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Weekly Migratory Bird Hunting Report Weekly migratory bird hunting reports are posted from early September through early February. Panhandle: Teal hunters saw steady shooting on playa lakes around Amarillo and Dumas. Mid-week north winds brought new birds to the area, evident by the number of greenwings and bluewing hens in the bag. Knox City hunters saw good shoots as well. Dove hunting has been fair to good over milo and corn. New birds hit the region this week. Teal season ended in Sept. 23 in the High Plains Mallard Management Unit. Duck season will resume Oct. 20. Prospects for doves are fair to good. Central Zone Dove: Shooting near San Antonio has been fair to good over corn and milo. Better shoots have been had near watering holes. Uvalde and Hondo have scored limits of mourners and whitewings for hunters willing to hunt morning and afternoon. With the opening of the South Zone, Central Zone fields on the other side of the road were better. Brownwood, Waco, San Saba and fields north of Austin are fair for mourners and a few whitewings. Hunting has slowed somewhat around the Houston area. Best shoots have been around Sealy, Brookshire and Columbus in the afternoon. Prospects are fair to good. South Zone Dove: Fields near George West, Fashing, Three Rivers, Laredo, Raymondville, Tilden and Freer saw good shoots over the weekend. Fields near San Antonio saw fair shoots for whitewings. Those positioned closer to town and roosting areas saw better shoots. Milo fields around Rockport enjoyed limit shoots. Harlingen and the rest of the Rio Grande Valley had great shoots. Milo fields near Pierce, El Campo and Collegeport shot mourners and whitewings. Winnie and Anahuac fields were good for half-limits. Hunters reported seeing a better flight in the afternoon. Prospects are good. Teal Season: Waterfowlers along the coast remain dumbfounded at the number of teal in Texas. Teal hunting has been incredible to say the least. Some actually said the second weekend saw more birds than opening weekend. The hub continues to be the prairie west of Houston. Eagle Lake, Garwood, El Campo, Lissie, Wharton, East Bernard and Chesterville. More bluewing hens and greenwings showed in the bag this week, evidence the second migration of birds have hit Texas. The marsh east of Houston has been steady as well. Ponds near High Island, Anahuac and Freeport have been solid since the marsh is holding lots of aquatic vegetation (duck food). Mad Island WMA near Bay City and Justin Hurst WMA near Freeport have averaged more than two birds per hunter, which is solid for a public hunting area. Seadrift and Rockport have been steady in fields and in the marsh. Northeast Texas hunters have scored limits on Lake O'the Pines and the Sulfur River bottom. Caddo Lake has given up half-limits. Expect another wad of birds to migrate south with the Sept. 26 full moon and a forecasted cool front this week. Teal season ends at sunset Sept. 30. Prospects are great.

Better. If you want to look at things in terms of losses and gains. Dayton has gained more talent this year that what they lost last year. IMO But all that said they will have to prove it. It would be insane for me to compare Dayton to all of the other teams in our district before they have played this year. Its apples and oranges until 3 or 4 weeks into district.

A.J. Dugat is Mike's little brother and A.J. is the QB now. I think the point that "texans" is trying to make about Coach C is that you can't call him a "great coach" until he has the record to prove it. I am sure he is a good coach, nice guy and all that. With all due respect, you can't call him great yet.

I was curious about that too. ???

That is a stretch, our JV is small and all sophmores. I think they could beat Cleveland's Varsity though. I wouldn't be predicting any blowouts, Dayton is solid and Lumberton looks to be alot better this year, it will be a good game.

Nederland, but last year proved that anything can happen.

They shut Cleveland down. I was at that game for a little, I find it amazing that Cleveland had any positive yardage. Lumberton was eatin their lunch and they had like 3 illegal participation penalties in the first half.

Dayton Defensive Stats Rush Pass Total WOS 195 62 257 Nac 82 70 152 Frwd 158 255 413 Totals 435 387 822 Looks like we might be in trouble.

