- ANNOUNCER: 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.

- NARRATOR: Coming up on Texas Parks and Wildlife... - Believe it or not, there is a long history of bigfoot sightings in Texas.

- This style of rock art is totally unique to this part of Texas and northern Mexico.

- Working with people on keeping the bears wild.

Keeping them out of towns, out of trash, keeping them in their native range.

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

[animal howling] [owl hooting] - And he said he got this overwhelming feeling of something watching him.

He saw this figure of what he first thought was a big person.

It was covered in hair, it was standing completely upright, and he said at that point, he just turned and ran out of those woods.

- Wow.

- Wow.

- MAN: Kind of spooky and scary, right?

- LYLE: Each year, thousands of people report sightings of huge, hair-covered bipedal creatures.

These are the most terrifying encounters with Bigfoot.

Welcome once again to the Monstro Bizarro podcast.

I'm your host, Lyle Blackburn.

Thirteen-year-old Johnny Maples was walking along a road near the town of Jefferson, Texas when he heard a noise in the bushes.

As far back as I can remember, I just loved monsters.

First movie monsters, but later, sightings of possible real-life monsters.

Those really captured my imagination.

I grew up camping and hunting, and so I spent so much time in the woods.

And I guess thinking back, I always felt like it also held some mystery.

- FILM VO: Just didn't look like anything I'd ever seen.

[branches breaking] I thought at first might be some kind of a wild man.

I couldn't tell with all that hair, just what it was.

- LYLE: That was really cemented when I saw a movie called "The Legend of Boggy Creek" back in the 1970s.

And that movie dramatized sightings of a bigfoot-like creature in Southwest Arkansas, not too far from where I lived.

[footsteps crunching] [ominous music] [boy gasping] [gunshot blast] [creature growls] Obviously, that's had a great influence on me.

I love that.

And I've been lucky enough that my life has gone in a direction where I can still love these things and essentially make a career out of it.

I was really enthralled with the stories of people in modern times saying they saw something that essentially is a monster or something that we would think of out of folklore.

- Just about the time man and all his wisdom decides that he has this world and everything in it all figured out, along comes something he can't explain.

Take the recent reports of the Lake Worth monster or creature, or whatever you want to call it.

- LYLE: One of the most famous monster tales from Texas is the Lake Worth monster in what is now the Fort Worth Nature Center.

[playful music] Right here on July 11th, 1969, 30 to 40 witnesses saw some kind of upright hairy creature run upon a limestone cliff, grab an old tire and throw it 400 feet across the heads of the onlookers.

Let's see if they talk about wildlife such as the Lake Worth monster.

Oh, there it is, Mythological Wildlife.

Fifty... - Oh my gosh.

- It's years ago.

- LYLE: That eventually got reported in the newspapers, which furthered the story that there was some kind of strange creature lurking in the woods here at Lake Worth.

[quirky music] So, I wanna do a presentation today on one of the most famous Texas legends, monster stories.

It's commonly called the Lake Worth monster.

So there was multiple witnesses right off the bat to what was going on.

They showed 'em the car, and there's a big long scratch down the car.

There's no doubt that people saw something.

I'm Lyle Blackburn.

Thank you so much.

[audience clapping] - Thank you.

- Long time.

When's the first one you came to?

- It's been a while.

- We're selling raffle tickets and somebody will take him home.

Even Bigfoot could take little Bigfoot home.

[Bigfoot grunting] - I started the conference over 20 years ago and it just brings a group of like-minded people that are in the same thing you're into.

- Oh, thank you.

- This is the Bigfoot Capital of Texas because this is an epicenter of Bigfoot activity, bigfoot sightings.

The shops in town sell Bigfoot memorabilia, souvenirs, shirts, ball caps.

A lot of the restaurants have a menu item named after Bigfoot.

The town has really embraced it and just having a good time.

Even if you're not interested in Bigfoot, just get outdoors.

