Lone Star Outdoor News 011323

Hitting the river

Hunting with AirPods

Do the earbuds protect your hearing?

By Lili Keys Lone Star outdoor newS

Fly anglers head to the Guadalupe River each winter to pursue rainbow trout. This season, in a period of a few weeks, they have switched from wearing jackets, stocking caps and fingerless gloves to little more than a T-shirt under their waders. Despite the changes, the trout have been consistent on the river.

Ashley Thomas took her third trip with Cassio Silva of All Water Guides after Christmas and had success, and Gruene Outfitters reported the trout season has been stellar for the company’s guides and anglers.

Reports from Expedition Outfitters in the first two weeks of January noted hatches of blue winged olives, tricos (small mayflies) and caddis, along with some damsels. Most of the success has been on nymphs and streamers, although dry flies are working in the skinny water because “there is no place to look but up,” the report said. Recent river flows have ranged between 60.3 cfs (Jan. 9) to a high of 72.1 cfs (Dec. 26). Photo by Odom Wu.

At a fall dove hunt, several younger hunters looked like they might be listening to music. It turned out, they were wearing the Apple AirPods, utilizing the buds’ noise cancellation features.

Maybe it’s convenience. You forget your hearing protection at home but have AirPods in the truck. Then you remember they have noise canceling features. You pop them in your ears and head out into the field.

Strange customers at the protein feeder

By Craig Nyhus Lone Star outdoor newS

An extended drought impacts all wildlife species, but David Dick started seeing something unusual on his Upton County game cameras this winter. Coyotes were

at the protein feeders, and not just one of them.

“We have 14 freechoice feeders on the ranch,” he said. “Twelve of the 14 have photos of coyotes eating from the feeders — and it’s happening every night.”

Dick said as soon as the sun starts to set and

the oilfield traffic slows down, the coyotes show up.

“One photo had coyotes at all four spouts,” he said. “And another had a deer at one tube and a coyote at another.”

The drought in Upton County was extended and extensive.

AirPods and other noise-canceling pods aren’t recommended to protect hearing from shotgun blasts, according to audiologists. Photo by Kristin Parma.

Opportunistic and hungry coyotes are making regular visits to protein feeders in drought-ridden far West Texas. Photo from David Dick.

Drone deer surveys studied

Thermal produces reliable results

By Craig Nyhus Lone Star outdoor newS

Wildlife managers are excited that deer surveys using drones may be one step closer to being an approved method for counting deer on the property, especially on Managed Lands Deer Permit ranches where surveys are required.

Current methods include spotlighting, helicopter and trail camera surveys, with each method having strengths and weaknesses. As the capabilities of drones continue to grow, so does the interest in use of drones for wildlife surveys.

Researchers at Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute sought to evaluate unmanned aircraft surveys by seeking to understand what percent of the population is counted, how much counts vary in repeated surveys, and how the counts compare with other survey methods.

Jesse Exum developed drone survey methods and evaluated their effectiveness as part of her graduate research at CKWRI. She flew repeated drone surveys for deer on two south Texas properties (250 acres and 1,000 acres).

Drone surveys were found to perform much better when done with a thermal video camera, which detects animals by the difference between their body heat and the surrounding vegetation.

“With the drone, the deer tend not to move,” said Dean Meyer, who operates Fly It Texas Drone Services. “Regular video is great for mapping, but using thermal at night would be best for surveys.”

The next step of the research was to determine the percentage of deer counted during a drone survey.

“If we know the percent counted and why some deer are not counted, we can use statistical methods to adjust the count to obtain a more accurate estimate of population size,” CKWRI said in a summary of the research. “We found that drone surveys counted 56 to 64 percent of deer on both properties. We observed more deer closer to the drone flight and fewer farther away. This tells us that deer visibility becomes obscured by vegetation farther from the flight line.”

Repeated counts on the same sites ranged from 2.7-4.0 acres/deer on the 250-acre property and 7.4-10.9 acres/ deer on the 1,000-acre property.

“Our consistent drone-based population estimates suggest one can get a reliable count from a single survey,” the

Ducks avoiding pressure, puzzling hunters

By Nate Skinner outdoor newS

It seems that late season ducks across the Lone Star State have been doing what they do best — making waterfowl hunters scratch their heads. Some areas are loaded with birds, while others are producing a lot of empty skies. Varying weather conditions are moving ducks around, almost on a daily basis, causing hunters to experience spotty action.

Brooklyn Spencer went duck hunting with her boyfriend, Holden Weaver, at the Justin Hurst Wildlife Management Area and harvested her first duck, which happened to be a mature drake gadwall.

“We saw a lot of teal and gadwall, but they were pretty spooky and wouldn’t work our decoys very well,” Spencer said. “The gadwall I shot came straight into the spread and I was able to shoot him out of the air as he cupped his wings

Spencer said they heard a fair number of shots while they were hunting, but most of the hunters they saw on their way in only had a handful of ducks.

“I’m guessing that the birds didn’t work over their spreads very well either, and they were taking long shots,” she

Area hunters said the ducks have been hit-or-miss in areas of north central Texas. Most indicated numbers seem down when compared with previous years.

In northeast Texas, hunters had great hunts when the cold weather arrived around Christmas, and thought the great hunting would continue for the rest of the season.

The birds didn’t listen, though.

“When it warmed up and we got the big south wind, they all left,” said Chris Swift. “The mallards left, the gadwall left, and even the ringnecks left. My son was home on break and we couldn’t find ducks to hunt.”

Swift believes the birds headed north to Oklahoma or even southern Kansas, where the water opened back up before the New Year and there is less pressure

Devin Cryer, of Southern Wings

Please turn to page 6

End of the season bucks

By Nate Skinner For Lone Star outdoor newS

At the closing of the general deer season, hunters put in as much time as they could in the blind or in the field, hoping for a little luck. Some were luckier than others.

Memo Ellwood decided to bow hunt for a buck he and his brother had seen on camera on his family’s lease in Dimmit County.

“My brother and I played paper-rock-scissors to decide who got to hunt the blind where we had trail camera photos of the buck that had our attention,” Ellwood said. “I actually lost and went to a different blind. As luck would have it, the big 10-pointer showed up out of

nowhere.”

Ellwood watched the buck push several does around before he got his shot opportunity.

“It was some of the first rut activity I had seen all season, so it was a really neat hunt,” he said. “The buck finally got positioned right at about 10 yards and I was able to draw my bow and send an arrow. I recovered him within 20 to 30 yards from where he was standing when I shot him. He is my biggest buck to date.”

Alexa Breeden was hunting with her husband, Graham Breeden, in Van Zandt County on some family property when she harvested her first deer. She had seen the deer the day before, but the fog was so thick she didn’t get a good shot opportunity.

Estimating deer numbers can be difficult and expensive, but drone surveys are being examined as another method to get accurate results. Photo by Lone Star Outdoor News.

Brooklyn Spencer harvested her first duck while on a hunt at the Justin Hurst WMA with her boyfriend, Holden Weaver. Photo by Holden Weaver.

Memo Ellwood harvested this mature 10-point buck in Dimmit County at the end of the season. Photo from Memo Ellwood.

Overheard conversation leads to first buck

By Lili Keys Lone Star outdoor newS

Kayla Kramer, of Denver, Colorado, overheard former Lone Star Outdoor News Foundation benefactor Jarrod Smith recounting the story of his first deer hunt at a pharmaceutical sales conference. Kramer jumped into the conversation and asked how she too could learn to hunt.

Kramer grew up fishing with her dad and listening to hunting stories from her best friend. She always had the desire to tag along on a hunt, but the friend wasn’t confident enough to “teach her how to hunt.”

Knowing where her food comes from, as well as the health benefits from wild game, piqued Kramer’s interest. A few months after the conference, Kramer found herself in Texas for her first hunt.

“It was so cool to see the gorgeous deer walking around the ranch,” she said.

LSONF board member David Sweet, who also works for the sales company and took

Kayla Kramer took this Stonewall County buck on her first hunt with the Lone Star Outdoor News Foundation guided by David Sweet and Steve Hudson.

by David J. Sams, Lone Star Outdoor News.

