TURKEY CALLING | KERRVILLE | MOTHER NEFF MAKEOVER W W W. T P W M A G A Z I N E . C O M O A P R I L 2 0 1 5 T h e O U T D O O R M A G A Z I N E o f T E XAS Display until 4/22/15 BIG BEND in focus Visit our online archive at www.tpwmagazine.com. Find us on Facebook. For the latest information on Texas’ parks and wildlife, visit the department’s ­website: www.tpwd.texas.gov. 4 O APRIL 2015 a p r i l 29 2 0 1 5 COVER STORY Bare Bones By Earl Nottingham Loss of sight caused photographer Jim Bones to see Big Bend in a different light. 38 ­­­­Nature Without Borders Protecting and managing wildlife and habitat in the Big Bend. 44 By Melissa Gaskill ­­­­Call of the Wild Turkeys By Mike Cox Symphony conductor draws on musical skills to beguile spring gobblers. TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 5 Departments 8 At Issue By Carter P. Smith 10 Foreword/Mail Call 22 Skill Builder: Keeping Out Critters How to secure your campsite so wildlife won’t invade. By Dawn Bello Our readers share their ideas. Three in 12 Scout: Mother Neff Makeover 26 Fire in Days Hills the Field: the The grand dame of state parks looks better than ever. By Rob McCorkle 14 Park Pick: Avian Haven A new blind at Davis Mountains State Park is attracting human and bird visitors. By Linda Hedges 16 Flora Fact: Totally Tubular Stunning desert honeysuckle provides nectar for hummingbirds. By Jason Singhurst Kerrville’s natural wonders transform into campfire dreams. By Sheryl Smith-Rodgers 50 Legend, Lore & Legacy: Wild as a River Bob Burleson’s adventurous spirit led him to enjoy and conserve the natural world. By John Jefferson 58 Parting Shot By Chase A. Fountain 18 Wild Thing: Missing Muskrat of the Pecos Few Pecos River muskrats remain in West Texas. By Jonah Evans 20 Picture This: Action Cams Small video cameras pump up the thrills in outdoor photography. By Earl Nottingham Covers FRONT AND BACK: With the Sierra del Carmen lighted in the background, the Rio Grande twists and turns its way through the Big Bend region. Photo © Jim Bones PREVIOUS SPREAD: Through decades of conservation work, desert bighorn sheep have been reintroduced to several West Texas mountain ranges. Photo © Gary Kramer THIS PAGE: The Marufo Vega Trail area of Big Bend National Park offers a view of Boquillas Canyon, the Rio Grande and the distant Sierra del Carmen of Mexico. Photo © Laurence Parent 6 O APRIL 2015 In the Field THE OUTDOOR MAGAZINE OF TEXAS A P R I L 2 0 1 5 , ­ V O L . 7 3 , N O. 3 GOVERNOR OF TEXAS Greg Abbott COMMISSION Dan Allen Hughes Jr., Chairman Beeville Ralph H. Duggins, Vice Chairman Fort Worth T. Dan Friedkin, Chairman-Emeritus Houston Roberto De Hoyos Houston Bill Jones Austin James H. Lee Houston Margaret Martin Boerne S. Reed Morian Houston Dick Scott Wimberley Lee M. Bass, Chairman-Emeritus Fort Worth Executive Director Carter P. Smith Communications Director Josh M. Havens MAGAZINE STAFF: Randy Brudnicki Publisher Louie Bond Editor Russell Roe Managing Editor Nathan Adams Art Director Sonja Sommerfeld Photo Editor Earl Nottingham Chief Photographer Chase A. Fountain Photographer Traci Anderson Business Manager Alayna Alvarez, Katy Schaffer Editorial Interns Catherine Groth Photography Intern CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Mike Cox, Steve Lightfoot, Rob McCorkle, Larry D. Hodge, Dyanne Fry Cortez, Stephanie M. Salinas CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS: Jim Bones, Laurence Parent, Gary Kramer EDITORIAL OFFICES: 4200 Smith School Road, Austin, Texas 78744 Phone: (512) 389-TPWD Fax: (512) 389-8397 E-mail: magazine@tpwd.texas.gov ADVERTISING SALES OFFICES: S tone W allace C ommunications , I nc . c/o TP&W magazine 4200 Smith School Road, Austin, Texas 78744 Jim Stone, Advertising Director (512) 799-1045 E-mail: jim.stone@tpwd.texas.gov SUBSCRIPTIONS: (800) 937-9393 Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine (ISSN 0040-4586) is published monthly with com- bined issues in January/February and August/September by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, 4200 Smith School Rd., Austin, Texas 78744. The inclusion of adver- tising is considered a service to subscribers and is not an endorsement of products or concurrence with advertising claims. Copyright © 2015 by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. No part of the contents of this magazine may be reproduced by any means without the permission of Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine. The magazine is not responsible for the return of unsolicited materials provided for editorial consideration. SUBSCRIPTION RATE: $18/year; foreign subscription rate: $27.95/year. POST­­MASTER: If undeliverable, please send notices by form 3579 to Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine, P.O. Box 421103, Palm Coast, FL 32142-1103. Periodicals Postage Paid at Austin, Texas, with additional mailing offices. SUBSCRIBER: If the Postal Service alerts us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have no further obliga- tion unless we receive a corrected address within one year. Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine is edited to inform readers and to stimulate their enjoyment of the Texas outdoors. It reflects the many viewpoints of contributing readers, writers, photographers and ­illustrators. Only articles written by agency employees will always ­represent policies of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. S U B S CRI BER SERV I C ES Subscription inquiries only, please. PHONE: (800) 937-9393 MELISSA GASKILL first visited Big Bend Nation- al Park at the age of 3 and has returned many times — as a parent with her three now-grown children and as a writer to document the area and its native inhabitants. “The desert and mountains are incredibly dramatic and so vast,” Melissa says. “The combination of protected lands in the Big Bend area creates a unique opportunity to immerse yourself in the wild, something that becomes harder to do every year. It’s one of my favorite places on Earth.” She recom- mends hiking the South Rim, Pine Canyon and other trails, including those in nearby Big Bend Ranch State Park, as well as paddling the river and taking advantage of Big Bend’s dark skies to see the Milky Way and other celestial wonders. JOHN JEFFERSON is a former South Texas prose- cutor, the author of several books on Texas hunting and a con- tributor to Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine since 1977. He is nearing completion of a novel about hunting and intrigue in the Brush Country. His subject this month is Bob Burleson, whom John describes as “a true Renaissance man, adept at many callings, able to do well what- ever life offers.” John chronicles Burleson’s life as a trial lawyer, arche- ologist, guitar picker and explorer of rivers, caves and backcountry. “We all wanted to be like him,” says John, himself a river runner, writer and photographer. Mutual passions for the outdoors led the two to form an enduring friendship. JONAH EVANS is the mammalogist for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. He is responsible for con- servation and research on non-game and rare mammals in the state. He currently focuses his efforts on white-nose syndrome (a disease affecting bats), the Texas kangaroo rat, the plains spotted skunk and the Pecos river muskrat, an aquatic mammal that he writes about this month. Jonah lives in Boerne, where he grew up as part of the sev- enth generation on a family ranch. He spent much of his youth explor- ing the ranch and developed a deep appreciation for Texas’ natural her- itage. Jonah is driven by the hope that children seven generations from now will still be able to experi- ence wildlife populations as rich and diverse as they are today. TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 7 from the pen of carter p. smith It took 20 or 30 minutes of pretty intense glassing to even spot them. Yet, there they were — nine, 10, maybe a dozen in all, no more than 450 to 500 yards away. Bighorns, high up in the Sierra Viejas, expertly camouflaged in a jumbled pile of rocks just below a steep cliff face. When we finally got our eyes on the sheep, the rancher and his wife who brought us up there smiled with a quiet sense of stewardship and an upwelling of pride that said it all. It was a thing of beauty to behold, about as good as it gets for this outdoor enthusiast. Looking back, I don’t think I can recall a bad trip out to West Texas. I got my first substantive taste of it as a young, budding biologist when I lived out there off and on for a few years researching this and that, from mule deer to pronghorn to coyotes to desert birds. Traipsing over places like Elephant Mountain and the Del Nortes, and later on the rolling desert grasslands and low mountain country around Cornudas, I fell in love with the place. I guess I haven’t really stopped. In fact, it doesn’t take much to allow my brain to gin up some pretty great memories from out that way — paddling the Pecos River from Horsehead Crossing downriver to the High Bridge, stalking mule deer high up in the Apaches during a January snowstorm, scaling up El Capitan, seeing my first black hawks in a cottonwood- lined bottom along Limpia Creek, witnessing a massive monarch butterfly fall-out amid the sycamores along the Devils River, catching my first pronghorn fawn for research out in the grasslands east of Salt Flat, being trapped for a few days on the wrong side of Calamity Creek during a big summer monsoon event and camping out on sandbars under star-filled nights while paddling the Rio Grande. I could go on and on, and so likely could you if you’ve spent any time out there. West Texas, in all its glory and grandeur, is just like that. It rarely disappoints and always seems to give us more than we can possibly give back. The outdoors offers us many things in life, not the least of which are quality experiences and indelible memories that last a lifetime. As you’ll read in the pages of this month’s issue, there are no shortages of those to be had in your West Texas state parks. Just above Fort Davis is the fabled Davis Mountains State Park and Indian Lodge, a prominent, picturesque inn built by the men of the Civilian Conservation Corps. From the confines of the state park, you can hike to your heart’s content and search for wildlife from Montezuma quail to ringtails to javelinas. Or perhaps you might want to head down the mountain for a dip in the restorative waters of Balmorhea springs, or at night, head up the mountain for a little stargazing at the world-renowned McDonald Observatory. If you want a taste of the lower Big Bend country, the national park is on everyone’s hit list. So, too, should be Big Bend Ranch State Park. This 300,000-acre jewel harbors the fabled Solitario formation, plenty of Rio Grande frontage, desert springs galore, and miles and miles of backcountry trails through some of the most rugged, scenic and remote stretches of the Lone Star State. If that isn’t enough, don’t forget about the Franklin Mountains in the middle of El Paso, the largest urban state park in the lower 48. Or, if you want a taste of Native American art, culture and history, check out the pictographs at Hueco Tanks, also near El Paso, or those at Seminole Canyon State Park near Comstock. The ancient Native American rock art found on the cave walls of those parks is well worth the stop. I hope your appetite is sufficiently whetted for a sojourn out west. Be assured, your state parks are there to welcome you and to send you home with memories that will last a lifetime. Thanks for caring about our wild things and wild places. They need you now more than ever. West Texas, in all its glory and grandeur, is just like that. It rarely disappoints and always seems to give us more than we can possibly give back. Executive Director Texas Parks and Wildlife Department mission statement: To manage and conserve the natural and cultural resources of Texas and to provide hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation opportunities for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. 