MAGAZINE OF THE TEXAS WILDLIFE ASSOCIATION
Largemouth
Bass
APRIL 2022
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TEXAS WILDLIFE
PRESIDENT'S REMARKS SARAH BIEDENHARN
I
t may seem early, but planning is well underway for Texas Wildlife Association’s 37th Annual Convention in July. This event is something I’ve looked forward to every year for most of my life. One thing I’ve come to realize over the years is just how special this weekend is. When else can you be among hundreds of other people who are passionate about private land conservation, natural resource education, and the wildlife that inhabit our great state? As our world becomes more urban focused, these opportunities are becoming rarer. Whether this will be your 37th convention or your first, I hope you’ll make your way to San Antonio and stay for the full weekend! The Private Lands Summit (PLS) kicks off the event on Thursday. If you haven’t made it to the PLS before, I highly recommend coming in early. It’s always full of great discussions led by expert panelists and speakers. Some of these speakers will stick around for the Saturday morning educational seminars. The seminars cover a wide array of topics, so there’s something of interest for everyone. On Friday, the volunteer committees meet in the morning followed by a membership and directors meeting in the afternoon. These meetings are open to everyone attending Convention. If you’re looking to get more involved or learn more about what’s happening at TWA, this is a great opportunity. Of course, it wouldn’t be Convention without the Texas Big Game Awards (TBGA) banquet. TBGA honors both hunters and landowners for their efforts in quality wildlife management. This event is always well attended so reserve a table or get there early for a good seat. The Grand Auction on Saturday night is also a TWA Convention mainstay. It’s always a lively evening and an incredibly important fundraising event for TWA. Many of the hunts offered are not open to the public and are truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. When the auction closes, make sure you stick around to visit with other members and check out the vendor booths. Lastly, I’d be remiss not to mention that the TWA Convention is a family affair. Educating and engaging the next generation of leaders and voters is a key part of TWA’s mission, so we love to see all ages attend. Kids under 13 receive free registration and can join the Range Riders for scheduled activities or come to the meetings and seminars. It’s never too early to start learning about conservation and making friends who love the outdoors! I hope to see you and your family at the JW Marriott in San Antonio July 14-16. If you’re a convention veteran, consider inviting a friend to join you. There’s hardly a better introduction to TWA than through our biggest gathering of the year! Thank you for being a member of Texas Wildlife Association and for all you do for the land, water and wildlife of Texas!
Texas Wildlife Association Mission Statement Serving Texas wildlife and its habitat, while protecting property rights, hunting heritage, and the conservation efforts of those who value and steward wildlife resources.
Texas Wildlife Association
TEXAS WILDLIFE is published monthly by the Texas Wildlife Association, 6644 FM 1102, New Braunfels, TX 78132. E-mail address: twa@texas-wildlife.org. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Texas Wildlife Association, 6644 FM 1102, New Braunfels, TX 78132. The Texas Wildlife Association (TWA) was organized in 1985 for the purpose of serving as an advocate for the benefit of wildlife and for the rights of wildlife managers, landowners and hunters in educational, scientific, political, regulatory and legislative arenas. TEXAS WILDLIFE is the official TWA publication and has widespread circulation throughout Texas and the United States. All rights reserved. No parts of these magazines may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without express written permission from the publisher. Copyrighted 2022 Texas Wildlife Association. Views expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the Texas Wildlife Association. Similarities between the name Texas Wildlife Association and those of advertisers or state agencies are coincidental, and do not indicate mutual affiliation, unless clearly noted. TWA reserves the right to refuse advertising.
4 TEXAS WILDLIFE
APRIL 2022
6644 FM 1102 New Braunfels, TX 78132 www.texas-wildlife.org (210) 826-2904 FAX (210) 826-4933 (800) 839-9453 (TEX-WILD)
Texas Wildlife
MAGAZINE OF THE TEXAS WILDLIFE ASSOCIATION
APRIL
VOLUME 37
H
8 Uri’s Fury
NUMBER 12
Texas was Ground Zero for Winter Storm Uri by RUSSELL A. GRAVES
H
2022
28 Members In Action Share the Heritage by KRISTIN PARMA
30 Caesar Kleberg News
16 Plant Profile
Preserving and Restoring Texas Wildflowers
Fourwing Saltbush
by TYLER WAYLAND
by RICKY LINEX
34 Warbler Woods Bird Sanctuary
18 TAMU News
Sharing Something Special
Examining Land Managers’ Needs
by PAUL BOGUMIL
by BRITTANY WEGNER
40 In Admiration of Bird Dogs
20 Hand-in-Glove Programs to
by DALE ROLLINS, Ph.D.
Improve Bass in Texas by NATE SKINNER
46 Welcoming Habitat
A Family With a Passion for Stewardship
24 TWAF
by ELLEN H. BRISENDINE
TWAF Welcomes New Director of Development
54 Outdoor Traditions
by TJ GOODPASTURE
Romancing The Stone by SALLIE LEWIS
26 Conservation Legacy Education Impact 2021 by ELANOR DEAN
Photo by Nate Skinner
Magazine Staff
MAGAZINE OF THE TEXAS WILDLIFE ASSOCIATION
On the Cover Winter Storm Uri slapped Texas hard and fast last February, with a fury not seen in a very long time. The snow, ice and freezing temperatures hammered Texans throughout the state and left massive destruction in its wake. But how did the bass fishery survive? Veteran outdoor photographer and writer Russell Graves delves into the after-effects of Uri’s fury, beginning on page 8.
MAGAZINE CORPS Justin Dreibelbis, Executive Editor Burt Rutherford, Consulting Publications Coordinator/Editor
Photo by Russell A. Graves
Lorie A. Woodward, Special Projects Editor David Brimager, Advertising Director
APRIL 2022
Largemouth
Bass
Publication Printers Corp., Printing, Denver, CO
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5
TEXAS WILDLIFE
MEETINGS AND EVENTS
FOR INFORMATION ON HUNTING SEASONS, call the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department at (800) 792-1112, consult the 2021-2022 Texas Parks and Wildlife Outdoor Annual, or visit the TPWD website at tpwd.state.tx.us.
APRIL
MAY
JULY
APRIL 23 TYHP Huntmaster Training, Pleasant Hill and Rocky Community Center, Hye, TX. For more information call Chris Mitchell at 800-460-5494 or email cmitchell@texas-wildlife.org
MAY 21 Texas Big Game Awards Sportsman's Celebration, Brazos Expo Center, College Station. For more information, visit www.TexasBigGameAwards.org.
JULY 14-17 WildLife 2022, TWA’s 37th Annual Convention, JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa. For more information, contact David Brimager at (800) 839-9453 or dbrimager@texas-wildlife.org.
JUNE
JULY 15 Statewide Texas Big Game Awards Banquet, during TWA’s Annual Convention, WildLife 2022, JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa. For more information, contact David Brimager at (800) 839-9453 or dbrimager@texas-wildlife.org.
MAY MAY 13 TYHP Huntmaster Training, Matador WMA. For more information call Chris Mitchell at 800-460-5494 or email cmitchell@texas-wildlife.org MAY 14 TYHP Huntmaster Training 1-Day Field Course, Richmond, TX. For more information call Chris Mitchell at 800-460-5494 or email cmitchell@texas-wildlife.org
JUNE 4 Texas Big Game Awards Sportsman’s Celebration, Stephenville. For more information,visit www.TexasBigGameAwards.org. JUNE 25 Texas Big Game Awards Sportsman’s Celebration, Fiddler’s on the Gruene, New Braunfels. For more information, visit www.TexasBigGameAwards.org.
TEXAS WILDLIFE
C O N S E R VAT I O N L E G A C Y Y O U T H P R O G R A M M I N G VISIT THE PROGRAM PAGES ONLINE AT www.texas-wildlife.org/program-areas/category/youth for specifics and registration information.
YOUTH DISTANCE LEARNING PROGRAMS: • Youth Videoconferences are live interactive presentations featuring Texas wildlife species. Offered throughout the semester, classes connect via videoconference equipment or Zoom. • On-demand Webinars are recorded interactive presentations about natural resources and wildlife conservation topics and are available anytime on the TWA website.
WILDLIFE BY DESIGN ACROSS TEXAS CLASSROOM PRESENTATIONS: • (Virtual) Wildlife by Design Across Texas is for schools outside of the areas served by TWA educators (DFW area, Greater Houston area, South Texas and West Texas). Programs are offered on a set schedule and registration is required in advance.
Critter Connections are now available in a readalong format. Recordings of past issues are available online and are created for each new issue.
6 TEXAS WILDLIFE
APRIL 2022
URI’S FURY
Even big water can be made small by exploring bays, coves and creeks. These can produce big bass if the right habitat exists.
8 TEXAS WILDLIFE
APRIL 2022
URI’S FURY
Texas was Ground Zero for Winter Storm Uri. Here's How the Lone Star's Famed Bass Fishery Fared. Article and photos by RUSSELL A. GRAVES
W
hen Winter Storm Uri arrived, it came with a fury generally reserved for zip codes farther north. However, for this swath of historically inclement weather, Texas was ground zero. When the weather changed, it changed quickly. On Feb. 8, 2021, the temperature in northeast Texas hovered in the mid60s. Just one day later, the high temperature dropped some 20
degrees. Over the next week, the temperature and weather further eroded and a week later, the mercury barely registered above zero. A few days before the temperatures began to dip, Fannin County rancher Garry Mills kept an eye on the water. Sure, he was concerned about his cattle having access to fresh water, but he was also watching his ponds for other reasons.
WWW.TEXAS-WILDLIFE.ORG
9
URI’S FURY
The big bully? Yes. The monster of the deep? Sometimes, but more like the king of the shallow water and everything below. Without a doubt, the largemouth bass is the apex predator in many Texas waters.