Smith on his hunt,was there during Kramer’s hunt. After sighting in at the range and instruction of shot placement with a life-sized deer target, she was ready for the blind.

When the buck presented an opportunity, she followed her instructions and made the shot.

“I thought I missed it, at first,” Kramer said. “It didn’t buck up with the shot and he ran off.”

There was no blood trail, so it took several minutes for the pair to find the downed buck. The shot was true — straight through the heart. It was clear the buck’s adrenaline kicked in.

“I had lots of anxiety in the moments after the shot and up until we found him,” Kramer said. “I was so relieved when we saw him.”

Her guide, Steve Hudson, said she was speechless when they found the buck 50 yards from the shot. They found one drop of blood on a blade of grass only a few feet

Please turn to page 6

Stine named to NBGI board

Jay Stine of the Quail Coalition and Kaitlynn Glover from the National Cattlemen’s Association were named new board members of the National Bobwhite & Grassland Initiative.

Glover brings a strong connection to the beef industry and national farm policy, whereas Stine provides a tremendous connection to bobwhite hunting and restoration interests. He also has been integral in support of NBGI policy funding work through the Quail Coalition for years, said John Morgan, National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative Director.

The NBGI is the unified effort of 25 state fish and wildlife agencies and various conservation organizations — all under the umbrella of the National Bobwhite Technical Committee — to restore wild bobwhite populations to levels comparable to 1980.

Photo

Lone Star outdoor newS

Jay Stine

Hungry dogs

Continued from page 1

“We had 255 days straight without a measurable rain,” he said. “Then we got 11 inches in September and October, but it came so fast and it was too late for stuff to grow.”

Like many West Texas hunters, Dick said there are no fawns, and also there are no rabbits, rats or prairie dogs.

“For the last 15 years, we’ve had fawns in the yard,” he said. “This year, there’s not a fawn left.”

An avid predator hunter, Dick also said there aren’t any pup coyotes on the 76 sections he manages.

“We aren’t seeing near as many adult coyotes either,” he said. “And the ones left are smart. There’s no call for AntlerMax.”

Dana Wright, a biologist at Rolling Plains Quail Research Foundation and former Texas Parks and Wildlife Department technical guidance biologist in West Texas, said coyotes at the protein feeder was something she hadn’t seen or heard of.

“I’ve seen them munch on range cubes and get caught in hog traps, and I have a photo of eight coyotes drinking from a water trough at the same time,” she said. “But I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

Bewildering birds

Continued from page 4

Outfitters, said the marsh properties where he has been hunting have been loaded with blue-winged teal.

“We are seeing some gadwall and some green-winged teal, along with a few mallards as well,” Cryer said. “Every now and then, we are also seeing some other puddle ducks like wigeon and pintail.”

Cryer said the larger groups of ducks don’t seem to be working over decoys near as well as smaller groups or pairs of ducks.

“The more pairs of eyes that are in a flock of ducks, the less likely they are to commit to your spread right now,” he said. “Allowing our marsh ponds to rest several days a week has really helped us out this year.”

In northeast Texas around Blossom, Chris Smith said the ducks are few and far between.

“I’ve hunted a few times recently, and we just haven’t seen any consistent numbers of ducks,” he said. “There’s a few birds around, but not a bunch.”

While Rockport bays and marshes have had poor hunting after a good start to the season, in Port Mansfield, Capt. Todd Grubert said the ducks are there but have been spotty.

“We have plenty of birds along the Lower Laguna Madre, there’s just no consistency to them,” Grubert said. “You can have an excellent hunt in an area one day, and go back the next and the birds may not come back. You just never now what to expect right now.”

Grubert said divers like redheads and scaup are flying along main bay shorelines and open bay waters, while the puddle ducks have been hanging out more in the back lakes and other remote areas.

“Our water levels have been changing quite a bit with the inconsistent weather and wind direction we’ve been having, so the birds keep moving from day to day,” Grubert said. “The good news is we are seeing quite a few birds, it’s just hard to pinpoint where they will want to be from one day to the next.”

At Red Bluff Prairie Hunting Club, Mike Lanier said his properties on the Garwood Prairie have held consistent duck numbers.

“Late season hunts in this area have been pretty tough the last few years, but right now, we are in good shape,” Lanier said. “There are plenty of teal, gadwall and pintails, with a few other duck species mixed in.”

Field to table

Continued from page 5

from the animal.

Hudson said Kramer was one of the calmest first hunters he has guided.

“She hit the deer right where I told her to,” he said.

Hunting is more than the harvest, it’s the full experience of being in the outdoors.

“It was a really great experience; trying the freshly harvested, grilled venison to sitting around the campfire sharing stories,” Kramer said. “It was beyond anything that I had expected. And I definitely want to go hunting again in the future.”

Kramer plans to get a European mount of the buck and looks forward to the freezer full of meat. She also plans to invest in a hunting rifle and plan another trip to Texas.

“I would like to bring my best friend or dad down to hunt with me here,” she said.

Duck hunters were seeing flocks of birds after the late December cold front, but many aren’t seeing numbers of birds since the temperatures increased. Photo by Lone Star Outdoor News.

“The fog started out fairly thick on the morning that she was able to tag her buck, but it began to lift a little after sunrise,” Graham said. “All of a sudden we saw antlers appear in the fog, and I knew it was him. I was trying to get my wife to get him in the scope, but the buck just wouldn’t stop moving, and disappeared into a treeline out in front of us. Luckily, a few minutes later, he showed back up, following a doe.”

Alexa was able to get her rifle out of the window of the blind, get steady on her aiming point, and take a shot.

“As soon as she shot, I knew she had missed,” Graham said. “At this point, I really thought her chances of getting the buck were over, but we stayed in the blind. A minute or two later, the buck came back to nearly the exact same spot where she had missed him, giving her another opportunity.”

This time she fired a round, dropped the buck in his tracks, and harvested her first deer and first buck. The deer measured a little over 140 inches.

Colby Hubbard spent several days pursuing a mature buck in Webb County on her husband’s family ranch with her husband, John, and their 2-year-old son. After four days of hunting hard, she was finally able to catch up with the buck she was after.

“We sat in a couple of blinds where we thought my target buck frequented, but he just wasn’t showing up at any of the feeders,” Hubbard said. “After reevaluating our strategy, we decided to get mobile, and tried rattling in several different areas. We had a bunch of different younger bucks come in while we were rattling, but the buck I was looking for never made an appearance.”

Hubbard kept at it, and actually spotted the buck in a clearing while they were driving on a side-by-side after an afternoon rattling session.

“We were headed back to the ranch house to rethink our efforts when we saw him,” she said. “He went into some brush, and we thought he was following a doe, but we weren’t quite sure. We made a move on foot to the edge of a pasture where we hoped he might come out.”

Once they got set up, a doe showed up and the buck Hubbard was after came out right behind her.

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Alexa Breeden shot her first deer in Van Zandt County while hunting with her husband, Graham. Photo by Graham Breeden.

FISHING

Friends collect Christmas trees

By Lili Keys Lone Star outdoor newS

Guide Jake Kennamer of Uncharted Fishing and Nathan Wright pulled up to the Marble Falls Home Depot with a trailer. This trip wasn’t for a traditional home improvement project, though.

The friends have been collecting leftover Christmas trees from stores like Home Depot and Walmart after the holiday for the last three years. The stores

give them away and the friends load up a trailer or two and take the leftover Christmas trees to Lake LBJ for fish habitat.

Wright grew up fishing this way with his grandfather, who Kennamer said was the “mastermind” of where to source and where to distribute the trees.

“The first year we stood them up in buckets with concrete and spread them out across the lake,” Kennamer said. “You could see them pretty well on the graph but it turned out to be too difficult to hit them with a cast on demand.”

The second year they spread out the

trees, a trailer load each, in two different locations, using a cinder block and a 36inch zip tie on each tree to sink it.

