The holidays are a special time when it comes to "Continuing the Hunting, Shooting Sports and Outdoor Heritage," 

In Texas, when the bald cypress, red oak and other colors permeate our senses, and there is a cool, crisp feel to most days, it is time to STEP OUTSIDE and enjoy our favorite past times!

I was able to do just that with my wife, daughter, and sister in-law in South Carolina over Thanksgiving. We enjoyed boating, fishing, bird watching, a terrific turkey supper and meal of THANKS, and football, of course -- celebrating our American & outdoor heritage. The three of us will get to do the same with our son, new grandson, and daughter in-law here in Texas over the Christmas holidays. Yeah!

I wish for you, your family & friends the same this holiday season -- Life is Truly Better Outside! Happy, SAFE, LEGAL and ETHICAL Hunting this season!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Steve Hall, Hunter Education Coordinator

Chris Mitchell, Executive Director of the Texas Youth Hunting Program (TYHP), promotes program on social media --this one a blog called Curiosity with Jon & Mike (Episode 46).  "(Chris) talks us through the TYHP experience. What training is needed to get started, what you can expect when joining a hunt and the lasting memories that are captured during the action-packed weekend."

R3 - Recruitment

Willard Franklin III, Houston, with Four W's Outdoors, is another of a long list of Texas Hunter Education Program's "Pied Pipers" for hunting, target shooting, conservation, and the outdoors. Franklin says, "My goal is to promote diversity in the outdoors and make everyone feel welcome to visit the refuge system."  Franklin, who teaches and assists with TPWD's angler, boater and hunter education programs, was at the instructor conference last April filming instructor recognition, keynote addresses and generally assisting with media needs of the program and staff.  Currently he is working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and their efforts to increase hunting opportunities on national wildlife refuges and with their diversity & inclusion efforts, in general. Involving his family and with a lively spirit, Willard's propensity is to help others figure it out. He has many outdoor skills and several boats that he uses to take folks on their first outings. He reaches many audiences via YouTube and other social media in a professional manner.  In that vein, he always finishes with "Let's Go Outdoors!"

Just in time for Christmas!

Hello Hunter Ed Instructor, 

First, we want to thank you for your effort to help us provide hunter education to new hunters.  Your efforts are paramount to successfully growing the Conservation Industry.

Second, we want to pass along a fantastic, no-cost reward provided by IHEA-USA and ExpertVoice.  This reward gives you discounts up to 70% on brands like Browning, Bushnell, Scentlok, Carhartt, Camp Chef, Mystery Ranch and 100’s more.  With the holidays around the corner, brands like these will be offering increased incentives.   

As always, you can join IHEA-USA to access ExpertVoice and all the IHEA-USA Members exclusive discounts also.  Join IHEA-USA HERE

Again, thank you for your dedication to Hunting Education. 

Andrew Smith | Membership Director

Joe McBride - McBride's Guns, Inc., Austin, is an outdoors, hunting, shooting sports and conservation legacy in Texas! An icon in the sporting goods business in Texas, and especially Central Texas, "Everyone in the conservation community knows Joe!" He has personally attended hundreds of fundraisers and banquets, contributing ten, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of dollars in products towards the efforts of conservation organizations.

Joe has worked integrally with Texas Parks & Wildlife Department and has supported hunter education, Texas Wildlife Expo, and many other programs throughout most of four decades.  He has a passion for the Department's mission and has been integrally involved in Operation Game Thief  and its committee board since its beginnings, currently serving as Chairman-Emeritus.  THANKS, Joe, for all you do for Texas wildlife and conservation programs -- You are a true friend!

Photo:  In November, Steve Hall, Hunter Education Coordinator, took time to visit Joe McBride -- where else -- in his store where every shopper seems to know him by his first name. It's amazing how such a busy man spends personal time with many of his patrons in the sporting arms and goods industry. Thanks again, Joe!