When he's not tending to cattle, Garry's an avid bass angler whose time spent each year on or around bass waters rivals the most ardent anglers. Since he loves bass, he fishes often and tries his best to manage the many ponds on the properties on which his cattle graze. He understands the nuances and feeding patterns of the fish in each of the different small impoundments he fishes. "Winter is always slow fishing," he said while staring across a Bermuda grass pasture browned by the bite of winter's cold. "We have a good surge of activity in November as the water begins to cool and then the fish pick up in the spring when the water warms up again." The deep water fishing prospects, he concedes, are scant because his ponds aren’t nearly as deep as the mega-reservoirs like Fork or Ivie. Most of the big-fish lakes in Texas are deep, and in cold weather, deep water provides a temperate retreat for the fish. As the lake surface cools, the deeper sections stay a constant temperature. Bass spend their year in Texas waters moving from depth to depth in search of food and suitable temperature.
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As the winter storm bore down on the state, Mills didn't worry too much about his ponds and the fish therein. Because of his ponds' scant surface area, he knew they'd be likely freeze over, perhaps as much as 3 or 4 inches thick across the surface. He knows that largemouth are resilient and no matter the conditions the storm wrought, the bass would survive. THE STORM Because of predictive modeling by the National Weather Service, Winter Storm Uri didn't come as a surprise. It was the storm's severity that proved unpredictable. On February 11, freezing rain began to fall from Central to North Texas and coated the area with a half-inch of ice in some locations. By February 14, nearly half a foot of snow had fallen in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and temperatures continued to plummet. With snow and freezing rain blanketing much of the state, temperatures in places like Waco stayed below freezing for more than eight straight days. The freezing temperatures put a severe
URI’S FURY
Where’s the best place to catch big bass? Big reservoirs or small ponds? It doesn’t matter. ShareLunker bass grow in both places.
WWW.TEXAS-WILDLIFE.ORG
11
URI’S FURY
strain on the state's water and energy infrastructure. According to a University of Texas at Austin post-storm report, the electrical grid, …"narrowly missed a catastrophic failure that potentially could have caused a total blackout throughout the state." The impact of the storm was swift and obvious on many fronts. The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas estimated that stormrelated financial losses were from $80 to $130 billion. Furthermore, two-thirds of Texans lost power, and half of all who live in the state lost water at some point during the historic winter storm.
According to Louie Bond, writing in Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine, fish along the coast suffered a much more dire fate than those found inland. In her report, Bond notes that "…an estimated 3.8 million fish succumbed to the freeze event.” Mills said he did not see any fish die-off in his waters. As soon as the water thawed, the fish were back to biting again. In fact, largemouth bass seemed to thrive because of the cold. After the winter storm passed, it seemed to usher in one of the most frenetic periods of bass activity in our lifetime. Coincidence? Maybe, but for six weeks following last year's winter storm, big bass seemed to bite at a pace never before seen.
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE FISH? Ecologically, there were losses as well. While it seems, at least anecdotally, that bass were spared the worst of the winter weather, other species didn't fare as well. Since largemouth bass are widespread and are found in northern latitudes where winter events like Uri are much more common, they weathered the deep freeze relatively easily. Warm weather fish didn't fare so well.
SIX WEEKS FOR THE RECORD BOOKS "It's hard to say for sure what impact that cold and storm had on the bass and angling success," said Lynn Wright, TPWD district fisheries supervisor based out of San Angelo. His territory includes what may be Texas' hottest big bass lake— O.H. Ivie near Ballinger. "If you watch videos of people fishing at O.H. Ivie right after the winter storm last year, you'll see ice hanging from the
The purpose of fishing is to catch fish, right? But there’s more to it than that—much more. Time spent on the water, just like time spent in a blind, can be the best time spent.
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APRIL 2022
URI’S FURY
bushes." Anecdotally, at least, the storm seemed to turn on a feeding frenzy of epic proportions. Last year, on the heels of Winter Storm Uri, O.H. Ivie yielded eight, double-digit weight bass and five largemouths that weighed more than 13 pounds. The biggest of them was a 16-plus pound behemoth caught by an Iowa angler that was 2 pounds shy of the state record. Ivie wasn't the only lake in the state seeing such a marked increase in big bass. During a six-week period late last winter and into spring, five bass became new lake records. In addition, the ShareLunker program welcomed fish from four lakes where an entry had never been seen before. Those lakes are Eagle Mountain, Lake Tyler, Lake Coleman, and Lake Travis. In a nutshell, the ShareLunker program recognizes anglers who reel in any largemouth bass at least 8 pounds or 24 inches long. Since its inception in 1986, 58% of the bass recognized in the program were caught in February, March, and April. The biggest of the fish caught—those weighing 13 pounds or more and caught between October 1 and April 30—are collected and moved to the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens where biologists there attempt to have the biggest of the big fish spawn under controlled circumstances. Their progeny are then released in lakes all over the state in an attempt to usher in a new generation of aquatic giants. To date, more than 500 fish have been selected for the elite category of the ShareLunker program. (For more on the ShareLunker program, see the article beginning on page 20). "When the weather started warming up after the storm, we started seeing the fish bite," Wright said. "Compared to what we typically know about cold fronts and cold weather, it usually hurts fish feeding and not necessarily helps it. So the fact that these big fish were caught when they were is kind of counterintuitive." Wright said that in the end, Winter Storm Uri's impact and the flurry of big bass that followed it may have been coincidental. He said that in addition, the flurry of angling activity could be due to increased fishing pressure the lake saw after the storm passed. "Everyone was itching to get out after being hidden inside for a week after that snowstorm, so I think angling pressure might have picked up as well," he said. As far as O.H. Ivie is concerned, Wright believes that the big fish bonanza can be attributed to conditions there that are favorable for big bass production. "The main story with Ivie is the water level. The reservoir fluctuates," he said. As the water level wanes, new vegetation emerges on the dry ground. The trees and brush that grow when water levels are low create incredible bass habitat when the water rises again. Wright explained that when the lake level came back up after the extended drought of the early 2010s, there was an unusually large amount of cover and food available for the fish. "The lake conditions and the weather created a perfect storm," Wright said. "We usually see between 75% and 85% Florida strain genetics in our bass population on O.H. Ivie so that means it's a good trophy potential. We had those good genetics in place, and then Mother Nature helped us out with a big water
level rise. And then, it was just a matter of time for those big 13-plus pound fish to start showing up." BASS BIOLOGY There's no mistaking it: largemouth bass are the nation's most popular game fish. At the heart of a multi-billion-dollar freshwater fishing industry, largemouth bass are the ultimate prize. More dollars are spent on managing the fish, chasing the fish, and dreaming about the fish than any other species in the United States. Second place isn't even close. But to understand the impacts of weather on bass, a little bass biology is in order. Largemouths are ectothermic or cold-blooded. That means their body temperature is regulated by their environment. Unlike mammals or birds that create their heat by internal biological functions that maintain a constant, optimum temperature, bass cannot create their own internal temperatures. Therefore, their activity is regulated by the temperature of the water around them. When the water is cold, the fish become more lethargic. As the weather begins to warm in the spring, the fish become more active. “Pure strain Florida bass struggle to survive conditions as we had last year,” said Bob Lusk, renowned fish biologist and
Largemouth bass like structures and when fishing a big reservoir, that’s often the best place to start prospecting for biters. But be careful you don’t hang your lure.
WWW.TEXAS-WILDLIFE.ORG
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URI’S FURY
There’s nothing quite like the thrill when you know you’ve got a big fish tugging at the other end of your line. Landing a big bass is indeed picture-worthy.
private water consultant from Whitesboro, Texas. “When water temperature drops rapidly, Florida bass can’t take it. But genetic mixes or northern strain bass can handle the cold. “That polar vortex from last year caused ponds and lakes to freeze quickly at the surface. With ice cover, bottom temperature is isolated and doesn’t get as cold as ‘normal.’ The irony is bottom water temperature didn’t drop below 40 degrees. That kept bass from becoming stressed. They basically hunkered down near the bottom and waited it out.” Spawning among largemouths commences when the water temperature reaches 60 degrees Fahrenheit or above. Depending on the geographic location of a body of water within the state, spawning can begin as early as February or as late as May, according to TPWD. When it's time to spawn, male bass build a nest in 2 to 8 feet of water where the female will deposit the eggs. Warming weather and water temperatures also make what largemouths eat more active. Like bass, crawfish and baitfish such as shad are cold-blooded and warming water makes them move around more. It all culminates in a grand feeding frenzy that occurs in late winter and early spring. Since females are full of eggs, the prespawn period is an excellent time to catch bass that make it into Texas' Toyota ShareLunker program. A BIG DEAL According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, nearly 9.6 million anglers spent more than 116 million days bass fishing each year across the country as of 2016, the last year they reported on such matters.
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"Largemouth bass are a big deal south of the Mason-Dixon Line because they are considered the ‘bully of the waterways,’" Lusk said. "They are a big deal because, where they thrive, they are usually the top end predator. Anglers love to do battle with a largemouth bass because they know when they tie into one, there will be a fight. It will be a fight between a man and a beast, in the beast's environment." According to Lusk, the largemouth frenzy as we know it began in 1932 when George Perry caught his world record bass and was encouraged to enter it in Field & Stream magazine's big bass contest. Perry's bass was caught in a Georgia lake and the record 22-pound, 4-ounce bass has seen few rivals in terms of overall size. Officially, Perry's record still stands 84 years later although unofficially, there have been a couple of fish that have bested it. During the 1950s—revved by a statewide lake building frenzy—the popularity of largemouth bass fishing began to grow in Texas. As fishing opportunities increased across the state, so did the number of anglers. In 1955, the Waco TribuneHerald organized the first bass fishing tournament in the state. As fishing technology improved and federal dollars for fisheries programs poured in, more and more anglers pursued largemouth bass. In the 1970s, the Florida strain of largemouth bass were stocked in Texas reservoirs and as slot limits and catch and release programs shifted the angling ethic, it set the stage for the "good ol' days" of Texas bass fishing that today's anglers are experiencing. And, it seems, in spite of the all havoc it can wreak, a little cold weather doesn’t hurt, either.