“That worked a lot better, we could easily hit the trees on the first cast and repeatedly and it held a lot more fish than a single tree,” Kennamer said.

They have caught crappie, bass up to 6.56 pounds, catfish, bluegill and white bass off the trees throughout the year.

According to the Texas Christmas Tree Growers Association, there are 175 Christmas tree farms in Texas producing more than 200,000 trees each year. However once the tree has served its purpose

Fish habitat for the New Year Trout on the move

Trophies hard to come

By Nate Skinner For Lone Star outdoor newS

by

It’s that time of year when lower coast anglers are spending hours upon hours wadfishing in hopes of landing their personal best speckled trout. Many trophy trout fanatics prefer this time of year, hoping the cooler weather helps to make patterning large specks a little simpler.

While the theory is good, it seems it hasn’t been the case lately for many anglers. With conditions constantly changing, the trout have been spread out and on the go, rather than hanging in one particular or predictable area.

Erica Hirsch has been fishing along the Lower Laguna Madre north of Port Mansfield, and said speckled trout have been moving back and forth between shallow and deep water depending on the weather.

“Most of the specks have been hanging tight to grass beds, especially earlier in the morning when temperatures are cooler,” Hirsch said. “As it warms up, the fish will pull out of the grass and onto potholes and sand flats.”

Hirsch has been catching trout in water depths ranging from thigh to waist deep while wading, depending on the conditions.

“During cooler conditions after the passage of a cold front, the fish are moving out to deeper grass beds,” she explained. “Once it begins to warm up, they will pull back up

onto shallower flats. Constantly changing weather patterns has been keeping them somewhat scattered, as they have been moving back and forth between shallow and deep water.”

Hirsch has landed some trout in the 5.5to 6-pound range, but said there has been more fish from 2 to 4 pounds.

“We are catching a lot of specks that are 20 to 22 inches,” she said. “KWigglers soft plastics on a 1/8-ounce jig head have been producing the most strikes. The fish are hanging tight to the bottom, and many of them have red bellies with sea lice stuck to them.”

Capt. Nathan Beabout has been running out of Port Mansfield with his anglers, looking for trophy trout, and said the inconsistent weather conditions has made patterning fish over 6 or 7 pounds tough.

“Water levels have been constantly changing, which seems to be keeping the fish on the move and spread out,” he said. “Deeper areas that are waist deep have seemed to hold more fish, but the fish have been pulling up on the flats in knee- to thigh-deep water at times.”

Beabout did have one of his anglers catch and release his personal best speckled trout recently, which measured 27 inches and weighed in at 7 pounds.

Capt. Colton Blackwell has been chasing trout out of Corpus Christi in the Upper Laguna Madre and Baffin Bay, where slowsinking and suspending twitch baits have been scoring the most bites.

“Wade-fishing in waist-deep water in

Major fish kill dodged

By Craig Nyhus Lone Star outdoor newS

When the temperatures dipped along the Texas coast and specific deep-water areas were closed to fishing briefly around Christmas, some began to worry about another fish kill reminiscent of February 2021.

targeted fish and forage fish,” said Coastal Fisheries Deputy Director Dakus Geeslin. “There were some localized mortality of sport fish along the coast, but nothing like we observed in February 2021.”

a

kill in an area where fish became trapped by falling tides, including some large trout.

Temperatures quickly warmed after the major front, though, and anglers reported few kills, especially of sport fish like speckled trout.

“Our teams are working on the fish kill estimate, but I can tell you it’s minor with the greater majority of fish impacted being non-recreationally

Guide Brian Holden reported seeing a few dead small speckled trout (3 to 4 inches) near Rockport, and said he had heard similar reports from other anglers.

In Port O’Connor, flounder gigging guide Pat Lester saw plenty of dead fish in an isolated area.

“Down around Fish Pond there was a pretty big kill,” he said. “It’s only 6 feet deep in the middle and the big

wind dropped the tide. The fish got trapped.”

Lester said the dead fish stayed on the bottom until the Wednesday and Thursday after Christmas, and they found one speckled trout that measured 28 1/2 inches.

“It weighed about 8 pounds,” Lester said.

When flounder gigging after Christmas, Lester said they saw trout, redfish and black drum along the shoreline.

“It was pretty localized in that one area,” he said. “Definitely not as bad as a few years ago.”

Friends collect leftover trees and create fish habitat on Lake LBJ. Photo from Jake Kannamer.

Erica Hirsch landed this speckled trout while wading a shallow flat along the Lower Laguna Madre on a warm day between cold fronts. Photo from Erica Hirsch.

Airboat guide Pat Lester located

fish

Photo by Pat Lester.

Guide, radio host dies

Hedrick Wayne Vinton (Capt. Wayne) died Dec. 30, 2022 at the age of 79. Born in Rockdale, he went to high school in Somerville.

After being drafted into the U.S. Army in 1965, he spent two years in Vietnam, and then returned home and went to work for Southwestern Bell Telephone Company until retiring 1987. Retirement led him to guiding on Lake Conroe, Fayette County Lake and eventually Galveston Bay.

In 2001, he began co-hosting the Sports Radio 610 Outdoor Show with Bob Stephenson Jr. Upon Bob Jr’s passing in 2002, Vinton assumed the full-time duties on the show until he retired in 2007. During his time hosting the program he won several broadcasting awards including the Partnership in Conservation Award from CCA Texas.

After leaving the radio business, Vinton guided on Lake Somerville until 2016. He was known for offering free fishing trips to kids with straight A report cards.

Bozka, longtime writer, passes

After a battle with pancreatic cancer, longtime outdoor writer and photographer Larry Bozka died Jan. 5 at the age of 66. Bozka, of Hallettsville, specialized in writing about the Texas coast, and at the 50th annual conference of the Texas Outdoor writers Association, was honored with the L.A. Wilke Lifetime Achievement Award.

“As you all know, Larry’s love for the outdoors, hunting, fishing, photography and most of all, being a professional writer and speaker in his beloved Texas was what made us all admire and cherish him,” posted his wife, Liz Marcrum Bozka.

At some point in 2023, she said there will be a Celebration of Life and Memorial in Hallettsville on the courthouse square.

Girl thrown from airboat

—Staff report

A juvenile girl died on Dec. 27 on San Jose Island in an airboat accident, according to San Patricio County game wardens.

Wardens responded to St. Charles Bay boat ramp in the afternoon hours of Dec. 27 for reports of the girl being thrown from the airboat in Vinson Slough. Several good Samaritan boats helped bring the girl and her family to the boat ramp where Emergency Medical Services met them. She was taken to a Rockport emergency room where she was pronounced dead.

The Coast Guard is investigating the incident.

According to other airboat captains, the family was on a Christmastime boat ride and the airboat hit hard sand in shallow water, causing it to stop, throwing the passenger.

—Staff report

Boats destroyed in marina fire

A fire at Eisenhower State Park on Dec. 23 destroyed more than 15 boats.

Several surrounding fire departments were called out to the scene of a marine fire at the state park around 7 p.m., where several boats were reported in flames.

According to a post by a Sherwood Shores firefighter on Facebook, the fire initially involved four to five boats but spread to 18 more.

Firefighters said they faced difficult conditions, with frozen fire pumps and icy boats. It took firefighters four hours to extinguish the flames.

The cause of the fire is currently under investigation by the Grayson County Fire Department.

—Staff report

Lufkin angler wins on Big Sam

Hayden Heck, of Lufkin, caught a five-bass limit weighing 28 pounds, 11 ounces, Jan. 7 to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League on Sam Rayburn Reservoir. The tournament was the season-opening event for the BFL Cowboy Division. Heck earned $14,000 for his victory.

Heck threw a combination of a crankbait, a big worm and a jig to boat his bass and targeted hard spots in eight to 20 feet of water. He said his big bass, an 8-pound, 5-ounce largemouth that was the Berkley Big Bass of the day, fell for a Zoom Trick Worm.

—MLF

Hedrick Wayne Vinton

Larry Bozka

ALAN HENRY: Water clear; 45 degrees; 9.96’ low. Crappie are good on jigs and minnows.