8 O APRIL 2015 picks, pans and probes from our readers FOREWORD LETTERS MANY FINE ARTICLES When it comes to seminal moments, I’m willing to bet that more have occurred in Big Bend than in any other Texas location. My moment was not nearly hat a great issue! I just finished as lyrical or scientific as those proffered by Carter Smith in this month’s At Issue. In reading the January/February fact, mine could be described more precisely as undignified, uneducated, uncouth, issue from cover to cover and thoroughly unbecoming or a whole lot of other unpleasant “un” words. enjoyed it. What a pleasant surprise to Having just completed my first year at Texas A&M with an unremarkable grade see so many fine articles over a broad point average in chemical engineering, I needed badly to get away from it all. range of subjects rather than an over- Gathering up my old high school gang, I proposed a trip out west. My college concentration of hunting and fishing roommate claimed to be something of an expert on Big Bend, and stuff. I hope that you can my old pals were always game for a road trip. We bought a few new keep up this trend. camping supplies, filled the cooler with food and hit the road, sing- J.P. Kish ing and laughing as we drove and drove and drove on that seemingly Georgetown endless stretch of Interstate 10. Four decades later, a good deal of the trip is a blur. I do have a STATE PARK HIGHLIGHTS vivid picture in my mind of the first time I saw the sun set through hank you for publish- the Window on a short hike from the Chisos Basin campground. I ing your magazine all felt as though I’d caught a glimpse of heaven for the first time. The of my adult years. I enjoy glorious sky, bigger than any I’d experienced in my limited travels, every article, especially your quieted our giggling and chatter. We watched in silent awe as the highlights of all of our state colors intensified and then faded to black. parks. We in Texas are truly Very, very black. Can’t see your hand in front of your face black. “What a pleasant surprise blessed with the diversity of And, of course, we’d brought no flashlight. After all, it was light to see so many fine articles our state. Every year, my when we left. Yes, we were those kind of campers. The kind who over a broad range family — myself, adult son don’t do their homework, laugh off warnings, don’t read signs. of subjects.” and daughter — takes a fam- You know, the kind who end up in a little heap on the desert floor, ily vacation to a state park. J.P. KISH waiting for rescue. I consult your magazine Georgetown Luckily, a guardian angel must have watched over us that trip. about these vacations and On a later hike, I suffered the indignity of having my fellow hikers camping areas. remove countless cactus thorns from my posterior after tumbling to the ground Patricia Kay Foss Byrd during an ill-advised game of Leader of the Pack. My college roommate “guide” San Antonio fell victim to painful blisters from brand-new hiking boots. Apparently, she wasn’t quite as experienced as we’d thought. While chasing after an unmapped STRIPED BASS BONANZA waterfall paradise she had promised, we found ourselves lost. She sat on a rock y husband, Jonathan Knicker- and cried over her painful feet while we began to worry about how little water we bocker, and our sons William (7 had carried. (This was in the Stone Age, before cellphones and GPS.) years old) and Logan (5 years old) all Long story short, we always managed to find our way back to camp safely. In went fishing for the first time on Lake subsequent visits, I’ve fared much better, devoting my energy to hiking and wild- Texoma with a guide, Jacob Orr (Limit- life watching instead of juvenile antics. And glory be, I have just as much fun. less Outdoor Adventures), in February. In honor of this vast beauty, we’ve doubled up with two Big Bend features My husband caught a 29-pound striped for your reading and photography pleasure this month. When you’re finished, bass, and William caught a 23-pound make plans for your own excursion to paradise. The grandeur is best enjoyed striped bass. Both fish were released in person. Unbelievable! back into Lake Texoma. This is very special to our family — what amazing memories our boys will have all their lives! In a day and age where W T M Louie Bond, Editor 10 O APRIL 2015 MA I L CALL all their friends are face-down in an iPad, phone or gaming system, we feel it is incredibly important to instill in them a love and appreciation for God’s beautiful creatures and make them into true Texas sportsmen. I think we are off to a good start! Meredith Knickerbocker Allen GETTING THE DATE RIGHT I enjoyed the article on Terry Her- shey, whom I knew in Houston while I was practicing environmental law, but on Page 50 the date of passage of the National Environmental Policy Act is wrong. That act was passed in 1969, not 1971. Norman Radford University Park ANTLERS: WHAT’S THE ALLURE? T he article Mike Cox wrote about the allure of antlers (November 2014) did not fully answer the question for me. I have never hunted anything, and I was always under the impression that the only reason people hunted was for food. And I have never understood why people would find the head and antlers as a trophy so appealing. I still don’t know why hunters are so obsessed with the head and antlers. Is it a macho thing? Why should there be bragging rights if you are only out there for food? Patrick Greene San Antonio COMMA CONFUSION I was reading an article in the Decem- ber 2014 issue, “Tiny Mighty Oaks,” when I saw a reference to “Engel- mann’s evening primrose and specta- cle pod.” Not being familiar with all plants, I thought at first this was one plant, a particular type of primrose and spectacle pod. After reading the sentence again, I realized this was two different plants. The omission of a comma between “primrose” and the “and” caused the confusion. I know that magazine editors and others do not like to use the Oxford comma, but I would rather see it used as it does eliminate occasional confu- sion. To me, the “and” is a connecting word; it connects two or more items on a list. It is not a word that separates multiple items on a list. That is the job of a comma. I often have to re-read sentences, such as the one above, to clear up any confusion. The arguments in favor of dropping the serial comma are weak, to say the least. I hope you will consider my plea. John Kuchar Georgetown Sound off for Mail Call Let us hear from you! Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine welcomes letters from our readers. Please include your name, address and daytime ­telephone number. Write to us at Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine, 4200 Smith School Road, Austin, TX 78744. Fax us at 512-389-8397 Email us at magazine@tpwd.texas.gov We reserve the right to edit letters for length and clarity. A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT Actually, it’s even beeer—two rivers run through it. e Bosque and the Brazos rivers wind their way through Waco & the Heart of Texas, forming two of the boundaries to the glorious 416 acres of Cameron Park’s hike & bike trails, picnic and playground areas, and breathtaking lookouts over the countryside of central Texas. e rivers themselves offer a wealth of recreational opportunities, including stand-up paddleboarding and kayaking on the Bosque Bluffs and Brazos Bridges paddling trails, top-rate waterskiing conditions (complete with riverside stands for competition-level skiing), and horse trails along the river’s edge. e Bosque leads to Lake Waco, the largest city lake in the US, where shing, boating, and swimming opportunities abound. Time to take a dip in the waters of Waco. Visit WacoHeartofTexas.com for links to our natural aaractions or for more information give us a call at 800-WACO-FUN. TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 11 NEWS AND VIEWS IN THE TEXAS OUTDOORS MOTHER NEFF MAKEOVER The grand dame of state parks looks better than ever. Ravaged by the march of time, decades of public use and frequent flooding, old Mother Neff State Park, now almost 80, was in dire need of a major facelift. Park planners, resource specialists and architects stepped up to provide a $6.5 million makeover to ensure that this historic park can continue serving as a recreational oasis for generations to come. Earlier this year, state and local officials gathered for a grand reopening ceremony at the park’s new headquarters, constructed of cut limestone and designed to complement the architectural style employed in the 1930s by the skilled craftsmen of Company 817 of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Opened to the public in 1937, Mother Neff State Park is one of only a select number of Texas state parks listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The handsome new headquarters is located at the northern upland reaches of the park, far away from the oft-inundated Leon River bottomlands portion of the park. Visitors now access the park, southwest of Waco, through a new Texas Highway 236 entrance. 12 O APRIL 2015 PHOTOS TOP TO BOTTOM: PARK ENTRANCE © JOHN CHANDLER; EARL NOTTINGHAM / TPWD; CHASE A. FOUNTAIN / TPWD; EARL NOTTINGHAM / TPWD Mother Neff Reopens Video PHOTO BY CHASE A. FOUNTAIN / TPWD Mother Neff State Park, where Central Texans have gathered for decades to enjoy the outdoors, has been subject to repeated flooding that has affected park operations and closed the park to day users and campers for extended periods. One particularly severe event in 1991 flooded the park with 23 feet of water, inundating the park’s bottomland where the historic CCC-built rock tabernacle, group recreation hall and old park headquarters are located and closing the park for six months. Subsequent major flooding occurred in 1993, 1998, 2002, 2005 and 2007. The new headquarters houses a Texas State Park Store, a multimedia room and a host of new exhibits that highlight the park’s abundant natural resources and provide insight into the park’s history through the use of CCC artifacts, historic photos and interpretive panels. Architects positioned the building to take advantage of the natural terrain and sun angles to maximize energy efficiency, and incorporated a rain collection system into the “green building” design. The extensive park redevelopment also includes new maintenance facilities and a 20-site, multiuse campground with 50-amp service and restrooms, enhancing the existing camping options. One unusual aspect of the park renovation pertains to the location of the new camping loop. Park planners went to great lengths to find the exact location of the old CCC camp and put the new campground within the camp’s archeological remnants. The result is that today’s visitors can sleep, eat and cook in the location of the old CCC workers camp. The tree-shaded parkland tamed by the skilled hands of CCC workers remains one of the state’s most alluring natural sanctuaries. For more than a century, Mother Neff has been a popular spot for family reunions, church gatherings, picnics and, more recently, weddings. Much of the appeal to wedding parties, families and others stems from the park’s rustic rock and wood structures built from 1934 to 1938, including a stone concession building (now utilized as a recreation hall), a large open-sided rock tabernacle and a water/observation tower. A wood- frame tabernacle stands at the site of the original hip-roofed structure built by Gov. Pat Neff in the pecan bottomland on the family’s original six acres. He officially deeded an additional 250 acres to the state for a park on (appropriately) Mother’s Day in 1934. Frank Smith deeded an additional three acres to increase the park’s original size to 259 acres. The state acquired 140 more acres for the park in 2012. The park’s natural history rivals its cultural past. Three ecological zones overlap within the park. Rich bottomlands abut the limestone escarpment that merges with the upland prairies. Towering pecans, cottonwoods, sycamores and a variety of oaks cloak the river bottoms in a dark green canopy. The limestone hills, which define the edge of the Texas Hill Country, teem with wildlife. Future phases set forth in the park’s redevelopment plan, to be implemented when funding becomes available, include a group hall, a campfire theater, a small group bunkhouse, cabins, riverside kayak launch and comfort station, and repairs to the historic CCC structures. Despite all of the changes, the park remains true to Neff’s observation that: “Nothing is more conducive to the happiness of a people than to go where the bees hum, the birds sing, the breezes blow. … These places must be preserved, not only for the present, but for posterity.” —Rob McCorkle Friends + Fishing = Net Results More food, festivals & fun. www.rockport-fulton.org visitrockportfulton 1-800-242-0071 Photo by Maria Nesbit TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 13 P Avian T H I S Haven A new blind at Davis Mountains State Park is attracting human and bird visitors. For decades, birders have flocked Spring festival season is tuning up on San Marcos’ Downtown Square. April 24-25: MR Fest showcases local and regional indie music artists. May 16-17: Swing On The Square features all things Western Swing and a Jazz Brunch to tie up any loose strings. /TourSanMarcos 14 www.TourSanMarcos.com | 512.393.5930 O APRIL 2015 BIRD BLIND BY TPWD; QUAIL © ALAN MURPHY / MINDEN PICTURES swingers to Davis Mountains State Park. Many hope to glimpse the stunning Montezuma quail, a secretive and localized species that inhabits grassy undergrowth in the park’s oak-juniper woodlands. Others come to see brightly colored summer residents like the yellow-and-black Scott’s oriole, the rosy-red summer tanager or the azure- hued blue grosbeak. Still others come to hone the finer points of bird identification on the abundant earth-toned sparrows of fall and winter. Regardless of skill or interest level, all birders — even nonbirders — will enjoy the park’s new bird blind. “Park visitors rave about it,” reports Superintendent Tommy Cude. “I have heard from many that it is the best bird-viewing