Category: News

At one time prairie chicken hunting was all the range in the Texas Panhandle, but the Lesser prairie chicken population has declined dramatically over the past 50 years. Prairie chickens numbers are low, but how low is what biologist hope to find. This spring, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) will collaborate with state fish and wildlife agencies from New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado, West Ecosystems, Inc., and Texas Tech University to conduct a large-scale aerial survey for lesser prairie-chicken booming grounds across the High Plains region in all five states.

Information from these prairie chicken surveys will be used by TPWD and the other state agencies to help conserve the bird and it’s habitat in partnership with landowners and private industries, including oil and gas, wind energy, and electric utilities.

“These surveys represent a unique effort by state fish and wildlife agencies across the region to work together to monitor bird population trends over time and to effectively manage for this species,” said Lubbock-based TPWD wildlife diversity biologist Sean Kyle. “This information, combined with other ongoing conservation efforts, could help avoid the need to list the lesser prairie-chicken as federally endangered in the Texas Panhandle or elsewhere. The prairie chicken surveys will provide more data to inform the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision about whether to list the species.”

Surveys will begin about March 24 and will continue through mid-May, with biologists hunting for chickens from the sky. Agency staff from the five states have randomly selected about 200 eighty-five square-mile blocks located in and around the estimated range of the species. These blocks cover an area ranging from the southern plains of the Texas Panhandle and southeast New Mexico up to northern Kansas and Colorado.

Surveys will be flown at 35-40 mph about 80 feet above ground. Pilots will fly two to sixteen north-south oriented transects across selected blocks. Towns, feedlots, and houses will be avoided. Pilots involved have extensive experience conducting aerial surveys for deer and other wildlife as well as gathering livestock with helicopters. They will make special effort to avoid hazing pronghorn, mule deer, whitetail and livestock on pastures as well.

Prairie chicken numbers may have declined markedly from decades ago, but hopefully the survey data can be used to identify where the birds remain. Habitat loss is cited as the number one reason chickens have declined. The same can be said of bobwhite quail in many parts of Texas. Will prairie chicken hunting ever occur again? Only time will tell.

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Two families of Whooping Cranes, who have set up home base at Granger Lake, Granger Wildlife Management Area and the surrounding agricultural area are creating a lot of buzz within the bird watching community found in Texas Two months ago, reports started coming in to Granger Lake Manager, James Chambers, that a family of three whooping cranes had been spotted nearby. Shortly after, reports of another family came in.

“We have two different distinct crane groups, both with a male and female adult and a juvenile,” said Chambers. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has a particular interest in the birds because they usually migrate from northwestern Canada, heading the 2,500 miles to Aransas National Wildlife Rescue.

The whooping cranes are not only eating the fresh water clams along the shoreline of Granger Lake but they’re eating insects and even grains left behind in the cornfields in Granger. The birds are causing quite a stir for curious bird lovers across the state. The Williamson Audubon Society was spotted checking out birds Wednesday, saying the area has always been a great place to bird watch, but now that Whooping Cranes are in the area, the excitement has grown.

Ducks and goose hunter should be careful while in field and hunting around Granger Lake. The whooping cranes at Granger Lake are creating a lot of buzz, so it will be interesting to see how it call plays out!

There has been a lot of chatter about the potential permitting status change of scimitar-horned oryx, addax and dama gazelle under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). This change would drastically change the hunting of these species in Texas and other states. Well, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced a final rule to eliminate a regulation that authorized certain otherwise prohibited activities under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) with U.S. captive-bred animals and sport-hunted trophies of three endangered African antelope species.

The regulation being eliminated had excluded these three species from permitting requirements as long as certain conditions were met. These species must now be permitted. The removal of this exclusion requires anyone in the United States who possesses any of these three antelope species to obtain authorization from the USFWS if they wish to carry out otherwise prohibited activities, including interstate or foreign commerce, import, export (including re-export), culling or other forms of take.

The USFWS currently approves such activities for similar ESA-listed captive-bred species on ranches and in zoos under the same authorization process. If a captive-breeding facility, such as a zoo or ranch, is legally carrying out activities that were previously authorized under the exclusion, they should be able to continue those activities with the proper permit or other authorization.