Total 167 143 310 8) Thats pretty good for 3 games. Somebody is definately playing defense.

??? ??? :

They have?

I was there up until about 6 minutes before the half. It was real ugly, lots of penalties on both teams. It looked like Cleveland has about 3 plays in their playbook.

Lets please stay on topic, Lumberton vs. Cleveland.

I know Livingston will have some speed, they always do. I remember a few kids from 3 or 4 years back in JH up there that have some wheels.

I got idea, how about ya'll talk about the football game thats happening between Cleveland and Lumberton. Lumberton should win this one, but you never know thats why you play the games. Ask Michigan about that.

I know that Football and Basketball are grouped together in realignments.

5A 4A 3A 2A

It will be cool to see if my original estimates are anything close to what happens. Of course some schools are gonna move up and down in numbers since the last re-districting.

Sept. 19, 2007 Weekly Migratory Bird Hunting Report High Plains Mallard Management Unit: Playa lakes filled to the brim encouraged bluewings to stop in the Panhandle. Good hunts were reported near Amarillo, Dumas, Etter and Spearman. Knox City hunters enjoyed good shoots as well. Prospects are good. North Zone Teal: Teal hunting was fair to good on lakes and reservoirs in Northeast Texas. Lake O’the Pines and the Sulfur River bottom saw limits of birds. Caddo Lake hunting was slow. Toledo Bend, Lake Murvaul, Lake Lewisville and Lake Fork held birds. Better hunting was found closer the coast along the boundary line of IH-10. Devers, Sealy, China, Winnie and Hamshire rice fields were good for limit shoots. Central Texas hunters said they saw more teal than they have seen in a long time. A wet West Texas provide shoots on secluded ponds. Collin County took limits on small lakes and private ponds. Prospects are good. South Zone Teal: Hunters across the coastal prairies and marshes said opening weekend of teal season was as good as 2006. A year ago, drought conditions across Texas, with the exception of the coast, had birds concentrated in the rice belt and marshes. This year, water is everywhere, and many hunters along the coast feared the birds would be scattered throughout the state. However, limits of bluewings were the norm and not the exception along the coast. The brunt of the birds seemed to be concentrated near El Campo, Garwood, Eagle Lake, Lissie, Wharton, Collegeport, Chesterville, Winnie and the High Island and Anahuac marshes. Hunters queried said 80 percent of their birds were drake bluewings, giving rise to the notion the second migration, mostly young males and hens that did not raise a brood, still have not made it to the coast. That could change any day with the forthcoming full moon slated for Sept. 26. Prospects are excellent. North Zone Dove: Hunters in the Panhandle reported half-limits of mourning doves in milo and corn fields. Those able to rotate fields have taken limits of birds in the afternoon around watering holes. Collin County and Harrison County hunters said they saw an influx of birds this week with the north winds. Good numbers of mourners have been using soybeans near Bogota and Mount Pleasant. Look for more northern birds to migrate through the state with a brighter moon and cooler temperatures. Prospects are fair to good. Central Zone Dove: San Antonio, Uvalde, Hondo and Del Rio continue to be the hotspots for whitewings, though hunting has slowed somewhat. Best hunts have been over sunflowers, milo and corn. More mourners moved into Cental Texas with the recent cool snap. Best hunts there have been over water in the afternoon. Prospects are fair to good. South Zone Dove: The South Zone opens Sept. 21 and prospects look good. Whitewings are plentiful in the Rio Grande Valley near Harlingen, Brownsville, McAllen and Port Mansfield. Fields near Uvalde, Hondo, San Antonio, Laredo and Freer are holding birds. El Campo, Anahuac, Wharton and Matagorda County fields are showing lots of doves on power lines and fences. Beeville, Victoria, George West and Three Rivers should see steady shoots. Prospects are good. [Hidden Content]

In the single digits for Archery Season!

We started last year the same way.

can't see the video

I have one for the waterfowl hunt.