facility in the entire state. It’s beautiful, functional and has a relaxing feel. It’s enjoyable just to be there, whether birding, photographing or even reading a book.” Why is the bird blind so popular? Perhaps design is key. The white stucco facade feels harmonious with the park’s other buildings, most (including the Indian Lodge, a full-service hotel) constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. Simply put, it fits. An adjacent water feature and strategically placed feeding stations attract a wide variety of birds. Park visitors can sit on barstools or stand inside the shelter as they watch their unsuspecting quarry at close range through large glass windows, carefully angled to minimize reflection. Interpretive panels, a field guide and sightings list provide additional resources. “We began a ‘Montezuma Quail Watch’ log to allow visitors to plan their observation times according to the birds’ most recent schedule,” says Tara Poloskey, who leads interpretive programs inside the blind’s roomy interior. “Birders appreciate all the help they can get to see these beautiful but elusive birds.” Photographers may prefer the building’s exterior patio, which features small openings of varying heights to accommodate camera lenses. Superintendent Cude is particularly pleased that the structure was constructed entirely by park staff. “It was a team-building labor of love that the entire staff is very proud of,” Cude says. “The building boasts a rainwater catchment system as well as solar panels that power ceiling fans and the water feature’s pump. We are extremely grateful to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation and the Bratten Foundation for funding this very worthwhile project. The blind is dedicated to the Francell family for their longtime commitment to conservation.” Other activities at Davis Mountains State Park include picnicking, camping, hiking, backpacking, horseback riding and mountain biking. Overnight lodging is available at the historic, 39-room Indian Lodge, located within park boundaries. Skyline Drive and two scenic overlooks provide panoramic sightseeing opportunities, and 20-plus miles of trails allow visitors a chance for exercise and nature study in some of the state’s most scenic terrain. The park’s interpretive center tells the story of the Davis Mountains through exhibits and serves as a nexus for ranger-led hikes, programs and other activities, many of which focus on the area’s bird life. To reach the park, travel one mile north of Fort Davis on Texas Highway 17 to Texas Highway 118N, and then west on Texas Highway 118N for three miles to the Park Road 3 entrance. For more information, call (432) 426-3337 or go to www.tpwd.texas.gov/ davismountains. —Linda Hedges The Davis Mountains bird blind, left, was built to fit in with the park’s other buildings. Bird-watchers at the park treasure sightings of the Montezuma quail. visitpecos.com nature lovers stop EXPLORE OUR NEW HOTELS, FAMOUS EATERIES AND HISTORIC IN-TOWN SITES. . . . pecos, texas day trips MONAHANS SANDHILLS STATE PARK DAVIS MOUNTAINS STATE PARK CHIHUAHUAN DESERT NATURE CENTER MCKITTRICK CANYON BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK 49 miles 78 miles 80 miles 95 miles 157 miles TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 15 P Totally Tubular H T I S Stunning desert honeysuckle provides nectar for hummingbirds. In fall and spring and again in the summer months, Texas botanical enthusiasts will encounter desert honeysuckle (Anisacanthus sp.) along washes, creeks and rivers in Big Bend and the southern Edwards Plateau. One of the showiest shrubs in Texas, desert honeysuckle boasts masses of tubular flowers. A member of the Acanthus family, desert honeysuckle should not be confused with true honeysuckles that belong to the honeysuckle family (Caprifoliaceae). Desert honeysuckle is native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas, peripherally entering the United States in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Some desert honeysuckle species are cultivated and used for xeriscaping because of their high drought tolerance. Desert honeysuckles display long, tubular, orange-red, pink or yellow flowers with recurved linear lobes spreading to decumbent stems, shredding bark and linear leaves. Hummingbirds, butterflies and moths feed on the nectar. The Hummingbird Society (www. hummingbirdsociety.org) ranks desert honeysuckles as one of the top 18 natural nectar plants for hummingbirds. Three species of these deciduous shrubs can be found in Texas. Dwarf desert honeysuckle (Anisacanthus puberulus) is restricted to Brewster and Presidio counties in Big Bend and the adjacent states of Chihuahua and Coahuila, Mexico, where it occurs along sandy washes and rocky banks of arroyos. Dwarf desert honeysuckle averages 6 feet in height and width and can be viewed flowering from late March through April along Pinto Canyon Road southwest of PHOTO © RITA MAE FREY 16 O APRIL 2015 Marfa. Used as a native garden plant, it has showy pink blooms, grows in full sun and partial shade and tolerates the ref lected heat of hardscapes. Narrowleaf desert honeysuckle (Anisacanthus linearis) is restricted to Brewster County in Big Bend and the adjacent states of Chihuahua, Coahuila and Nuevo Leon, Mexico, where it occurs along arroyos and brushy canyons. Narrowleaf desert honeysuckle averages 5 feet in height and width but can grow to nearly 10 feet tall. The orange-red flowers can be viewed in Big Bend National Park in the Chisos Mountains along the Window Trail, in the Paint Gap Hills and in the Grapevine Hills. Narrowleaf desert honeysuckle is a great xeriscape plant, attracting hummingbirds in summer and fall. Wright’s desert honeysuck le (Anisacanthus quadrifidus var. wrightii), also known as flame acanthus, was named after the worldwide botanical collector Charles Wright (1811–85), who collected extensively in Texas. Wright’s desert honeysuckle is found in South-Central Texas, in West Texas, into northern Mexico and continuing south to the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico. A spreading shrub ranging from 3 to 5 feet in height and width, it occurs along rocky banks of creeks and rivers. You can see it flowering in summer and fall along the Frio River below Concan, in Uvalde County and along the East and West Nueces River above Uvalde in Kinney and Uvalde counties. Wright’s desert honeysuckle attracts hummingbirds and has become popular as a native landscape planting. It’s very drought-tolerant and survives low temperatures as far north as Dallas. Rains will trigger a plethora of blooms. Desert honeysuckles are a botanical treasure among Texas flora, so be sure to look for this spectacular plant in the wild or in a native landscape. Keep an eye out for the hummingbirds, butterflies and moths that can usually be found gorging on the nectar from this plant’s “totally tubular” flowers. — Jason Singhurst KCVB TPWL Apr 15_1_KCVB TPWL Apr 15 2/25/15 12:34 PM Page 1 Retreat. Relax. Always a Great Time in Kerrville! Phase One Now Open The River Trail The River Trail in Kerrville begins in downtown Kerrville and meanders along the Guadalupe, creating a day-use 10' wide walking and biking trail. With the opening of the first phase of the River Trail from the Riverside Nature Center to Louise Hays Park, the upcoming phases will extend the trail all the way to Kerrville-Schreiner Park, approximately six miles. KerrvilleTexasCVB.com TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 17 P Missing Muskrat T of H I S the Pecos Few Pecos River muskrats remain in West Texas. Ask a Texan to name the state’s mammals and you’ll hear all about bears and ocelots, ringtails and raccoons, beavers and bats. Probably last on the list, if mentioned at all, is the muskrat. Except for a brief stint in the spotlight when the song Muskrat Love was popular, muskrats may be the most overlooked Texas mammal of all. A muskrat is a small beaver-like animal, but with a long, thin tail in the place of the beaver’s characteristic flat tail. The muskrat’s tail is slightly f lattened, but vertically. While swimming, the muskrat waves it from side to side in a manner that looks much like an aquatic snake. The muskrat does not have webbed feet like most aquatic mammals, but boasts a fringe of stiff, bristly hairs around each toe that helps push water. Muskrats have thick, insulating fur once harvested by fur trappers. While muskrats were once found throughout Texas, they are now primarily restricted to the eastern portion of the state. One of the most interesting subspecies, however, is the Pecos River muskrat, found in West Texas along the Pecos River and the Rio Grande. The Pecos River muskrat is also found in one other spot: the town of Balmorhea, famous for the spring-fed swimming pool at Balmorhea State Park. How did that happen? After all, Balmorhea is separated from the Pecos River by more than 30 miles of desert. A group of muskrats likely made their way up from the Pecos River along “I’m not sure which surprised me more – the size of Lake Conroe or the size of the bass I caught there.” W ith 22,000 acres of the bluest waters in East Texas, 156 miles of shoreline with bass, crappie and catfish big enough to make your tallest fishing tale the truth, Lake Conroe is a fisherman’s delight. Come experience it for yourself. TXP&W-4-15 18 Plan your fishin’ getaway with our FREE Vacation Guide. 1-877-426-6763 Find more getaway ideas at: www.PlayInConroe.com O APRIL 2015 VisitConroe (tx) PHOTO © POROJNICU | DREAMSTIME.COM A great day for the angler, not so much for the fish. small, intermittent streams during a wet season. These animals would have survived quite isolated from other muskrats for a very long period of time. One historical factor to consider: Before the wetland was drained and the water diverted for agricultural purposes in 1914, there was more connectivity between the Balmorhea wetland and the Pecos River. In 1981, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biolog ist Danny Swepston surveyed for muskrats in West Texas and found their populations to be declining. His report warned that without active measures to conserve this animal, the Pecos River muskrat could disappear from West Texas altogether. Today, the status of the Pecos River muskrat in West Texas is largely unknown. Populations continue to persist in El Paso and farther north up the Rio Grande. They are also known to occur in the New Mexico portions of the Pecos River. Whether some small groups of muskrats still occur in the lower reaches of the Rio Grande or Pecos River is unknown. There have been no confirmed sightings since the 1981 report. —Jonah Evans P Action Cams THIS Small video cameras pump up the thrills in outdoor photography. It’s hard to turn on the TV or computer these days without seeing some exciting action footage created with a particular breed of small video camera. These cameras have brought us deeper into the worlds of surfing, kayaking, mountain biking and skydiving with breathtaking immediacy. Photography has long been an integral part of the way we enjoy outdoor activities, and in recent years video cameras have evolved to take a pounding in jarring extreme sports and to function in underwater or freezing environments. The action camera (or “action cam”) is now the iVUE Horizon 1080P Camera Glasses SIGHTS & SOUNDS TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE TV AND RADIO T E L E V I S I O N LOOK FOR THESE STORIES IN THE COMING WEEKS March 29–April 4: Discovering the Buffalo Soldiers; dealing with kills & spills; good guzzlers; Trinity River sunrise. April 12–18: The dove hunter; buffalo-style dove breasts; rediscovering April 19–25: Game warden water training; tracking whooping cranes; state park volunteers; Winston 8 woods; Caddo rain. April 26–May 2: San Jacinto archeology; biking McKinney Falls; prehistoric paddlefish; Sky Lewey profile. RADIO YOUR RADIO GUIDE TO THE GREAT OUTDOORS Passport to Texas is your guide to the great Texas outdoors. Any time you tune in, you’ll remember why you love Texas. Go to www.passporttotexas.org to find a station near you that airs the series. 