In 2005, the USFWS added these three antelope species with native ranges in Africa to the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. The species all inhabit the sparse desert regions of Northern Africa. The dama gazelle and addax are considered critically endangered, while free-ranging populations of the scimitar-horned oryx may no longer exist in the wild. However, these species, particularly the scimitar-horned oryx, breed well in captivity. There are thought to be thousands of these animals in zoos, on game ranches, and in other such facilities in the United States and elsewhere.

Captive breeding in the United States has contributed to the survival of the scimitar-horned oryx, addax and dama gazelle worldwide by rescuing these species from near extinction and providing the founder stock necessary for reintroduction. However, many U.S. game ranches offer limited hunting of these species on their lands to manage the size of their populations and remove surplus males.

In general, the ESA prohibits the import or export of any listed species, or its parts or products, as well as sale in interstate or foreign commerce, without prior authorization from the Service. However, in an effort to support captive breeding of these critically endangered species and maintain genetically viable populations, the Service granted an exclusion at the time these species were listed that allowed owners of these animals to continue carrying out breeding and other activities, including interstate commerce and hunting for herd management, without obtaining an individual permit.

The exclusion was challenged in Federal District Court by Friends of Animals and other groups. In 2009, the court remanded the regulation back to the USFWS, directing the agency to provide opportunities for the public to review and comment when authorizing otherwise prohibited activities — interstate or foreign commerce, import or re-import, export or re-export, or take (other than normal husbandry, breeding, and non-injurious veterinary procedures) — with these listed species, consistent with the ESA.

The Service considered whether there were alternative means to meet the Court’s ruling without requiring ranches or other facilities to obtain a permit or other authorization. However, the USFWS was unable to identify a viable alternative from either internal discussions or its review of public comments.

Consequently, the USFWS is announcing a final rule eliminating the exclusion of the three endangered African antelope species from certain prohibitions under the ESA. The final rule requires individuals to obtain an endangered species authorization under the currently established ESA regulations by applying for a permit or captive-bred wildlife registration to conduct any prohibited activities.

The final rule will become effective 90 days after its publication in the Federal Register on April 4, 2012. The hunting of scimitar-horned oryx, addax and dama gazelle can still continue, but the permitting process will create additional hassle and cost. I suspect many ranches will completely eliminate these species from their property before these regulations take affect.

Desert bighorn sheep once roamed all of the “sky islands” found in the Trans-Pecos region of Texas, but most were eliminated over 50 years ago by unregulated bighorn sheep hunting and disease introduction. Enter re-stocking efforts, increased regulations and conservation-minded landowners and bighorn sheep numbers have been going up and up over the past few decades; the bighorn sheep population has reached record highs! Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) is responsible for making this happen. And although the bighorn program has been a success, it’s far from over.

In the largest desert bighorn sheep relocation operation in Texas history, a total of 95 desert bighorn sheep have been trapped this month in the mountains north of Van Horn and released about 190 miles away on Big Bend Ranch State Park. Of those captured, 76 were ewes and were 19 rams. The sheep were captured by helicopter on several private ranches and one of the state’s Wildlife Management Areas (WMA) located in the Beach, Sierra Diablo and Baylor mountain ranges of Culberson County. The animals were transported by trailer to the 300,000-acre state park in Presidio County.

The bighorn sheep restoration operation began December 12 at the civic center in Van Horn with a briefing for the 60 TPWD personnel and volunteers with the Texas Bighorn Society and Sul Ross University and continued through December 17. The sheep were released about 20 miles west of Lajitas, near Panther Canyon.

Last year, 46 bighorns (12 rams and 34 ewes) were captured by helicopter at Elephant Mountain WMA and moved to Big Bend Ranch State Park on December 21 and 22. Of those sheep, the first to be introduced to the state park, more than 30 are known to be alive today. “If most sheep survive, we may now have close to a sustainable population on the state park,” said Alpine-based Billy Tarrant, TPWD Wildlife Division district leader.