2019 N TX Instructor of the Year

Charles Edenfield, Saginaw, was presented with his 2019 North Texas Instructor of the Year regional award recently by Monica Bickerstaff, N TX Hunter Education Specialist. Edenfield teaches at the Shooting Gallery in Fort Worth and has conducted over a hundred courses, certifying nearly 1600 students and garnering over 2,000 incentive points since becoming an instructor in 2017. Thank you for your dedication, Charles! And thanks for teaching hands-on live-fire exercises!

2020 Game Warden of the Year

Lieutenant Game Warden, Matt Kiel, Hamilton, was recently honored with the 2020 Game Warden of the Year Award. Game Warden Keil, along with one of his partner Game Wardens, Michael Serbanic, have dedicated countless hours to participating in Waco-area hunter education courses and presenting safety briefings to hunters prior to their mentored hunts at Lake Waco (See below).  Congratulations, Matt!

Monica Bickerstaff, N TX Hunter Education Specialist, assisted with the Blue's Wounded Game Recovery Hunt and passed on the following Facebook post.

"I was invited to go help the Irving Police Department and Whitney U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) with a youth hunt this weekend. Irving PD has a program called Police Athletic League (PAL) and their Urban Outdoors Program. These fine officers take  time every week to work with these kids in all different sports including archery. If the kids attend every week's archery session, they can qualify with a crossbow and can come to Whitney and hunt. This year PAL had 14 inner city kids ranging from 13-17 yrs. old -- boys and girls, both. Had it not been for Irving PAL these kids would never have had a chance to experience the outdoors, let alone have a chance to hunt. Talking to some of these kids, they are talking about becoming a Game Warden or wildlife Biologist. That is giving a young adult a new experience in life that will help keep the legacy of hunting going...

... Not all 14 young adults were able to get a deer, but 11 of them were able to take a 'trophy' home. As we all know any deer in archery is a trophy. I was blessed to be able to track six deer with a pup I have been training. The young adults enjoyed watching a dog track a deer and then speed up the process of finding the more difficult deer for the PAL 'coaches'. Each coach had two young adults in the blind with them. The hunt was over the weekend -- consisting of 3 total hunts.

I (must) take my hat off to the coaches! They were getting everyone up at 4am and didn’t get in bed till 11 pm Friday and Saturday nights. Remember they are doing this on their own time. Some of the officers were retired and still coming to do this. We need to applaud these fine officers!...

... I would like to thank USACE for providing Irving PAL a place to hunt. They closed a park, put up all the blinds and had people putting out corn every morning and evening to ensure the best odds for these young adults to get (an opportunity). They had several Rangers there all weekend on overtime to help make this go smoothly." 

- Kevin Knowlin, Volunteer

Thanks, once again, to Bass Pro Shops - Grapevine, for hosting hunter education courses at their facility. Longtime hunter education instructors and teaching partners, Jose Garcia, Irving, and Stephan Polansky, Dallas, present Sue Ghose with a framed "Certificate of Appreciation" signed by TPWD Executive Director, Carter Smith, and Hunter Education Coordinator, Steve Hall. The courses have been packed this year, presenting a win-win relationship. Well Done!

As of the release of this newsletter, there are only three more weeks until Texas hunters take the woods and fields in search of Holiday venison, turkey, and other wild game meats.  Hopefully, you have courses scheduled and can accommodate last-minute planners seeking in-person courses of instruction.

Photo:  James Davis, Area Chief from Pasadena, was able to get out himself and to "smell the roses"!

According to SE TX Hunter Education Specialist, Heidi Rao, "James has been hunting on his deer lease since 1998. He took a trophy of his lifetime recently. He shot this beauty with his model 99 - 300 savage lever action rifle. (He had called Savage company to find out when this rifle was made. According to the serial number it is estimated between 1899 and 1901.) Polk County is under the antler restriction rule, but lucky for James, this deer measured a 14 1/2-inch spread!  James said this will not be used as one of his training aids, it will be hanging on his wall. Congratulations James!