- All right, take a picture.

- There we go.

- All right.

- CRAIG: Even if we don't see a Bigfoot or get evidence of a Bigfoot, we're still outdoors enjoying nature and the woods.

What's better than that?

- What about over here?

- Well, we're looking to capture, here, are alligator snapping turtles.

Tomorrow we will have some real proof of some monsters that live in the creeks around here.

[hammer thumping] Bigfoot, to me, is a representative of the wilderness.

It's a representative of the woods.

It's the mystery.

[animal grunts] What's behind that tree?

What's behind that thicket?

It's an idea.

It's the idea of the unknown.

And when I was a kid, the movie came out, it was called "The Legend of Boggy Creek."

[Bigfoot growling] It scared me as much as it fascinated me by this idea of some creature walking up and down the creeks and bayous.

So I was set and determined as a kid, I'm gonna go find Bigfoot.

Well, going out, I never found Bigfoot.

I never found any sign of Bigfoot.

But I did find coyote tracks and bobcat tracks.

Yeah, here we can see the raccoon track.

Here you can see the individual toes and the little foot pad.

Really cool.

And I got field guides and I learned what these tracks were, what the plants were.

So, all this time I never found Bigfoot, but I found something else.

And I found the thing that led me to what I do today.

[phone ringing] Actually, one of the first calls I responded to was an alleged Bigfoot sighting.

It looks more like toes were kind of squeezed into the soil where you have a much deeper profile on the toes than you do actually in the heel, where the vast majority of the weight is going to be.

- FILM NARRATOR: What in the world is this creature?

Where did he come from and what does he eat, are questions I've heard discussed a thousand times around winter fires.

- I guess I'd have to be called a Bigfoot agnostic.

You know, I am there, but I'm not all the way there yet.

But you have to have the storytellers, you have to have the skeptics, and you have to have the audience.

- Yeah, those kids who get out in the woods love the woods, and if it wasn't for Bigfoot, they may have never stepped foot.

So you gotta put a huge value on that.

- And it's leading people to go outside.

It's leading people to go outside and go, this is beautiful, this is wonderful.

We need to protect this.

- Enjoy the mystery, enjoy outdoors and nature, and, you know, have fun with it.

But if you do come to Fouke, Arkansas, it's a great place to live until the sun goes down-- - 'Til the sun goes down.

- And then they all go, yay!

- Yeah.

- You gotta keep it scary.

[guys chuckling] [indistinct howling] [birds singing] [mellow music] - NARRATOR: Down in Terlingua, DB's BBQ sure draws a crowd.

When a special visitor became a regular, they knew they had to do something about it.

- Come in to the restaurant in the mornings, and we'd see it was a mess.

Something was, you know, piddling with the dumpsters, but we didn't actually know what animal it was, you know?

And eventually, we caught him red-handed.

[bags rustling] Communicated with the waste management company, and we got 'em to get us some bear-proof dumpsters out here.

And since we've got those, we hadn't had any problem.

[bear grunts] - NARRATOR: Once common across Texas, black bears were extricated from the state by the 1950s.

Today, sightings are on the rise, signaling that the deserts of West Texas may once again be bear country.

[gentle music] [birds singing] Just north of DB's BBQ, residents of Terlingua Ranch are also learning to live with bears.

- We've had multiple bears here to Terlingua Ranch.

One in particular was a female, and she was coming around a lot.

That's when I think I decided to call the Parks and Wildlife and talked to a biologist about it.

- Me too.

How are you?

- Good.

Good.

Came down and said he could help me with some issues concerning our bird feeder, and helped me electrify that.

- The wire's holding up pretty good.

- I tied it periodically, but it really is working good.

And keep the bear from destroying that all the time.

And also the dumpster.

He helped us with those.

It's made all the difference in the world.

That helps us live together with the bears.

They kind of figured out, all right, they're not gonna get a free meal.

- Yep.