The restoration of bighorn sheep in Texas has been a conservation success story. “Back in the 1800s, we believe the Trans-Pecos supported around 3,000 bighorn sheep,” says Froylan Hernandez, TPWD’s bighorn sheep program leader. “But by the 1960s, unregulated bighorn sheep hunting and disease introduced through domestic sheep had made the bighorn extinct in Texas.” The last indigenous bighorn was sighted in the Sierra Diablo Mountains in October 1958, he said.

“Today, thanks to bighorn sheep restocking efforts that began more than 50 years ago, we estimate the Texas bighorn herd has increased to half its historic size and half its historic range.” TPWD’s goal is to get the Texas herd back to approximately 3,000, with colonies in most of the 16 mountain ranges with unoccupied critical habitat that sheep once inhabited. Bighorns can now be found in eight of those ranges, Hernandez said.

According to Hernandez, the removal of surplus sheep from the Baylor, Beach and Sierra Diablo Mountains will benefit the remaining herd in those three ranges, estimated at 800 animals, by reducing browsing pressure. In addition to supplementing the existing bighorn population in Big Bend Ranch State Park, the development of a robust herd in other areas also will allow future restocking efforts.

During the just-completed operation, TPWD used a private helicopter service to capture the sheep. When the pilot spotted a desirable sheep, a crew member used a gun that fired weighted nets to entangle the animal. Two “muggers” then jumped out of the low-hovering helicopter to blindfold and hobble the sheep, which was then placed a sling.

Once that was done, the helicopter took the sheep to a staging area where ground crews carried the animal to a check-in station where veterinarians took biological samples and wildlife biologists fitted some of the sheep with radio tracking collars. Then they were carefully loaded into trailers for the trip to Big Bend Ranch.

“Bighorn sheep are a flagship species,” Hernandez said. “Managing them well benefits all other species which share their habitat.” Texas only offers very limited bighorn sheep hunting, but thanks to funds collected from the sale of hunting licenses, it looks like Texas will have many more sheep on public hunting lands and private lands in the future.

Though there are some free ranging elk in Texas, thousands more are maintained behind high fences by breeders and private land owners. These captive herds are either purely recreational or part of a commercial deer and elk hunting operation. Elk had been treated as livestock, but new disease testing requirements are about to take effect. Elk producers wishing to sell or move elk must enroll in the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) herd monitoring program or have elk tested.

After January 1, 2012, however, elk will only be allowed to move after all CWD surveillance requirements have been met. Surveillance requirements can be met by enrolling in the CWD status program, testing all mortalities and achieving “status,” OR by having a valid “not detected” CWD test on file prior to movement. The number of valid CWD tests required are based on the number of elk being moved and whether they are captive or free ranging.

The TAHC implemented new elk herd requirements on January 1, 2010, to ensure a stronger surveillance system for CWD in elk, which also can affect white-tailed deer. “The program is intended to help protect the exotic and native wildlife and the cervid industry of Texas from the possible introduction of CWD, by developing an effective surveillance system”, Dr. Dee Ellis, TAHC State Veterinarian, said.” “Enrollment and ultimately achieving status will allow producers to move elk without requiring additional mortality testing,” Dr. Ellis added. “I strongly encourage all elk producers to sign up today.”

CWD is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy known to affect elk, moose, white-tailed deer, black-tailed deer and mule deer. It is a fatal, degenerative brain wasting deer disease. The typical clinical signs of CWD are emaciation, behavioral changes and excessive salivation. CWD is not known to affect people, and has not been detected in Texas to date. Since it was first detected in Colorado in 1967 however, it has subsequently been diagnosed in 17 other states and continues to threaten the cervid industry in other parts of the US.

The TAHC enforces interstate movement requirements for elk and other cervids entering Texas. Out of state animals must originate from a herd which has participated for at least five years in a state-approved CWD herd certification program, and with no clinical signs of CWD in the herd. In today’s environment, the mobility and transportation of agricultural animals throughout the state and country has greatly increased the potential exposure to diseases.

