- NARRATOR: The Texas Parks and Wildlife Television Series is supported in part by Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation -- conserving the wild things and wild places of Texas, thanks to members across the state.

Additional funding is provided by Toyota.

Your local Toyota dealers are proud to support outdoor recreation and conservation in Texas.

Toyota--Let's Go Places.

Coming up on Texas Parks & Wildlife... - It's estimated in the US, they can cause two billion dollars worth of damage per year.

And that can be through loss of agricultural crops, equipment damage.

- We're working to look at the potential for these range lands to sequester and store carbon.

- The bat flights are pretty spectacular.

They are 500,000 bats here at the cave.

[theme music] ♪ ♪ - NARRATOR: Texas Parks & Wildlife, a television series for all outdoors.

[hog squeals] - NARRATOR: Feral pigs have become quite the problem everywhere.

But, here in La Salle County, folks are going hog wild for 'em.

- Our county fair is the Wild Hog Cook-Off.

It's the biggest event in La Salle County.

It's all about wild hogs.

Everything's about wild hogs.

And it's all because we had so many wild hogs is why it started.

And there'll be 200 teams and anywhere from 6 to 10,000 people come to town.

Everybody's always trying to make it just perfect.

- As they say, in South Texas, you know, in livestock and rodeo at the Wild Hog Cook-Off in La Salle, when they ask to see your I.D., you show 'em your belt buckle.

- Belt buckle.

- NARRATOR: But, it's not all fun and games when it comes to wild hogs 'cause these critters create lots of problems.

[hogs grunting] - It's estimated in the US that they cause about two billion dollars worth of damage per year and that can be through loss of agricultural crops, equipment damage.

They are highly reproductive.

You know, one female can produce up to 20 piglets in a year and they can really reproduce at a very young age.

So, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department encourages folks to get out and help us control feral hog numbers.

We've reduced the requirement to have a hunting license.

There is no season.

There is no bag limit.

It's pretty much open season on feral hogs.

The feral hogs that we see today, you know, got their origin in North America, really with the first Spanish explorers that came over in the late 1500s.

[hogs squealing] They think they came into Texas probably in the mid to late 1600s.

They brought 'em in for food.

They either took 'em with 'em or even left some behind as they moved further into North America.

Those domestic pigs escaped.

Then a few generations, they became what we call feral hogs today.

[grunting, snorting] [engine cranks over, starts] - Everybody knows that wild hogs are a problem throughout most states now and getting to be more of a problem in a lot of states.

[country music] But there's a lot of great things that come with it.

One of them's hunting.

You can hunt 'em with a bow.

You can hunt 'em with a spear.

You can hunt 'em with a rifle.

You can hunt 'em with a blow gun.

We can go check them all out.

See what we got.

It's just a blast and to have an opportunity and a place where we can bring in people to help us control them.

And they can do it because they don't have places.

They don't have opportunity.

They can come and we can support them and teach and use it for new people learning to hunt.

Check this feeder, make sure the battery's charged up.

[country music] All right, you're ready to go?

- Yeah, let's see test and see if it works.

[country music] [feeder scatters corn] - CHRIS: I think it's hot.

- BOBBY: Yep, she's ready.

- NARRATOR: Now, hunting with feeders can be a touchy subject, but here in Texas, it's totally legal and it's a great way to control these beastly boars.

- I got started hunting in my youth.

It was a family thing.

I got started because, I mean, it was a nuisance for most ranchers, and they would allow us to come out and hunt them.

They're a relatively easy animal to hunt and there's plenty of 'em to do so.

You can hunt 'em any time of day, any time of year.

And there's no bag limits.

There's just a bunch of pigs for us to hunt.

But as much as they're a nuisance, they're still a fun animal and they're a joy to hunt.

[whispering] Here we go, we're in action now, baby.

Here come the pigs running off all the deer.

Oh, they're all stacked underneath that feeder.

[bowstring snaps] [hog squeals] We got him.

A ten ring.

It just ran off into the woods here to the right of us.

Give it a few minutes.

Should be a easy track.

I love archery, so I'd rather hunt anything with a bow.

Is it as easy to do?

No.