AMISTAD: Water stained; 54 degrees; 35.86’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on deep-diving crankbaits, Texas rigs and creature baits. Catfish are fair on cheese bait. Yellow catfish are good on live bait.

ARLINGTON: Water lightly stained; 60 degrees; 0.25’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on crankbaits and football jigs. Crappie are fair on jigs and minnows. Catfish are fair on cut bait and chicken liver.

ATHENS: Water clear; 48-53 degrees; 0.60’ low. Largemouth bass are slow. Crappie are slow.

AUSTIN: Water clear; 57 degrees; 0.50’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on Ned rigs, swimbaits and Texas rigs. Crappie are fair on minnows. Catfish are fair on minnows.

B.A. STEINHAGEN: Water stained; 65 degrees; 0.15’ low. Largemouth bass are fair to good on weightless flukes, lipess crankbaits and chatterbaits.

BASTROP: Water clear; 58 degrees. Largemouth bass are fair to good on Texas or Carolina rigs.

BELTON: Water lightly stained; 55 degrees; 13.50’ low. White bass are fair to good on white slabs with a stinger hook. Blue catfish are fair on cut bait, shad and prepared baits.

BENBROOK: Water lightly stained; 49 degrees; 4.83’ low. Catfish are good on juglines and trotlines baited with chicken liver and hot dogs.

BOB SANDLIN: Water stained; 52 degrees; 0.65’ low. Crappie are good in standing timber on jigs and minnows. Catfish are good on punch bait.

BRAUNIG: Water slightly stained; 60 degrees. Largemouth bass are slow. Red drum are fair on live bait, cut shad and shrimp. Catfish are fair on cheese bait and nightcrawlers.

BRIDGEPORT: Water clear; 55 degrees; 8.87 feet below pool. Largemouth bass are good on jigs and drop shots. Crappie are good on minnows. White bass and hybrids are fair on slabs. Catfish are good on cut shad.

BROWNWOOD: Water slightly stained; 46-51 degrees; 8.18’ low. Largemouth bass are good on square-billed crankbaits and jigs. Crappie are slow. White bass are slow on jigs. Catfish are fair on cut shad.

BUCHANAN: Water lightly stained; 52 degrees; 17.06’ low. Crappie are good on chartreuse jigs. White bass and striped bass are fair on

slab spoons. Catfish are fair on punch bait.

CADDO: Water stained; 45 degrees; 1.75’ high. Largemouth bass are fair on lipless crankbaits and chatterbaits.

CALAVERAS: Water slightly stained; 60 degrees. Largemouth bass are slow. Redfish are fair on shrimp, live bait and cut shad. Catfish are fair on cheese bait and cut shad.

CANYON: Water clear; 52 degrees; 10.15’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on swimbaits. Striped bass are fair on swimbaits and live bait.

CEDAR CREEK: Water stained; 48-52 degrees; 3.19’ low. Largemouth bass are fair to good on chatterbaits and square-billed crankbaits. Crappie are good on white and chartreuse hair jigs. White bass and hybrids are excellent deadsticking jigs over shad.

CHOKE CANYON: Water clear; 60 degrees; 23.91’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on soft plastics. Crappie are slow. White bass are slow.

CONROE: Water stained; 54 degrees; 0.50’ low. Largemouth bass are slow. Crappie are good on jigs. White bass and hybrids are good on topwaters and flukes. Catfish are fair on Catfish Bubblegum, liver and punch bait.

COOPER: Water lightly stained; 51 degrees. Largemouth bass are fair on crankbaits. White bass are fair on white jigging spoons. Catfish are fair drifting with cut bait.

CORPUS CHRISTI: Water stained; 62 degrees; 3.44’ low. Largemouth bass are good on crankbaits. White bass are fair on minnows and jigs. Crappie are slow. Catfish are good on soap baits, cheese bait and nightcrawlers.

EAGLE MOUNTAIN: Water stained; 47 degrees; 4.06’ low. White bass are fair to good deadsticking spoons. Crappie are good on jigs and minnows. Blue catfish and channel catfish are fair to good on punch bait and shad.

FAIRFIELD: Water slightly stained; 50 degrees. Largemouth bass are fair on lipless crankbaits, Carolina rigs and jerkbaits.

FALCON: Water stained; 56-60 degrees; 39.82’ low. Largemouth bass are good on football head jigs and Carolina rigs. Crappie are good on minnows and grubs. Catfish are good on cut bait, shad and shrimp.

FAYETTE: Water lightly

stained; 50 degrees; 1.50’ low. Largemouth bass are good on shad crankbaits, Carolina or Texas rigs and shaky heads. Catfish are good on punch bait and chicken liver.

FORK: Water stained; 53 degrees; 5.20’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on purple jigs, chatterbaits and squarebilled crankbaits.

GRANBURY: Water lightly stained; 49 degrees; 2.04’ low. Largemouth bass are fair to good on deep-diving crankbaits. Striped bass are good on soft plastics. Crappie are good on small jigs. Blue catfish are fair on cut bait.

GRANGER: Water lightly stained; 47 degrees; 0.30’ low. Largemouth bass are fair along hydrilla on soft plastics. Crappie are slow. White bass are slow. Blue catfish are good on shad.

GRAPEVINE: Water stained; 50 degrees; 1.04’ high. White bass are good deadsticking jigs and small slabs. Catfish are fair drifting cut bait.

HOUSTON COUNTY: Water stained; 50 degrees; 0.60’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on jerkbaits, Ned rigs and shaky heads. Crappie are fair on minnows.

HUBBARD CREEK: Water stained; 44-47 degrees; 7.39’ low. Largemouth bass are slow. Crappie are fair on live minnows and jigs. White bass are good on spinners. Catfish are fair on live and cut shad.

JACKSONVILLE: Water lightly stained; 54 degrees; 0.86’ low. Largemouth bass are good on soft plastics, squarebilled crankbaits and spinner baits.

JOE POOL: Water slightly stained; 50 degrees; 0.95’ high. Largemouth bass are slow to fair on Texas-rigged worms. Crappie are fair on minnows and brightly colored jigs.

LAKE O’ THE PINES: Water stained; 52 degrees; 1.09’ high. Crappie are excellent drifting with minnows. Catfish are good on prepared baits.

LAVON: Water lightly stained; 55 degrees; 1.22’ low.

Largemouth bass are fair to good on Alabama rigs, swimbaits, and large spoons. White bass are fair on white or chartreuse slabs. Catfish are good on cut shad.

LBJ: Water stained; 51 degrees; 0.20’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on Texas and Carolina rigs. Crappie are good on chartreuse jigs. Catfish are good on punch bait.

LEWISVILLE: Water lightly

stained; 51 degrees; 1.77’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on flukes, small swimbaits and live bait. Catfish are good drifting cut shad or chicken breasts.

LIMESTONE: Water clear; 52 degrees; 5.20’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on lipless crankbaits, chatterbaits and finesse jigs. White bass are good on silver jigging spoons. Crappie are good on minnows. Catfish are fair on cut bait.

LIVINGSTON: Water stained; 65 degrees; 0.28’ high. Largemouth bass are slow. White bass are slow. Striped bass are slow. Catfish are good drifting cut bait.

MARTIN CREEK: Water lightly stained; 62 degrees; 2.13’ low. Largemouth bass are good on Carolina rigs, jigging spoons and lipless crankbaits.

MEREDITH: Water stained; 41 degrees; 54.84’ low. Largemouth bass are slow. White bass are fair on minnows and curly tailed grubs. Walleye are slow. Catfish are slow.

MILLERS CREEK: Water stained; 50 degrees; 5.65’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on Texas or Carolina rigs, football jigs and crankbaits. Crappie are good on minnows and small jigs. Catfish are good on cut bait and cheese bait.

NACOGDOCHES: Water stained; 58-62 degrees; 4.03’ low. Largemouth bass are good on grass edges on soft plastics. Crappie are good on minnows and jigs.