Hunter Education Course at KTV Ranch

"I had an absolutely outstanding time today, teaching Hunter Education to a fantastic group of young hunters.  Many thanks to Chad Heise for hosting the event at KTV Ranch," said instructor, Dixon Gunter, San Antonio.  One of Dixon's specialty is waterfowl hunting and here the students review the safety, laws, proper setup and conditions for a typical waterfowl experience. Way to go, Dixon, sounds like a quality, hands-on field course for the students!

Paloma Ranch TYHP Youth Hunt

"I just wanted to share a few photos from this weekend. Adam and I had the pleasure of certifying 10 kids in Hunter Ed on the beautiful Paloma Ranch in Eagle Pass (owned by TWA life members Roy and Ryan Seiders).The Seiders family and friends were so welcoming and the kids got, in my opinion, one of the most immersive and fun Hunter Ed classes around!! Roy plans to make this a yearly event, and we look forward to doing more classes like this."

Kristin Brooke Parma - Membership Coordinator Texas Wildlife Association

Waterfowl 101 Workshop

Heidi Rao, SE TX Hunter Education Specialist, (Center) and Cheryl LeJune, Area Chief, Houston, (R) went to Sam Houston State University (SHSU) campus to teach the Hunter Education content and skills to Philip Urso’s Wildlife Management students as part of Delta Waterfowl's "HunteR3" efforts to reach out to university level students. The following week the two hunter educators returned, this time to Able’s Gun Range in Huntsville to go through live-fire exercises and teach the first-time hunters how to safely handle and shoot shotguns. Rao is shown here demonstrating how to double-check the action of the over-and-under to one of the students. Rao said, "Later that week, SHSU staff met with Central Flyway Outfitters guides who took the lucky teens on their first ever hunt!"  She continued, "This is the total R3 model at work -- I love it!"

"Our course is Waterfowl Management. We had 30 total students in the course, eight (8) were chosen to hunt, seven (7) shot at the range, and six (6) actually made the hunt with our partner, Central Flyway Outfitters. Every student who attended was a first-time duck/waterfowl hunter.

I plan to do this every fall with this course. I also am very excited to become a certified Hunter Education Instructor and a TYHP Huntmaster 😊!

Phil M. Urso, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor | Wildlife Management

SHSU School of Agricultural Sciences

Johnnie Smith - O&E Director

"Bowhunting 101 Workshop changed my entire approach to arrow setup!"

"Dr. Ashby’s "Arrow Lethality" Bowhunting 101 workshop changed my entire approach in arrow setup. Previously, the only real considerations I made were to achieve the setup that yielded the most accuracy at the range I could comfortably shoot. The typical setup for these results includes light arrows and points, chosen to flatten the trajectory and make accurate shot placement more likely. This approach only deals with getting the arrow to the target; of course, the whole point of bowhunting is to get your arrow THROUGH the target. My friends, those two do not necessarily go together, especially when striking heavy bone -- unless you incorporate Dr. Ashby’s 12 Arrow Penetration Enhancing Factors ...

...With these considerations in mind, I went “full on Ashby” and completely changed my setup. Folks, I’ve never shot better. My accuracy has improved, and the penetration is awesome. Nothing in the past couple of decades has so fundamentally changed my bow shooting and confidence, which is higher than ever.

If I do my job with good shot placement, even if I encounter heavy bone (as can happen), I know my arrow will do its job, greatly reducing the potential for wounding loss.

According to Dr. Ashby, “Each of the factors that you add to your arrow setup will improve the terminal performance of the arrow system you are using. The more of the factors you incorporate in your arrow system the more the terminal performance is enhanced.” After having incorporated all 12 factors, I have rising confidence for this year’s whitetail season. Of course, I hope to test my setup on several feral pigs before then…stay tuned."