20 O APRIL 2015 Make the grade with some collegiate climbers. Watch the week of April 5-11. TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE Winner of 12 Emmy Awards, our ­television series is broadcast ­throughout Texas on local PBS ­affiliates. In stereo with closed captions. www.tpwd.texas.gov/tv PASSPORT TO TEXAS Join host Cecilia Nasti weekdays for a 90-second excursion into the Texas Outdoors. Find a station near you, or listen on the Web at www.passporttotexas.org iVUE Horizon 1080P Camera Glasses keep your hands free while you record all of your sporting adventures in either 1080P or 720P HD video via a removable SD card. Features include a 135-degree wide-angle lens, a noise reduction microphone, video stabilization and a 5 megapixel camera. The frames come with interchangeable CAMERA PHOTOS COURTESY OF MANUFACTURERS April 5–11: Collegiate climbers; Chihuahuan Desert bike fest; shorebird survival; flying Mason Mountain. Palo Duro archeology; eyeing gators. tool of choice for many photographers not only for video but for still and time-lapse photography as well. Both amateur and professional photographers are turning out footage with these tiny wonders. Without a doubt, the GoPro name has changed the world with its popular matchbox-sized line of video action cameras. It’s hard to see any type of outdoor event these days without a GoPro camera strapped, braced, clamped or affixed in some manner to a helmet, handlebar, gun barrel or pole, to name just a few variations. Admittedly, the combination of high image quality, small size and numerous mounting configurations makes the GoPro a prime choice. However, in the GoPro shadow are other notable action cams. Each has its own unique features and capabilities. Most offer full HD (high definition) 1080P video as well as the options to shoot still and time-lapse photos. While action cams may have many similarities in their functions, they quickly distinguish themselves in their appearances and useful features. Unlike the box-shaped GoPro, many cameras like the Sony Action Cam and Contour Roam 3 have a more aerodynamic, bullet-shaped form. One significant variant is the iVUE Horizon Camera Glasses, which are actually a pair of sunglasses with an action cam built in. Check out the numerous action cams available and see how they fit with your particular outdoor or sporting activity. Here is a closer look at three of them . polarized and clear lenses. The sunglass lenses have remarkably good sharpness. The Contour Roam 3 is one of the few action cams made to be waterproof (up to 30 feet) without a case. In addition to 1080P and 720P HD video, it features a 270-degree rotatable lens with a 170-degree field of view, a laser leveler, a Quick Photo mode (which allows you to instantly toggle between video and photo mode without changing settings) and an instant-on record switch. The Sony Action Cam is one representative of the new generation of 4K-resolution cameras from Sony. In addition to full HD video, it features Contour Roam 3 Welcome to our Living Room! Sony 4K Action Cam slow motion (up to 240 frames per second), image stabilization, a stereo microphone and a splashproof body (optional waterproof case). Notably, it can be monitored and controlled via a smartphone or Sony’s LiveView Remote unit. — Earl Nottingham Please send questions and comments to Earl at earl.nottingham@tpwd.texas.gov. For more tips on outdoor photography, visit the magazine’s photography page at www.tpwmagazine.com/photography. Complete with HD, 3-D & Surround Sound hermAnn sons frATernAl insurAnce Insuring a better future for Texans at all stages of life since 1861. • Whole life • Term life • AnnuiTies Hermann Sons Fraternal Insurance | Traditional ... http://www.texashermannsons.org/ Add us to your playlist! Hermann Sons Youth Camp – A benefit for boys & girls ages 9-13 cAll ToDAY! 800-234-4124 www.hermannsons.org • Facebook 830-796-3045 BanderaCowboyCapital.com http://kaywa.me/E5WAK TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O Download the Kaywa QR Code Reader (App Store &Android Market) and scan your code! 21 SKILL BUILDER / DAWN BELLO KEEPING OUT CRITTERS How to secure your campsite so wildlife won’t invade. Beyond your campsite, hiking trails wind up the mountain- side, each curve beckoning. The green canopy overhead shades you from all but the tiniest diamonds of sunshine. In the stillness, you spy the rainbow hues of a painted bunting, at home in this idyllic setting. Not every wildlife encounter is entirely enjoyable. An inva- sion of ants during a picnic, a nighttime raccoon raid of your cooler or a closer-than-comfortable encounter with a bear may stir up feelings of a different sort. Luckily, knowledgeable campers can enjoy nature and coexist peacefully with the “natives” during their forays into the wild by following some simple guidelines. ALL ABOUT SMELL. Remember that many animals experience the world primarily through their keen sense of smell, not vision. Perfumes and colognes aren’t the only culprits — products like scented toilet- ries and laundry chemicals can add a scent to you. Wild animals can also detect the snacks in your pack, so be sure to store everything in sealable baggies. COOLERS. In the front country, coolers have become magnets to savvy wildlife like raccoons. These masked bandits have become quite adept at opening even the most intricate latches, while larger ani- mals, such as bears, simply “remodel” or remove accessible coolers. Keep coolers and any bagged or boxed food items tightly sealed and, if possible, stored inside your vehicle overnight. PHOTO © TODORYANKOV | DREAMSTIME.COM TENTS. Never bring food into your tent. Even minute crumbs can attract anything from a parade of ants (which need only a tiny gap in the zipper opening) to the claws of a raccoon that will quickly tear a new “door” in the fabric. BEAR BAGS. While backpacking, remove all items with scents, place them in a “bear bag” and hang them at a location outside your campsite. If a wild animal should access the bear bag, you might be out a meal or two, but that’s better than having your expensive backpack ripped to shreds or encouraging wildlife to tour your camp. To keep insects out of your backpack, be sure to remove all attractants and then hang the pack from a tree limb, making it less accessible. If all food is transported in airtight containers, the pack will remain relatively free of irresistible scents. 22 O APRIL 2015 HANG IT. Properly hang your bear bag. If you are at a location where a hook or other hanging device is not available, you may have to make do with a tree limb. Hang a cord utilizing a quick release knot, making sure the bag hangs 12-18 inches below the limb and at least 4 feet from the ground, higher in locations where larger wildlife such as cougars and bears exist. DIVIDE AND CONQUER. In places with larger wildlife but fewer tall trees, you may have to change your strategy. In these situations, it’s a good idea to divide any possible spoils that may go to larger wildlife, while aiming to thwart the efforts of smaller animals. You can construct two or more bear bag lines outside camp and divide your food between them. This way, you increase your chances of preserving at least some of your meal rations. NEVER FEED WILDLIFE. Not only is feeding animals bad for the health and digestive system of native species, it renders them dependent on human assistance for food, decreases their natural instincts to avoid humans and increases the chances of unwanted, even dangerous interactions. Let wildlife remain wild. STAY ON MARKED TRAILS. One scent that wildlife has a natural aversion to is human scent. Trails are heavily laden with the scent of human visitors, so wildlife will often steer clear. This is also a good reason to use established campsites in the backcountry. BE AWARE. Avoid traveling during prime hunting hours, such as dusk and dawn, or during the rutting season. Steer clear of young animals. Often the mother is not far away and could become aggressive if she feels her offspring is under threat of harm. BE HEARD. Make some noise so you are heard long before you are seen. In areas where animals such as cougars and bears roam, it’s not uncommon for smart backpackers to travel with bells on their ankles to give wildlife plenty of warning. Chatting with a travel companion also helps, as voices carry. Remember to practice these techniques during your forays into nature to ensure that your wildlife encounters are all happy ones. O UNBRANDED Ben Masters On an epic 3,000-mile journey through the most pristine backcountry of the American West, four friends rode mustangs border to border, from Mexico to Canada experiencing firsthand the complex conservation issues involved in preserving, protecting, and sustainably managing public lands and the wild horses that roam them. In Unbranded, they tell their improbable story of adventure and self-discovery. 9x10. 188 pp. 165 color photos. $40.00 cloth; $24.95 flexbound CADDO Visions of a Southern Cypress Lake Narrative by Thad Sitton Photographs by Carolyn Brown Foreword by Andrew Sansom NEW BOOKS FROM TEXAS A&M In a stunning tribute to one of Texas’ most enigmatic waterways, a veteran East Texas historian and a professional photographer have created an homage to a lake like no other. 11x10. 188 pp. 109 color photos. Map. Bib. Index. $30.00 cloth FAMOUS TREES OF TEXAS Texas A&M Forest Service Centennial Edition Gretchen Riley and Peter D. Smith For the 100-year anniversary of the Texas A&M Forest Service, the agency presents a new edition of the classic book telling the stories of 101 trees throughout the state. 9x10. 188 pp. 186 color photos. Map. Index. $35.00 cloth A NATURALIST’S GUIDE TO THE TEXAS HILL COUNTRY Mark Gustafson In this guide, biologist Gustafson introduces residents and visitors to the history, geology, water resources, plants, and animals found in the heart of the Hill Country. 360 pp. 328 color photos. 3 maps. Table. Bib. Index. $24.95 flexbound new in paperback TEXAS STATE PARKS AND THE CCC The Legacy of the Civilian Conservation Corps Cynthia A. Brandimarte, with Angela Reed Foreword by Carter P. Smith “This book should stand as the definitive work on this interesting segment in the history of Texas’ state parks programs.” —Austin American Statesman 10x10. 188 pp. 113 color, 110 b&w photos. Bib. Index. $24.95 flexbound HEADS ABOVE WATER The Inside Story of the Edwards Aquifer Recovery Implementation Program Robert L. Gulley Foreword by Andrew Sansom Gulley describes how a large and fractious group came together to resolve one of the nation’s most intractable and longstanding water problems. 256 pp. Map. Index. $29.95 cloth TEXAS RIPARIAN AREAS Edited by Thomas B. Hardy and Nicole A. Davis Foreword by Andrew Sansom Texas Riparian Areas summarizes the characteristics of riparian areas and develops a common vocabulary for discussing, studying, and managing them. 81/2x11. 224 pp. 81 color images. 12 line drawings. 14 maps. 23 tables. Glossary. Bib. Index. $40.00 hardcover Photo by Ben Masters, from the book Unbranded TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY PRESS 800.826.8911 Fax: 888.617.2421 www.tamupress.com Days in the Field / By Sheryl Smith-Rodgers DESTINATION: KERRVILLE F T R A V E L T I M E F R O M : AUSTIN – 1.75 hours / BROWNSVILLE – 5 hours / DALLAS – 4.5 hours HOUSTON – 3.5 hours / SAN ANTONIO – 1 hour / LUBBOCK – 4.5 hours Fire natural in wonders the transform Hills campfire dreams. Kerrville’s into 26 O APRIL 2015 The Kerr Wildlife Management Area is one of the nation’s top deer research facilities. It also serves as a popular birding spot. Also on the River Side is the park’s Butterfly Garden, a native garden plant- ed with nectar and larval host plants. Following mulched paths, we wander past fall bloomers like golden-eyes, Gregg’s mistflowers, boneset and salvias. At our feet, a young Texas spiny lizard scuttles onto a limestone boulder. On a bush sunflower, I spot a bordered patch butterfly, sunning her wings. More than seven miles of marked trails wind through the Hill Side, the other section of the park. With our park map in hand, we meander down the Green Trail, vegetated with native grasses, live oaks and junipers. Off the trail, we spot a gravestone inscribed with “Snow Ball.” Someone’s beloved pet? Farther down the trail, a lizard and I play peek-a-boo around the huge trunk of a centuries-old oak. For supper, we dine on leftovers at the picnic table on our porch. Then I hang out by the fire pit, which is encircled by cinder blocks. Fun turns into frustra- tion, however, when my neatly arranged logs, stuffed with twigs and crumpled newspaper, refuse to catch. James, my husband, offers to take over, but I decline. I will start the blasted fire! At dusk, park hosts Bob and Carol drive up, so I take a break. While we’re chatting, the fire ring catches my eye. An orange glow illuminates the blocks. “Look, James!” I exclaim. “The fire’s going!” Sure enough, the evening breeze had kicked up some embers and ignited flames. High-five! From our kitchen window the next morning, we watch white-tailed deer and a long-eared jackrabbit cross the grassy slope in front of the house. While James brews coffee, I toast bread in a skillet on the electric stove. ALL PHOTOS BY CHASE A. FOUNTAIN / TPWD, EXCEPT BLUEBONNETS BY EARL NOTTINGHAM / TPWD lames fascinate me. So as soon as I spot the fire pit at the guesthouse, I know what my future holds. My hus- band’s, too. But before I can light any logs, we have places to go during our three-day stay in Kerrville. No time to waste. A hearty lunch at the Hill Country Café kicks off our midday arrival. The self-proclaimed “Texas legend” on Main Street has dished up down-home cooking since 1942. Local folks fill up most of the diner’s tables. Alas, no room for the coconut meringue pie, though we could have stashed a piece in our refrigerator at the Ranch House, where we’re bunk- ing. The former three-bedroom home is a guesthouse at Kerrville-Schreiner Park, a 517-acre getaway on the Gua- dalupe River. Originally, it