NACONICHE: Water clear to stained; 54 degrees. Largemouth bass are good on square-billed crankbaits. Catfish are slow.

NASWORTHY: Water murky; 50 degrees. 0.88’ low. Largemouth bass are slow. Crappie are fair on black and chartreuse jigs and minnows. Catfish are fair on cut bait and stink bait.

NAVARRO MILLS: Water stained; 52 degrees; 2.89’ low. Largemouth bass are slow. Crappie are fair on small minnows and jigs.

O.H. IVIE: Water stained; 50 degrees; 23.02’ low. Largemouth bass are good on swimbaits. White bass are fair on live bait and crankbaits. Crappie are fair on jigs and minnows. Catfish are fair on prepared baits, cut bait and live bait.

OAK CREEK: Water lightly stained; 56 degrees; 10.88’ low. Largemouth bass are slow. White bass are slow. Crappie are fair on minnows.

Channel catfish are slow.

PALESTINE: Water lightly stained; 48 degrees; 1.02’ low. Largemouth bass are good on Carolina rigs with a baby brush hog. Crappie are good on minnows. White bass are slow. Catfish are good on nightcrawlers and trotlines baited with gizzard shad.

POSSUM KINGDOM: Water lightly stained; 49 degrees; 5.85’ low. Striped bass are good on live bait. White bass are good on slabs. Catfish are fair on cut shad.

RAVEN: Water murky; 49-62 degrees; 2.00’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on minnows. Crappie are slow. Catfish are good on cut bait.

RAY HUBBARD: Water lightly stained; 48 degrees; 0.21’ low. White bass are excellent on slabs and jigs. Crappie are slow. Catfish are good drifting with cut bait.

RAY ROBERTS: Water clear; 51 degrees; 1.28’ low. Largemouth bass are slow. White bass are good on slabs with a bucktail trailer. Catfish are slow.

RICHLAND CHAMBERS: Water clear; 50 degrees; 4.56’ low. White bass and hybrids are slow. Blue and channel catfish are good on punch bait.

SAM RAYBURN: Water stained; 56 degrees; 4.91’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on stick baits, lipless crankbaits and jerkbaits. Crappie and catfish are fair on minnows and jigs.

SOMERVILLE: Water stained; 45-48 degrees; 4.36’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on craw jigs and shad crankbaits. Crappie are fair on minnows and worms. White bass are slow. Hybrid striped bass are fair on jigs and ghost minnows. Catfish are good on jug lines baited with shad.

SQUAW CREEK: Water stained; 69-72 degrees; 0.41’ high. Largemouth bass are good on Texas rigs, drop-shot worms and spinner baits. Catfish are excellent on punch bait and cut shad.

STILLHOUSE HOLLOW: Water lightly stained; 57 degrees; 11.26’ low. White bass are fair to good on slabs with a stinger hook.

TAWAKONI: Water lightly stained; 50 degrees; 0.91’ low. Largemouth bass are slow. Hybrid stripers and white bass are fair to good on flukes and swimbaits. Crappie are good on jigs. Catfish are fair on cut bait.

TEXANA: Water stained; 52 degrees; 1.46’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on

Carolina rigs and Texas rigs. Crappie are fair on minnows and jigs. Catfish are good on punch bait and cut bait.

TEXOMA: Water stained; 65 degrees; 1.04’ low. Striped bass are good on Alabama rigs, swimbaits and flukes. Catfish are good drifting cut shad.

TOLEDO BEND: Water stained; 53 degrees; 2.46’ low. Largemouth bass are slow. Crappie are fair on minnows.

TRAVIS: Water stained; 54 degrees; 41.18’ low. Largemouth bass are fair to good on plastic worms and small crankbaits.

TWIN BUTTES: Water stained; 50 degrees; 22.49’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on soft plastics. Crappie are very good on minnows and jigs. Flathead catfish are good on live bait and cut bait. Channel catfish are good on cut shad.

TYLER: Water lightly stained; 50 degrees; 2.46’ low. Largemouth bass are slow. Crappie are slow. Catfish are slow to fair on nightcrawlers and liver.

WACO: Water stained; 57 degrees; 11.54’ low. Crappie are very good on shad-colored jigs. Catfish are fair on punch bait and cut shad.

WALTER E. LONG: Water clear; 51 degrees. Largemouth bass are fair on drop shots, lipless crankbaits and worms. Hybrid striped bass are good on live shad and Alabama rigs.

WHITNEY: Water lightly stained; 52 degrees; 6.95’ low. Striped bass are very good on swimbaits, jigs and Alabama rigs. White bass are excellent under the birds on small spinners and slabs. Crappie are good on small jigs.

WORTH: Water stained; 49 degrees; 2.57’ low. White bass are fair to good on spoons. Crappie are good on minnows. Blue catfish and channel catfish are fair on cut bait, shad and punch bait.

WRIGHT PATMAN: Water lightly stained; 50 degrees; 6.96’ high. Catfish are good on punch bait and cut shad.

TEXAS SALTWATER FISHING REPORT

SABINE LAKE: 54 degrees. Redfish are fair to good on red shad plastics. Speckled trout are fair on soft plastics and shrimp under a popping cork. Flounder are fair on soft plastics.

BOLIVAR: 60 degrees. Speckled trout are fair on shrimp under a popping cork.

PORT O’CONNOR: 52 degrees. Speckled trout are good on the outside of the jetties with live shrimp or soft plastics. Redfish are good on Spanish sardines and dead shrimp.

ROCKPORT: 60 degrees. Redfish are fair on live mullet and soft plastics. Speckled trout are fair to good on soft plastics and slow-sinking lures. Black drum are good on dead shrimp.

PORT ARANSAS: 60 degrees. Speckled trout and redfish are fair on live shrimp at end of jetties and Fina docks. Flounder gigging is good in Aransas Bay.

This bud’s not for you

The whole point of sticking something in your ears before hunting or shooting is protection. So, do the AirPods actually protect your ears?

“No, they aren’t helping their hearing,” Jack Homa, owner of Electronic Shooting Protection (ESP) said.

AirPods or Google Pixel Buds are as Homa likes to say, “one-size-fits-all-fitsnobody.”

“They are a fixed shape and don’t have a good enough acoustic seal to the ear canal, which (the seal) is what makes hearing protection actually work since it helps filter the sound of a gunshot,” he said.

shot) was more muffled with an AirPod in, but that’s because of the rest of the noise that the AirPod is canceling out around them,” she said. “You can’t rely on your subjective perception of how loud something is to judge it’s true sound pressure level. Sound pressure level is how we objectively measure the loudness of something. Just because it sounds like you are getting some protection from it doesn’t mean you truly are.”

The most important factor when it comes to hearing protection is the fit, making sure the eardrum is sealed.

TRINITY BAY: 61 degrees. Speckled trout are fair on soft plastics and live shrimp.

EAST GALVESTON BAY: 56 degrees. Speckled trout and redfish are fair on slow-sinking lures, scented plastics and shrimp.

WEST GALVESTON BAY: 58 degrees. Speckled trout and are fair on soft plastics.

TEXAS CITY: 57 degrees. Redfish and black drum are fair on shrimp. Oversized black drum and redfish are fair on live crab and cut mullet. Speckled trout and flounder are fair on live shrimp fished slowly.

FREEPORT: 60 degrees. Redfish and speckled trout are slow. Flounder are slow.

EAST MATAGORDA BAY: 58 degrees. Speckled trout are slow. Redfish and black drum are fair to good on shrimp.

WEST MATAGORDA BAY: 58 degrees. Redfish and black drum fishing are good on shrimp and cut mullet.

CORPUS CHRISTI: 59 degrees. Speckled trout are fair on live shrimp. Black drum are fair on dead shrimp.

BAFFIN BAY: 58 degrees. Black drum are good on live shrimp under a popping cork. Speckled trout are fair to slow on soft plastics.

PORT MANSFIELD: 65 degrees. Speckled trout are slow to fiar on soft plastics and top-waters.

SOUTH PADRE: 55 degrees. Redfish are fair on shrimp under a popping cork. Speckled trout are fair along the Intercoastal on soft plastics.

