- 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 provided by the Toyota Tundra.

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

Adventure-- it's what we share.

Funding also provided by Academy Sports and Outdoors.

Helping hunters, anglers, and outdoor enthusiasts of all ages get outside.

Out here, fun can't lose.

[theme music] - ANNOUNCER: Coming up on Texas Parks & Wildlife... - We do fishing events all the time, but this one is truly special.

That's great!

Awesome job!

- It needs to be recorded so that we'll all know, future generations will know what has happened here before us.

- Today, we're going to spend a little time talking about native plants and pocket prairies.

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

♪ ♪ [bluegrass music] - We do fishing events all the time but this one is truly special.

We are about to get this kicked off, so if y'all wanna start rounding up just around this area, we're gonna have our opening ceremonies in about one minute.

Fishing is a great way to enjoy the outdoors.

It's a fun and safe hobby that is accessible to everybody.

- Are y'all ready to catch some fish?

[crowd cheers] Okay, let the games begin!

How's it going?

- It's good.

- Well, we're having the annual Special Olympics Fishing Competition today at Sea Center, Texas.

My daughter's in the event, my wife is a volunteer with us,.

[reel whirs] We're just excited to make this a family event.

- Very good mom.

- Okay, let's see it.

- I'm gonna caught biggest fish.

- That's a good spot.

- And a gold medal.

- Come on, let's go fish.

- PAUL: It is extremely rewarding to watch anglers catch fish, especially this group.

To see the look of joy on their face when they bring in a fish, it's just a feeling like none other.

- Let's do it!

Like we need to yell, we need to yell.

Let's got this, when every time you get a fish on what are you gonna say?

- Fish on!

- Fish on!

Let go, woo.

[Jennifer laughs] - TERRY: Alright, fish on, fish on.

- MICHAEL: Reel 'em up, excellent.

[everyone cheering] - TERRY: Man, that's great.

- Awesome job, good job.

- Oh we gotta get another one.

Come on, you can do it!

- TERRY: Good deal.

So a lot of fish have been caught.

- Well, yeah and then we have this one that just in case.

- That's a throw down fish.

- Here you go.

- Okay and take you out.

- Picture, take a picture.

- Fake fish, you got the big fish of the day.

- PAUL: There was a lot of people here that caught their first fish.

- I did, first one.

- PAUL: And these aren't small fish.

There was fish upwards of 20 pounds that were landed today.

- I'm just shocked.

I just can't believe it.

- PAUL: And they're trying to catch the greatest weight of fish.

- Six point eight.

- That was my second fish.

I have only been fishing a couple times.

I've never caught a fish.

- I've been fishing before.

So far, this is my second one.

There were other times they just took the bait and ran.

- You wanna kiss it first?

- JENNIFER: Mom!

[parents laughing] - Sometimes it helps if you kiss the shrimp.

Do you wanna sing the fishy song?

- No.

♪ Here fishy fish ♪ - No?

Okay, all right.

Nobody'll let me sing the fishy song.

And I think this event is important because there are no barriers that should stop anybody from getting out on the water and getting hooked up to a big fish.

- VOLUNTEER: Goodness, look at that David!

- TERRY: Just judging by the looks on their faces, I would say that they're hooked for life.

- It was hard, yeah.

I caught a big fish a long time ago, the first time.

You remember, Mom?

- Yes.

- TERRY: We got fish on, fish on!

- JENNIFER: Fish on!

[reel whirring] - Keep goin', okay slow down.

- Okay.

- Keep going.

[reel whirring] Keep going.

[reel whirring] You're doing it.

- Yeah I got it!

- You got it.

When he does that, stop cranking.

- Okay.

- Just let it pull back.

There you go, now crank.

- TERRY: Keep going girlfriend, you're doing great.

Lift up on your rod, lift up.

[everyone cheering] - Yay!

- Way to go girlfriend, hey!

[everyone cheering] Are you exhausted?

That was a big one.

- JENNIFER: That's the biggest fish.

- SARA: The biggest fish.

- Seven four eight.

- Awesome, there we go.

Congratulations, good job.

- Open division third place winner, Jennifer Smith!

[everyone cheering] - Woo Jennifer, gimme a hug, gimme a hug.