“Adequate and timely surveillance CWD testing is critical to detect a newly introduced or emerging disease as quickly as possible, so that it can be eliminated before potential spread to other animals”, explained Dr. Terry Hensley, Assistant State Veterinarian.

CWD has not been detected in captive or free-ranging deer or elk in Texas, but elk producers must continue to be mindful of the disease, and take necessary precautions to ensure the safety of exotic livestock. “Maintaining surveillance for CWD in elk in Texas is critical for effective animal disease response,” Dr. Hensley added.

By keeping appropriate records and sufficient sampling of animals as required by the program, a herd can achieve a recognized “herd status” for CWD. Under the TAHC’s elk enrollment program, elk would be test- eligible at 16 months of age or older, and tests conducted in a herd would be valid for one year.

In order to be eligible for moving elk, participation in the program is mandatory. The movement of elk around the state could impact non-complying breeders as well and elk hunting operations that depend on bringing animals in from time to time. Elk owners can enroll their herds in the CWD monitoring program today by contacting their local TAHC regional office.

It’s about that time of the year when Sandhill Cranes start making their way towards Texas. Some will hang-up in the Texas Panhandle while others will head straight for the coastal prairies located just off the Gulf of Mexico. And much of the state does have a Sandhill Crane Hunting Season. In fact, there have been three hunting zones in Texas for as long as I can remember, and here are the season dates for the 2011-12 hunting season:

Sandhill Crane Hunting Zone A: Nov. 5, 2011 — Feb. 5, 2012, daily bag limit is three and possession limit is six birds.

Sandhill Crane Hunting Zone B: Nov. 25, 2011 — Feb. 5, 2012, daily bag limit is three and possession limit is six cranes.

Sandhill Crane Hunting Zone C: Dec. 24, 2011 — Jan. 29, 2012, daily bag limit is two and possession limit is four sandhill cranes.

Sandhill Crane Hunting Zone C Closed Area Description: Everything to the Gulf of Mexico from a line beginning at the Kleberg-Nueces county line and the Gulf of Mexico, west along the county line to Park Road 22, to State Hwy. 358, to State Hwy. 286, north to IH 37, east to U.S. Hwy. 181, north and west to U.S. Hwy. 77 at Sinton, north and east along U.S. Hwy. 77 to U.S. Hwy. 87 at Victoria, east and south along U.S. Hwy. 87 to State Hwy. 35, north and east along State Hwy. 35 to the south end of Lavaca Bay Causeway, south and east along the shore of Lavaca Bay to the Port Lavaca Ship Channel, south and east along the Ship Channel to the Gulf of Mexico.

Sandhill Cranes are actually a challenging bird to hunt. In fact, most hunters think of them as big, slow birds, which can cause some shooting problems in the field. John Sheckly, Sandhill Crane hunting guide said, “Because of the bird’s body length and huge wingspan many hunters think the cranes are flying closer and slower than they actually are. As a result, many will shoot behind the sandhills or way too early. There is definitely a learning curve for first-time Sandhill Crane hunters.”

State doesn’t misuse funds from license sales to hunters, anglers

By SHANNON TOMPKINS
Copyright 2011 Houston Chronicle

Aug. 14, 2011, 8:03PM

Texas hunters and anglers begin a pair of annual rituals Monday ­­- purchasing new hunting/fishing licenses and grumbling about how the state “steals” part of that license revenue.

There’s no way around the first part of the ritual; all current Texas hunting licenses and most fishing licenses expire Aug. 31, and new 2011-12 licenses, which become available for purchase Monday, are required on Sept. 1.

But that second ritual is a bit of misguided, or at least misdirected, animosity arising from the license-buying public’s understandable misunderstanding of the Byzantine budget maneuvers the Texas Legislature uses to produce its constitutionally mandated balanced budget.

The common belief is that part of the approximately $90 million Texas hunters and anglers pay annually for the more than 2 million licenses is siphoned out of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department coffers and used to finance unrelated state programs. This is a persistent myth.

Not a cent of fishing or hunting license fees goes into the state’s General Revenue Fund or other accounts used to pay for non-outdoors-related state programs or services. All of it goes directly into the Game, Fish and Water Safety Fund — officially, Fund 9 – which, by law, can be used only to fund TPWD programs.