Is it as efficient to do?

No.

But it's more fun to do.

So that's my preferred method to take.

[leaves and twigs crunching] We got a stuck pig, little baby boar.

Definitely happy we got it.

Get it cleaned.

Get it skinned up.

Get it cleaned up.

It's gonna be a good eater.

[upbeat music] - They're great eating.

Phenomenal eating.

The key is the cleaning.

I was raised on deer and hog meat.

We didn't eat beef.

We didn't eat goat.

We ate deer and hog meat.

And I love eating wild hog as much as I do venison or beef.

It's all in the cleaning though.

I find that 90% of people that don't like wild meat, it's 'cause it wasn't cleaned properly.

That's some pretty clean, almost white pork.

It's good and lean but got lots of flavor.

[upbeat guitar music] We've been probably doing it 40 of the 42 years.

We're cooking up some wild hog and then we throw in a little hot dogs and chicken for people who don't wanna eat it.

[laughs] Not everybody loves it, but most everybody loves it once they try it.

If anybody ever wants anything to do with taste, all kinds of wild hog from chili meat or chili wild hog chili to carne guisada, to hog enchiladas, you name it, you can find it out here.

Somebody is cooking it, you know.

It's a great place to come and find out if you want, if you like to eat it.

And then from there, you can always find places to hunt 'em and get 'em from.

That's what it's all about, the fun and the camaraderie and just having a good old time.

[upbeat music] - JESSE: A strong land ethic, it should be a top priority.

It's been really important to us to not only be a prudent operator, but at the same time to take care of our surface assets as well.

It's also important because others on the outside look at us and see what we're doing, and we're able to set an example here.

- JASON: The Quail Ranch, really what we consider the heart of it is about 90,000 acres, just a little over.

It's actually a collection of ranches that Concho purchased back in, back prior to being acquired by Conoco Phillips.

We've always got something going on, on the ranch.

- BILL: We're working out here on Quail Ranch with Concho Energy and Conoco Phillips to look at the potential for these rangelands to be able to sequester and store carbon.

[playful music] - You know, there's an old saying that says, "We can only manage what we measure."

We're looking at some technology that would give us the ability to measure carbon in place in real-time.

Make sure we get a good, tight sample presentation.

- BILL: Part of what we're doing is trying to understand how we could manage our lands in a way to be able to put more carbon into the soil and have it stay there long-term.

[upbeat guitar music] - JAMES: The Quail Ranch, they just put a lot of effort and a lot of time and a lot of money back in for conservation and for habitat management, for wildlife management.

They're kind of tackling it from all sides.

And so, it's really neat.

- This is part of an area that we've conducted some brush work, part of our grassland restoration efforts.

And it's a pretty, pretty stark contrast here.

As we're walking through here, you can see there's not much herbaceous cover at all, and what we were wanting to do is try to reestablish native grassland here.

[owl screeching] - JASON: One of our biggest successes, and one of the things that I found really cool, is our burrowing owl project.

- JESSE: You got one prairie dog.

Owl.

- JASON: We went in and we actually cleared about 370 acres, and went in and reseeded that.

We were trying, specifically, to target burrowing owls.

So we created artificial burrows.

- JESSE: The fruit of that, we've been able to see burrowing owls actually move in and use those burrows.

So to be able to bring some life back and create some usable space for wildlife has been a real treat for us.

A strong land ethic, it should be a top priority.

We've been given the opportunity here to demonstrate that we're not only an ENP company, but at the same time, you can have a strong land ethic.

You can promote rangeland health, ecosystem health across the board, and have a positive impact across the landscape.

[gentle guitar music] - There you go.

[splash] [inspirational music] - NARRATOR: These divers are visiting the most complex artificial reef Texas Parks & Wildlife Department has ever created.

In just one year, thousands of fish have made this their new home.

The Texas Clipper has become, "An Ocean Oasis."

- TIM O'LEARY: Okay guys, today's dive as you know is to the Texas Clipper.

There are three must see parts of this dive.

The first... - NARRATOR: Tim O'Leary owns and operates the American Diving Center on South Padre Island.

He takes sport divers out to explore the Texas Clipper which now teems with marine life.