was a city park built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the early 1930s. In 1934, the city deeded the property to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, which maintained the state park until it reverted back to Kerrville in 2004. After unloading our stuff, we explore the full kitchen and cozy living room. Outside, I note the aforemen- tioned fire pit. Nosy me also peeks inside the nearby Bunk House, which visitors can rent in conjunction with the Ranch House. The additional space sleeps six with bunk beds and a double bed. Texas Highway 173 divides the park into two sections, which we tour by car. On the River Side, day-use visitors and campers have access to the river. A boat ramp accommodates canoes and kayaks (seasonal rentals available). Then we head west to Kerr Wildlife Management Area. Our 45-minute road trip follows the scenic but nar- row Texas Highway 39, which rolls alongside the Guadalupe River. At Hunt, we turn onto FM 1340, anoth- er beautiful drive that hugs the river’s curvy North Fork. James drives at a leisurely pace so we can take in the limestone cliffs, stream crossings and Hill Country views. Similar live oak and juniper vis- tas dominate the 6,493-acre Kerr WMA, purchased in 1950 by TPWD as a research and demonstration site. Trained staff makes use of permitted hunts, prescribed burns and other tools to manage native habitat. For an overview, James and I drive the four- mile road that passes informational kiosks highlighting habitat manage- ment techniques. Thanks to a healthy ecosystem, Kerr WMA draws birders from around the world to see endangered golden- cheeked warblers and black-capped vireos that nest in the area February through May. Site manager Ryan Reitz suggests that visitors check in at head- quarters for birding pointers. Across the highway, we park our car and hike through tall grass to the WMA’s fishing access on the Guada- lupe River. While James admires steep limestone walls upstream, I watch gambusia dart around a gray treefrog that had just plopped into the shallow water. For a few moments, I stand still and simply relish the warm sunshine Visitors learn about native plants at the Riverside Nature Center, left; a horseshoe holds the gate, above, at the Kerrville-Schreiner Park guesthouse; numerous stream crossings, below, highlight the drive near Hunt. and remote surroundings. Game for one more hike, we tromp along a dirt road in the Spring Trap pasture, located off FM 1340 east of the WMA’s entrance and seasonally accessible by foot only. A few Octo- ber bloomers, such as mealy cup sage, white four o’clocks and thryallis, catch my eye. So does a prickly clump of claret cup cactus, nestled against a limestone rock. For lunch, we experience the Hunt Store, a Hill Country hub since 1946. “We’re a community center and a country store,” owner John Dunn says. “Nearly all day, we have locals who come to drink coffee by our fireplace and discuss the news.” Grocery staples, souvenir T-shirts, barbecue and even a commercial bank draw a steady stream of customers to the store. Live music some nights brings in more. En route back to Kerrville, James brakes at Stonehenge II, a downsized rendition of England’s prehistoric monument. Originally, the roadside oddity — built of metal mesh and plas- ter in 1989 by the late Al Shepperd and his neighbor Doug Hill — stood on Shepperd’s land near Hunt. Shep- perd later added two replicas of the giant stone heads that stand on Easter Island in the South Pacific. In 2011, the entire entourage was moved to the Hill Country Arts Foundation campus in Ingram. Another side tour leads us down Old Ingram Loop, where we amble past some of the town’s shops and art galleries. Next stop: the Riverside Nature Center, an urban wildlife sanctuary planted with Texas natives. Since 1992, volunteers have educated visitors about the importance of habitat restoration and water conservation. A visitors cen- ter houses nature exhibits, classrooms and a gift shop. “Even though we’re located in a city, all kinds of things show up here,” founder Susan Sander says. “One morning, we had 150 pelicans! We may be a small garden, but small does matter.” Outside, crushed gravel paths lead us past turk’s cap, elbowbush, yaupon, golden-eyes, thoroughwort, mountain laurel and tasajillo. I stop to note a globe mallow with sherbet orange flowers (Sphaeralcea ambigua), a species related to the pink-bloomed copper TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 27 mallows (Spaheralcea angustifolia) that grow in our certified Texas wildscape at home. We also lope down the connecting River Trail, a multi-use walkway that will, when completed, stretch six miles along the Guadalupe. A bicyclist and two dog walkers pass by while we examine rac- coon, opossum and other animal tracks set in the wide sidewalk’s concrete. Our last stop is Gibson’s Discount Center, once a large 1960s franchise that had a store in our hometown of Corpus Christi. (Only one other Gib- son’s, in Weatherford, still operates.) Feeling nostalgic, we poke up and down aisles crammed with canning supplies, cast iron skillets, board games, firearms, house paint, bird feeders and oodles more stuff. I buy a butane lighter (to assist my fire-making, of course!). The next morning, we skip break- fast and pack up. James loves Mexican food, so we mosey down to Conchita’s on Main, a tiny eatery decorated with bright abstract art. Owner/cook/wait- ress Theresa Womack shares stories about her grandmother Conchita, who loved cooking and telenovelas. Our three-day exploration ends with a stroll around the downtown historic dis- trict. Inside Wolfmueller’s Books, James scours Texana titles while I buy a plant Stonehenge II, a downsized rendi- tion of England’s prehistoric mon- ument, resides at the Hill Country Arts Foundation campus in Ingram. Explore every State Park for one low price. booklet written by the late wildflower enthusiast Carroll Abbott, who lived in Kerrville. At the Sunrise Antique Mall, a two-story emporium packed with trea- sures, a vintage pink-tinseled Christmas tree becomes ours. Briefly, we tour the Schreiner Man- sion, built of native limestone in 1879 for businessman Charles Schreiner. Family belongings furnish much of the two-story home. “Captain Schreiner started with $5 in his pocket after the Civil War and had $6 million to his name when he died in 1927,” docent Alice McDaniel says. Next door, at the Kerr Arts and Cul- tural Center, an exhibit of “plein air” paintings captures abandoned barns, Hill Country creeks and wide Texas skies. Inside a darkened room, the Fluoride Mineral Display demonstrates how calcite and other minerals glow purple, green and orange under certain lighting conditions. On the way home, I suggest that we return to the Ranch House with friends or family. “I know what you’re thinking, little Miss Fire Starter,” James laughs. Who, me? O ONLY 70 $ PER ANNUAL CARD MEMBERSHIP OR JUST 95 $ FOR 2-CARD MEMBERSHIP With your Texas State Park Pass, get unlimited visits to more than 90 state parks for you and a carload of guests. And you’ll save on camping reservations, park store merchandise and equipment rentals. Get your State Park Pass on your next visit to a state park or by calling (512) 389-8900. www.TexasStateParks.org/passes 28 O APRIL 2015 YOUR PURCHASE GOES TO SUPPORT TEXAS STATE PARKS BIG BEND T H R O U G H T H E L E N S O F J I M B O N E S TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 29 Bare Bones Loss of sight caused photographer Jim Bones to see Big Bend in a different light. By Earl Nottingham On a boulder-strewn hillside high above the winding Rio Grande, noted landscape photographer Jim Bones peers through his camera viewfinder and sees the massive geological forces that created the face of the Big Bend region of Texas. Mountains, canyons, rivers and desert intersect in a land where a calm inland ocean once covered all. That ancient ocean bed was thrust upward by violent upheavals, its layers broken, faulted and folded like paper. It appears to be a desolate and silent world, but it’s much more than that — it’s also a place of lush grasses, dainty wildflowers and teeming wildlife. For Bones, a stark and visual paradox emerges when the desert’s harsh and unforgiving nature is contrasted against a temporal and fragile ecosystem. A passion for this paradox drives Bones to create his images, not so much as a photographer, but as a visual evangelist with a mission to help others understand, enjoy and become stewards of this world. Raised as the son of an Air Force officer at Vandenberg air base in California during the Cold War, Bones was immersed in an environment of science and technology and was on the path to become an aerospace engineer until he had a life-changing moment one bright California day as he watched sea lions on the beach near Vandenberg. “I looked down and saw a small, cone-shaped Turritella fossil,” he recalls. “At that moment, something really strange happened to me. I saw that this tiny fossil was shaped exactly like a nuclear warhead. It had been in existence for millions of years, and it struck me that we 30 O APRIL 2015 had just created a device in that same shape that could annihilate all life in a few hours. This one encounter helped cement in my mind the delicate relationship of nature and man.” While pursuing his studies at the University of Texas, Bones took a geology class from William Muehlberger, whose charismatic teaching methods inspired him to look at the world in a more personal way. “He made me want to communicate my love of the earth in a way that was not so scientific,” says Bones, who found that geology was the perfect way to combine his love for technology with the natural world. He gained access to a photographic darkroom in the science department and was soon shooting and processing his own black-and- white images from frequent geological study trips to Big Bend, photos he subsequently entered into the university’s exhibits. It was during one of these exhibits that his work caught the eye of photo instructor Russell Lee, the renowned Farm Security Administration photographer who had documented the plights of families during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. Lee saw talent in Bones’ work and became his greatest mentor. Lee also introduced Bones to the nature and landscape images of famed photographer Eliot Porter. Showing one of Porter’s books to the class one day, Lee shouted, “These images are not just landscapes, they are portraits of the character of the place!” Discovering Porter’s delicate color images of grand landscapes and close-ups proved to be a seminal moment for Bones, who had been working until then just in black Interview with Jim Bones Video Front Page: At the “Cross Canyons,” near the actual Big Bend of the Rio Grande, where the river turns north again, a large boulder-strewn sandbar provides an excellent campsite that offers an amazing display of morning reflections as golden light cascades from rim to dark water, says Jim Bones. At this gap, thousand-foot- high limestone seabed walls are folded completely upside down in an enormous, overturned thrust fault. (Ektachrome 64 E-6 4x5 Daylight Film) PHOTO BY EARL NOTTINGHAM / TPWD and white. Upon graduation in 1972, he became the first photographer to receive the Dobie Paisano Fellowship Award. After Paisano, with an eye for photography and a knack for technology, Bones seized an opportunity to work for Eliot Porter as his darkroom technician, making Porter’s color prints using the dye-transfer method of printing, a time-intensive process that renders gorgeous photographs of archival quality. In fact, while many photographic films and prints have faded over the years, most dye-transfer images still retain their original beauty. After venturing out on his own across the American Southwest and Big Bend, Bones combined his dye-transfer skills with the tack-sharp images from his 4x5 view camera, creating his own visual style and showing that, under its harsh veneer, the desert is beautiful and worthy of experiencing. “The desert can be addictive,” Bones says. “Some people will always come back to it, and there are those who will never come back. There are hardly any people in between. You either love it, or it’s repulsive to you.” Like the twisting course and unpredictable currents of the Rio Grande, Bones found that life can also be unpredictable. On an October morning in 2001, a photographer’s worst nightmare came true. “I opened my eyes and immediately saw strange lights,” he recalls. “It looked like the world was peeling off like wallpaper coming off walls.” A retinal detachment had rendered his dominant right eye useless. He had a cataract in his left eye, so his future in photography looked grim. After an initial surgery failed to reconnect the retina, a second attempt finally restored some vision back to the eye, but as Bones says, the result was like “looking through a fish bowl.” Bones describes the resulting struggle over the next few years, with bad vision and mounting medical bills, as a form of post-traumatic stress disorder. Hope