AUSTIN – Record high temperatures in the upper 80s and 90s from Amarillo to Austin left ardent bowhunters sweltering in their deer stands throughout October; a trend weather models project could come to a welcome end heading into Saturday’s general rifle season opening day.
AUSTIN – Quail live on the edge. In lean years when weather and habitat conditions conspire against them, the birds hunker down and then when things are right their numbers explode. Experts refer to this in simple terms, “boom or bust.”
AUSTIN – The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department announced the 14 lucky winners of this year’s Big Time Texas Hunts selected at random from entries in the drawing.
AUSTIN – At North Toledo Bend Wildlife Management Area, giant salvinia covers about half of the WMA’s 500-acre wetland impoundment, blocking boat access for duck hunters and keeping migrating waterfowl from food and habitat. The problem would be worse without steady work to fight back the invasive floating fern, efforts that got a boost this year by recording funding from the Texas Legislature.
AUSTIN— Bees, butterflies and bugs are some of the important pollinators that help generate spectacular wildflower displays, produce delicious crops and sustain native plants. They can’t do their part without the plants and the Texas Pollinator BioBlitz is helping bring attention to the critical habitat needs of pollinators across the state during the height of the annual fall Monarch migration.
AUSTIN – Texas deer hunting’s silent season, limited to archery equipment only, opens statewide Saturday and all indicators point to excellent prospects, according to wildlife biologists with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD).
AUSTIN – Hunters hoping to score big this fall in the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Drawn Hunts for deer categories have until midnight Tuesday, Sept. 20, to apply.
AUSTIN – The first of September in Texas sounds a lot like the fourth of July with the steady “pop, pop, pop” of shotgun reports as upwards of a quarter million dove hunters take to the fields across the state for the tradition-rich opening day of the season.
AUSTIN — A proposal going out for public comment through Oct. 28 would allow Texas private landowners to voluntarily enter into agreements to benefit the endangered Houston toad, and in return receive assurances that they will not be held liable for incidental take (accidentally harming or killing an endangered species).
This month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service awarded $32,719 to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for work to monitor and manage white-nose syndrome (WNS), a deadly disease that has decimated bat populations in other states. Bat Conservation International, a nonprofit based in Austin, will do much of the work using the grant funds.