10/10/2007

This month, youngsters get the first shot
Special youth-only hunting weekends loom on the horizon for duck hunting, white-tailed deer and Rio Grande turkey. The youth duck season in the High Plains is this weekend. The youth duck season elsewhere in the state coincides with the youth-only deer hunt, Oct. 27-28.

Despite conditions, contest off to hot start
Unseasonably warm weather has teamed with unusually lush range conditions and a healthy acorn crop to make the early archery deer season a challenge for most hunters. Archery season started Sept. 29 and continues through Nov. 2.

Outdoors tip
For most Texas deer hunters, the fall season begins Nov. 3. That leaves plenty of time for a visit to the rifle range. Every rifle should be fired at a target before the season begins, just to make certain it's shooting accurately.

Area cycling calendar

10/06/2007

Fall fishing heats up
A rainy spring and summer produced unusually slow fishing at many Dallas-area lakes, but experts predict improved action with cooler water temperatures. October and November are traditionally excellent fishing months, and this year should be better than normal.

Where have all the hunters gone – and why?

RAY SASSER / DMN

John Parker (left) and John P. Cowan have been friends, hunting companions and supporters of wildlife conservation for 35 years.

A recent reader e-mail asked for my take on the decline in hunter numbers, writes DMN outdoors columnist Ray Sasser. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the number of American hunters 16 and older dropped 10 percent between 1996 and 2006. Texas hunters remain constant at about 1.1 million, more than any state. There are four factors that I believe contribute to the decline in hunter numbers.
 Tell Us: Why give up hunting?
 Fall fishing heats up

Baseball-for-fishing swap nets big results for Aggie
After two back surgeries and a lot of soul-searching, Justin Rackley finally quit baseball, which happens all the time, but rarely for the reason he offered his junior college coach.

Outdoors notebook
Texas A&M research indicates that imported red fire ants may be killing more than 20 percent of song bird chicks before they leave the nest.

Outdoors calendar
Outdoors events scheduled through Dec. 29.

10/04/2007

Expo serves as outdoors sampler
Dallas has the State Fair of Texas but Austin has the Texas Parks and Wildlife Expo, an event that's been dubbed a world's fair for the great outdoors. More than 35,000 visitors are expected to attend the 16th annual Expo Saturday and Sunday at TP&W headquarters.

Aggies win national bass fishing title
Texas A&M bass anglers Justin Rackley and Trevor Knight overcame difficult conditions Saturday to win the second annual BOATU.S. National Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship at Lewisville Lake.

Outdoors tip
Don't give up on dove season just because it's October. The North Zone and Central Zone dove seasons continue through Oct. 30. The South Zone, which opened Sept. 21, ends its first split on Nov. 11.

Area cycling calendar

09/29/2007

Hog bait? Gator doesn't know the difference
Photos circulating on the Internet of a 12-foot alligator caught in a hog trap on the banks of Toledo Bend Lake are the real deal, San Augustine County game warden captain Tom Jenkins said.

Whitewings growing in habitat, popularity
A hawk dived low across the narrow row of Live Oak County sunflowers, flushing a swarm of white-winged doves feeding on the seeds.

Outdoors notebook
A Trinity County alligator caught Sept. 21 may be the heaviest gator ever reported in Texas, but it's not the longest. Tom Bass of Dallas, Justin Wells of Lufkin, Jarrett Hanus of Spring and Ryan Haltom of Houston said they caught the huge reptile on a private ranch.

Outdoors calendar
Outdoors events scheduled through Dec. 29.

09/26/2007

For a real challenge, trade your gun for a bow
It's no big deal to harvest a deer with a rifle in most of Texas. But substitute a bow and arrow for your centerfire rifle and it's a different ballgame, Ray Sasser writes.

College champs to be crowned at Lewisville Lake
College anglers are casting for the National Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship title today through Saturday at Lewisville Lake.

Outdoors tip
The early teal duck season in most of Texas ends Sunday. Teal hunting is a good warm-up for out-of-shape retrievers and duck hunters.

Area cycling calendar

09/22/2007

Breaking fly fishing record is a snap
Casey Cox was so certain he knew how and where to break the Texas fly fishing record for red snapper that he called his wife from Port Mansfield on Sept. 9 and asked her to look up the existing record on Texas Parks and Wildlife's Web site.

ShareLunker program invaluable to biologists
Texas Parks and Wildlife's Budweiser ShareLunker program starts Oct. 1, but there's not much point in jumping the gun. The unprecedented big bass hatchery program has handled 441 lunkers since it began in 1987 and only five of those fish were caught in October.

Outdoors notebook
Bass Pro Shops founder Johnnie Morris arrowed a monster alligator gar in a Trinity River oxbow Aug. 31 while bow fishing with Steve Barclay and Sam Lovell, otherwise known as the Gar Guys. The fish measured 8 feet, 3 ¼ inches and weighed 226 pounds.

Outdoors calendar
Outdoors events scheduled through Dec. 29.

09/19/2007

Impact of sportsmen is worth celebrating
Saturday is National Hunting and Fishing Day, an observance that started in 1972 as a tip of the hat to American hunters and sport anglers, the backbone of this nation's wildlife conservation.

Outdoor notebook: Texas bass pro wins in Florida
Texas bass pro Ben Matsubu of Hemphill caught a bass that weighed nearly nine pounds on Florida's Lake Toho and pulled away from the field Sunday at the Bassmaster Elite Series tournament.

Outdoors tip
Teal duck season and dove season overlap in all of Texas this weekend and again next weekend in most of the state. The overlap creates an opportunity for a full day of hunting.

Outdoors calendar
Outdoors events scheduled through Dec. 29

Area cycling calendar

09/15/2007

At the show, the lures are the big attraction
The National Fishing Lure Collectors Club is holding its annual Antique Fishing Tackle show Saturday in Grapevine. Think Antiques Road Show without Tiffany lamps, ornate furniture, smoky paintings, moth-eaten Persian rugs or Civil War relics.

Pick up the litter
Like most hunting outfitters, Roy Wilson has a succinct lecture that he delivers to clients at the beginning of every hunt. The lecture stresses safety and pertinent game laws, but Wilson also exhorts hunters to pick up their litter.

Outdoors notebook
Justin Bucholz, 11, of Watauga, was named to the Kids All-American Fishing Team. The Hooked on Fishing International program recognizes six exemplary youngsters, 8-14, for involvement in community and school.

Outdoors calendar
Outdoors events scheduled through Dec. 29.