- TIM: Texas Parks & Wildlife has taken a section of the Gulf of Mexico that was once a barren dessert, and created an enormous ecosystem of some 180,000 square feet of substrate, to bring new life for both the fisherman and the divers.

I never thought it would happen.

I am ecstatic.

And for me this is like a, uh, unbelievable dream come true for South Texas.

And I am just shocked that it's in my own backyard.

- NARRATOR: Over the past 60 years, the Texas Clipper has had three very different lives.

She transported troops during World War II, carried the well-to-do across the Atlantic for leisure during the 50s, and then taught maritime cadets how to command a ship.

Now she will spend her fourth and final life as an artificial reef attracting marine life, scuba divers and anglers.

- TIM: This is a world-class wreck.

I want Texans and Texas to get excited.

[helicopter whirring] - NARRATOR: When Texas Parks & Wildlife acquired The Clipper, they spent a year cleaning it of all hazardous materials and creating openings for water flow and wildlife.

She was then towed to the location of her final home, 17 miles from South Padre Island.

When the ship started to sink, not everything happened according to plan.

- DALE SHIVELY: We spent 10 years planning this and everything rides on the sinking.

And we're going to do controlled flooding to eliminate the use of explosives to protect marine life.

But, by using controlled flooding, at any point in time, something could go wrong and the ship can roll over on its side or roll upside-down which would be the last thing that we want to happen.

[helicopter whirring] The ship started to take on water on its port side, the left side, and we assumed that the water would go across the ship to the other side, the starboard side and equalize itself out.

That wasn't the case.

It should be in an upright position, it should be going down evenly.

[rushing water] This was not what we had bargained for, this is not what we had planned for for 10 years.

[helicopter whirring] [rushing water] As soon as the ship went down, it was obvious that it was laying on its port side.

The sink plan called for controlled flooding which would allow water to come in on both sides of the ship evenly.

And as the ship took on water, the water never transferred to the starboard side and it kept listing to port.

So that as the vessel went down it basically went down bow first, the bow hit the bottom and then it laid on its port side on the bottom.

- RADIO VOICE: Hurricane Ike expected to make landfall late tonight or early tomorrow along the Texas coast line.

Including the possibility of... - NARRATOR: If sinking on its side wasn't enough, just 10 months later Hurricane Ike flanked the Texas Clipper.

It is believed the very strong currents created by the hurricane caused a crack in the stern, creating a 15-foot-wide opening in the ship.

- DALE: From the perspective of being an artificial reef or marine habitat, the ship is functioning.

It would be much better if it was in an upright position where most of the marine life could be up in the higher water column where there's more light.

[waves lapping, birds squawk] - NARRATOR: South Padre Island.

Now added to all the things you can do here are diving and fishing the Texas Clipper.

- It's a blast, I mean to see all the different kinds of fish life and the various marine life because you never know.

Each dive is different.

We saw a manta last time we were out here.

So there's no two dives that are exactly alike no matter how many times you do it.

It's different every single time.

- There will be a huge economic impact for both the town of South Padre Island and the dive shops throughout Texas, as well as the restaurants, the bars, the campgrounds, the gasoline station.

Impact of the tourist dollar increase in this area will be enormous.

- Here at South Padre Beach Resort, we definitely have seen a positive impact ever since the Clipper has been sunk.

- The Clipper's been a great benefit to us, you know it's bringing in divers in November and December when we've never seen them before.

- NARRATOR: And the fishing at the Clipper... - It couldn't be better, the fish come in and they just keep coming in, and they keep coming in, and they breed there.

This Clipper's going to be fantastic for this area.

It really is.

- ANGLER: Artificial reefs are real, real good huh.

See this fish.

Oh yeah, they're great!

- Woo!

Fishin' Texas baby!

Ha, ha!

- NARRATOR: The University of Texas at Brownsville, Department of Biological Sciences is conducting a monitoring program.

- CARLOS: Good morning everyone.

- NARRATOR: They are studying the health of the Texas Clipper as an artificial reef.

David Hicks and Carlos Cintra-Buenrostro are the co-principal investigators.