Oh gimme a hug.

- Second place winner, Monica Cruz.

- Come over take a picture.

She was just so excited, that made her day.

Anything else doesn't matter, she caught her fish and she'll be bragging about it till next year.

- Yep.

- TERRY: Everybody just has a blast and that's what makes these events special.

- Woohoo!

- PAUL: They had a great time, caught a lot of fish.

Our hope is that this ignites a passion for fishing and for the outdoors that last a lifetime.

- TERRY: We got a fish on, fish on!

- ANGLER: Woo!

[wind] - NARRATOR: Caprock Canyons State Park, a majestic place with its sheer cliffs, deep valleys and mysterious caves.

No doubt, this park has stories to tell.

It's a crisp fall morning and this isn't a normal day hike.

No, these archeology students are here to help solve a mystery.

[mystical music] Here lies bison bones dating back thousands of years.

Rick Day, a volunteer for the Texas Historical Commission, first discovered this rare find while hiking Caprock Canyon with his wife.

- We had never been to this particular part of the park before.

We noticed there was a place to climb on top of the ledge and that's when we saw the bison bone sticking out of a small cliff.

- Turn around on it.

- NARRATOR: The discovery, a rare bison jump site.

[mystical music] [bison running] A steep drop off in the canyon used by Native Americans thousands of years ago to harvest bison.

- It is a unique story to the history of bison and people, that unique relationship out here.

We can see how exactly that they used bison throughout the thousands of years and just kind of brings that relationship full circle.

[mystical music] - Digging in the rocks is not easy.

We are doing it because we're working to preserve and tell the story of Texas and its prehistoric past.

- NARRATOR: This is one of only two known bison jump sites ever found in Texas.

- Right now, I'm kind of going around this bone, it's pedestaled so they kind of brought us out here just to start the process of getting it out of the wall and to stop having it actively erode.

This is an archeological field school.

I am a first semester graduate student.

I think it's very cool though, being with bone that's very old and working around it cause I feel like a lot of people don't get that opportunity.

- They're helping to excavate the site and at the same time, they're learning archeological methods and techniques.

They need to learn those tools, they need to see how it is we collect data.

Make sure you get all of this stuff.

I can stand in front of a classroom all day long and tell them this is what we do, but it isn't until they're out in the field and they're doing it themselves, [dirt pouring] that they understand the process and they can go out in the world and put those skills to use.

- The history and the evidence is being whittled away by nature.

And it needs to be recorded so that we'll all know, future generations will know what has happened here before us.

- It's a very unique experience, It's made Caprock my favorite park.

You know, you have your head in the unit digging for a few hours and then you look up and you're like, "Oh yeah, I'm here."

It's just special.

Hopefully it'll be exciting to watch how this develops in the lab and then all the reports that come out over the next few years to see what knowledge we gain and what we can add to the history of the park.

[inspiring music] [wind] [upbeat music] - NARRATOR: To celebrate 40 years of our television series, we are taking a trip back in time to look at some of our earliest episodes.

♪ ♪ - NARRATOR: We can learn a great deal about the lifestyle of an ancient people by studying their archeological remains.

The Texas Archeological Society excavated this pueblo site just outside El Paso to learn more about the people who lived here 900 years ago.

- Archeology is not an easy game but it is a game in a sense.

We're really interested in people and finding out how they made a living, how it can help us understand ourselves.

So it's that kind of a game but to do it is not easy, okay?

In the sense that it requires a lot of hard work, sometimes harsh conditions and working in the field.

But you have to remember that, well as Oscar the Grouch says, "You know, I love trash."

[upbeat music] - Well, we thought we would quit a long time ago, but we're still going... ♪ ♪ [tools scraping] ♪ ♪ [tools scraping] [upbeat music] - That little butterfly's right over there, maybe he's going to the vine.

Go that way!

My name's Iliana Peña and we're in New Braunfels, Texas in my backyard.

Today, we're gonna spend a little time talking about native plants and pocket prairies.

I, as a resident here in New Braunfels, spend a lot of time in my backyard.

I enjoy our native pollinators, wildlife, and I do what I can to make my yard as inviting as possible for that.

Today we're gonna show you a little bit about what I do and how I do that.