PORT ISABEL: 55 degrees. Speckled trout are slow. Redfish are fair on flats on shrimp.

—TPWD

Audiologist Dr. Grace Sturdivant, of Ottopro, sees people wearing AirPods as hearing protection all the time. Not only with bird shooters, but there are a number of people in the competitive sporting clays world.

“As a doctor of audiology, I just cringe,” she said.

But they are noise-canceling headphones. Wouldn’t that work?

“One thing I love about AirPods is their active noise cancellation, which works very well,” Sturdivant said. “But only for what it’s intended to target, which is low to moderate level steady state background noise such as road noise in the car and the rumble on a plane.”

Gun shots are short, abrupt and high intensity. It’s so abrupt in fact, that it’s too fast for the noise canceling to make that much of a difference. Sturdivant noted that people’s perception of loudness or muffled sound might cause them to believe the AirPods are blocking the sound of gunshots.

“People might perceive that it (the gun

“If there is any air leakage around the product that is in your ear, you are not getting the full protection rating,” Sturdivant said. “The AirPods are not even a hearing protector product, they are intended to be personal audio. If we were to do a study where we put a probe microphone down by your eardrum and put an AirPod in there while you are shooting and take actual sound level measurements, you would not see a level of suppression that correlates with your perception.”

Sturdivant understands that some people might still be determined to wear AirPods. For those, she recommends using the size ear tip that they feel the most confident is completely sealing their ear.

“But they have to understand, the way the AirPods are designed, we can’t guarantee there is no air leakage. I’d opt for a custom-fit, Bluetooth-enabled product for the best overall protection while giving you the same capabilities, if not better, as the AirPods,” she said. “For a low-cost option, I love a muff since you can see the ear is completely covered, leaving no room for air leakage.”

Trees for fish

of bringing light and beauty into a home, many trees end up in a landfill.

Leighton Chachere, of Texas A&M AgriLife, suggests checking with your local waste management company, a nearby garden center that might offer Christmas tree recycling or take it upon yourself to reuse the holiday staple.

“When trees are sunk into water bodies, they increase the complexity of the aquatic habitat,” Chachere said. “Woody debris provides a place for aquatic species to flourish, which increases overall biodiversity.”

Trees also can be used around the yard or ranch as mulch placed around the base of trees and gardens as an insulator to help plants withstand cold temperatures and prevent soil erosion and compaction.

“Tree limbs are a great way to insulate garden plants, and some cities even have free mulch available after the holiday season,” Chachere said.

HOMEMADE ATV USED BY TRESPASSER

Local ranch managers notified local Polk County game wardens that an individual trespassed on their property multiple times in the past few months. The landowner turned over footage from multiple game cameras showing the suspect riding through the property on a homemade ATV. Eventually, the ranch managers caught him in the act and tried to hold him at gunpoint. They were unsuccessful and the suspect fled into the woods, leaving behind his homemade ATV. Concerned the trespasser was utilizing the unusual route to deal drugs in a neighboring subdivision, one of the wardens drove to the suspect’s home. Once there, he spotted the suspect outside with two other males. The warden requested backup from a county deputy. When the deputy arrived, the suspect was working on a vehicle in the yard. Together, they questioned the suspect, who said he was unaware that he had been trespassing. The warden informed the suspect that he was trespassing because he crossed a fence as well as other barriers into a property that

CLAIMING MILITARY SERVICE FOR 11 LICENSES

A Texas game warden was checking hunter licenses during archery season when he encountered an individual with an active-duty military hunting license. Suspecting that the individual was not on active duty and had purchased the license fraudulently, the warden questioned him for several minutes. He gathered further information and left the hunting camp. The warden then contacted his counterpart in the county where the individual resides for further details. After a week-long investigation, the wardens obtained

did not belong to him. The suspect was then arrested without incident and booked into the county jail.

BORROWS CAR, TRESPASSES, STEALS AND ABANDONS VEHICLE

A local hunting club president passed information along to a Texas game warden about a member’s game camera capturing images of a possible trespasser wearing full camo on private land. Later that morning, a neighboring landowner

information that yielded evidence of the individual possessing 11 active-duty hunting licenses over the years while never actually being in military active duty. Based on the previous conversation with the individual, the warden knew when and where the individual would be hunting next. At that time, he made contact once again with the individual and questioned him about the evidence he gathered. The individual finally admitted to never being in the military. Multiple citations were issued and the animal that was harvested was seized.

reported two trail cameras, a gun rest and hunting blind stolen from the same location as the game camera. The landowner noticed an abandoned vehicle in proximity of the stolen hunting equipment.

The warden obtained the vehicle’s registration information. The car, however, was no longer in the area. The following day, the warden found the owner of the vehicle. The individual claimed they loaned the vehicle out to another person they

knew had a history of running into trouble. Shortly after leaving the owner’s residence, he received a phone call from the suspect. He confessed to taking the equipment, explaining that he thought he was hunting on public land. Besides theft of property, the subject did not possess a valid hunting license or proof of hunter education. Upon discovering a climbing stand on an adjacent property, it was determined he had trespassed on two

different properties. All hunting equipment was recovered and returned to the hunting club. Multiple cases are pending.

LONGLINES, FISH RECOVERED, CULPRITS FLEE

On Dec. 13, Texas game wardens encountered an illegal longline in the Gulf of Mexico and within state waters. A small vessel rushed south of the Texas/Mexico maritime boundary line upon seeing the Capt. Murchison patrol vessel approaching. After a quick search of the area, the wardens located the illegal gear and removed it from the water and returned the fish to the Gulf. In total, 5,100 feet of longline was removed and 31 gafftopsail catfish, two tripletail, and three red drum were returned to the Gulf.

REPORT ILLEGAL HUNTING AND FISHING ACTIVITY FOR A REWARD OF UP TO $1,000. CALL OPERATION GAME THIEF AT

(800) 792-4263

Conservation Through Hunting

DSC is a mission-focused conservation organization, funded by hunters from around the world. Every year, DSC hosts its annual Convention that raises funds for grants in conservation, education, and advocacy.

To become a member or learn more about DSC, head to biggame.org.

Megan Little caught this redfish while fishing with John Neblett and her father, Capt. John Little.

Tripp Black harvested this heavy 8-point buck from 85 yards at the Rio Rojo Ranch in Red River County.

Milton Mifflin, of Dayton, took this buck in De Berry, during his grandson’s, Lucas, first trip to the deer lease.

Whitton Brown, 8, of Inez, took this 8-pointer in Uvalde County with a .308 at 100 yards.

Luke Herlitz, 11, of Katy, harvested his first buck at 110 yards off shooting sticks at the CFR Ranch in Rocksprings.

Jan 13 5:16 AM -0.40L 9:24 AM -0.38H 2:30 PM -0.42L 9:16 PM -0.31H

Jan 14 5:27 AM -0.47L 8:40 PM -0.28H

Jan 15 5:57 AM -0.54L 8:25 PM -0.22H

Jan 16 6:33 AM -0.59L 8:29 PM -0.16H

Jan 17 7:15 AM -0.63L 8:58 PM -0.11H

Jan 18 8:06 AM -0.64L 9:46 PM -0.07H

Jan 19 9:04 AM -0.65L 10:53 PM -0.04H

Jan 20 10:06 AM -0.64L

Jan 21 12:24 AM -0.02H 11:05 AM -0.63L

Jan 22 1:41 AM -0.01H 11:58 AM -0.61L

Jan 23 2:41 AM -0.03H 12:46 PM -0.56L

Jan 24 3:36 AM -0.08H 1:33 PM -0.49L

Jan 25 4:43 AM -0.16H 2:21 PM -0.41L 9:53 PM -0.23H

Jan 26 2:58 AM -0.28L 7:41 AM -0.24H 3:21 PM -0.31L 8:34 PM -0.23H

Jan 27 4:22 AM -0.38L 1:59 PM -0.22H 5:11 PM -0.23L 8:17 PM -0.21H

INDUSTRY

LONE STAR OUTDOOR PUZZLER

Armaspec’s agency

Firearm accessory designer Armaspec retained Chevalier Advertising as its public relations agency.