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JULY 14-17, 2022
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TEXAS WILDLIFE
PLANT PROFILE
Fourwing Saltbush Article and photos by RICKY LINEX
Fourwing saltbush seen in the fall growing under excellent grazing management.
Ripening fruits of fourwing saltbush might be mistaken for the leaves of Cenizo.
D
Separate male and female flowers form on fourwing saltbush, female flowers seen here.
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uring the winter months, most shrubs reveal a drab, leafless, gray or brown appearance quite different from their lush green growth during the warm summer months. Fourwing saltbush, Atriplex Canescens, beats to a different drum and maintains its grayish appearance throughout the year. This compact and deep-rooted erect shrub is loosely to densely branched, and usually grows 3 to 4 feet tall, but occasionally reaches 8 feet. Its width can be up to twice its height. Male and female flowers are produced on separate plants and are wind pollinated. Male flowers form in dense, long spikes with leaves below the flowers; female flowers form in short axillary spikes. Fruits are adorned with two pair of wings forming a cross-like shape, gray-green when mature then turning dark tan in winter. Older twigs are dark gray and grooved in thin layers, while younger twigs are greenish-gray, brittle and smooth. Leaves are numerous and the smaller leaves evergreen, alternate, sessile or with short petioles, linear to narrowly oblong in shape, and margins entire. The leaves, which are 1/8- to 1/2-inch wide and 3/8- to 2 inches long, have a single vein down the middle and
PLANT PROFILE
Fruits have four membranous wings which gives the plant its name.
appear gray-scurfy on both upper and lower leaf surface. Roots have been reported to grow to depths of 20-40 feet and provide great soil stability in reducing soil erosion. You only have to look under a fourwing saltbush plant to see that the area under the spread of the plant is higher by an inch or so than the area outside the dripline of the plant. Fourwing saltbush provides good quality browse for all classes of livestock and deer all year long. Crude protein values run 14% during summer months. However, seed crop and newer, tender branches can be browsed too heavily during the winter, resulting in stress to the plants during the growing season and a reduction in future seed production. The bushes provide good loafing cover for quail and protection for songbirds. Fourwing was important to many Native American tribes for a variety of reasons. They used the green leaves to make a soapy lather for washing and a poultice of leaves on ant bites to reduce swelling and pain. The ashes of fourwing were used in cooking as a substitute for baking soda. Ashes were also used as an alkali to maintain the blue coloring in blue corn meal. At least two western tribes used what was described as “infectious wood” of fourwing to carve arrowheads. When attached to arrow shafts, these weakened
wooden arrowheads would break apart upon impact causing much pain during wars with other tribes or early settlers. Texas is on the far southeastern range of the states where fourwing is found. Texas hunters who have been in
the western states will likely have seen numerous fourwing saltbush plants. Fourwing saltbush will grow in a wide range of soils from sands to heavy clays and is found in the western two-thirds of the state. It is adapted to grow in soils with high lime, alkaline and saline sites, giving cover and browse where few other desirable plants can grow. Fourwing can grow in desert flats, gravelly washes, mesas, ridges, slopes and even on sand dunes. In grazed pastures it is often seen growing in areas which limit access by livestock, such as on slopes or rough breaks, along fence lines, or near other protective woody plants. Heavy browsing of saltbush means adjustments are needed in stocking rate, length of grazing period, and deer density. Fourwing saltbush seed is commercially available for re-seeding projects and should be considered when seeding range areas without adequate woody cover.
WWW.TEXAS-WILDLIFE.ORG
17
Natural Resources Institute
texas a&m university
TAMU N E W S
Examining Land Managers’ Needs Article by BRITTANY WEGNER Photo courtesy of TAMU NATURAL RESOURCES INSTITUTE
Privately-owned rural land and its natural resources are the backbone for much of the Texas economy. However, Texas is growing and changing and that means private land ownership and how land is managed is changing as well. The Texas Landowner Survey seeks to identify these changes.
T
he Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute’s Texas Land Trends program http://txlandtrends.org/ seeks your participation in the 2022 Landowner Survey for landowners who own or operate private working lands
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in Texas. This voluntary questionnaire will gather information on the needs, preferences, concerns, and challenges regarding everyday property management that landowners face. Conducted every five years, the survey seeks to identify the special characteristics and values of the diverse people who collectively own and manage the 141 million acres of privately-owned farms and ranches in Texas. The survey will examine changes in demography, economy, and natural resources of the state. “Texas working lands are among the most productive farms, ranches, and energy producers in the country. Since private rural working lands comprise most of the open space in Texas, private rural landowners and their management decisions help shape our statewide resources,” said Dr. Roel Lopez, director of the Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute. “Supporting landowner stewardship makes sense because it helps conserve Texas’ rich land heritage, vital to the state’s economy.” The Landowner Survey is divided into six topic areas: Land Management, Landowner Concerns, Land Loss/Fragmentation, Water, Hunting, and Landowners. The results are anonymous and will only be presented in an aggregate form. To see results from the previous survey, go to the Texas Land Trends publication, “Status Update and Trends of Texas Working Lands 1997-2017.” https://txlandtrends.org/media/qzpblz2j/texas-landtrends_status-update-and-trends-of-tx-working-lands.pdf. Conducting this survey once every five years allows data scientists to determine how landowner preferences and needs are changing over time. It also identifies how the Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute and other natural resource agencies can work together to better understand and meet those needs. The questionnaire should take approximately 20-30 minutes to complete and is mostly multiple-choice questions. For an optimized experience, take the survey on a tablet, laptop, or desktop computer. Everyone who takes the survey has the chance to enter a raffle to win one of 15 Yeti® Texas Land Trends mugs. The Landowner Survey can be taken here: http://bit.ly/2022 TexasLandownerSurvey
Texas Brigades 2022 Summer Camps Application Deadline: March 15th Texas Brigades Summer Camps are perfect for youth applicants who show interest in science, nature, hunting, and the outdoors! Apply by the deadline for a spot at one of nine camps this summer. Learn more and apply at www.texasbrigades.org/applications
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• South Texas Ranch Brigade Duval County Ranch Freer, TX June 25-29, 2022
• Ranch Brigade Warren Ranch Santa Anna, TX July 18-22, 2022
• South Texas Buckskin Brigade G2 Ranch Pearsall, TX June 12-16, 2022
• Bass Brigade Warren Ranch Santa Anna, TX July 6-10, 2022
• North Texas Buckskin Brigade Warren Ranch Santa Anna, TX July 24-28, 2022
• South Texas Bobwhite Brigade Buck Horn Creek Ranch McCoy, TX June 18-22, 2022
• Waterfowl Brigade Pintail Hunting Club Garwood, TX July 13-17, 2022
• Coastal Brigade Sea Star Base Galveston, TX July 26-30, 2022
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Is it a ShareLunker? Only the scale knows for sure. But if it is, proper boating and handling are essential to keep the fish healthy for its trip to the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens.
HAND-IN-GLOVE PROGRAMS TO IMPROVE BASS IN TEXAS Article and photos by NATE SKINNER
I
t’s no secret that the largemouth bass is arguably the most popular species to target and catch among the freshwater angling crowd across the Lone Star State. The gamefish is known for putting up impressive battles, with acrobatic moves and head-shaking commotion at the water’s surface. They can be caught in varying water depths while employing a variety of tactics and bait presentations, not to mention that they swim in just about every inland lake and major tributary in the state. A catch and release mentality has taken hold among bass anglers over the years. Instead of pursuing them for table fare, most anglers fish for sport or leisure. This is partially a result of social awareness and public education through many "hand-in-glove" programs implemented by TPWD and other agencies. The paradigm shift has allowed our state’s bass fishery to flourish and expand. The efforts made by these entities and programs, combined with the efforts of conservation-minded anglers, continue to significantly improve bass in Texas.
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SHARELUNKERS TO THE RESCUE The TPWD Toyota ShareLunker Program has been partnering with anglers to promote and enhance bass fishing in Texas since 1986. Each year, this program provides anglers with exciting opportunities to partner with TPWD and be recognized for their achievements and contributions. According to the Toyota ShareLunker Program Manager and Statewide Outreach Manager for the TPWD Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center Kyle Brookshear, the ShareLunker Program is one of TPWD's highest profile outreach and fisheries management programs. “The program is unique in that it essentially collects trophy sized bass and selectively breeds them for the genetic predisposition to produce offspring that have the potential to reach a trophy size,” Brookshear said. “We then restock the public fisheries of Texas with those offspring.” Bass collected by the ShareLunker Program for breeding purposes weigh a minimum of 13 pounds. They are collected between January 1 and March 31 and are then bred
HAND-IN-GLOVE PROGRAMS TO IMPROVE BASS IN TEXAS
with the offspring of previously collected ShareLunkers. “In this process, we are putting two fish together that have the genetic disposition to grow to larger sizes,” Brookshear said. “In the wild, the opportunity of this happening would be extremely rare.” ShareLunker-sized bass are donated to the program by anglers. “Once an angler catches a confirmed 13-plus pound bass, they should call our hotline immediately at (903) 681-0550,” Brookshear said. “This will activate a response team of management biologists and other inland fishery experts from across the state that can quickly respond, collect the fish, and transfer it safely to the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens, where the selective breeding process will take place.” Brookshear said that the ShareLunker Program encourages anglers who think they that have a 13-plus pound bass hooked to the end of their line to employ the following practices when catching the fish in order to ensure its safety and overall health: land the fish as quickly as possible, use a dip net, keep the fish off the deck or carpet of the boat, and handle the fish as little as possible. “A bass of this size is near the end of its life span, and just doesn’t handle stress as well as younger fish would,” Brookshear said. “Most of them are 10-12 years old. Anglers should try to do everything that they can to minimize the stress on these fish, and proper fish handling strategies are important.” Most of these ShareLunker-sized fish won’t fit in a standard livewell very well. The program has official weigh and holding stations set up across the state where anglers can get a certified weight on their fish, and then place the fish into a larger holding tank until the response team arrives. A list of official ShareLunker weigh and holding stations can be found at texassharelunker.com. HOME SWEET HOME Once a ShareLunker arrives at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center, the fish is given its own tank replete with a premium and controlled environment that is as natural as possible.