And we're not trying...

Working with people on keeping the bears wild, keeping 'em outta towns, keeping 'em outta trash, keeping them in their native range.

And it's been working really well.

- MARK: We're able to really live in harmony with 'em.

If we see a black bear walking through, we don't have a big problem with that.

And they're not destroying the dumpsters and not getting into the bird feeder.

And we think this has been a huge help.

I hope it continues down here.

- AUSTIN: Sounds good.

- MARK: The camaraderie and the cooperation between Parks and Wildlife and us locals that live here has been a big help.

I think it'll help the bear population in the long run.

- AUSTIN: The future looks bright for the bears, and for the people living here.

[gentle music] [wind blowing] [gurgling] - We're out here on Sea Rim's east beach.

We have a little cut that comes out, lets fresh water from inside the marsh going out to the beach.

[gurgling] - Oh I saw one!

- NATHAN: I do have some chicken necks that are already tied up to the string here!

- RICKY: It's like fishing!

- What's on it?!

Yuck.

- I didn't have any idea it would involve chicken.

I thought you would sort of cast a net, pull them in, and it would be done!

[laughs] - I'm gonna throw that thingy again!

Gonna let go of it!

- MARTY: Good job here!

Been in southeast Texas 15 years, this is my first time!

- MATT: That's a crabbies!

- Oh it's great, the kids are having a blast and we are too!

I think I'm having more fun than the kids!

- Oh!

Mom, mom!

He's trying to pulling me in!

Dang it!

- NICOLE: Well just hang on, he may come back!

- MATT: I can't see em!

I can't see em!

I don't know how to look through water, do you?

- CAMERAMAN: Nah uh.

- I still don't feel one!

[gurgling] [crab snatches chicken] - I got one!

I think!

Hazel, get it, get it, get it!

It's a big one?

- NATHAN: Let me show you how you measure these crabs ok.

It needs to be about five inches.

- SAMANTHA: It is a keeper, big!

- NICOLE: It's a lot of fun to watch the kids... - My foot's stuck in the sand!

- NICOLE: ...just relax and get dirty, and get wet, that's been really fun to watch!

- And my feet are clean!

- Super, super, super far!

I'll hold it!

You got one Matthew, looky there Matt!

- MATT: That's a keeper!

Daddy, can I eat that right in my mouth!

- NICOLE: It is fun!

[laughing] Was it tickling you?

- RICKY: Yeah!

- NICOLE: It wasn't as gross as I thought it would be in the beginning.

I've learned a lot about crabs today!

- RICKY: That was huge!

[gentle music] - So we are at the beautiful Seminole Canyon State Park and Historic Site, located about 40 miles west of Del Rio.

♪ ♪ We're right on the border of West Texas.

♪ ♪ So we have a pretty rugged terrain here.

You'll notice there's not a lot of trees.

It looks a little desolate.

We have rocky limestone surface with stunning sheer-walled canyons.

When you take the time to stop, go down in the canyon, it becomes a whole new world.

It's just such a magical place down in Seminole Canyon.

[gentle music] [flute music] The Lower Pecos Rock Art that you see here in Seminole Canyon dates between 5,500 and 1,500 years ago.

The best way to really enjoy Seminole Canyon is to go on one of our daily rock art tours.

- When limestone heats and cools at that intense.

- STEPHANIE: You get to go down into the canyon, see things that you wouldn't be able to see just by driving by the park.

♪ ♪ The style of rock art is totally unique to this part of Texas and northern Mexico, still speaks to our history and heritage here in North America that might rewrite history.

- The artists had to have a ladder.

The stories that these ancient folks are telling us, maybe a survival, make sure that next generation could survive in this environment.

- STEPHANIE: It really makes you feel awe and wonder when you're looking at it and thinking about all the process that went into it.

