AUSTIN, Texas — For the first year in “non-core” counties outside historical alligator habitat in southeast Texas, a spring alligator hunting season will run April 1-June 30. The new regulation comes as people continue to move into alligator habitat across Texas, and state biologists try to provide more hunting opportunity and another means to proactively manage conflicts between people and alligators.
The following are excerpts from recent Texas Parks and Wildlife Department law enforcement reports.
AUSTIN, Texas – Funeral services for Texas Game Warden Justin Hurst have been set for Wednesday, March 21 at 11 a.m. at the First Methodist Church in El Campo. Hurst, 34, was killed in the line of duty on Saturday, March 17.
AUSTIN, Texas — A ram Stephanie Altimus harvested in the Beach Mountains in early January should stand as the new Texas state record desert bighorn sheep. The record sheep scored 184 points under the Boone and Crockett scoring system following the required 60-day required drying period for scoring purposes.
DALLAS, Texas — Seeing a coyote in the countryside is a part of nature, but when you spot one in your backyard, that’s a different story. As urban areas continue to expand and develop the rangeland that was once coyote habitat, sightings of the wild canine continue to grow, and so do the problems.
AUSTIN, Texas — Problems with exotic, invasive plants and animals—species that did not evolve in Texas and don’t belong here—continue to worsen statewide. One escalating issue involves feral hogs, which have been a problem for decades on rural ranch land, but in recent years have begun to cause damage in cities.
HOUSTON — Because the future of Texas’ wildlife and habitat conservation ultimately resides in the choices of private land-owning citizens, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Texas Cooperative Extension and the Gulf Coast and Heartwood chapters of the Texas Master Naturalists are sponsoring the “Managing Your Land for Wildlife Workshop,” Saturday, March 24 in Houston.
AUSTIN, Texas — Millions of monarch butterflies have begun their annual spring migration north into Texas, and entomologists say it’s mostly good news this year. All the monarchs in North America east of the Rocky Mountains winter in one mountainous region of central Mexico, where monarch numbers dropped alarmingly due to a severe snow storm in 2004. Scientists say monarch numbers in this region now appear to have bounced back to approximately 300 million butterflies.
DECATUR, Texas — Wise County District Attorney Jana A. Jones announced Tues. the arrest of six men suspected of stealing military night vision equipment and using it to illegally hunt.
AUSTIN, Texas — About 90 green sea turtles that washed up on South Texas beaches stunned by cold weather in January were transported Feb. 20-21 by truck from fish hatchery and aquarium facilities in Corpus Christi to the Port Isabel area and released back into the wild in the Lower Laguna Madre.