Art Eatman
Moderator In Memoriam
I strongly recommend joining the Texas Wildlife Association. It is to hunters what the Texas State Rifle Association is to shooters.
I started out as a Full Member at $100 per year back in the 1980s when it was first getting started. It's now quite successful and I have dropped back to Associate Member at $35 per year.
The only difference I can see is the matter of voting for the Board of Directors.
http://www.texas-wildlife.org
The group has become influential in affecting legislation which in turn affects hunters. It has had members and directors such as Gib Lewis and Susan Combs.
Among other things, the group is very active in promoting youth hunts. General information in each issue about wildlife seminars and studies is ongoing. Numerous "how to" articles about habitat management.
What triggered this thread were articles in the current issue about the growing success of the TP&W program for restoration of bighorn sheep in Texas. From 2002's census of some 350, the current count is around 1,140+.
A fly in the ointment is the feral aoudad. The two species share habitat, and the aoudad is very aggressive about protecting its territory--particularly around any water points.
The next target area for bighorn restoration is the Big Bend Ranch State Park. Unfortunately, it is infested with aoudad.
It occurs to me that if we start calling the TP&W Hq in Austin about any program to hunt aoudad in the park in order to support the bighorn project, we might get some attention. Hey, we're interested in where our tax dollars go, right? Squeaky wheels get more grease.
Anyhow, it's a good organization and restoration programs are worthy of our support.
The Texas Bighorn Society also has a website. There are live trail cam photos at various places in bighorn areas. Lots of dead time with no critters, of course, but sometimes...
Art
I started out as a Full Member at $100 per year back in the 1980s when it was first getting started. It's now quite successful and I have dropped back to Associate Member at $35 per year.
The only difference I can see is the matter of voting for the Board of Directors.
http://www.texas-wildlife.org
The group has become influential in affecting legislation which in turn affects hunters. It has had members and directors such as Gib Lewis and Susan Combs.
Among other things, the group is very active in promoting youth hunts. General information in each issue about wildlife seminars and studies is ongoing. Numerous "how to" articles about habitat management.
What triggered this thread were articles in the current issue about the growing success of the TP&W program for restoration of bighorn sheep in Texas. From 2002's census of some 350, the current count is around 1,140+.
A fly in the ointment is the feral aoudad. The two species share habitat, and the aoudad is very aggressive about protecting its territory--particularly around any water points.
The next target area for bighorn restoration is the Big Bend Ranch State Park. Unfortunately, it is infested with aoudad.
It occurs to me that if we start calling the TP&W Hq in Austin about any program to hunt aoudad in the park in order to support the bighorn project, we might get some attention. Hey, we're interested in where our tax dollars go, right? Squeaky wheels get more grease.
Anyhow, it's a good organization and restoration programs are worthy of our support.
The Texas Bighorn Society also has a website. There are live trail cam photos at various places in bighorn areas. Lots of dead time with no critters, of course, but sometimes...
Art