Budweiser Sharelunker Season 22 Begins Oct. 1ATHENS, Texas—Texas Parks and Wildlife Department will begin accepting entries into the Budweiser ShareLunker program October 1, 2007. Anyone legally catching a 13-pound or bigger largemouth bass from Texas waters, public or private, between October 1 and April 30 may submit the fish to the Budweiser ShareLunker program by calling program manager David Campbell at (903) 681-0550 or paging him at (888) 784-0600 and leaving a phone number including area code. Fish will be picked up by TPWD personnel within 12 hours. The fish are used in a selective breeding program at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center (TFFC) in Athens. Offspring from these fish are then stocked, in a limited manner, back into the water body from which the ShareLunker was caught in an attempt to increase the overall size and growth rate of largemouth bass in Texas’ public waters. As part of this project, TPWD’s A. E. Wood Laboratory recently identified and described more than fifty genetic markers that will help TPWD biologists identify ShareLunker offspring and their parents following stocking. A. E. Wood geneticist Dijar Lutz-Carrillo said the new technology will be instrumental in evaluating the success of the ShareLunker program. For the last two years, ShareLunker offspring have been raised to 6 inches at TFFC prior to stocking as part of a research study to compare their growth to the growth of wild largemouth bass in six public reservoirs. “So far, ShareLunker offspring have been bigger than wild fish of the same age in all of our study lakes,†said Timothy Bister, TPWD fisheries biologist. “Even though we’re waiting to see how big these fish are when they’re four years old, results so far have been promising.†Bister added, “This research project would not be possible without angler participation in the ShareLunker program.†Program manager David Campbell is looking forward to a good year for the program. “For the first time in many years, most lakes in Texas are full,†he noted. “The 18 entries last year was below average, and our records show that years with a low number of entries are usually followed by a year with a better-than-average number.†Anglers entering fish into the ShareLunker program receive a free replica of their fish, a certificate and ShareLunker clothing and are recognized at a banquet at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens following the close of the season. In addition the Texas angler who catches the largest entry of the year receives a lifetime fishing license. For complete information and rules of the ShareLunker program, tips on caring for big bass and a recap of last year’s season, see TPWD’s Budweiser ShareLunker Web site. The site also includes a searchable database of all fish entered into the program along with pictures where available. The Budweiser ShareLunker program is made possible through support from Anheuser-Busch, Inc. Since 1991, Anheuser-Busch, in partnership with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation, has contributed millions of dollars in funding to support conservation causes and fishing, hunting and outdoor recreation programs in Texas. [Hidden Content]