But that’s not to say Texas’ hunters and anglers, its wildlife and fisheries resources and the agency charged with managing them aren’t shortchanged when it comes to how license revenue is spent – or, more correctly, not spent.

Stagnant money

Every year, tens of millions of dollars in hunting and fishing license fees are left sitting in the state account used to fund Texas wildlife, fisheries and boating programs. Those millions of dollars in Fund 9 account balances – $31 million at the end of this month, jumping to an estimated $48 million this time next year and as much as $64 million by Aug. 31, 2013 – are there because the Legislature holds those millions hostage in the scheme used to produce, on paper at least, the balanced budget that it is required to fashion.

Here’s how it works: Thanks to far-sighted federal lawmakers, state hunting and fishing license money is protected from being spent for anything other than funding wildlife, fisheries and boating programs.

Two federal programs – Sport Fish Restoration and Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration, more commonly called, Dingell-Johnson/Wallop-Breaux Acts and Pittman-Robertson Act for their congressional sponsors – collect federal excise taxes on equipment used for hunting, shooting, fishing and other outdoor recreation.

Those federal excise taxes are distributed to the states to help fund state-run wildlife and fisheries programs and research projects. Texas gets about $40 million a year from these federal fisheries and wildlife programs.

But Congress was smart when it drafted the excise tax disbursement laws. For a state to qualify to receive the federal funds, it must pass a state law prohibiting using hunting and fishing license revenue for anything other than wildlife and fisheries programs.

If a state legislature dips into hunting and fishing license accounts to pay for, say, roads or hospitals or any other program, the state stands to lose all of its federal excise tax reimbursements.

So, as much as the Texas Legislature might be tempted to stick its hands into a flush Fund 9, particularly in times such as these when the state faces crippling general-revenue shortfalls, the prospect of losing that $40 million in federal money is incentive enough to prevent such plundering.

But the Legislature has found other ways of using that Fund 9 money without actually spending it.

Good on paper

For TPWD to spend money from the Fund 9 pot, that money has to be appropriated by the Legislature through its budget and appropriations acts.

By appropriating only some of the license money, the Legislature can count the “unappropriated balance” in Fund 9 on the positive side of the ledger when calculating the overall state budget.

This tactic is not restricted to hunting and fishing license revenue. It happens with revenue generated from the sale of vehicle license plates (horned toad, bluebonnet, etc.) benefiting state parks, wildlife, hunting and freshwater fishing.

All of these “unappropriated balances” – money Texans spent believing all of the dollars would be used to fund programs they voluntarily support by paying additional fees for the specialized license plates – are rat-holed and left dormant in accounts as a way to offset negative balances in other state programs.

The amount of Fund 9 money left unappropriated is highest in tough economic times such as the state currently faces, and less when the state economy is healthy. And when economic conditions improve, the Legislature allows TPWD to spend some of the balance that has built up over tough years.

Money that Texas hunters and anglers paid for their licenses, along with those federal excise tax reimbursements, wholly fund TPWD’s wildlife, inland fisheries and coastal fisheries divisions. As a result of the Legislature’s increase in the unappropriated balances in Fund 9 and other “dedicated” TPWD funds in budgets for the next two fiscal years, the agency is being forced to cut back on fisheries and wildlife management programs that benefit the state’s natural resources as well as hunters, anglers, boaters, and others who enjoy the state’s outdoors.

And it has had a human cost. Facing severe budget cuts for the coming two years, TPWD laid off 115 employees over the past month. Those layoffs included 9 percent of the staff in the agency’s wildlife division, 8 percent of the inland fisheries division and just under 3 percent of the coastal fisheries division.

No, the Texas Legislature doesn’t pilfer hunters’ and anglers’ license dollars and spend them on other programs. It just doesn’t spend them at all. And that’s almost as bad.

The extreme drought has wildlife on the move and a huge increase in black bear sightings have been observed by Texas wildlife officials. Currently, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) is investigating the death of a black bear in Kerr County. According to wildlife officials the man who killed him felt he and his dog were in danger.

