Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

Fishing just got a lot easier thanks to a series of “how-to” videos you can find on YouTube from Texas Parks and Wildlife. Producer Whitney Bishop.

We teach family fishing events where we teach kids how to fish. And what we found was that a lot of parents had gotten a little rusty on fishing. You know, maybe it had been years since they’d been, and they’d forgotten the basics. So, we developed a series of short Fishing 101 videos to give people the basic skills they need to go out fishing.

…our Fishing 101 series takes a step back and gives you the basics: everything you need to know about fishing but were afraid to ask.

Thanks, Whitney.

Go to YouTube.com to see the videos.

The Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series and works to increase fishing and boating opportunities in Texas.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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This is Passport to Texas

Longtime caver, Rae Nadler-Olenick, stopped by our office recently to offer advice to beginning cavers.

08—The first step is to find some other cavers, because cavers are very helpful and generous in getting new cavers started.

Always go caving with a buddy, wear a hardhat, and bring three sources of light. Don’t forget water and snacks. Oh, and dress appropriately.

23—I would recommend the layered approach. There are various kinds of silks and different kinds of underwear, and just all different things. I dress in layers. If I expect to be cold, I might use a thermal undershirt, and then stack some t-shirts, a flannel shirt, a sweatshirt. As far as the layers are concerned, I like to wear things that can be easily tied around the waste.

Caving is a physically and mentally demanding sport; you have to think on your feet even when you’re crawling on your belly.

18—A lot of people in the Austin area get introduced to caving through Airman’s cave, which is an uncomfortable stoop walk much of the distance. And you’re always hearing of people getting stuck in that cave for awhile, but you don’t hear of anyone getting hurt of killed in it.

Find caving information on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

That’s our show…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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This is Passport to Texas

Sausage is an easy, tasty way to utilize the scraps and organ meat of large game animals like deer. The trick to making good sausage, says Jesse Griffiths, a hunter and chef who teaches people how to process and cook venison, is to keep everything cold—from the ingredients to the equipment.

You want the fat and the protein to remain separate, so when you mix it together, they’re going to bind together and form this cohesive mass; that’s going to greatly affect the texture of the sausage and keep the fat from leaking out of the sausage which is going to moisten the end product, and keep that venison really tender, and make the sausage a really nice texture—sliceable, and not crumbly or grainy.

Cold water lowers the temperature and maintains the bind between the fat and the protein, and also reduces the likelihood of the fat separating out, and at the same time it distributes the flavorings—the salt and the seasons that are in the sausage—and makes them more homogeneous within the sausage.

We have a venison sausage recipe at www.passporttotexs.org. Our show receives support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program, working to increase fishing and hunting opportunities in Texas.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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Find wild game recipes right here, my friends.

 Tips for Making Venison Sausage: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

By now many hunters have ventured into the field at least once to track and harvest deer; for most hunters, the act isn’t about bringing home a trophy—it’s about spending time in nature and bringing food home for the table. It’s also about developing a connection with the food they eat, which is something hard to do with plastic wrapped cuts of meat on Styrofoam trays, stamped with “sell by” dates.

Harvesting your own meat may not be easy, but you definitely know what you’re getting.

Jesse Griffiths is a hunter and chef, and teaches classes on processing and cooking venison. He says oftentimes hunters unnecessarily waste meat.

19—I don’t think that people are utilizing as much as they could or should, which is really why I wanted to put on this class. I wanted to show people how, because it’s just not in our culture anymore to know how to do that. So, it is by no fault of most hunters. I think that they would. I mean, don’t throw the liver away. Now, if you’re going to make 30 pounds of sausage, if you don’t like the taste of liver, put it in there and you’ll get the nutrition.

If in the past you’ve left sausage making to the processor, perhaps it’s time to make your own. Tomorrow, Chef Griffiths offers tips on doing just that.

06—You’ve got it ground to the point where you want it already, and now you want to bind those and make those stick together—like literally become sticky.

That’s our show…with support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program, working to increase fishing and hunting opportunities in Texas.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

 No Waste Venison Cookery: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

As author of the Texas Campground Cookbook, Roger Arnhart knows a few things about food preparation. He’s perfected recipes for everything from pot roast to pastries – creating his culinary masterpieces in rather out of the way locales, with unusual low tech equipment.

If you’re ready to test your campground culinary creativity, Arnhardt says two pieces of cooking apparatus that no open-air chef should leave home without are a cookie sheet and four aluminum soda cans…emptied.

A pit grill is a wonderful thing to cook on. Unfortunately the grill is fixed so you can’t control how high that grill is over your fire. So one of the things that I recommend that every camper does, is go buy aluminum cookie sheets. Along with what I call my riser, those are coke cans, put that cookie sheet on top of the coke cans and you can bring it up to the proper height. If it’s too high you can crush the coke cans and make it about a three-inch riser. And then you start your charcoal on the cookie sheet, under a pit grill.

He says a cookie sheet also comes in handy when cooking on a waist-high grill.

Put your charcoal on the cookie sheet, and then slide the cookie sheet under the waist high and you’ve got a perfect fire. And when you’re done cooking you let the fire burn out and the next morning all of your coals are in your cookie sheet, to dispose of them properly.

Find more ways you and your family can get the most our of the outdoors on the TPWD web site.

That’s our show for today…thank you for joining us. For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.

 Campfire Cooking: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download