[cheerful music] When you dig that first hole, depending on where you live in the state, things like clay might come out.

So you wanna take your native soil and when mixed with the right compost, it'll actually become something a lot more easy to use.

So we're gonna go ahead and plant some mealy blue sage in our hole over here.

[mulch rustling] I tend to use cedar mulch to help keep moisture in the soil.

All right, let's hope that this one does well.

You know, when you consider planting a pocket prairie, it isn't too hard.

If you have an area that is lush with yard grass or lawn grass, you will wanna try to remove that first.

So when you're planting a little pocket prairie, you do wanna disturb the soil just a bit so what I'm doing is supplementing additional seed down.

Notice, we're dealing with some light, fluffy seed-- Black-Eyed Susan's, Texas blue bonnets, Indian blanket, and several other little wildflowers that we're pretty familiar with.

So what we do is tap it in, we're not trying to bury it.

Right now, it looks like everybody else's yard because we're coming out of the summer but in the spring, this is covered in wine cup, Indian blanket, and an assortment of other wildflowers.

♪ ♪ Natives never disappoint.

This little garden went in last fall and it's doing just great.

You know, let's go take a look at the pocket prairie and see how it's doing.

♪ ♪ Pocket prairies tend to be a little patchy but this one for as dry as it's been, looks great.

I mean, just looking at this, I see four or five different species of flowering plants.

You spend a little time really looking at it, there are all these wonderful little pollinators using all the flowers.

Planting pocket prairies aren't necessarily hard to do, there are a lot of resources out there to help you put one into your yard.

They don't have to be big, as you can see, it can be just a small space but what it contributes to wildlife and pollinators is really just wonderful.

[cheerful music] - I'm Morgan O'Hanlon, a Senior Staff Writer at "Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine".

- And I'm David Yoskowitz, Executive Director Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

♪ Better outside ♪ - MORGAN: Together, we're bringing you a new show about how life's better outside and the people who work every day to make outside better.

♪ Better outside ♪ In each episode, we'll take you into the great outdoors.

- This will be good.

- MORGAN: Whether we're out counting sheep.

- Gotcha.

- Good shot.

- MORGAN: On the hunt for invasive species or just taking a trip down the river, you'll learn something new about conservation in the Lone Star State.

♪ Better outside ♪ So are you ready to go outside?

♪ Better outside ♪ [upbeat rock music] [bird caws] [upbeat music] - NARRATOR: Along the waters at Lake Brownwood, a special weekend is beginning to take place.

- Oh, fantastic.

[indistinct chattering] - NARRATOR: These smiling faces are arriving at the 30th year of Becoming an Outdoor Woman.

- Oh y'all are gonna be my teachers!

Awesome, awesome.

[all laugh] - This weekend is a gathering of 120 to 150 women, like-minded women that love the outdoors that are willing to experience different things.

[all cheer] - NARRATOR: What makes this anniversary unique is that BOW started here at Lake Brownwood in a distant era, the 1990s.

- As we said, these little shotgun shells are full of BBs.

- FILM NARRATOR: If it looks like something's missing here, you're right, there's talk of guns and hunting but there aren't any men around.

- NARRATOR: Thankfully, times and attitudes have changed since those early years, but the mission is still the same.

- INSTRUCTOR: This is your drawstring.

This is your grip.

- NARRATOR: Meet Christina.

- CHRISTINA: Right now we're so excited, got beginners archery.

- INSTRUCTOR: Ball of your foot almost in the middle.

- NARRATOR: This is her first time using a bow and arrow.

- Oh my God, this is gonna be so embarrassing, 'cause I'm not gonna be able to hit anything [laughs].

Doggit, too high.

At one point I thought I was dead center and it went sheeeew, sailing way over the target [laughs].

- NARRATOR: Luckily, Christina catches on pretty quickly.

[arrow thwacks] [Christina yells] [women cheer] - Yes!

[cheering] I'm ready, I'm going home now.

Coming to bow has been great because they've got this laundry list of activities that I haven't even tried yet.

[yells] Got it on the first shot!

[laughs] You going down, Veleptasarus.

And it just opened by eyes to new opportunities, and it sparked that interest and that enthusiasm.

It just being a man's world... not this day and age, sister.