Job at recruiting firm

Executive recruiting firm for the outdoor industry HeadHunters NW is seeking a director of merchandising at its Arizona headquarters.

Brownell steps back in

Pete Brownell is returning as chief executive officer of Brownells, Crow Shooting Supply and AR15.com.

CEO for Warne

Brian Motland was named the chief executive officer of Warne.

Promotion at Mustad

Mustad Fishing promoted John Loughlin III to global OEM manager.

Nason promoted at Nosler

Nosler, Inc. promoted John Nason to senior business development manager.

Plowfield joins Maxim

Maxim Defense hired Bobby Plowfield as senior director of distribution sales.

Sales director at St. Croix St. Croix Rod named Zack Dalton as fly fishing director of sales.

Butler joins YakAttack

Virginia-based paddlesports manufacturer YakAttack hired Joe Butler as vice president of sales.

Clayton-Luce named VP at Henry

Henry Repeating Arms promoted Daniel Clayton-Luce to vice president of communications.

Burris sales exec

Phillip Harding IV was named Burris’ United States regional sales manager.

Deer capital of Texas

Came clothing brand

Henderson County’s seat

Zimbabwe’s capital

Texas mountain range

One of Texas’ ports

Texas bay

A deer sound

Forage fish in South Texas

Ammo brand

Thermal scope brand

The long-necked African animal

Amarillo’s county

Favorite deer food

The female moose

Fishing kayak brand

Rifle brand

McKinney’s county

Fishing reel manufacturer

One of the Great Lakes

Makes the Citori

The K in H&K

Central Texas lake

One of the swans

Helps fight deer blind boredom

Crystal City’s team name

county

A long-beaked shorebird

Fishing lure brand

Salmon species

Fly rod brand

The mount with no hide

Safari destination

Lake and fish consultants

Slang for the shoveler

Shotshell brand

East Texas lake

Texas border lake

Trout species

A lab color

The young tom

Rio Grande City’s county

Quail-hunting state

Hunting boot brand

Sinker type

Turkey hunters’ org.

2 skinless pheasant breasts

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 generous pinch each, kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

2 tbsp. grated parmesan cheese

3 tbsp. olive oil

4 tbsp. butter

1/2 cup dry white wine

2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup capers, drained Fresh basil leaves or parsley, minced

Rinse the cleaned pheasant breasts with cold water and pat dry thoroughly with paper towels. If the pheasant breasts are large, slice or butterfly the

Pheasant piccata

thickest part of the pheasant breast horizontally to 1/3-inch thick. In a shallow bowl, combine flour, salt, pepper and parmesan cheese. Dredge each pheasant breast in the flour mixture. To a heavy skillet over medium heat, add the olive oil and 2 tbsp. the butter. Heat until the butter mixture is foamy and starting to bubble. Add the dredged pheasant breasts, making sure to leave space between them. Brown on each side. Remove the pheasant from the skillet and place it on a rack over a rimmed baking sheet or roasting pan. Place the pheasant in the oven at 250 degrees

to keep warm while you prepare the sauce. Using the same skillet, add the wine, lemon juice and capers. Stir over medium-high heat with a wooden spoon, scraping up the browned bits from the skillet to incorporate into the sauce. Reduce heat to a simmer and continue stirring until the sauce is reduced by almost half. Whisk in the remaining 2 tbsp. butter and stir until incorporated and the sauce is glossy. Remove the pheasant from the oven and plate with the sauce poured over top. Garnish with fresh herbs. —Utah DNR

immediately.

Puzzle by Craig Nyhus, Lone Star Outdoor News

ARKANSAS Bear season results

Hunters in south Arkansas’ bear season took 28 bears in the newly opened Bear Zone 4 in southern Arkansas from Dec. 10-12.

Preliminary results from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s online checking system states the total harvest for 2022 stands at 469 bears, with the majority of those bears harvested during archery season in the Ozark and Ouachita mountains

Overall, the harvest in Zone 4 was split evenly, with 14 males and 14 females taken before the 25 bear quota was reached. The three additional bears were taken because the quota was exceeded on the third hunting day before the zone was able to be closed.

—AGFC

FLORIDA Two records in one day

Matthew Marovich caught a state record red porgy and a state record blue tilefish on Aug. 26, 2022.

“I thought I had a queen snapper when I pulled up the biggest red porgy I had ever seen,” Marovich said. “The blueline tilefish felt like a grouper. We were grouper fishing.”

Marovich’s red porgy weighed in a 5.56 pounds, beating the previous record of 4.8 pounds set in 2019, and his blueline tilefish weighed 10.55 pounds, topping the previous record of 5.4 pounds set in 2021.

PENNSYLVANIA Record archery elk

Looking for trophy trout

OREGON

Poacher spotlights three bucks

A North Bend resident was cited for poaching three black-tailed bucks near Coos Bay in 2021.

Macen M. West, 21, of North Bend, was cited on Dec. 5 for Hunting with the aid of artificial light, three counts of Take Game Mammal Closed Season and three counts of Waste of a Game Mammal for poaching three black-tailed bucks and leaving them to waste on North Spit, Coos Bay, on the weekend of March 19, 2021. OSP Fish and Wildlife Troopers seized a rifle they believe he used in the crime.

All three deer were shot in the head, from relatively close range. Because the deer were found so close together, investigators believed early on that the poacher had used a spotlight or vehicle headlights to blind the deer. Black-tailed deer hunting season was closed at the time of the incident.

—OSP

Lone Star Outdoor News, ISSN 2162-8300, a publication of Lone Star Outdoor News, LLC, publishes twice a month. A mailed subscription is $35 for 24 issues. Newsstand copies are $3, in certain markets copies are free, one per person. Copyright 2023 with all rights reserved. Reproduction and/or use of any photographic or written material without written permission by the publisher is prohibited. Subscribers may send address changes to: Lone Star Outdoor News, P.O. Box 551695, Dallas, TX 75355 or email them to editor@ lonestaroutdoornews.com.

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—FWC

Dave Kammerdiener arrowed a bull elk at Trophy Rack Lodge that ranks as the top archery bull in the state and the seventh largest in the world. The bull scored 446 0/8. —Staff report

UTAH

Poaching totals up

A total of 1,283 wild animals and fish were illegally harvested in Utah in 2022, slightly higher than the number poached in 2021.

The total combined value of the wildlife illegally killed last year was approximately $609,561. Some of the animals illegally killed included 179 deer, 134 elk, five moose, one mountain goat, one bear, 14 cougars and 782 fish.

In 2022, 66 people had their hunting or fishing privileges suspended in Utah, compared to 54 suspensions in 2021 and 35 in 2020.

—UDWR

Drones for deer

Continued from page 4

report concluded.

The reduced cost of drone surveys, at least when compared with helicopter surveys, is a prime reason why landowners remain interested. However, equipment needs are still significant.

“The batteries are better, and now can run about 45 minutes,” Meyer said. “The drone will return home, and after you put in a new battery, will resume where it left off. But you still need a bunch of batteries — and they are expensive.”

The last step was to compare drone estimates with other survey methods.

“On the 1,000-acre property, the helicopter, baited trail camera, and drone surveys all resulted in similar population estimates (8.2–8.9 acres/deer). On the 250-acre property, spotlight counts (4.3 acres/deer) and drone surveys (2.7–4.0 acres/deer) were comparable. The finding that drone counts were similar to other survey methods indicates that drones are a good alternative survey method for deer.”

Additional research is needed to address some of the weaknesses of the drone surveys, researchers determined.

“We cannot easily tell whether a deer is a buck, doe, or fawn on the thermal footage. It can also be difficult to separate deer and some species of exotics,” the report noted.

“We also need to understand how visibility changes in different habitat types. Both properties we surveyed were mainly brush, thus, additional investigation is needed for areas that contain grassland or trees.”