arrived with the advent of digital photography. Bones was able to digitally scan his transparencies and work with the images on a computer, which, combined with a digital printer, became his new darkroom. A new digital camera replaced the venerable old 4x5 and medium-format cameras. After a long and winding journey, the Rio Grande comes to an end and is transformed into a new life as part of the Gulf of Mexico. Jim Bones’ journey has allowed him to be transformed and see photography — and life — as a new and brilliant palette. O TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 31 The world I see now is not the sharp-edged world of the 4x5 camera. It is an impressionistic world, and I can understand how Matisse, Renoir and the other painters late in life started doing those large, fuzzy things of color as opposed to precise detail. As artists, we are only temporary vessels that inherit something, create something and then pass it along. It's still a beautiful world to see — so beautiful — and I'm happy to share it. 32 O APRIL 2015 Jim Bones: I had intended to camp near the rim of Big Bend's Chisos Mountains to make sunset and sunrise pictures on this memorable day. As I made this exposure, a gale suddenly rose up, going from an ominous calm to winds of at least 40 miles an hour. The world was enveloped in dust as a norther blew through. I retreated to Boot Canyon for a very restless night. I gladly stayed there instead, out of the wind, and photographed colorful emory oaks and big-tooth maples in the cold autumn light. (Ektachrome 64 E-6 4x5 Daylight Film) TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 33 Jim Bones: After a very wet fall and winter, an early spring brought riotous color and texture to this diverse community of fragrant plants, only to be covered a week later by snow. In successful years, Big Bend bluebonnets co- operate with hardy bees to produce a distinctive, dark signature honey of the northern Chihuahuan Desert. Equally famous is the delightful whitebrush honey with its delicate bright taste complement. (Ektachrome 64 E-6 4x5 Daylight Film) Jim Bones: The name of this plant, New Deal weed, comes from the Dust Bowl and Great Depression era. In an attempt to recover land from severe drought, Baccharis neglecta shrubs were widely planted to revegetate damaged soil. However, its aggressive habits enabled it to invade streams and disturbed land. Here, however, amid cavernous cracks in flood mud in the Rio Grande floodplain, these sprouts are destined to drink deep and grow into thickets that stabilize an eroding river bank. (Ektachrome 64 E-6 4x5 Daylight Film) 34 O APRIL 2015 Jim Bones: “Singing Cowboy Doug” Caldwell Davis rides through creosote brush and dry cottonwoods on the way from the old Buena Suerte Ranch headquarters to Segundo Falls in Big Bend Ranch State Park. This picture was made on a 30-mile, all-day trip that tested my resolve to carry a 4x5 goliath on horseback when the right choice was more likely a 35mm peashooter. Beloved for his music and quick pepper wit, our friend died of cancer in 2012 and is missed by many across Texas. (Kodachrome 200 35mm Daylight Film) TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 35 Jim Bones: Thriving impossibly on white volcanic ash at the Penguin Rocks, leatherstem — or sangra de drago, the dragon blood plant with reddish, astringent sap — displays all the colors of an eastern fall forest after an early frost at Big Bend Ranch. Ocotillo, yucca, pitaya cactus and mesquite share this sloping neighborhood that is gradually sliding toward the Rio Grande. (Ektachrome 64 E-6 4x5 Daylight Film) 36 O APRIL 2015 Jim Bones: Glenn Springs Canyon cuts through an intrusive igneous sill on the east side of the Chisos Mountains and displays spectacular banding caused by differential separation of minerals as magma cooled slowly deep underground. The brightly colored rock weathers into numerous basins called tinajas, joined by sinuous channels carved by flash floods. Stay out when it rains! (Ektachrome 50 E-3 4x5 Daylight Film) TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 37 Driving from one side of Big Bend National Park to the other easily takes an hour. Exit to the west and you’ll need more time than that to reach Presidio. Rangers at Big Bend Ranch State Park recommend allowing a couple of hours for the 27 miles of unpaved road from RM 170 to the park’s Saucedo headquarters complex. Drive across the Rio Grande (or Rio Bravo, as it’s known in Mexico) into Ojinaga — one of the only places you can do so between Del Rio and El Paso, 300-plus miles by road — and you’ll need a day to navigate a patchwork of paved and unpaved road to Boquillas, Mexico, at the base of the Maderas del Carmen. it ’ s a vast , wild landscape . Within it, several designated areas protect more than 3 million acres. The land is diverse — desert, mountains, river and transition zones between them. Its inhabitants are even more so. Big Bend National Park alone contains 1,200 species of plants, 75 species of mammals, 450 species of birds, 11 species of amphibians, 56 species of reptiles and 40 species of fish. In Mexico’s Maderas del Carmen, scientists have documented 79 mammal species, 80 reptile and amphibian species and more than 250 bird species, as well as 400-plus plant species. This abundant wildlife knows no borders, and for a diverse group of agencies, organizations and individuals, its conservation and management know no borders, either. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, U.S. Geological Survey and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department formally created the Big Bend Conservation Cooperative in 2010. That group works with various agencies in Mexico, including the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources, National Commission on Natural Protected Areas, National Water Commission and National nature without PROTECTING AND MANAGING WILDLIFE AND HABITAT IN THE BIG BEND BY MELISSA GASKILL 38 O APRIL 2015 Institute on Ecology and Climate Change. Private landowners and universities from both countries, the World Wildlife Fund, the Nature Conservancy, Sierra Madre Association and corporations such as Coca- Cola and CEMEX (a worldwide building materials company based in Mexico) also participate. The challenges they face are as large and diverse as the landscape itself, from a struggling river to wildlife threatened by habitat loss, climate change and exotic invaders. Addressing these issues wouldn’t be easy under the best of circumstances; here, the job is Herculean. Still, progress has been made. Bighorn sheep, black bears and beavers thrive. Rio Grande silvery minnows may make a comeback, and biologists are closing gaps in knowledge about bats. Some battles with invasive cane have been won, and a reopened (albeit roadless) border crossing at Boquillas makes everyone’s job a bit easier. borders TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 39 PHOTO © RITA MAE FREY The South Rim of the Chisos Mountains lights up at sunrise in Big Bend National Park. BIGHORN SHEEP This area offers perfect habitat for bighorn sheep, which cope well in dry areas and prefer steep, sparsely vegetated slopes. Although the state outlawed hunting of bighorns in 1903, by 1958, the animals had disappeared in Texas. Sheep from Nevada, Arizona and Utah were released in Texas in the 1980s and ’90s, and the animals did well at TPWD’s Elephant Mountain Wildlife Management Area. Between 1995 and 2000, 58 sheep from there were transplanted to Black Gap WMA, and that population is thriving, in part thanks to artificial water catchments. Bighorns have expanded into surrounding private properties and Big Bend National Park. In 2010 and 2011, 140 collared sheep were transferred to Big Bend Ranch State Park, a move that has increased the numbers and distribution of the Texas population. TPWD monitors the animals to help gauge the success of management activities. Bighorn populations have now been established in several West Texas mountain ranges in cooperation with private landowners and the Texas Bighorn Society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to returning the bighorn sheep to its range in Texas. In Mexico, CEMEX began purchasing land in and around Maderas del Carmen in 2000, creating the 400,000-acre El Carmen conservation project. In 2001 and 2002, managers removed domestic livestock and fences, developed water sources and released 48 bighorns from Sonora into a 12,300-acre brood facility encircled by a predator-proof fence. Project managers released animals into the wild in 2004 and 2005. In Mexico and the United States, bighorns face competition from exotic Barbary or aoudad sheep (native to North Africa) and threats from recurring drought. Mexico’s National Commission of Natural Protected Areas is developing a climate change strategy for the 174 protected areas it manages, including Maderas del Carmen. The project’s bighorns are expected to mix with those in Texas and help expand the population. In anticipation of that, Big Bend National Park’s chief of science and resource management David Larson says the park may more aggressively manage its aoudad. Unlimited hunting of aoudad is allowed year-round on private land in Texas (hunting license required), and special hunting permits are granted periodically in certain state parks and WMAs. BLACK BEARS One of our continent’s largest mammals, black bears reach up to 6 feet in length and 300 pounds. They eat mostly leaves, fruits, berries, roots and other vegetable material, along with insects and small mammals when the opportunity arises. Desert bighorn sheep are making a comeback in the Big Bend region. PHOTO © GARY KRAMER Bighorn Sheep Return Video 40 O APRIL 2015 BEAVERS These large rodents are known for their ability to alter the landscape, creating ponds and wetlands that provide vital habitat for other wildlife and improve water quality by removing sediments and pollutants. In Mexico, beavers remain only on tributaries of the Rio Bravo del Norte, as the river is known there. The NPS sponsored a study in the 1970s that provided a baseline for the population, PHOTO © KRISTA SCHLYER Black bears once roamed throughout North America, with two subspecies in West Texas: the Mexican and the New Mexico black bear. Both disappeared here by the 1950s, but remnant populations remained in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila and the Carmens. Thanks to protection there, their numbers grew and, after occasional, temporary forays by individuals across the river, bears returned to Texas for good, on their own, in 1988. Big Bend National Park wildlife biologist Raymond Skiles first spotted one in the national park in 1989, an event he calls one of the most important in the park’s history. An extensive study from the late 1990s through 2005 documented collared bears readily crossing the border; scientists in both countries share information on the population. The population in the national park has ranged from a high of 30 to lows of fewer than a dozen. “The Chisos is a very small habitat,” Skiles says. “There is more habitat in the mountain ranges in Mexico. The Maderas del Carmen probably has well over 100 animals and del Burro several times that. Our population is truly dependent for long-term sustainability on being part of that larger international population.” The Borderlands Research Institute monitors and studies the bears, but there is no active management in the park. “We preserve their habitat and analyze any activity such as new structures or trail work to determine its potential impact on bears and other species,” Skiles says. The United States and Mexico come together in Santa Elena Canyon. and a second survey two years ago documented the extent of invasion by exotic nutria, which compete with beavers. Still, beavers seem to be thriving in the Rio Grande, says Skiles. “It’s kind of ironic, as the river is only a shadow of its historic self,” he says. “The floods that scoured vegetation from the shores no longer occur due to dams upstream, and beavers seem to be one of the few species benefiting from that.” Beavers also benefit from removal of invasive cane, which leads to recolonizing by native willows. BATS For decades, no one knew much about the movement patterns of roosting locations of the endangered Mexican long-nosed bat, says David Elkowitz, chief of interpretation at Big Bend National Park. NPS, Bat Conservation International, Texas A&M University and university students from Mexico are working together to fill in the knowledge gaps. Mothers have their pups in central Mexico from April to early June, and then move into northern Mexico. Some of the bats cross to roosting sites in the national park and New Mexico. After August, the Big Bend colony returns to Mexico, moving south with the agave blooms. The bats feed on agave nectar at night, pollinating the plants, and the researchers are documenting where the bats feed and roost. The rugged nature of the land south of the border and difficulty accessing private land make the work very challenging, as does starting