Photo: 50-yard shot with my current setup. 240 spine tapered shafts, 735 grains total arrow weight, 30% FOC, 28" shafts, 300 grain RH single bevel broadheads, 2 inch feather fletching, that are bare shaft and nock-tuned. 190fps.

NOTE: The following materials are available by emailing steve.hall@tpwd.texas.gov

Thank you again for helping the Texas Department of Public Safety spread the word about safe gun storage to gun owners. Together we can protect our kids, prevent accidents, and keep our firearms out of the hands of criminals.

The holiday season is here and that means family and friends will gather together for love and laughter. Help us make homes safer when guests arrive, especially the little ones! Visit this page to view post examples and to download images and text that you can use in your social media efforts.

We also have two new items in the Partner Toolkit about safe gun storage for your communication efforts!! Please take a few minutes to review the new safe gun storage checklist card for print out, and a coloring sheet to hand out at schools and education trainings for children. 

Please contact us at info@safegunstoragetexas.com or call 512.750.5199 with any questions or if you need any collateral for your partner marketing efforts! If you have alternative ways to communicate that are not in the Partner Toolkit and need materials or creative resized, please let us know.

Best wishes for your holiday season,

Glenda Beasley, Safe Gun Storage Partner Coordinator on behalf of the

Texas Department of Public Safety; www.safegunstoragetexas.com

Grace Pratt  (1957-2021)

Area Chief, Grace Pratt, Pflugerville, passed away in October, and will be dearly missed as a pillar in the Central Texas area, and a rifle, handgun and hunter education instructor at the Becoming an Outdoors-Woman (BOW) program held throughout Texas. Rest in Peace, Grace, and thanks for you service to hunter education through the years!

From her obituary: 

"Grace Pratt passed away at home surrounded by her loving family on the evening of 29 October 2021.  Grace had a happy, full and energetic life. She was generous soul raising five children and fostering four more. Grace extended her generosity to many including her friends, the church women's club, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and the many UT Austin students she mentored...

Grace was the epitome of an Outdoor Woman. Whether it was camping, paddling, fishing, hunting, or sitting on the beach, Grace would get it and go, go, go!  Grace has ridden through a thunderstorm in a tent; caught tuna, mackerel, and snapper in up to 30-foot seas (never seasick). She fought a shark for over 4 hours; wintered on the beach in Port Aransas; and ten camped with her friends all the way to Main (loved the lobsters). Grace was blessed to help restore herself a piece of the Hill Country, go deep sea fishing from Port Aransas, and much more.

And she shared her passion, skills, and knowledge with many other including the Texas Outdoor Women's Network" (TOWN), Hunter Education and BOW programs.  Her teaching and mentoring helped make many new hunters safe and ethical. She enabled women to blossom becoming confident in the outdoors and in themselves...."

Photo: Grace teaching a Spanish-speaking course in Austin.

Lawson "Buddy" Turner (1947 - 2021)

"Buddy graduated from the Texas Game Warden Academy in 1971, but quickly left the agency to further his education. In 1979, he married Chery and they resided in Fort Worth until 1980 when he returned to work for the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. He was stationed in Dallas, and the couple moved to Cedar Hills. He was promoted to Game Warden III in August 1985 and Special investigator (Sgt.) in May of 1993. In June of 1996, he was promoted to Assistant Chief on the Austin Headquarters Staff, where he remained until his retirement in 2008. At headquarters, among other things, he was responsible for the Operation Game Thief program, which is Texas’ wildlife, fisheries and boating-oriented version of “crime stoppers. He also was President of the Texas Game Warden Association from 1985-1990 and was responsible for planning, coordinating and managing all facets of the organizations activities, while maintaining clear communications with the legislature, TPWD Commission and HQ Staff.  Buddy’s reputation for integrity was widely known in both his public and private communications with legislators, wardens and the public."  READ FULL OBITUARY HERE!