Hunting Heritage

A Partnership for Good

How the Texas Youth Hunting Program and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are joining forces to create hunting opportunities for youths.

Article by BRIANA NICKLOW, BOB BARNETTE and SHELBY BESSETTE Photos courtesy of TYHP

Youth hunters practiced with their bows at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge.

Given that at least 94 percent of Texas is privately owned, it’s no surprise that most Texas Youth Hunting Program hunts occur due to the generosity of private landowners. But did you know that TYHP also partners with public land agencies to create additional hunting opportunities?

TYHP has formed a unique partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in three areas around the state. Hosting hunts on National Wildlife Refuges exposes youth hunters to public land hunting, which is usually a bit more primitive hunting style than those found on our private lands. It also introduces youth hunters to opportunities open to them as they continue in their hunting journey.

The Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge (HNWR) in North Texas is well known for its archery draw hunts. Hunters vie for these coveted spots on this productive property. In 2015, TYHP North Texas Field Coordinator and avid bowhunter Bob Barnette, who often hunted the HNWR, began discussions with its staff, about the possibility of hosting a TYHP hunt there.

Soon after, Hagerman staff agreed to a TYHP hog hunt in the spring of 2016.

Furr High School Students posed with their harvest at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. A Furr High School student with his harvest on a private lands hunt.

Since that initial hunt, TYHP has hosted seven additional hunts, including deer and turkeys, on HNWR. This refuge has always been an accommodating location, providing advice, help and resources where needed.

Currently, groundwork is being laid to add a TWA Adult Mentored Hunt on HNWR. TYHP’s relationship with the refuge is proving an invaluable opportunity to take both youths and adults hunting.

In Houston, TYHP’s partnership with USFWS’s Houston Community Partnerships and Engagement focuses on providing inner-city Houston youths with opportunities to explore the outdoors. Houston Community Partnerships and Engagement has a long-standing partnership with Furr High School: An Institution for Innovative Thinking. Part of its curriculum focuses on educating students about where food comes from and the role wildlife management plays in our ecosystems.

In 2018, as TYHP East Texas Field Coordinator, I coordinated with Furr High School and Houston Community Partnerships and Engagement to provide an avenue to take students hunting. USFWS helped to secure hunts at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and facilitate the partnership. TYHP also conducted Hunter Education at the school, provided a private lands hunt, and helped secure TYHP volunteers for both hunts.

To date, this partnership has allowed five TYHP hunts accommodating 40 youth hunters with 49 students attending the Hunter Education course. In addition, an effort is ongoing to connect students with mentors at the Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge to further their hunting knowledge. From first opportunities to lasting ones, this partnership opens the door for a greater diversity in the hunting community and in these students’ lives.

The Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge and the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuges in South Texas are home to a large population of nilgai, an exotic species introduced to South Texas in the 1940s with no natural predators in Texas. While biologists are still learning about their ecological impacts in Texas, there is concern they are negatively impacting the critical thornscrub habitat important to such species as the Texas tortoise and ocelot.

While volunteering at the refuges, Shelby Bessette, a TYHP Huntmaster, talked to the refuge manager about TYHP. This communication resulted in a partnership between TYHP and the refuge in which a refuge tract known as the “Sal Del Rey” was designated as a good spot for TYHP hunts as it has an overpopulation of nilgai. In January 2020, two TYHP hunts were conducted on Sal Dey Rey, the first hunting ever on this specific tract of land for the refuge.

Along with nilgai, youth hunters were also able to harvest white-tailed deer and hogs. TYHP and USFWS are both optimistic for future hunting opportunities on NWR land in South Texas and for this partnership.

The Texas Youth Hunting Program exists because of generous landowners— public and private—who open up their gates. Volunteers, like Bessette, are critical to initiating and strengthening partnerships in their own communities. TWA is excited to see the continued growth of the TYHP and USFWS relationship. Hunting on public lands offers a unique way to experience the outdoors and allows additional access to Texas lands.

If you are interested in hosting a hunt or volunteering with the TYHP, please visit our website at www.tyhp.org and call (210) 930-2177 or email tyhp@texas-wildlife.org.