[laughs] - HEIDI: We try to give a lot of good experiences like having a campfire and a s'more.

[gentle music] When they come to BOW, this is the first time they've ever had a s'more.

[indistinct chatter] So those are the things that really make these weekends special.

[gentle music] And the whole mission is to introduce basic outdoor skills in a variety of class choices and they're three-and-a-half-hour sessions.

So this program has grown over the years to where we are today.

We now offer here, at least in Texas, we offer about 50 different workshop activities and the ladies get to choose only four.

- That's okay.

Well, no, it's okay.

You'll eventually want to.

- Head down, get it to stop.

Get it to stop and then lay down.

- Hunting and fishing, more hunting though and shooting were probably traditionally male-dominated sports because of the traditional roles of women and men in families.

- NARRATOR: But, family roles are changing.

[gentle music] - HEIDI: When you hook the mom, when you hook the lady of the family, you hook the entire family.

[women cheer] When they understand the value of that, they're gonna take that back home.

- I think my husband's gonna be so happy.

[laughs] [gentle music] [birds chirp] [rain patters] - NARRATOR: Being at BOW means soaking up the outdoors all the time, rain or shine.

- Our current situation at BOW right now is we've got rain, we've got intermittent lightning, but we got a whole lot of enthusiasm.

[women laugh] [gunshot] And more importantly, we've got Jimmy, whose gonna teach us how to execute a shotgun.

- JIMMY: Head down, face forward.

- CHRISTINA: Pull.

[gunshot] Wooooo!

On the first shot!

- I told you, just go up to it and pull the trigger.

Didn't I?

- If I would give it two words to describe how I feel wrapping up the BOW weekend, I'd say, exhilarated and confident.

[gunshot] Woooo!

I got it!

Yes!

Oh, you didn't tell me I was ready-- - JIMMY: That's it, I'm leaving.

- 'Cause I started off thinking, "Oh, I don't think I can shoot a shotgun.

No, I don't think I can do this."

And I'm just excited because I was able to accomplish so much.

So I'm very proud of myself.

Annie, get your gun.

I feel like, you know, the sky literally is the limit, whether it's learning about how to identify birds or how to geocache, or how to hold a firearm.

There's something for everybody.

[gentle music] - NARRATOR: Christina has become quite the outdoors woman since the BOW weekend.

She fished for the first time... became a Texas master naturalist... owns her own shotgun.

Becoming an outdoor woman transforms from the inside out.

[gentle music] - We're at Viking Archery in Canyon Lake.

Since April, I've been coming here.

[door chimes] It's been great for my posture and my upper body strength.

Good for my core, too.

Really been enjoying it.

It's a nice place for me to come and get away and just relax.

- NARRATOR: After several months of archery practice, Christina has found more self-confidence and peace in her life.

- You could tell?

- Uh-huh.

When she first started, she was all over the place [laughs].

[gentle music] She got stronger and started shooting her arrows and started hitting more close to the center.

[gentle music] Watch your grip.

- Coming to BOW has been great because they've just opened my eyes to new opportunities and it sparked that interest and that enthusiasm and you basically get to reinvent your life.

It just brings peace to your heart, peace to your mind, breathing the fresh air, being around the trees and nature helps you get reconnected with the important things in life.

[gentle music] - NARRATOR: Next time on Texas Parks & Wildlife... - Drive just a few minutes and you're out here in the wilderness among a beautiful natural environment.

- This weekend we're having the RUTA 806 off-highway vehicle event here in Potter County at the Canadian River.

- This is the first time to rehabilitate bears and release back into the wild.

[theme music] - NARRATOR: That's next time on Texas Parks & Wildlife.

[wind rustling grass] [owl calls] [owl calls] [insects chirp, wind blowing] [insects chirp, wind blowing] [wings flapping] [owl calls] [insects chirp] [wings flapping] [insects chirp] [owl calls] [wings flapping] [insects chirp] [owl calls] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] [insects chirp] [insects chirp] - 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 provided by the Toyota Tundra.

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

Adventure-- it's what we share.

Funding also provided by Academy Sports and Outdoors.

Helping hunters, anglers, and outdoor enthusiasts of all ages get outside.

Out here, fun can't lose.