Largest Hunting and Fishing Newspaper in Texas
January 12, 2018
Volume 14, Issue 10
Cold weather rainbows attract crowds
Is it time to go tagless? Other states drop tagging deer
Some states are doing away with the need to place a tag on a deer immediately after harvest. Photo by Lone Star Outdoor News.
By Mark England
Lone Star Outdoor News Texas Parks and Wildlife Department plans to look at tagless deer hunting as part of a broader study of electronic licensing, officials told LSON. “The time is right to look at technology and see if it has advanced to the degree that we can utilize it to make tag or harvest validation more convenient for folks,” said Clayton Wolf, Wildlife Division director. The study committee has yet to meet, Wolf said. Committee members will come from the wildlife and fisheries divisions, law enforcement, communications and financial resources. Last September, Wisconsin eliminated the need for carcass tags for deer. Harvest logs also are not required. Hunters are only required to call or go online to register their deer by 5 p.m. the day after the harvest. Kentucky did away with deer
Fly-fishing guide Dan Cone makes a cast on the Guadalupe River. One of his customers landed this rainbow trout on a size 22 soft hackle blue-winged olive. Photos by Bobby Sanchez, for Lone Star Outdoor News.
By Darlene McCormick Sanchez For Lone Star Outdoor News
Chilling cold — for Texans at least — didn’t put a damper on fly-fishing for rainbow trout along the Guadalupe River. During the first week of Jan-
uary, the temperatures struggled to climb out of the 30s by midmorning on the water. Still, on a midweek day, at least 15 anglers braved the cold, some wading and some drifting, along about a 3-mile stretch of the Guadalupe — one of the top 100 trout streams in America.
Dan Cone, a fly-fishing guide for Castell Guide Service, has fished for rainbow trout on the Guadalupe and Llano rivers for the past 15 years. It used to be unusual to see a lot of anglers on the river midweek, but that has been changing over the past 4 or 5 years due to stocking efforts,
he said. “People finding out about the Guadalupe has certainly has driven more people out,” Cone said. “When I started guiding on the river, there were probably seven to eight full-time guides. That number has more than doubled in the past 10 or 12 years.” Please turn to page 9
Management plan pays off
PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID PLANO, TX PERMIT 210
Young hunter arrows buck after years of hard work By Craig Nyhus
Derek Graber, a sophomore at Texas A&M University, has been chasing bucks with his bow on an East Texas ranch for five years. Two days before Christmas, he got his gift.
concentrated on brushing, creating food plots, spraying for youpon and other bad species of brush, and setting up trail cameras. At the ranch, called Memory Ranch, the habitat and the deer started to improve. “We created 25 acres of food plots, penned the feeders and cut little slots for the fawns to get in. Last year, we trapped and killed 65 hogs and we’re gonna
After pursuing deer with his bow in Trinity County for five years, Derek Graber finally connected right before Christmas on the 320acre ranch he and his family have been managing. Photo from Derek Graber.
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CONTENTS
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Lone Star Outdoor News
It is the work that led to the harvest, though, that makes him the most proud. “My dad’s best friend, B.J. Tarver, bought 320 acres in Trinity County,” Graber said. “B.J. has been in my life as far back as I can remember. We started with 37 acres and it was all slosh, a fire in 2013 had burned a lot of the area. Then we got into management of the property.” The friends and family
Freshwater Fishing Report . Page 10
HUNTING
FISHING
Game Warden Blotter . . . . Page 12
Sharing memories (P. 4)
Bass techniques for blues (P. 8)
Family of wildlife photographers starts new site.
Anglers pitch weightless bait into timber.
Cranes and quail (P. 5)
Winter snapper (P. 8)
Group tackles bobwhites, sandhills.
Headboats take groups to state waters.
Heroes . . . . . . . . . . . Page 14 Sun, Moon & Tides . . . . . Page 16 Products . . . . . . . . . . Page 19 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . Page 21 Outdoor Datebook . . . . . Page 22
INSIDE
Please turn to page 13