Mountain Lion Research Sheds Light on Elusive Feline AUSTIN, Texas — New genetic research adds to a body of evidence indicating mountain lion populations are generally healthy in parts of Texas, with significant populations in West and South Texas and harvest data pointing to stable or increasing numbers in the western part of the state over the past 90 years. The research paper “Genetic structure of mountain lion (Puma concolor) populations in Texas and implications for management†was largely completed in 2006 and is now being prepared for publication in scientific journals. The primary author is Jan Janecka, Ph.D., a post-doctoral research associate at Texas A&M University-College Station. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Mammalogist John Young is a co-author, along with Michael Tewes, Lon Grassman, Jr., Jacob Garza, and Rodney Honeycutt. TPWD funded the study, which was done by the Feline Research Center of the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. Researchers examined the genetic structure of mountain lions from six areas of Texas, conducting DNA analysis of tissue samples from 89 lions. Although all the lion samples came from Texas, scientists say the genetic traits likely reflect a region that encompasses parts of northern Mexico and southern New Mexico as well. Scientists found evidence that there is likely a core mountain lion population in and around Big Bend National Park. Researchers also concluded that a lack of connection between lions in West and South Texas indicates dissimilar populations in those areas. One study finding that has been misunderstood by some and needs careful clarification is that the long-term effective population size for mountain lions in Texas was estimated to be 5,607 animals. As author Janecka explains, this genetic “effective population†is not the same as the actual or census population. It represents hundreds of generations of lions over recent evolutionary history, and there is no correlation between this type of long-term estimate and the current census population of lions in Texas. “An effective population represents, from a genetic standpoint, the population size that would behave genetically like the actual or census population,†Janecka said. “Another way to state this is the genetic effective population reflects the effect a breeding population has on an animal population’s genetic diversity and structure.†Janecka makes a key point: “Typically, effective populations are smaller than census populations.†Another key finding involves the genetic health or diversity of Texas lions. Janecka says the value of genetic diversity is a bit of a contentious topic, but what research shows is when a population becomes isolated and animals start inbreeding and the genetic diversity decreases, researchers have documented effects such as lower survival rates of juveniles, low body weights, decreased disease resistance and other problems. “Our research shows that Texas mountain lions are not likely subject to negative fitness effects associated with low genetic diversity,†Janecka said. “At least in West Texas, genetic diversity was similar to other mountain lion populations in other western states and contiguous states. The South Texas genetic diversity was lower, but not so much that you would see inbreeding effects.†Cougars are currently classified as nongame animals in Texas and may be taken by anyone who possesses a valid hunting license, with no season or bag limits. This prompts occasional questions about whether the current regulatory approach is sustaining healthy lion populations in the state. Michael Tewes, PhD, a faculty advisor at A&M-Kingsville for the genetics study, is one of the elder statesmen of wild cat research in North America. For 25 years, he’s been supervising and reviewing research on mountain lions, ocelots and other wild cats. “We don’t have an accurate population estimate for mountain lions in Texas,†Tewes acknowledges. “They are difficult to census, being nocturnal, sensitive, wide ranging, and by nature a low density species.†Still, he and other experts believe Texas lion numbers are stable, at least in some areas. “I think mountain lion populations have been sustaining themselves for decades in South and West Texas, so they have been tolerating existing levels of harvest,†Tewes said. Since 1919, the government agency responsible for nuisance wildlife control has kept records of mountain lions trapped in Texas. Now called Texas Wildlife Services, this agency’s harvest data show a widely-fluctuating trend line over the decades, with the total number of lions taken each year occasionally dipping to the single digits in the 1920s and 1970s, occasionally spiking up above 50 lions per year, but mostly staying between 30-to-50 per year in recent decades. These are almost all lions trapped at the request of rural landowners, usually due to concerns about lions killing livestock, and mostly in West Texas. A plot of harvest data since 1919 shows an increase over time. “Wildlife Services deals with wildlife damage complaints, so the assumption is if they’re receiving more requests for nuisance control, lion populations may be increasing,†Young said. “Harvest statistics are not an exact way to measure wildlife populations, but they are a primary tool used in many states to get some sense of population trends.