The mindset among bass anglers in Texas is changing from the frying pan to catch and release. This, along with other factors, has played a major role in improving the bass fishery across the state.
WWW.TEXAS-WILDLIFE.ORG
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HAND-IN-GLOVE PROGRAMS TO IMPROVE BASS IN TEXAS
It’s a proud moment to boat a lunker. For a largemouth bass weighing more than 13 pounds, it’s even prouder to know that both the lunker and its offspring are returned to the water to provide a similar photo for future anglers.
For many Lone Star anglers, bass fishing has become more than just a meal of fried fish. It’s the experience and the knowledge that the resource will be there for future anglers that is fast becoming the new ethic.
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“Breeding these fish is an intricate and meticulous process,” said Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center Director Tom Lang. “It takes space and time, and we keep it as natural as possible. Our goal is to make sure the ShareLunkers, as well as their fry, are put in the best possible environment in order to flourish.” When it is time for a female ShareLunker to spawn, it is placed into a raceway or a spawning tank with multiple males and a spawning mat. “This allows them to undergo courtship behavior and pair up with the males of their choice,” Lang said. Once the fish spawn and their eggs have been deposited and fertilized on the spawning mat, the eggs are transferred to a hatching jar where they hatch into fry. Within 10 days, the fry reach about a half-inch in length, and are transferred into an outdoor hatchery pond. By the
HAND-IN-GLOVE PROGRAMS TO IMPROVE BASS IN TEXAS
time they reach 1.5-2.5 inches in length, they are ready to be stocked. This typically takes about 30 days from the time that they hatch. After a ShareLunker has spawned at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center, it is returned to the reservoir where it was caught, along with a good portion of its offspring. “Additionally, there are times in which the conditions in other reservoirs are right, based on data from freshwater fisheries teams, for them to receive ShareLunker offspring,” Lang said. “We have teams of management biologists across the state that help us decide when and where these fingerlings go.” Lang said it’s important to note that all fingerlings stocked into Texas fisheries are now 100% descendants of ShareLunker bass. “2022 is the first year for this to take place, and it is an exciting time for us here at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center,” he said. Indeed, anglers donating a 13-plus pound bass for fishery enhancement have been the foundation of the ShareLunker Program since its existence. “The program was created with the goal of promoting catch and release and proper fish handling strategies, and it has succeeded in both of those regards,” Brookshear said. In recent years, the ShareLunker Program has been expanded to collect more catch data and genetic data on fish weighing less than 13 pounds that are still considered trophy bass by most anglers. For the purposes of the ShareLunker program, these are bass weighing at least 8 pounds or measuring 24 inches in length. Information on these fish is collected year-round through angler submissions on the program’s mobile app and website, Brookshear said. “This information is used to influence management decisions made by our fisheries teams for each reservoir across the state.” Brookshear said that ShareLunker catch data is considered right alongside creel and angler survey data by each reservoir’s fisheries teams, so that the best possible management decisions can be implemented for each body of water. TPWD freshwater fisheries teams delegated to each Texas reservoir play a vital role in the constant improvement of bass across the state. “These teams of biologists are regularly sampling our waters and developing population estimates,” Lang said. “These data are what is used to determine stocking needs, and it is also used to create and maintain regulations. Regulations are crucial to sustaining and enhancing our bass fisheries.” Lang said that the combination of restocking efforts, progressive regulations, and habitat enhancement projects implemented by TPWD freshwater fisheries biologists, in conjunction with efforts and funds from nonprofit organizations and other agencies, are promoting the longevity and enhancement of bass across Texas. “We have habitat being enhanced, the quality of stockings being enhanced, and effective restrictions in place to successfully utilize populations in a wise manner,” Lang said. “These variables really bring everything together to help make Texas the big bass capitol of the world.”
Public outreach is also helping to improve bass fisheries across the Lone Star State. A growing catch and release mentality is one example. Exhibits at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens are another. “Folks can see and learn everything about our fishery enhancement efforts here, as well as the history of our management practices,” Lang said. “They can even go fishing in our recreational fishing ponds and see the end product of our efforts. Public education and social awareness is key to our success, and we are proud to facilitate it.” Lang said that research has played a major role in the enhancement of Texas bass fisheries over the years. “As more data has been collected and more studies have been conducted, our management practices have improved and become more effective,” Lang said. “Changes in these management practices over the years have been for the better.” Lang said that river authorities, habitat enhancement project partners, private industry partners, and a variety of other agencies have been instrumental in providing funds, support, and developing partnerships that continue to increase the overall health of bass and bass fisheries in Texas. “Anglers also play a major role in the success of our bass fisheries,” Lang said. “Without their support, catch data, and ShareLunker donations, we would not be near as successful.” The future of bass in Texas is bright. This is a result of a joint effort between TPWD, anglers, private partners, and other agencies, all with the same goal in mind—continually growing and enhancing populations of big bass for many years to come.
Official Corporate Conservation Partner of TWA
THANK YOU CAPITAL FARM CREDIT
FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT!
WWW.TEXAS-WILDLIFE.ORG
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TEXAS WIL DLIFE ASSOCIATION FOUNDATION
TWAF Welcomes New Director of Development Article and photo by TJ GOODPASTURE
G
reetings from New Braunfels! My name is TJ Goodpasture and I am humbled and honored to be your new director of development for the Texas Wildlife Association Foundation (TWAF). My wife, Amanda, and I relocated from northwest Oklahoma back to Texas in January and are excited
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to be living here in the beautiful Texas Hill Country. A little about myself. I am an avid outdoorsman who has been hunting and fishing since about the time I could walk. I was fortunate to have grandfathers on both sides of my family who took it upon themselves to ensure their passion
for hunting and fishing was passed down to me. Their love for the outdoors created a spark that will follow me forever and a desire deep within to do all I can to share the conservation and hunting lifestyle with others who did not grow up around it. In 2016, I was hired as a regional director for the National Wild Turkey Federation, tasked with handling volunteer relations and event fundraising. In 2019, I became the director of development for the Midwest Region, responsible for cultivating and stewarding relations with major donors, foundations, and businesses. When people ask why I love fundraising for conservation, I tell them it’s because our natural resources need a voice and I want to be that voice. While there are many other worthy causes, I believe that wildlife and the habitat they live in continuously need champions who will advocate for them. As my legacy, I want to leave the world better through the work I help accomplish, and I also want to help others who feel the same way to leave their mark, too. Often, people I talk with about wildlife and habitat conservation want to help but don’t know where to start. I love connecting them with the tools and networks to better meet their objectives, whether it involves philanthropy or conservation and land management. If I can help connect you with someone who can help meet your management objectives or if you would like to discuss how to better meet your philanthropic goals with the Texas Wildlife Association Foundation, please give me a call. I’d love to talk with you. You can reach me at 800-839-9453 (TEX-WILD) or tjgoodpasture@texas-wildlife.org.
Education Impact 2021
Conservation Legacy reached the highlighted counties in 2021.
NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS PER CONSERVATION LEGACY PROGRAM BY TWA REGION Region 1
Youth Videoconferencing
995
On-demand Webinars Discovery Trunks
Region 2
Region 3
174
4,517
774
861
427
1,498
Wildlife by Design
649
Stewarding Texas
117
Critter Connections
839
Region 4
2,316
Workshops & Presentations
2 17
6,832
5,415
5,783
5,349
9,034
28,106
7,423
21,285
397
6,674
2,317
5,972
17,190
1,232
771
893
2,846
12,068
8,120
7,798
56
39
48
* Participation numbers from out of state participants and/or virtual learners whose location was not collected.
APRIL 2022
2,645
Region 7
1,731
Region 8
*
Statewide Total
2,260
3,016
3,967
1,715
903
10,178
5,434
83,385
5,268
9,837
48,304
939
808
2,356
24,348
8,133
8,186
30,110
102,448
90
847
305
2,800
4,128
27
366
141
214
65
15
86
Adult Education Events
Region 6
4,441
Middle/High School Progam
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Region 5
22,095 31,599
7,116
104
997
592
689
EDUCATION IMPACT 2021
On-demand live animal Youth Videoconferences created in 2021
Acres potentially impacted by Small Acreage-Big Opportunity sessions
Gifted to Conservation Legacy to enhance and develop programs over the next 5 years Students potentially impacted from educator workshops
Texas Schools that experienced a Conservation Legacy program Issues of
Critter Connections
converted to a read-along video format
Texas Counties participated in Conservation Legacy Programs in 2021
Acres of Blackland Prairie to be restored at TWA Headquarters
Students on average per Discovery Trunk reservation
WWW.TEXAS-WILDLIFE.ORG
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T WA M E M B E R S I N A C T I O N
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Share the Heritage
Mentored Hunting with TWA & Spoke Hollow Outfitters Article by KRISTIN PARMA Photos by SPOKE HOLLOW OUTFITTERS
The friendships and bonds made in hunting camp are often the strongest ties that bind people together and to the land. Thanks to TWA’s Adult Mentored Hunting program, those bonds and friendships continue to grow.