from a blank slate. While the roost in Big Bend National TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 41 BIG NUMBERS: 3 million-plus protected acres UNITED STATES Big Bend National Park: 801,000 acres Black Gap Wildlife Management Area: 103,000 acres Big Bend Ranch State Park: 300,000 acres MEXICO Maderas del Carmen Flora and Fauna Protection Area: 514,000 acres Cañon de Santa Elena Flora and Fauna Protection Area: 693,000 acres Ocampo Flora and Fauna Protection Area: 860,000 acres PHOTO © ROLF NUSSBAUMER Rio Bravo del Norte Natural Monument: 5,400 acres Park is protected, in Mexico, human disturbance and destruction of roost sites is common, as many people believe all types of bats spread diseases. Education is, therefore, an important component of the research project. “We don’t just say we’re scientists looking for bats,” Skiles says. “We talk to community groups or schools about the importance of bats and how people can live compatibly with them.” SILVERY MINNOW This 3½-inch fish once lurked in backwaters and pools of the Rio Grande from Española, N.M., to the Gulf of Mexico, but by 1994, the minnow occupied about 7 percent of that range, none of it in Texas. Its decline is attributed to habitat destruction and river modification, invasive species introduction and water quality degradation. Every year from 2008 through 2012, thousands of fish were reintroduced into the river. “It’s an experiment,” Skiles says. “We’re not certain the fish will survive, but river conditions are better than they were back in the 1960s, particularly from a contaminant perspective.” The Fish and Wildlife Service, TPWD, New Mexico Department of Fish and Game and Mexican managers are evaluating and monitoring the fish. RIVER CANE Giant river cane, thought to be native to Asia, was introduced into the U.S. in the early 1800s for erosion control. It does that well but, unfortunately, also crowds out native plants, reduces wildlife habitat, contributes to higher fire frequency and intensity and modifies river hydrology by trapping sediments. National park staff and their colleagues in Mexico have fought the cane for three decades. Removal is 90 percent complete in Boquillas Canyon and upriver to Rio Grande Village, according to Big Bend botanist Joe Sirotnak. The effort will expand through a partnership with the World Wildlife Fund and Coca-Cola. Sediment studies guide cane control efforts, and once removal is complete in Boquillas Canyon, scientists on both sides will be watching to see how that affects river flow. “Right now the river is channelized by walls of trapped sediment,” Sirotnak explains. “The hypothesis is that, without the cane, floods can reshape the channel into a more natural habitat and that will benefit most if not all the aquatic species.” Removal, a combination of herbicide and prescribed burns, is definitely labor intensive, Sirotnak says, and could not happen without active participation from both sides of the The desert blooms at Big Bend National Park. 42 O APRIL 2015 border. In fact, none of these efforts likely would bear fruit without cross- border cooperation. black bear looks for a beehive in a tree in Big Bend's Chisos Mountains. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION PHOTO © LAURENCE PARENT In April 2014, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation convened 60 stakeholders and experts and identified 29 conservation priorities for this region. The report emphasized a binational, collaborative approach. “The future of these natural resources depends upon shared management and the understanding that these populations and habitats are dependent on one another,” says Skiles. Collaboration requires bridging two languages, two cultures and different conservation philosophies, support and funding. Managers point out that the U.S. conservation community is used to the national park model, in which human use is limited to recreation and the land is managed for wildlife. In Mexico, only 20 percent of protected lands — classified as flora- and fauna- protected areas — are owned by the government, the rest operating more like conservation easements. Villages and ranches dot the land across the river. “Mexico has a history and dynamic that needs to be respected, and vice versa,” says Skiles. “I have been extremely impressed with their dedication, motivation and ability to be creative. I’m humbled quite often by our dependence on systems and programs. We rarely have to be as creative and collaborative as they do.” The border crossing at Boquillas, which opened in April 2013, is just one crossing along the several-hundred- mile contact zone of these protected areas. Still, it exponentially increased the ability for scientists and managers to collaborate. “We’re getting the word out that the crossing is open and we want to collaborate again,” Larson says. “Otherwise, we are only looking at half the river.” For wildlife along the border, half is not enough. A TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 43 44 O APRIL 2015 call of the wild turkeys Symphony conductor draws on musical skills to beguile spring gobblers. by mike cox photos by chase a. fountain F or retired Houston Civic Symphony conductor Bob Linder, calling in a big spring gobbler is just another form of performance art. No question, the 76-year-old Marble Falls resident is a maestro in both fields. In addition to his musical credentials (a bachelor’s degree in music and a master’s in conducting), he served four years as president of the 6,000-member National Wild Turkey Foundation’s Texas chapter and has both competed in and judged national turkey-calling competitions. With the waves and dips of his baton, Linder spent decades melding the sounds of diverse musical instruments into an ear- pleasing whole that took on a life of its own. Now he uses his training and experience to extemporaneously compose turkey love songs. “Being a musician and having a good ear for sound, it was easier for me to pick up turkey sound,” he says. “It’s related to music. Turkeys have different voices just like we do, but there is a rhythm and a cadence.” TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 45 Though he had hunted and fished as a kid growing up in Arkansas, Linder spent most of his career in rehearsals and concerts. Not until he reached his 50s did he turn to turkey hunting at the urging of his younger brother. He learned the fundamentals from him, but once he had the basic knowledge, Linder started teaching himself — with ample help from turkeys. Now he’s a virtuoso. Linder has conducted at the Theater Under the Stars in Houston, the Cleveland Opera, the Fifth Avenue Theater in Seattle and the Skylight Music Theater in Milwaukee. Since trading his tuxedo for camouflage, he’s hunted turkey all across Texas and the nation. Three times he’s completed the turkey grand slam, calling in an Eastern, Rio Grande, Merriam’s and Osceola (Florida) turkey. Directing a symphony orchestra, Linder had to turn the talents of 100 musicians spread across five instrumental sections into one pleasing sound. Not so with his new passion. “In turkey hunting,” he says, “it’s mano a mano, you and the turkey. I love to hunt with a friend, but when it comes time to call, I want him on his spot, me on mine. The fun is in working the bird, enticing him into your sphere of influence.” In the spring, when Texas’ half-million wild turkeys begin their breeding season, gobblers are susceptible to calling. If a hen has come into heat and there’s no gobbler around, she starts clucking loud and fast. Gobblers respond quickly to that. Obviously, any hunter who can do a reasonable job of sounding like a lovelorn hen can call a tom into shotgun range. Of course, it’s not all that easy. “A lot of people can make a sound on a box call, but really sounding like a turkey takes a lot of listening and time,” Linder says. “My brother is a turkey guide, and he helped me with beginning sounds. He knows more than I do, and I learned a lot from him, but my ear is better.” As a musician used to dealing with varied musical elements, Linder knows that certain aspects of music are open to interpretation, as they are in calling. “In calling, there are two philosophies,” he says. “The conservative approach is three to five hen yelps and then wait for 30 minutes. A more aggressive caller gets conversational every seven to 10 minutes.” Either way, at some point a gobbler either answers or doesn’t. Sometimes a big bird’s plainly not interested. Sometimes he’s interested but prefers discretion, slipping in silently. “When you’re calling a turkey, let “In turkey hunting, the gobbler determine how loud or it’s mano a mano, you how soft it needs to be,” Linder advises. and the turkey. I love “If he’s gobbling fast, then you do the same thing. Let him determine the to hunt with a friend, speed of responses.” but when it comes time For any call to work, a gobbler must to call, I want him on be, ahem, in the mood for love. his spot, me on mine. “When a gobbler’s hot, you could hit two plates together and he’ll come The fun is in working running,” Linder says. “If he’s not, you the bird, enticing him could be a world champion caller and into your sphere of he won’t come.” influence.” Just as an angler always has a wide range of lures in his tackle box, Linder —Bob Linder carries a bag full of turkey calls, 46 O APRIL 2015 the better to make turkey “music.” Sometimes, depending on conditions, he uses a box call, sometimes a slate call and sometimes a mouth call. Often, he uses all three types during a hunt. For each type of call, Linder has numerous varieties that enable him to produce the sound he thinks best for a particular situation. Each call is suited for high, medium or low sound. Box calls can be made to mimic yelps and clucks and cackles; slate calls are good for those as well as putts and purrs. “For the average hunter, a mouth call is not easy to master,” he says. “But everyone can master box and slate.” Having spent decades dealing with notes, octaves, scales and scores, Linder tends to see things in categories and sequences. In spring turkey season, he knows there are three distinct phases. The first, early on, is when the hens are not ready to breed but the gobblers are running with them. The toms are so eager to get with the program that they don’t want to be anywhere else or with anyone else, much less answer a distant call on speculation. During this phase, it is almost impossible to call in a tom. When the gobblers are thusly “henned up,” the dominant hen decides where the flock is going to go. “The only way to get a shot is to make her mad by mimicking her, only louder,” he says. “She’ll coming looking for you and drag a gobbler with her.” In the second phase, which is the easiest time to hunt, the hens are ready and the flock breaks into smaller groups, with one or two gobblers sticking with three or four hens. Breeding usually occurs in the first 30 minutes to an hour after the birds have come off the roost. The dominant gobbler enjoys most of the action and takes every opportunity to thwart any rivals, to the point of trying to keep the less macho gobblers from even gobbling. That’s why toms gobble on the roost in the morning and evening — they want hens to come in and join them. In the third phase, the hens are all bred and sitting on their nests. Boys TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 47 Turkey Calling Basics Video 48 O APRIL 2015 don’t shine the light toward the roost. Turkeys aren’t all ears. Their vision is acute. Because a turkey detects motion so easily, Linder says there are only two smart times to raise your gun once you’ve gotten a tom close to your blind: when he’s strutting and his fan is covering his head and when his head goes behind a tree or bush. “You can’t outdraw a gobbler,” he says, laughing. “And they are easy to miss. If a turkey happens to jerk its neck about the time you pull the trigger, it’s a miss.” When he opts to use decoys, Linder prefers setting out a large gobbler and a hen. Seeing this setup, a flesh- and-blood gobbler with a dominating nature may well come in to run off his perceived rival. But Linder doesn’t rely on rubber birds all the time. “Sometimes decoys are good, sometimes not,” he says. “If a decoy is spinning in the wind, it scares off both the gobblers and the hens.” Linder says he’s seen hens walk up on a decoy, start making alarm putts and leave the area. “In years where there’s lots of jakes, I don’t use jake decoys. If there are just a few jakes, a gobbler will whip them and chase them off. But if there are a lot of jakes, they will gang up on gobblers. So, out of caution, the gobbler won’t approach the jake decoy.” Though some decoys are designed to blow with the wind to simulate natural movement, Linder uses adhesive tape so the decoys won’t spin. The movement doesn’t look all that natural and scares off most birds, he says. Like humans, turkeys prefer good weather. If it’s too hot, they go to water early and late, spending the rest of the day standing under a tree, not moving much. “Turkeys like cool, sunny days,” he