†Young says the effect of harvest on mountain lion populations differs depending on the sex and age of cougars removed. Some studies suggest cougar populations can sustain harvest rates of up to 20-to-30 percent, and even at higher levels exceeding 40 percent populations appear to be able to recover within 3-to-5 years or less after harvest is reduced. In a separate three-year South Texas research study completed in 1997, researcher Louis Harveson captured and radio-collared 19 mountain lions. Tewes also supervised and reviewed this work, and recalls a key finding regarding what lions eat. “The food habits study Harveson and I published showed South Texas mountain lions ate primarily white tailed deer, followed by feral hogs and javelina,†Tewes said. “Out of 75 prey animals killed by lions in the study, only seven were livestock—a longhorn calf and 6 sheep. Most studies show mountain lions are generally not a major problem for livestock, but locally you do sometimes get individual lions that are problems for landowners, and those can typically be removed by Wildlife Services.†Of the 19 lions radio-collared by Harveson, 10 died during the three-year study, one from natural causes, one from an unknown reason, one during research capture, two taken by trappers and five killed by hunters. (Several of the female lions in this study were cubs and subadults, known to be at higher risk of mortality.) Other studies have showed higher survival rates. A three-year study at Big Bend Ranch State Park in the mid-1990s found slightly more than half of male lions survived, with female survival at 70 percent. A 1980s study at Big Bend National Park showed annual male survival at more than half, with female survival at 68 percent. It’s worth noting these older studies may not reflect recent changes in land use and landowner attitudes, which may favor mountain lions. There is some evidence that mountain lions may be expanding their range. “There is a phenomenon occurring across North America, where mountain lions have begun to appear in places where they haven’t been seen in decades, in Iowa and Nebraska and other places,†Young said. “The anecdotal observation is that mountain lions may be moving back into habitat where they haven’t been for decades. That could be happening in Texas, but we really don’t have a scientific basis to say that. We are getting an awful lot of sightings in urban and suburban areas, but we are typically unable to confirm those with physical evidence.†TPWD gets more than 500 reports of mountain lion sighting per year, but less than one percent are ever verified by physical evidence such as tracks, scat or photographs. “Generally, mountain lions pose a minimal risk to outdoor enthusiasts,†said Tewes. “There have been only a few instances of attacks on humans in the modern era, including a couple in West Texas and others in the past century across the U.S. Often these involve starving lions attacking smaller people such as children or small women. In urban and suburban areas of Texas, I wouldn’t be overly concerned about lion attacks. Mountain lions are typically afraid of humans.†Texans’ attitudes and beliefs about mountain lions differ in some respects, but a majority of citizens value lions as part of the state’s natural heritage. This was demonstrated by a public survey research project completed in 2002 by another A&M-Kingsville graduate student, Iliana Peña. Of those surveyed, urban residents were more likely to have positive beliefs about mountain lions, but 84 percent of all respondents believed mountain lions are an essential part of nature, and 74 percent believed efforts should be made to ensure their survival in Texas. Interestingly, views among rural landowners differed depending on where in the state they owned property. “In West Texas and the Hill Country, many ranchers are concerned about livestock depredation, particularly where sheep and goat operations are active, whereas in South Texas I think many landowners see mountain lions more as a novelty and many ask hunters not to shoot them,†said Tewes, who also supervised and reviewed Peña’s research. “The density of lions is lower in South Texas, and that may be a factor.†Public support to ensure the survival of mountain lions is reflected in TPWD’s recently completed Texas Wildlife Action Plan, which lists low, medium and high priority wildlife species of concern, the location and condition of key habitats, threats or problems to species or habitat, needed conservation actions and recommended species and habitat monitoring. The most recent version of the book Mammals of Texas says the state has 184 species of mammals. “Only 65 of those mammalian species made the action plan list and mountain lions were one,†Young said. The plan’s mammal committee comprised of mammalogists, private individuals, zoos, and conservation organizations recommended mountain lions be placed on the medium priority tier. “We did this genetic study to see if it could be an effective way to examine the health of mountain lion populations in our state,†Young said. “Follow-up research is needed to get a better idea of the genetics of our state population. But it’s a good start, a baseline from which we can move forward. After the current generation of lions passes—and lions can live as long as 10-to-12 years—we can look at it again. But meantime we’re still filling in the genetic picture, so we’d like to get tissue samples from any lion mortalities in Texas.†“We may not be able to count the exact number of mountain lions in Texas, but we know a lot about them and we have been continuously, steadily working over the years to gain more knowledge,†Young concluded. “We want to see them continue to be an important part of the ecology of Texas.†Anyone who wishes to report a dead mountain lion may contact Young at [email protected] or (512) 912-7047. Basic information about mountain lions, including links to the brochures “Mountain Lions in Texas†and “Field Guide to the Mountain Lions of Texas,†is on the TPWD Web site. “Mountain Lions in Texas†includes phone numbers for TPWD Wildlife Division offices across the state, as well as guidance for people who encounter mountain lions or live in areas inhabited by lions. [Hidden Content]