Meyer said the buck/doe ratio is an important factor to wildlife managers, and exotics often have a different heat signature, allowing some of the software to differentiate exotics from white-tailed deer.

areas with grass beds and sand pockets along shorelines, as well as over rock bars has been the ticket,” Blackwell said. “The fish have really been pulling up near main bay shorelines during warming trends that immediately follow a cold front. Then as the water temperature continues to rise, they have been moving out towards the middle of the bay.”

Blackwell’s anglers have been catching a lot of specks weighing 3 to 5 pounds, with a few pushing 6 pounds or more.

“We’ve definitely had to bounce around to different areas quite a bit until we find out where they are hanging out at on any given day,” he said.

At Baffin Bay, Capt. Preston Long said he has been focusing most of his efforts in Alazan Bay where folks are catching plenty of solid 4 to 5-pound trout.

“There’s been a lot of solid fish caught, we just haven’t been able to land one much over 5 pounds,” he said. “The edges of profound grass lines have been holding the most specks.”

Long has been chunking soft plastics rigged on a 1/8-ounce ounce jig head.

Executive Editor Craig Nyhus Managing Editor Lili Keys

Design Editor C2-Studios, Inc.

Copy Editor Hannah Bush

Operations Manager Mike Hughs Billing & Accounts Payable Lea Marsh Website Bruce Solieu National Advertising Mike Nelson Founder & CEO David J. Sams

Nick McCoy landed his personal-best speckled trout while wade-fishing with Capt. Colton Blackwell near Corpus Christi. Photo by Colton Blackwell.

DATEBOOK

JANUARY 13-14

DEER BREEDERS CORP

Annual New Year’s Auction

Horseshoe Bay Resort (972) 289-3100 dbcdeer.com

JANUARY 17

DELTA WATERFOWL

Leon County Banquet

Leon County Expo Center, Buffalo (903) 388-4705 deltawaterfowl.org

JANUARY 28-29

TEXAS GUN & KNIFE SHOWS

Abilene Convention Center (830) 285-0575 texasgunandknifeshows.com

FEBRUARY 1

DUCKS UNLIMITED

Tri-County Hereford Dinner

Hereford Country Club (806) 240-1184 ducks.org

FEBRUARY 3

ROCKY MOUNTAIN ELK FOUNDATION

Victoria Banquet

Victoria Community Center (361) 649-4751 rmef.org

FEBRUARY 4

NATIONAL WILD TURKEY FEDERATION

Houston Banquet

Houston Distributing Company (713) 515-7796 nwtf.org

DUCKS UNLIMITED

Mexia Dinner

The Cowboy Club (254) 625-1111 ducks.org

FEBRUARY 11

DUCKS UNLIMITED

Red River Valley Dinner Gainesville Civic Center (940) 390-0081 ducks.org

FEBRUARY 11-12

TEXAS GUN & KNIFE SHOWS

Fredericksburg Fairgrounds (830) 285-0575 texasgunandknifeshows.com

FEBRUARY 17

COASTAL CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION

Texas State Banquet

Texas Ski Ranch, New Braunfels (713) 626-4222 ccatexas.org

FEBRUARY 17-18

TEXAS DEER ASSOCIATION

Antler Extravaganza

Kalahari Resort, Round Rock (512) 499-0466 texasdeerassociation.com

FEBRUARY 18

MULE DEER FOUNDATION

Parker County Banquet Sheriff’s Posse Rodeo Grounds, Weatherford (817) 565-7121 muledeer.org

FEBRUARY 23

COASTAL CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION Saltgrass Banquet Winnie Stowell Community Building (409) 782-7934 ccatexas.org

FEBRUARY 24

NATIONAL WILD TURKEY FEDERATION

Smith County Hunters Gala

The Orchard at Martins Pecanville, Bullard (903) 724-1853 nwtf.org

FEBRUARY 25

DELTA WATERFOWL

Lamar County Banquet Love Civic Center, Paris (903) 249-2380 deltawaterfowl.org

ROCKY MOUNTAIN ELK FOUNDATION

Hill Country Banquet

Pedrotti’s Ranch, Helotes (210) 854-5093 rmef.org

MARCH 2

SAN ANTONIO SCI

Chapter banquet

Aggie Park Event Center

San Antonio info@scifsanantonio.com

A Place to Shoot

San Antonio, 210-628-1888

Abilene Indoor Gun Range

Abilene, 325-698-4224

Able Ammo

Huntsville, 936-295-5786

AJC Sports Clute, 979-265-4867

Ally Outdoors

Midland, 972-332-3700

Richardson, 972-332-3700

Alpha Armory Houston, 888-932-7660

Alpine Shooting Range

Ft Worth, 817-478-6613

Americana Arms, LLC

Beeville, 361-362-3673

Athena Gun Club Houston, 713-461-5900

BPS Outfitters Sherman, 903-832-2227

BTO Range

Conroe, 936-588-3333

Buck & Doe’s Mercantile, LLC

San Antonio, 830-980-3637

C.A.C Tactical Southlake, 888-211-8191

Caroline Colt Company LLC

Abilene, 325-232-7501

Carroll’s Gun Shop

Whaton, 979-532-3175

Carter’s Country Houston, 713-461-1844

Houston, 281-879-1466

Pasadena, 713-475-2222

Spring, 281-443-8393

DFW Shooting Sports Bedford, 817-285-0664

Champion Firearms College Station, 979-693-9948

Collectors Firearms Houston, 713-781-5812

Danny's, Inc.

McAllen, 956-687-4692

Defender Outdoors Fort Worth, 817-935-8377

DFW Gun Club

Dallas, 214-630-4866

Dury's Gun Shop

San Antonio, 210-533-5431

Field & Streams Sporting Goods

San Angelo, 325-944-7094

Fun Guns Waco, 254-755-0080

Gibson’s

Weatherford, 817-594-8711

Glick Twins

Pharr, 956-787-429

GRITR Sports

N. Richland Hills, 817-200-7470

Grabagun.com

Coppell, 972-552-7246

Guard & Defend Firearms Silsbee, 409-201-9468

Guns Warehouse LLC

Cedar Park, 512-986-7330

Hoss Arms, LLC New Braunfels, 830-609-8891

John Doe Investigations, LLC

Lewisville, 214-773-0129

Kirkpatrick Gun & Ammo

Laredo, 956-723-6338

Marksmen Firearms Mansfield, 817-453-8680

McBride's Guns Austin, 512-472-3532

Misson Ridge Range & Academy

San Antonio, 210-504-9000

Mister Guns LLC Plano, 214-901-7429

Modern Pawn & Guns Corpus Christi, 361-993-9390

Nagel's Gun Shop, Inc. San Antonio, 210-342-5420

Nardis Gun Club San Antonio, 210-369-9199

Omaha Outdoors

Rosenberg, 713-703-4648

Past & Blast Antiques & Firearms Whitesboro, 903-564-5444

www.hk-usa.com • 706-701-5554

Point Blank Sporting Goods

Pharr, 956-992-8799

Primary Arms Houston, 713-344-9600

Ranger Firearms of Texas Inc. San Antonio, 210-822-4867

Ray's Hardware & Sporting Goods Dallas, 214-747-7916

Red’s Indoor Range - North Pflugerville, 512-251-1022

RifleGear

The Colony, 972-292-7678

SK Arms Flowermound, 972-628-6200

Midland, 432-704-5127

Sharp Shooters Knife & Gun Inc Lubbock, 806-791-1231

Southwestern Firearms, Inc. Midlothian, 972-617-7056

Sportsman's Finest Austin, 512-263-1888

Spring Guns & Ammo Spring, 832-299-1950

Superior Outfitters

Longview, 903-212-2200

Tyler, 903-592-4006

Texas Gun Club

Stafford, 832-539-7000

Texas Gun Expierence

Grapevine, 817-285-5664

Texas Ranch Outfitters

Yantis, 903-383-2800

The Arms Room Dickinson, 232-226-5252

Wheeler Feed & Outfitters

Boerne, 830-249-2656

Xtreme Guns & Ammo Richmond, 832-363-3783 Visit