire 30-mile perimeter fence line and found only two carcasses. Considering 95 percent of the area burned, that’s incredible.” Continue reading Chaparral WMA Facilities Spared by Wildlife

Treessentials Company Products Increase Seedling Success

Tubex

The Treessentials Company is a Minnesota-based company offering tree seedling establishment tools including the Tubex® Treeshelters, VisPore Tree Mats, Right Start Fertilizer Packets and Tree Guard Deer Repellent, tree planting advice, and recommendations. Our tools greatly improve seedling survival and increase planting success.

The primary goal of the Treessentials Company is the successful establishment of difficult to grow seedlings on challenging sites. We work with private landowners, wildlife managers and foresters, federal, state and local land management agencies, and non-profit habitat organizations across the country to achieve that success. Continue reading Treessentials Company Products Increase Seedling Success

Texas Hunting Accidents Still on the Decline

Mule Deer - Texas Hunting Accidents

Hunting accidents and fatalities in Texas continued their long-term decline in 2007, still down below three accidents per 10,000 hunters in recent years. That compares to about 12 accidents per 10,000 hunters in 1966, the year records began.

Short-term, Texas had 26 injuries from hunting accidents in 2007, two less than the year before. The state had four fatalities in 2007, the same as the previous year.

Although any fatality is tragic, Texas accident numbers are small compared to the number of hunters. According to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service national survey, 1,112,099 people hunted in Texas in 2007.

“The statistics show hunting is safe and getting safer in Texas,” said Steve Hall, education director for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. “And we do believe that is directly related to hunter education.”

Continue reading Texas Hunting Accidents Still on the Decline

Tyler State Park Lake Produces Budweiser Sharelunker

Tyler State Park

Tyler State Park Lake sent its second Budweiser ShareLunker and a new lake record to Athens Monday. The 14.5-pound largemouth bass took a rainbow-trout imitating swim bait being worked in 3 feet of water by Tyler angler Brett Harris. The fish was 27.75 inches long and 20.25 inches in girth.

Harris’ choice of baits seems odd until you realize that Texas Parks and Wildlife Department stocks rainbow trout into the lake during the winter to increase angling opportunity. Largemouth bass were stocked into the 64-acre lake in 1975, 1985 and 1990. The previous ShareLunker and old lake record weighed 13.28 pounds and was caught in 2000. Continue reading Tyler State Park Lake Produces Budweiser Sharelunker

CCC Veterans Honored at Bastrop State Park

Civilivan Conservation Corps

Bastrop State Park will host 100 or more former Civilian Conservation Corps members who helped build the foundation of the Texas State Park system back in the 1930s and 1940s. The March 28-29 event commemorates the 75th anniversary of the CCC, started by Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration in 1933 to address joblessness during the Great Depression years.

Most of the young men whose skilled hands worked on soil conservation and forestry projects, and helped build the structures that form the backbone of such outstanding state parks as Caddo Lake, Garner and Indian Lodge have passed on as the 75th anniversary approaches. Those CCC workers who are still alive today are in their 80s and 90s. Continue reading CCC Veterans Honored at Bastrop State Park

The Hill Country’s Most Important Resource: Water

Hill Country River

By Bill Ward, Native Plant Society of Texas

What is the most precious natural resource in the Texas Hill Country? For most people the answer to that question is a no-brainer. Water, of course! Surface water or ground water? There you might get different answers, but those “in the know” would think this is a dumb question.

That’s because around here, most surface water and ground water are part of the same hydrologic system. They shouldn’t be considered separately, especially here in this expansive area of karst limestone terrain.

Groundwater issuing from springs is the source of most big creeks and rivers in the Hill Country. Stream beds are the main zones of recharge for our aquifers. Continue reading The Hill Country’s Most Important Resource: Water