W
Watching the sunrise and listening to the natural world wake up are just a few of the perks that come with hunting. Indeed, the experience is far more than just harvesting an animal.
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atching the sunrise, listening to the birds wake up or sleeping under the stars—sharing our hunting heritage is about so much more than pulling the trigger. It’s really about celebrating the great state of Texas and finding one’s place to reconnect to the land and to each other. The 2021 – 2022 hunting season was a success for our members who participated as guides and new hunters in TWA’s Adult Mentored Hunting program, now in its fifth year. Its mission is engaging novice adult hunters who are interested in forging a connection between conservation hunting and sustainable eating. TWA partnered with our friends at Spoke Hollow Outfitters to conduct 10 hunts with 50 new first-time hunters during the 2021 – 2022 hunting season. We couldn’t continue to share Texas’ hunting heritage with others without the generosity of our members who have opened their gates to this program. Thanks to you, we’re swelling the number of Texans who now enjoy the outdoors and hunting.
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TEXAS WILDLIFE
CAESAR KLEBERG WILDLIFE RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Photo by Alan Shadow, East Texas Plant Materials Center
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY-KINGSVILLE
Pollinator planting along rural county roadside.
On the Road to Preserving and Restoring Texas Wildflowers Article by TYLER WAYLAND Photos courtesy of TYLER WAYLAND
T
exans are currently enjoying one of the best and most beautiful times of the year for traveling along Texas roadways. From now through the end of May, Texas roadsides will be beautifully painted with native wildflowers soaking up the spring’s sun and moisture. The service these roadside plant communities provide stretches far beyond the backdrop of family photos; they provide tens of thousands of miles of habitat and ecosystem function across the state. Beyond the roadsides, these incredibly valuable plant communities make up the understory of the open pine savannahs of East Texas, hold together the coastal prairies of
the Gulf Coast, provide the structure of the South Texas brush country, protect the dry soils of West Texas, and accent the famous rangelands of the Hill Country. More than 5,000 species of Texas wildflowers provide valuable habitat and nectar sources required by thousands of pollinator species, and their deep and complex taproots protect the soil from erosion while increasing water infiltration, decreasing runoff, and conserving our priceless water resources. As valuable and important as these native wildflowers are to Texas, we are losing remnant communities at an alarming rate. This rapid loss only further highlights the value of these iconic
Sponsored by JOHN AND LAURIE SAUNDERS
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DEMAND FOR NATIVE HABITAT Native plants, the habitat they create, and the ecosystem services they provide are so important that their rapid decline and the cascading effects that follow are at the forefront of state and federal policy, corporate investment, and public interest. It is a natural resource concern that has attracted the interest of all industries in Texas. The demand for successful native habitat restoration and conservation at all scales is at an all-time high. Historically, one of the largest limiting factors in successful native plant
Texas roadside with a diverse showing of native wildflowers.
Photo courtesy of Texas Native Seeds, Permian Basin Native Seed Project
roadsides, and the growing need for successful native plant restoration across the state. Over the last 25 years, Texas has seen an incredible increase in human population. Since 1997, the Texas population has increased by more than 48% with current numbers sitting right around 30 million residents. Looking farther out, the Texas Demographic Center estimates that by 2050, the state’s population will reach close to 50 million people. While these numbers are stunning, Texans are resilient and there is little doubt we will adjust to and support the growth that lies ahead. We will build more homes, employ more residents, and connect new communities with needed infrastructure. However, as the population grows, more of Texas’ land will be lost to development and fragmentation. With each acre that is swallowed up by development and urbanization, the pressure on our remaining natural resources will only increase. Habitat loss and its effects are not speculated outcomes, but rather inevitable consequences of a growing population that we must address. We only have to look as far back as the last century to see the impact that land development has had on native habitats. One of the most highlighted examples is the near complete loss of native Blackland Prairie habitat which today has just 1% remaining. This area of Texas is the most densely populated region in the state, and as urban sprawl increases, fragmentation and development will continue to claim what habitat remains.
Photo courtesy of Texas Native Seeds, Permian Basin Native Seed Project
CAESAR KLEBERG WILDLIFE RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Wildflowers in bloom in an interstate median along the I-20 corridor.
restoration efforts has been the lack in the quality and quantity of native seed sources on the commercial market to meet demand. While the desire and demand for native plant restoration efforts has increased over time, insufficient supplies of ecotypic native seed sources (sources originating from the planting project region) have limited the ability to use native seeds in many large-scale plantings across the state. The result of this bottleneck has been the use of maladapted native seed sources or nonnative species that constitute a majority of the commercial seed market.
This supply conundrum has resulted in many native seeding failures as well as the introduction of nonnative species across the state. In the late 1990s, landowners in South Texas recognized the need for regionally adapted native seed sources. Research shows that success in native plant restoration efforts can dramatically increase when appropriate native seed sources are used. For South Texas landowners, those seed sources were nonexistent. The desire for native plant restoration was there but the ability to conduct such work wasn’t.
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CAESAR KLEBERG WILDLIFE RESEARCH INSTITUTE
In 2001, South Texas landowners, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute at Texas A&M University-Kingsville (CKWRI) formed a collaborative initiative then known as the South Texas Natives Project (STN). The focus was simple: develop and promote regionally adapted native seed sources to enable large scale native plant restoration across the region. The partnership in South Texas was a natural collaboration among leaders in
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habitat restoration. CKWRI is the leading wildlife research organization in Texas whose mission is to provide the sciencebased information used to enhance wildlife and habitat conservation and management efforts in the state. TxDOT is one of the largest land managers and end users of native seed sources in the state, seeding an average of 30,000 acres a year on more than 800,000 miles of roadsides. The NRCS works to deliver conservation solutions to agricultural producers tasked with feeding and clothing the growing population while
protecting our natural resources. The collaboration between these partners has been extremely impactful over the last 21 years. After 10 years of demonstrated success in South Texas, the partnership expanded into the statewide initiative now known as the Texas Native Seeds Program (TNS). Currently, TNS is operating six regional projects collaborating with conservation organizations and program supporters. To date, the program and its partners have developed 42 native seed releases including nine wildflower varieties. Because of this collaborative effort, TxDOT updated its permanent rural seed specifications in 2014 to include diverse, 10-plus species mixes of native-only certified ecotypic seed selections for twothirds of the state. In the earliest years of the project, developing grass species was the focus. Over the past five years, focus has shifted toward developing flowering plant species for restoration, urban landscaping, and roadside vegetation. The program is currently working with 12 additional wildflower species including a zizotes milkweed variety that is nearing release. With the goal of making quality seed sources available, TNS has plans to work with an additional 15 different wildflower species over the next five years. These efforts will provide the needed seed sources to establish pollinator habitats on all levels, from backyards and community parks to highway roadsides and energy transfer rights-of-ways. The impact of a diverse and reliable native seed supply will not only maintain the majestic highway roadsides for generations to come but will maximize restoration efforts and revegetate disturbed lands where plant communities are lost to development and fragmentation. These seed sources will be available for all end users, providing the ability to restore lost habitat and connect remaining habitats across this beautiful state. This is a wonderful time of year to be on the Texas roadways. Remember to drive safe and enjoy the view.
The Warbler Woods draws a remarkable variety of songbirds, some common to South Texas and some that are very rare. Sighting this Black-throated Gray Warbler this was a rare experience for birders enjoying the Warbler Woods. Its normal range is Far West Texas.
WARBLER WOODS BIRD SANCTUARY Sharing Something Special Article by LORIE A. WOODWARD Photos by PAUL BOGUMIL
Editor’s Note—This is the second in a series of articles exploring alternative income and educational opportunities for TWA members.
T
he birds were there, the people came—and then TWA Members Don and Susan Schaezler built the 124-acre Warbler Woods Bird Sanctuary near Cibolo. "When we moved here in 1997, we kept seeing birds that we weren't supposed to have," Susan said. The land, which sits near the convergence of the South Texas Plains, Blackland Prairie, and Edwards Plateau ecoregions, has been in the Schaezler family since 1950 when Don's father purchased it as an outdoor getaway for his family. Here Don searched for and found Native American and early German settlement artifacts and hunted small game. He also rambled,
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roamed, and developed his lifelong fascination with all facets of nature from mammals and plants to birds and insects. As is the case in transition zones, the vegetation that covers the gently rolling land is diverse. Just over 80 acres is heavily wooded with an overstory that includes oaks, elms and hackberries and an understory thick with mesquite and an assortment of woody browse plants. A 40-acre grassland has been restored to native prairie. Unbeknownst to the couple at the time they moved, the Schaezler land was situated on a major migratory flyway. Their new home served as a critical resting and feeding spot for migratory songbirds such as warblers and vireos. Some of the unexpected visiting birds include Hutton's Vireos, Golden-crowned Sparrows and Golden-cheeked Warblers as
WA R B L E R WO O D S B I R D S A N C T UA RY
well as a host of resident birds such as Long-billed Thrashers, Common Paraques and 25 species of warblers. Nighthawks, towhees, and Northern Bobwhite Quail are part of the mix. Raptors such as Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks soar through the winter skies. Neither Susan nor Don were serious birders in the late 90s, but Susan knew they were living in the middle of something unique. She tenaciously posted questions, photos and sightings on Tex Birds, a Texas birding Facebook group. The experts remained skeptical that the Schaezlers had something unique. Eventually, though, Georgina Schwarz, a representative of the Audubon Society of San Antonio, accepted the Schaezlers' invitation to come look around. She was particularly interested in confirming the presence of several partially leucistic Cardinals. (Leucism, abnormal coloration that ranges from partial to full albinoism, is caused by a lack of pigment in the feathers). Schwarz's skepticism disappeared as she spotted some of the rarities that Susan had mentioned on the website—and more that hadn't been mentioned. After Schwarz's reconnaissance mission, her first order of business was scheduling a visit to the property for her fellow society members. "It just snowballed from there," Susan said. "Word got out in the birding community that we had something special and people began to come out." DISCOVERING AN OASIS As chatter built in the birding world, Susan continued photographing and posting what she saw. Her persistence paid off. Today, the couple hosts between 2,000 and 2,500 visitors each year. Visitors can explore miles of trails carved through
Golden-cheeked Warbler
Birds aren’t the only wildlife that find a welcoming place at the Warbler Woods. This butterfly enjoys a stop at the Butterfly Garden.