- Our role is, we have a monitoring program in which we're basically documenting the transformation of the Texas Clipper as a steel ship into a living biological reef.

One aspect of our research is looking at the species that actually colonize the hull of the ship.

And to document this, we are using a photographic technique.

We also scrape certain areas of the ship and collect these same plants and animals and bring them back to the lab for more definite identification.

- This ship is actually functioning as it is supposed to.

It is becoming an artificial reef.

We already start even seeing changes in the type of creatures that are moving into the neighborhood.

And yes, it is working as it is supposed to be.

[majestic music] - NARRATOR: The Texas Clipper now rests at her new home off the South Texas coast.

In her previous 60 years of life she was a military ship, a cruise liner, and a teaching vessel.

She took care of her passengers and crew, and carried them to ports all around the world.

Now she is an oasis for her newest passengers, the marine life of the Gulf of Mexico.

- Just because it's sunk doesn't mean it's over.

The ship has a whole life ahead of it.

This was more than a ship, it touched so many lives.

Now it'll live on as an artificial reef where it will benefit marine life and future Texans.

[majestic music] [splash] [uplifting music] We're here to look at the Clipper to see how it's progressed in its 10 year history.

Well for me personally, having worked on this ship project, this is quite an adventure to come back 10 years later and see that it's a tremendous dive opportunity, it's a great place for fishing, and it's a great place of marine habitat.

[uplifting music] It's a recreational dive for those who don't want to go too far down.

You can do a pretty decent dive at around 60 to 80 feet.

And for those who want to venture deeper, even tech divers can go inside of the wreck.

So I think it's a great dive destination.

[uplifting music] Lots of marine life, a lot of coral, juvenile reef species of all different types.

You've got thousands and thousands of square feet of hard surface area and you can see that where the marine life is growing on the ship itself.

I would consider this a big success for an artificial reef.

Celebrating a century of Texas State Parks.

[wind blows] - NARRATOR: There are few places left that have not been largely touched by our culture.

But at Kickapoo Cavern State Park, nature is almost untouched, the way it used to be.

[gentle music] - It's a great place to just get away from it all, you can unplug from all the distractions in the city.

We've got approximately 6,400 acres and lots to do.

We've got birding, hiking, mountain biking.

It's just a great place to get away from it all and just get back in touch with nature.

- NARRATOR: Jessica Klassen is a graduate student at Texas A&M University studying the endangered golden-cheeked warbler.

- Here's one of our golden-cheeked warbler nests.

They make their nests out of the strips of ash juniper bark so the little clump up there of ash juniper that you see at the canopy of the tree is our golden-cheeked warbler nest, and directly below it is you'll see our camera that we're using to monitor the nest with.

But we like to disturb them as little as possible so we stay at the nest site for as short a period as possible.

- NARRATOR: By using an infrared camera and a remote recording unit, Jessica is able to monitor the bird nest without disturbing it.

- We've been seeing nestling-type behavior so we've seen both males and females carrying food, which we can infer would be to hungry nestlings in the nest.

[bats' wings flapping] - NARRATOR: The intrigue of the park lies as much above the ground as below.

Stuart Bat Cave teems with Mexican free-tailed bats.

- The bat flights are pretty spectacular.

They are 500,000 bats here at the cave.

It takes approximately an hour-and-a-half for all the bats to get out of the cave.

- NARRATOR: In our ever expanding fast-paced world, it's wonderful to know a place like Kickapoo Cavern State Park exists.

- It's a really beautiful place and we're trying to keep it that way.

We're trying to keep it as natural as possible.

It's a great place to just get away from it all and enjoy a part of Texas a lot of people have never seen.

[birds chirping] [birds chirping] [birds chirping] [birds chirping] [splash] [laughing] [splash] [indistinct chatter] [splash] [indistinct chatter] [splash] [indistinct chatter] [indistinct chatter] [clink] [indistinct chatter] [splash] - NARRATOR: This series is supported in part by Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation -- conserving the wild things and wild places of Texas, thanks to members across the state.

Additional funding is provided by Toyota.

Your local Toyota dealers are proud to support outdoor recreation and conservation in Texas.

Toyota--Let's Go Places.