says. “They hate wind because it allows predators to get closer. Toms won’t gobble when the wind’s high.” There are a lot of good books, tapes and videos on turkey hunting, Linder says, “but it’s the birds that teach you. And it’s a lifelong process. They are one of God’s great creatures, and it’s a wonderful experience to interact with them.” T ools of the trade (L-R): Mouth calls, slate calls, box calls and fighting purr calls can all be used to lure in that wise old tom. The fighting purr call can attract even stubborn turkeys. Box calls are good for making yelps, clucks and cackles. Slate calls are also good for purrs and putts. Mouth calls make a variety of vocalizations but can be hard to master. FEATHERS PHOTO BY JEFF FORMAN / TPWD being boys, gobblers are still trying to find interested hens, but they are not as quick to come in to a call. To the extent that a creature with a brain only 2 percent of its body size can learn, gobblers by this point have come to believe it pays to be more cautious. No matter the phase, hens and gobblers start their day where they ended their previous day — in the roost. Once they come down (to avoid predators, they do this in the open) they generally take about a two-mile walk. They go to water, then feed on forbs and bugs as they move along. In the evening, they go to water and then circle back to their roost. “Tomorrow they may go in a different direction,” Linder says, “but you can pattern them once they get on their trail.” For example, he says, if a hunter sees a gobbler by a tree and a hen dusting at 1:30 in the afternoon, they’ll probably be in the same place tomorrow. “You can pattern them when they enter or leave the field and learn certain places they use all the time,” he says. Linder suggests arriving at your stand early, at least 30 minutes before gobbling time, to let the woods get quiet. If a hunter makes a lot of noise, the birds are not going to come off the roost until they feel safe. Before you sit down, he adds, use a green light to check for snakes and other critters, but 10 Spring Gobbler Tips Bob Linder spent his professional career making the best of the dozen musical notes and all their ranges, but looking back on his two-plus decades as a turkey hunter (aver- aging two birds a season) he offers 10 fundamental best practices for spring gobblers: 1. Scout the property you are going to hunt in advance and find out where the birds are roosting, usually one of the bigger trees on the place. If you plan on using a popup stand, set it up early so turkeys will have time to get accustomed to it. 2. Learn how to be still while also being comfortable. Patience is critical. Turkeys can’t be rushed. 3. Know how your shotgun performs. Pattern it, and know which size shot is better for the situation – No. 4, 5 or 6. Aim for the neck rather than the head so the pattern covers both the neck and head. Linder prefers three-inch shells, but doesn’t like to take long shots unless he has no other choice. And don’t forget the earplugs. 4. Be properly camouflaged, with head-net and gloves. Also camouflage your shotgun. 5. Know when you need to sit still or move on a bird. Sometimes, if he won’t come in, you can move to a better location and he’ll come right in. 6. Pick a concealed place (against a wide tree or in a popup stand) that a bird can approach fairly easily. If he has to go to a lot of trouble to get to you, he’s likely to go someplace else. Cut brush to clear a shooting corridor if necessary. 7. Never spook birds off their roost. That’s their safety zone and you want them to keep it. Stay at least 100 yards away. 8. Join the National Wild Turkey Foundation, where you will learn about turkey biology and make hunting friends. In addition, the organization works to improve turkey habitat and numbers. 9. You need to see the turkey before it sees you, and he’ll be looking hard. That’s because something’s trying to get turkeys 24/7, be it bobcat or human. They are wary. 10. Finally, learn to talk turkey. In his run-up to Broadway-like stardom in the turkey-calling field, Linder did a lot of eavesdropping, sometimes making recordings for more extensive study. He also studied books, tapes and videos. TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 49 Legend, Lore & Legacy Wild River as a by John Jefferson Bob Burleson’s adventurous spirit led him to enjoy and conserve the natural world. A s a kid, Bob Burleson dreamed of becoming a mountain man. His dream came true, but he became much more than that. Burleson was a true Renaissance man, a person knowledgeable and PHOTOS COURTESY OF BURLESON FAMILY skilled in numerous disciplines. In Burleson’s case, those disciplines included law (his chosen profession), archeology, botany, natural science, conservation, exploration, hunting, ecology, canoeing and caving. He also was adept at plumbing, electrical wiring, oil field work, farming and automotive engine repair. “He knew more about more things than anybody I’ve ever known. He was my Wikipedia!” says his brother, Bruce, a lawyer for Scott and White Hospital and an ordained minister who helped officiate Burleson’s memorial service in 2009. 50 O APRIL 2015 Through observation and diligent practice, Burleson learned to play (by ear) the guitar, mandolin and banjo and even speak Spanish. His guidebook, Backcountry Mexico (University of Texas Press, 1986, co-authored with TPWD’s David Riskind), included an extended glossary of Spanish phrases. Burleson and his guitar were frequently found around riverbank campfires. That guitar accompanied him on countless trips down the Rio Grande and other streams. Wife Mickey says her husband, blessed with a photographic memory, knew all the verses to thousands of songs. Linda Aaker, wife of former Texas Parks and Wildlife Commissioner Bob Armstrong, recalls that Burleson sang all 18 verses of Rosalie’s Good Eats Café at their annual ranch campfire. He hiked many mountains, but he also spent a great deal of time arguing courtroom cases, testifying before congressional committees, floating rivers, teaching Sunday school and influencing Texans and others about the need to conserve precious and fragile natural resources. He once gave U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas a guided tour through the Lower Canyons of the Rio Grande. The Burlesons made their home on a 500-acre reclaimed cotton field northeast of Temple that they restored to nearly its original state as a native tallgrass prairie. Today it boasts around 100 species of wildflowers and other native plants that didn’t exist on the cotton field. The Burlesons shared their slice of paradise with many people through tours and field days. Mickey Burleson still lives there. Sitting on the couch listening to her tell stories about Bob, I notice the unusual fireplace. Many of the limestone blocks around it bear reproductions of Native American rock art. Of course, archeology was one of Burleson’s avocations, and Mickey partnered in many of his explorations. He led archeological surveys in many areas, including around Lake Belton and on (what was to become) Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir. His disdain for artifact plundering led him to draft and assist in passing the Texas Antiquities Code. Burleson participated in numerous Texas Archaeological Society field schools, enlivening their evenings by leading the music. The Burlesons’ library is a long set of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, extending about 30 feet down a hallway. Mickey said Bob had read every volume, some more than once. He despised television, preferring instead to read. Burleson was greatly respected as a trial lawyer, practicing in Temple and primarily defending medical malpractice suits. He had several offers to move to larger firms in Dallas and Houston, but he politely declined each one. “I don’t want to work more than five minutes away from open country,” he told his wife. It’s a sentiment reminiscent of conservation icon Aldo Leopold’s quote in Sand County Almanac: “There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot.” Burleson and Leopold certainly fit the latter description. Burleson was interested in all wildlife, and particularly fond of birds. Mickey said he could identify most species on the wing. Yet he loved hunting doves and quail — not unlike John J. Audubon, who shot birds to study them up-close for his famous Burleson urged protection for the Rio Grande and worked tirelessly for its designation as a Wild and Scenic River, both in Washington and on the river itself. Burleson and wife Mickey on a relaxed float trip. TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 51 PHOTO BY EARL NOTTINGHAM / TPWD and enduring paintings. During the 1970s, as interest in canoeing Texas rivers burgeoned, Burleson’s name was spoken with reverence around streamside campfires. He had canoed all the canyons of the Rio Grande and compiled field notes that most considered a “bible” of work. The National Park Service still uses some of his observations. He urged protection for the Rio Grande and worked tirelessly for its designation as a Wild and Scenic River, both in Washington and on the river itself. A Texas Observer article by Dave Richards tells of Burleson, Armstrong, Richards and others taking a New York Times journalist down the river to gain support. The Burleson on a mission trip to Mexico. 52 O APRIL 2015 columnist subsequently wrote that it mattered not what Congress did: The river and the people were already wild enough. Burleson went on to become executive director of the American Whitewater Affiliation, the national association of whitewater river runners. The Burlesons hiked extensively. Often, it was more than just a walk in the park. On a hike to the Guadalupe Mountains, Mickey said rattlesnakes were everywhere. They wore snake leggings, and stayed on high alert. Except once. Stopping to rest, Bob started to sit down on a big rock, but abruptly changed his plans when a rattler sounded beneath him. Mickey recalls another time when Bob got stuck exploring a small cave. His pistol holster hung up on the tight rocks as he was crawling out backward. Unable to go forward or backward, he was trapped underground. He finally managed to twist the holster around to his back and wriggle out. The Burlesons met Riskind in the Guadalupe Mountains and became lifelong friends and fellow adventurers. Together, they paddled the rivers and explored the boondocks. Riskind says that Burleson’s knowledge and passion for West Texas led him to contact the Texas land commissioner and discuss initiating a natural area survey of state land, a significant turning point for Texas state parks. Through that survey, and with the help of the Texas Explorers Club (which Burleson helped form), the Guadalupe Mountains were designated as a national park. Other survey sites that became state parks or natural areas include Big Bend Ranch, Devils River, Enchanted Rock, Hueco Tanks, Lost Maples, Seminole Canyon and others. Burleson’s experience and dedication to wilderness areas led to his appointment to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission in 1968. He became a strong voice for conservation but riled some by opposing dredging of oyster beds, which damaged marine life. His term expired in 1975. Mickey also served on the TPW Commission from 1993 to 1999. One so knowledgeable on so many subjects could easily become a stuffy, insensitive egotist, but that was definitely not Burleson. In an article written by Lea Burleson Buffington about her father, Riskind is quoted as saying that Mexicans would describe Bob as simpatico. Said Riskind, “It connotes that he is one of us.” The minister of the small church the Burlesons attended (and helped with mission trips into Mexico) wrote an admiring, posthumous blog about Burleson called “Who Taught You How to Live?” The clergyman even named his son Bob. Bob Burleson’s warm smile told everyone he met that he was genuinely interested in what they had to say. He was a student of life, learning something new from everyone he met, from everything he did and from every bend in the river. O How to Tell Time Like a Man Our digital-analog hybrid has two sides... tough and tougher. Get it now for an unbelievable $59! Y our watch shouldn’t cost more than your car. It should look and feel like a power tool and not a piece of bling. Wearing it shouldn’t make you think twice about swinging a hammer or changing a tire. A real man’s timepiece needs to be ready for anything. But that’s just my opinion. If you agree, maybe you’re ready for the Stauer Centurion Hybrid. 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The river here is at about 1,800 feet above sea level, and the mountains crest at 8,900 feet, forming a vertical relief of almost a mile and a half. The massive, uplifted limestone seabeds of the Mexican Sierra del Carmen form the eastern boundary of a vast down-dropped geologic basin, the Sunken Block of Udden, which extends 40 miles westward to Santa Elena Canyon and the uplifted Mesa de Anguila. For more Big Bend photos by Jim Bones, see our cover story on Page 29.