Black-chinned Hummingbird
WWW.TEXAS-WILDLIFE.ORG
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WA R B L E R WO O D S B I R D S A N C T UA RY
One of the rarest birds spotted at the Warbler Woods is this Golden-crowned Sparrow. It was first seen Nov. 17, 2020 and stayed through April 18, 2021. Its normal range is the Pacific Coast states.
the habitat or they can set up at one of the seven feeding and watering stations located throughout the property to watch the birds come and go. Until 2020, the visitors were primarily birders. Warbler Woods is listed as a Hotspot on Ebird.org. According to the website, 294 species have been documented at the sanctuary, which was honored by TPWD as a regional winner in the 2011 Texas Lone Star Land Steward Awards program. "Birders from across the country and around the world plan trips to Warbler Woods, especially during migration," said Susan, noting at the peak of spring migration, Warbler Woods sometimes has more species of warblers and other birds than even High Island, a well-known Texas birding destination. With the advent of COVID-19, the number of "neighborhood visitors," those who live in the burgeoning suburbs and nearby cities of Austin and San Antonio, have increased dramatically. Some are parents who want to introduce their children to the outdoors and volunteerism in a safe location. They walk in the woods, pick up trash and watch birds. The Schaezlers keep extra binoculars on hand, so youngsters will have access to working optics. The couple wants the children to discover the wonders of the birds, such as feather patterns, for themselves to inspire their curiosity because "no one knows where the next naturalist might come from." "The people are the best part," Don said. "I tell them about the birds, the plants and the animals they might see, and the geology
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and natural history of the land. Regardless of the time of year, there is always something to see and learn about." Other guests are medical professionals and other essential workers seeking respite in nature. Others who regularly make the trek between Austin and San Antonio have discovered that the Warbler Woods, located just a mile off I-35, is a great place to take a restroom break and enjoy a quick hike before plunging back into the sea of traffic. Each visitor or group is required to register through warblerwoods.org; many guests are repeat visitors. Registration information is also posted at the gate, so "drop-bys" can fill out the registration form on their phones and gain admittance. Susan reviews each registration request. "This is our home, so I like to get a feel for people before we let them in," she said. "Very rarely do we have a problem, and then it's usually someone trying to climb over our fence and come in, which we don't like." According to Don, a cadre of about 10 volunteers help wrangle the ongoing chores. The volunteers, working on a rotating basis, fill the feeders each morning and handle other tasks such as keeping the four golf carts, used by mobility challenged patrons, and the tractor running. One of the Schaezlers' most cherished accomplishments is hosting 13 Eagle Scout projects. "There is always something that needs tending to around here," Don said. "The to-do list seems to be never-ending."
WA R B L E R WO O D S B I R D S A N C T UA RY
Long-billed Thrasher enjoying a bath
Golden-fronted Woodpecker profile
Does anything eat juniper berries? This Mockingbird, the Texas State Bird, is about to prove why a diversity of habitat is important.
Eagle Scout project completion board
WWW.TEXAS-WILDLIFE.ORG
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WA R B L E R WO O D S B I R D S A N C T UA RY
Chestnut-sided Warbler enjoying a bath
Long Term Hunters Wanted! • Rancho Rio Grande - Del Rio, TX MLD 3, $15/ac, Hwy 277 Frontage, water & electric
– 6,000 ac, Axis, Duck & Quail
Live Water: Rio Grande River, Tesquesquite Creek and a canal.
• Harwood - Brackettville, TX MLD 3, North of Hwy 90, main camp area
– 9,170 ac , Whitetail, Some Exotics
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For instance, Winter Storm Uri wreaked havoc on the watering system, ruining four pumps and cracking PVC piping up and down the lines. Trails require clearing and repair. Volunteer help is not always enough, and labor costs and other ongoing expenses such as repairs, bird feed and even Porta-Potty rental can add up quickly. "Conservation comes with a cost," Don said. Despite the cost of managing Warbler Woods and keeping it operable, the Schaezlers don't charge an admission fee, which can add another layer of complexity to liability coverage. Instead, they keep a donation box next to the sign-in sheet in the kiosk. People give what they can. In its early years, birders embraced Warbler Woods enthusiastically even though it was an informal operation. Without being asked, they began to offer money and supplies. While the Schaezlers did not set out to create a 501(c)(3), it was a logical way to keep the unsolicited donations separate from their personal accounts. "I wanted to keep everything separate and straight," Susan said. "We don't do this [operate a 501(c)(3)] to make money, but the donations do help to underwrite our expenses." As housing developments and strip malls replace farms and ranches in northwestern Guadalupe County, Warbler Woods has become even more crucial. It's not only habitat for birds and other wild creatures such as white-tailed deer, opossums and armadillos, but a portal to nature for people of all ages. "To undertake an enterprise like this, you have to be willing to put in a lot of time and effort, but our reward is seeing people enjoy—and treasure—the land like we do," Susan said. "We have been entrusted with something special and it would be a sin not to share it." Don, who collects quotes from naturalists, concluded by referencing one of his favorites by Aldo Leopold, "'There are those who can live without wild things and some who cannot.' Susan and I are some who cannot—and we open our land so others can live with them, too."
OBSERVING & EVALUATING WHITETAILS by Dave Richards & Al Brothers
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I N A D M I R AT I O N O F B I R D D O G S
Tamara Trail, former TWA staffer, draws down on a covey rise in Shackelford County.
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IN ADMIRATION OF BIRD DOGS Article and photos by DALE ROLLINS, Ph.D.
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hether you grew up with Lassie, Rin-Tin-Tin, Ol’ Yeller, or Scooby Doo, I trust you have some fondness for a special canine in your life. Dogs have always been a big part of my life. And while my subject today is on pointing dogs and their exploits, I first pay my respects to Trey, a Dalmatian of my youth, Peppie, a black poodle of my adolescence, and a trio of Yorkies, Wolf, Josie, and Baxter that warmed my adult life for the past 25 years. Collectively, what were these mutts good for, you ask? They were good for me. IN AWE OF GOOD DOGS When it comes to bird dogs, I am a blessed man. No brag, just fact. My “Betters,” an intentional cross between English setter and Brittany spaniel, almost always put on a show. I rarely have to holler or use an e-collar to correct them— they are consummate professionals. They make me smile often. When a brace of them is "seining a hillside" in tandem for quail spoor, I cannot help but start singing Johnny Tillotson’s “Poetry in Motion.” Hence my exhortation to “always hunt with good dogs!” If your mind is wandering to a frosty morning with a good friend by your side, and a 28-gauge in the port position, we are indeed birds of the same feather. If you cannot relate, might as well save your time and skip over this article. INNATE POTENTIAL Sometimes I’m asked by my less experienced quail hunting comrades, “Did you train your dogs yourself?” I’m quick to point out that I’m not a dog trainer. My only two secrets for
success are to (1) give them plenty of opportunities afield to express their innate genetic potential, and (2) run them alongside an experienced dog, preferably their mother, during their formative years. This simple recipe has worked well for me for more than 30 years. “So how long does it take a dog to be as good as your dogs?” “About 100 coveys,” I quip. “And if you get them in a 30-day period, that’s all the better!” Over my career, I sometimes refer to my graduate students as bird dogs in training. They have potential but often lack opportunities to realize that indeed “practice makes... improvement!” Sometimes one has to be chided a bit or honed on discipline, but for the most part they make you look good. About all you need to do is sit back and smile. TRY THIS, USAIN! A good bird dog is an Olympic athlete. But their ability to locate a quail by olfaction is only one of their marvels. Their ability to run all out, and then whirl around, point on a dime, stand motionless, AND breathe through their nose is even more incredible. I challenge Usain Bolt to run 200 yards and breathe through his nose while standing perfectly still. Seems like a physiological impossibility to me. How can bird dogs throttle down their respiration in such short order and remain motionless until you arrive? Sometimes you’ll see your dog on point and it’s as if she’s in a hypnotic trance. In bird dog parlance she is “smoking the pipe.” I don’t know if it’s nirvana for the dog, but it is to the owner.
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I N A D M I R AT I O N O F B I R D D O G S
When a bird dog is “smoking the pipe,” she is almost trance-like in her point. Notice how there’s a bit of a grimace on her face, a characteristic of pipe-smoking. Here, Tracer illustrates the behavior.
DISCRIMINATING TASTES How do bird dogs discern between quail and dickie birds? A dog’s sense of smell is so acute it can distinguish among individual humans, with the exception of identical twins who supposedly cannot be distinguished. An inexperienced bird dog may point a meadowlark, sparrows, a mouse or other “trash” (from the perspective of a dog handler). An experienced dog can discriminate among various species that it encounters in the field and dismiss those that are not quail. Talk about a spam filter! Oddly, even an experienced dog may point a box turtle or a bobcat . . . or at least mine will. I’ve hunted Bobwhite, Scaled, Gambel’s and Montezuma Quail, and my dogs treat them all equally. For the most part, a quail is a quail. My dogs have proven especially effective on Montezuma Quail. I wonder if their diet of wild onion bulbs makes them more scent-able (think garlic-breath here)? Similarly, if I’m in Montana, my dogs treat the Sharp-tailed Grouse and Hungarian Partridges as if we were back in Texas hunting bobwhites.