While running into a bear in Kerr County is unusual, Wildlife Biologist Mike Krueger of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said there have been more of these unusual sightings on Texas ranches this summer and probably more to come. That’s because the bears are young and the drought is forcing them to search for food and water. That means black bear are moving across land, traveling across lots of real estate.

Krueger said in some cases black bears could be traveling up to 400 miles from Mexico. Since there is no end in sight with the drought Krueger said Texas residents need to be aware more bears could be out there. “I think we as Texans have to get used to having bears in our part of the world, we have to learn how to tolerate them, live with them,” he said. Hunters regularly deal with white-tailed deer issues, but over-sized raccoons are a whole different issue to many landowners.

Krueger said if someone spots a bear it’s best to remain calm and call Texas Parks and Wildlife. And with no rain in sight, the chances of folks spotting a black bear from Kerrville out to El Paso are only getting better.

By measure of recently reported sightings, the black bear population in Texas is on the rise. Ask any Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) wildlife biologist in West Texas and they will tell you that there is not doubt about it — black bear numbers are bouncing back. Deer hunters concur, with more bears showing up in game camera photos. But more bears means more chances for interaction. As was the case on July 16, when TPWD biologist Ryan Schmidt responded to a report of a bear hit by a vehicle shortly before noon.

The bear-vehicle collision took place on Highway 90, about 1.5 miles south of Comstock in Val Verde County. The 69 pound, sub-adult, male bear had to be euthanized due to the severity of its injuries. It was reported that several leg bones were broke at the time of the accident, as well as its sternum and, upon further inspection, numerous internal injuries were present. Like white-tailed deer, mule deer or feral hogs, the increasing black bear population in Texas equates to another road hazard for Texas drivers. Most folks in Texas have very little experience with bears. They are endemic to the area, but it has not been until recently that bear numbers have really taken off. From the Big Bend to Austin, increased bear sightings have surprised the public and biologist as well. And bears are not limited to far West Texas. At least one black bear sighting takes place in the Hill Country each year.

Most of these individual bears are wild animals looking for suitable habitat, or even mates, but it is entirely possible that a smaller percentage are released or escaped captive animals. The black bear is on the state endangered species list.

TPWD biologists encourage people to report recent bear sightings. Research is currently underway to determine the status of black bears in Texas. But black bears are not just out west. A study is also underway in East Texas to determine habitat suitability in that part of the state. It looks like Texas’ black bear population is quite healthy.

With the human population increasing in Texas, there is a definite need for more public hunting lands. And soon there may be more places for Texans to hunt! The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) has been awarded $813,068 for the first year of a potential three year grant totaling $2.4 million from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to improve public access to wildlife recreation on private land.

“This public access grant is fabulous news for hunters, anglers, paddlers, birders and others across Texas,” said Linda Campbell, TPWD Private Lands and Public Hunting Director. “Along with river access projects, this important funding will allow us to continue to grow the Texas public hunting program, a high priority for hunters and TPWD, even in these challenging budget times,” she said.

With expected budgetary cuts, the state’s small game/dove lease program was expected to face a 15 percent cut, but with the USDA grant the program may actually see an increase in funding. Under the two-year-old grant program, TPWD will expand the available acreage of the state’s current small game hunting lease program, which includes white-winged and mourning dove hunting. New leases are expected around major metropolitan areas and interstate travel corridors.

The grant will also allow TPWD to increase the availability of public pronghorn, mule deer and whitetail deer hunting and establish additional river access points for fishing, paddling and wildlife viewing.

To achieve these goals, TPWD will hire four biologists to work directly with landowners and field staff to identify additional lands to lease for public hunting and recreational access. Biologists will also continue to work with landowners to manage and improve wildlife habitat on the leased property.

In addition to improving Texas public hunting land access, TPWD plans to use the grant to lease access points on rivers across the state. With these additional access points, for example, paddling trails down the Llano and Colorado Rivers could be broken into shorter, more reasonable stretches to enhance access for paddling, canoeing, kayaking, birding and other recreational waterway activities.