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INDELIBLE POINTS I’d be remiss if I didn’t brag on some incredible points I’ve witnessed over the years—and both instances have credible witnesses. In 1997, I took three Bobwhite Brigaders on a hunt in Haskell County. We pointed 17 coveys that day, but it’s the final point of the day that stood out. As soon as I released Doc and Suzie, Doc took off lickety-split upwind in a birdy fashion. Some 400 yards later, she froze. We hurried to her and claimed the prize, a thundering covey rise. I told my nimrods they’d seen a bird dog point a covey farther than one could shoot a coyote with a .243 rifle. Fast-forward 18 years to 2005 (Oh, what a year!). My colleagues, Lloyd and Barrett, enjoyed an incredible day of hunting. We pointed covey number 50 at 5:00 p.m. As we headed back to the house, Tracer, Suzie’s great granddaughter who perhaps is blessed with the most gifted nose of any of my dogs—ever— cut across the road into the cool evening wind. She crossed a dry creek at 150 yards and kept moving laser-like another 250 yards, then locked up solid in a
I N A D M I R AT I O N O F B I R D D O G S
A minute later we heard the beeper “paging” us about 200 yards to the west. She had taken us on a beeline back to the covey of bobwhites. She did that at least two other times during her career. THOSE DOGS ARE HOOVERS! One of, if not my single most, memorable quail hunts took place in Borden County in 2005. My comrades that day included the ranch owner and Chuck Ribelin. Chuck was a “born again” quail hunter who was in his mid-70s at the time. He was in good shape and could walk me down anytime. It was a cloudy day with temperatures hovering around 40 degrees—perfect weather for pointing dogs. We enjoyed a mixed bag of bobs and blues in country that was easy to traverse yet adequate cover for the birds. Suzie, Doc and Lil’ Annie, my prototype “Better," put on a show pointing and retrieving. After one of the covey points late in the day, Chuck proclaimed, “those dogs are Hoovers (vacuum cleaners). They don’t miss a thing!” I savor that compliment often. Anyone who brags on my dogs cements their position as a good friend.
Dr. Dale Rollins and Doc take a break from a quail hunt in Coke County. The bond between a quail hunter and his dog(s) is an epoxy like no other.
tobosa flat. It took us five minutes to get to her, but the covey was under her nose. Now, a skeptic might argue that the quail were running the whole time and finally just tired for the point. I beg to differ; those birds were scented from well over 300 yards. Believe it, or not! TIMMY NEEDS HELP Remember when Lassie would have to rescue Timmy from some dilemma? She would run back to the house, put her forepaws on June Lockhart’s leg and begin barking. Then Lassie would proceed unfettered to lead a rescue party to Timmy. I have a bird dog equivalent thereof. In 1994, I only had two bird dogs: Suzie and her first born Doc. This was before GPS locator collars, and when beeper collars were just coming into vogue. Doc was wearing my only beeper. Suzie just had a “tinkerbell” on her collar. My buddy Steve and I were hunting in Coke County on a property thick with cedar trees that limited visibility. We lost track of Suzie for perhaps 10 minutes. I reckoned she was on point, but where? Back in those days I could yell “get in” and, if she could hear me, she would break off the point and return to me. I yelled, and she did. When she made it back, she immediately put her front paws on my leg Lassie-style. When I said “OK,” she took off licketysplit, but this time with Doc and her beeper collar in tow.
There’s something about dogs and kids, particularly when the dogs and the kids get to go quail hunting together. Li’l Annie enjoys the bond she shares with these young hunters.
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I N A D M I R AT I O N O F B I R D D O G S
WANTED: MORE FEMALE QUAIL HUNTERS I’m not a professional guide, but I’ve taken a lot of folks quail hunting over the years. For many, it was their inaugural hunt for wild quail. I especially enjoy taking women afield in orange vests. Why? Odds are none of them will limit out. When you take a group of women quail- hunting, you discover your day is NOT driven by testosterone. The ladies enjoy every aspect of the day, not just the covey rise. You’ll find yourself discussing various plants, bobwhite feathers, and many other topics that will be overlooked by the good ol’ boys. And they love your dogs, a fact not overlooked by the dogs’ owner.
Once, twice, three times a lady. Suzie, Doc and former TWA staffer Tamara Trail pose after a successful hunt.
A QUAIL’S BEST FRIEND? I often tout that “a rancher with bird dogs is a quail’s best friend.” My rationale? Show me a bird-hunting rancher and I’ll argue his vocation and his avocation are intricately intertwined. If he’s contemplating a change in stocking rate or brush control plans, odds are he’s conscious of what the impacts, positive or negative, will be on the quail that reside there. I wish more ranchers had bird dogs so we could exploit (educationally speaking) this bond. I propose we’d have more quail-habitable landscapes if that was the case. Perhaps we quail hunters should initiate an “adopt-a-rancher” program!
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Photo by Kenny Braun for The Nature Conservancy The Refugio-Goliad Prairie spans 500,000 acres along the Gulf Coast between Houston and Corpus Christi. It is one of the largest and highest-quality expanses of coastal tallgrass prairie remaining in Texas.
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W E L C O M I N G H A B I TAT
WELCOMING HABITAT A Family with a Passion for Stewardship has Made a Home for a Passionate, Showy, Endangered Species. Article by ELLEN H. BRISENDINE Photos courtesy of THE NATURE CONSERVANCY
S
ometimes, the scientific name of a species includes a bit of humor in the descriptive Latin. Consider Tympanicus cupido atwateri, commonly known as the Attwater’s Prairie-Chicken, an endangered member of the Gulf Coast Prairies and Marshes wildlife community. This Latin name concisely describes the bird as a creature that “holds a drum” and advertises “passionate desire” to the females of his species. Thanks to the willingness of Morgan O’Connor and her extended family to work with government agencies and conservation non-profits, this endangered species has habitat on which to live and continue showing off in the spring, multiplying in the wild. As a result of the family’s commitment to protecting wildlife species and the habitat that supports them, the Dunn O’Connor River Ranch, Goliad County, was recognized as the 2021 Lone Star Land Steward Award winner for the Gulf Prairies and Marshes Ecoregion. In the early 2000s, Marie Sorenson, the mother of three daughters—Morgan O’Connor, Bridey Greeson and the late Kelly Schaar—began working with natural resources management professional Clifford Carter, Victoria, Texas, on a project to provide habitat for the Attwater’s Prairie-Chicken. The project began with the Coastal Prairie Conservation Initiative, and grew to include U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, TPWD, and The Nature Conservancy. At that time, an idea was being floated to private landowners to partner with the agencies and non-profit conservation
community to provide habitat for endangered species. In return, the landowners could have access to technical assistance and cost-share dollars for land management procedures. “My mother started that project in 2007,” O’Connor remembers. “We knew we had habitat that was conducive to trying to reintroduce the prairie-chickens to the wild. She signed the agreement with The Nature Conservancy [which built the release pens on the ranch that first year] and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.” The project continued with O’Connor and her sisters after Sorenson’s passing. “My family is very committed to trying to do what we can to preserve habitat for the wildlife. It has been a labor of love, and the results have been pretty amazing,” she says. LESS BRUSH, MUCH MORE TALLGRASS At one point, the Attwater’s PrairieChicken population was less than 50 birds. Today, on the Dunn O’Connor River Ranch the population of released birds—identified with leg bands—and their offspring is in the hundreds. The birds need tallgrass coastal prairies with open or short-grass spaces for leks, areas in which males can stomp and “boom” by expanding the drum-like membranes along their necks to declare their passionate desire for females. The females need tallgrass for nests. Brush encroachment, particularly huisache, onto the Coastal Plain had a negative impact on the prairie-chicken habitat, and it didn’t provide much benefit for the cattle, either.
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Photo courtesy of The Nature Conservancy
W E L C O M I N G H A B I TAT
Photo by Kenny Braun for The Nature Conservancy
Just like their cousins to the north, male Attwater’s Prairie-Chickens put on a show every spring.
Preparing food for Attwater's Prairie-Chickens on Refugio-Goliad Prairie which spans 500,000 acres along the Gulf Coast between Houston and Corpus Christi.
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Carter says, “The main predators of prairie-chickens are hawks and owls. Brush on the prairie gives these predators perches to enable them to better see prairie-chickens in the grass.” Carter and Steven Schaar, who was managing the ranch at the time they started the project, began to develop a brush management plan. “The ranch was in remarkably good condition when we started,” Carter says, crediting Schaar’s application of the management techniques he learned from the TCU Ranch Management program. A rotational grazing program and adequate fences were great tools to manage the forage for cattle. With additional brush control, such as aerial spraying and prescribed burns, the ranch continued to improve for wildlife. Carter says their initial target for canopy cover was 5%, “but that's pretty impossible to get, so we settled on working toward 15% canopy cover. We got it down a little below that, maybe 10% and then we released the first prairie-chickens on the ranch.” Kirk Feuerbacher joined the project when he became the Coastal Prairies project director for The Nature Conservancy, based in Victoria, Texas.
W E L C O M I N G H A B I TAT
PARTNERING WITH THE GOVERNMENT? At the time Sorenson volunteered the ranch as a release site, the concept of a private landowner volunteering to work with an endangered species, a conservation group and the federal government was a tough sell. Fortunately, Carter was a trusted advisor and had agreed to serve as a liaison among all parties. O’Connor says, “When I was growing up, partnerships with government agencies were frowned upon. I mean, they weren't just frowned upon. You just didn't do that. It was, ‘You are letting the government into your business, and no good can come from that.’” As more family members became involved in ranch management, they became better acquainted with the representatives from the agencies and chose to partner with U.S. Fish and Wildlife, The Nature Conservancy, TPWD, and then local agencies that are offshoots of those. “We have found that these partnerships are really great,” she says. “Everybody is respectful of one another and there are no surprises.” Reasonable agreements are crafted for both partners. These agreements clearly document what management practices are expected. “Sometimes they'll want us to do a certain practice, such as a controlled burn. It could be that it's a year that's not good for controlled burns. It's too dry or whatever. We have no problem going to the agency and saying, ‘We don't think we can do that this year,’ and they're fine with that.”
Photo by Kenny Braun for The Nature Conservancy
During the course of this project, Carter, Feuerbacher, and the family developed an efficient and cost-effective aerial spraying program to keep huisache and brush under control, benefitting the prairie-chicken and the cattle. As part of the Coastal Prairie Conservation Initiative habitat restoration project, and with the support of eight area ranching families including the O’Connor families, “We developed some pretty good strategies for controlling huisache using a three-way herbicide mix,” and a custom aerial spray pattern, Carter says. Daniel's Flying Service, in Tivoli, Texas, provided the aerial support while the landowners and resource managers experimented with alternating applications of Grazon Next®, Tordon® and MSM 60®. Herbicides are applied in a “skipped” pattern—spray one swath, skip two swaths, repeat. Ground-based surveys allowed them to count actual killed trees to determine the effectiveness of the herbicide rotation and the pattern of application. “The first year it cost us $22 per acre. The next year we sprayed one swath and skipped one. Then we decided we would spray one and skip two, which cost about $10 an acre.” The herbicide drifts onto the unsprayed areas, providing a bit more control. Carter says, “This has worked really well on the huisache. We can spray the whole area every three years for a total of about $32 per acre over the three-year period.”
Attwater's Prairie-Chicken release on Refugio-Goliad Prairie. Partnerships with private landowners in the Texas coastal plains are helping to stave off extinction of the Attwater's Prairie-Chicken.
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Photo by Kenny Braun for The Nature Conservancy
W E L C O M I N G H A B I TAT
A pond covered in lily pads on the Refugio-Goliad Prairie. The Refugio-Goliad Prairie spans 500,000 acres along the Gulf Coast between Houston and Corpus Christi. Alternating wet and dry years provides diversity in plant species.
Research is being accomplished and information is shared among all the parties, O’Connor says. “They're getting research done that benefits their mission, and we're getting information from them which benefits our mission, which is maintaining the habitat for the wildlife and for the cattle,” she continued. MARSH? PRAIRIE? DEPENDS ON RAINFALL The Coastal Prairie and Marshes ecoregion is a challenging area to manage, Feuerbacher says. With documented rainfall ranging from 20 inches to 50 inches per year, annual average rainfall doesn’t necessarily mean consistent annual rainfall. Add in hurricanes and drought, ensuring land managers operate in demanding conditions. Feuerbacher explains, “In a wet year, the Coastal Prairie will exhibit 60% wetland habitat. Then in the dry years you've got prairie habitat. This is good for the native endemic species, and it’s good for the different migratory species. There is a little bit less consistency from one year to the next, but over a long term, it really allows a rich species diversity.” The Attwater’s Prairie-Chicken “seem to have a better hatch when there are less inundating rainfalls in April and May,” Feuerbacher says. The annual cycle for the prairie-chickens fits nicely into the fall-calving beef herd’s annual needs, Feuerbacher says. The Attwater’s Prairie-Chicken males begin establishing dominance in the early winter, December and January, and then in late winter, February and March, “they're doing a lot of booming.
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The hens will start laying eggs in March. The incubation is about 25 days, and they usually lay about 13 eggs. The peak hatch is right around the fifth of May,” he says. “The birds occasionally will have cattle on their booming ground and in the nesting areas, but only for about two weeks,” which does not disrupt the life cycle of the birds, Feuerbacher says. Chicks that are to be introduced to the ranch are hatched and grown to about three months of age at bird-rearing sites such as the Fossil Rim facility near Fort Worth, and the Houston Zoo. “They bring the chicks out in the summer,” to be released on the ranch, O’Connor says. The released chicks come with leg bands that “identify where they came from and what year we put them out. Also, the females have small radio transmitters around their necks so we can monitor their locations.” The great news, O’Connor says, is, “We are finding prairie-chickens that were born in the wild.” All the prairie-chickens, either released or born on the ranch, are pressured by red imported fire ants. Feuerbacher says researchers have discovered the ants eat the small insects that are preferred by the prairie-chickens. “That was a great discovery,” he says. Fire-ant treatments have improved prairie-chicken survival, making this another regular habitat management practice. SHARING THE SUCCESS O’Connor enjoys taking guests out on the ranch to see the prairie-chickens, especially when the males are booming.
Photo by Kenny Braun for The Nature Conservancy
W E L C O M I N G H A B I TAT
While the males put on their annual show, it’s the hens that make the restoration go. Hens will lay clutches with as many as 13 eggs.
“It's really fascinating to see them doing their dance. They have these glands on their necks that are orange, and they puff those out. And the feathers on their head and on their tail stand up, and they pound their little feet on the ground. And sometimes they go around in circles. It's pretty amazing to watch them,” she says. “We think it's wonderful that we have the prairie habitat that we hope can sustain these prairie-chickens in the wild,” O’Connor continued, saying her parents, grandparents and even earlier generations passed on the conservation ethic by which the family lives. “We always knew in our family what the priorities were: God, family, and the land. I joke, sometimes I wondered if it wasn't: God, the land, and the family. Everybody who taught my generation, and as we are teaching the next generation, emphasized how important it is to be good stewards of the land, to do everything we can to preserve the land and the habitat. We want to make it productive, not just for the cattle, but for the wildlife. We found if you manage for the wildlife, it's good for the cattle. Those things are not mutually exclusive.” Thanks to their love of the land, the family members behind the Dunn O’Connor River Ranch are ensuring this endangered, delightful and showy species has the space to continue filling its place in the diverse wildlife community of the Gulf Coast Prairies and Marshes ecoregion.
YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
For more information on becoming a member of the Texas Wildlife Association, please visit www.texas-wildlife.org/membership
Photo by Russell Graves
As members of the Texas Wildlife Association, we are asking our neighbors who are fellow conservationists, ranchers, and hunters to join our vital efforts. Your membership will help promote Texas’ hunting traditions and develop opportunities for new generations to know the pleasures of Texas outdoors. By joining, you will strengthen our work with legislators, educators and wildlife biologists to protect private lands and the many species of wildlife they support. The future of our wildlife populations depends on you.
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Romancing The Stone Article and photo by SALLIE LEWIS
Odd shaped stones or a glimpse into Texas history? A lifetime of paying attention after a spring thunderstorm reveals many wonders, from Native American points that didn’t quite work out to exquisite points that show the crafter’s pride.
M
y home near Fredericksburg sits on a hilltop overlooking a wide swath of farm fields and rolling pastures. The crescent-shaped porch is a personal sanctuary and my favorite place to watch a thunderstorm roll in on a warm afternoon. Of the spring season’s many gifts, I’m hard-pressed to think of any more comforting than its long, soaking rains. Something about their soothing sounds and earthy smells summons a meditative state for me. As it turns out, these heavy downpours also usher in one of my favorite outdoor activities: arrowhead hunting. Every spring, the chance of finding these prehistoric stones grows considerably as
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the ground softens and runoff washes away layers of topsoil. Over the years, my family has been lucky to find many Native American artifacts on our property, from projectile points to flint scrapers. Today, these assorted tools line the ledges of our porch. Inside, some of the more precious finds rest in a wooden tray by the dining room table. As years go by, it always strikes me how often that friends and family passing through stop to marvel at our collection, transfixed by the living history we’ve exhumed from the dirt. Similarly, on visits to different ranches, I’ve felt a shared sense of awe when viewing their priceless displays. Texans, I believe, appreciate the weight of these stories along with the
lifetime of luck and dedication it takes to compile them. For many, myself included, finding an arrowhead feels like a rite of passage. I’ll never forget my first discovery on the banks of Threadgill Creek near Doss, where my grandmother had a property when I was growing up. One afternoon while playing outside, I was picking up sticks and flowers when I noticed a small, chiseled stone in the ground. In my childish naiveté, I remember thinking that it looked like a cartoon with its pointed head and pronounced limbs. Luckily, something compelled me to slip it into my pocket before I marched back to the house with treasure in tow. Of course, after showing it to my family, I quickly learned that what I’d found was not only an unusually shaped stone, but a rare relic worth celebrating. Even still, every glance at this arrowhead from my youth reminds me of nature’s endless wonder. Each time I take it from the bookshelf it calls home, I find myself lost in thought as I ponder the extent of its existence, the hands that shaped it, and our collective connection to hunters throughout history. Most importantly, I have found that searching for arrowheads connects us to wild places and to the larger tapestry of time. Hidden for thousands of years beneath layers of dirt, crossing a perfectly shaped point is a gift that feels more cosmic than coincidental. However, just as in hunting and fishing, I’ve learned that the trophy is only a small part of the reward. Ultimately, it is the days spent foraging outdoors and learning to pay attention that make this timehonored treasure hunt so gratifying in the end.
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Built for
the Texas Sportsman
Back-to-Back Winners of MotorTrend Truck of the Year 2019 Ram 1500, 2020 Ram Heavy Duty, 2021 1500 TRX
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