♪ ♪ [gentle wind blowing] [upbeat music] So our Maker of Peace statue, which is one of our iconic landmarks here in the park, depicts no one single figure in the rock art, but it's kind of an amalgamation inspired by some of the motifs that you see throughout the rock art.

♪ ♪ The artist, Bill Worrell, got into creating art inspired by Lower Pecos Rock Art.

He decided to go on and open a studio where he created all kinds of art, like the Maker of Peace.

[gentle upbeat music] ♪ ♪ If you're not that much of a history buff, we have something for everyone.

We have the bird blind for people who are interested in checking out the birds that are here in the park.

- There's a male and a female.

He's got a black and white head.

[birds chirping] So pretty.

[cycle bell chimes] [upbeat music] - STEPHANIE: We have hiking and biking trails as well as campsites and day use picnic areas available.

♪ ♪ A lot of our visitors are very pleasantly surprised.

When they stop in here, they think it's just gonna be a quick stop.

There's a lot more waiting for them here than just a campsite.

I hope that folks who stop here get to feel a little sense of wonder at just this beautiful place and the amazing things and amazing views that we have in the park.

♪ ♪ [cars rumbling by] - One, two, three.

Got it.

[gunshot bangs] - CHRIS: The hunting obviously is a huge deal in the state of Texas.

- HUNTER: Yes, she's down.

- And a lot of families have grown up, getting outside together, going hunting, doing that.

So if you wanted to go hunting in Texas, prior to the availability of digital licenses, that meant you had to have a physical license that has tags on it to be able to legally go possess those game animals upon harvest.

We'd print it off on-site at the point of sale.

- CUSTOMER: Thank you, sir.

- CHRIS: You would take that license with you, and that had to be on you while you were hunting.

And make sure that you had that physically available for when you harvested an animal.

[gunshot bang] - She fell down.

- MIKE HOBSON: Our customers, I think they were looking for something a little bit easier for them when it came to licensing and tagging.

- But we've had an option for digital proof of license for some time.

[reel drag clicks] But if you've harvested an animal, there was no mechanism available with that digital proof of license to actually complete a tag and show that you had correctly tagged that animal.

The project that we undertook now was to create that digital tagging implementation, where when you harvested an animal, not only did you have your digital proof of license, but you were able to actually go ahead and execute a tag for that harvest as well.

[screeching] - Beginning this past hunting season, we have, for the first time ever in Texas, the ability for you to digitally tag a deer, turkey upon harvest.

As opposed to having to have that old-school paper license that you carry in your wallet.

- Having a digital tagging option, it's no different than having a paper.

Instead of getting your wallet out of your pocket, and pulling your license out, and you're tearing a tag and write it on it.

You just pull your phone out and you open the app, and you answer a few questions, and boom, you're done.

[upbeat music] - CHRIS: The project was given a very tight timeline, we found out in August of 2021 that we would need to deliver something by the very next license year.

And so we had about 12 months to deliver this.

- We also do parks and Parks has its own app.

- CHRIS: And this was a major undertaking.

- STORMY: I think the folks that are aware of it, in terms of the public, it's a huge hit.

[zipper zips] We were estimating at some point that we thought we might sell about 50,000 of these digital licenses in this first pilot year, and we ended up selling over 80,000.

- CHRIS: But we received only a few hundred requests for support with more than 80,000 licenses sold.

So the app was extremely successful, customers adapted to it with no problems.

Okay, so first we're gonna look at the license catalog... - MIKE: One of the best things about this was it brought everyone from all different corners of the agency together in one sole focus mission.

- CHRIS: This project was all about providing more options for our customers in the field to help them get outside.

[gentle music] [water dripping] [water dripping] [guitar gently strums] ♪ True love will find you in the end ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ You'll find out ♪ ♪ Just who was your friend ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Don't be sad, I know you will ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Don't give up until ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ True love will ♪ ♪ Find you in the end ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ This is a promise ♪ ♪ With a catch ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Only if you're looking ♪ ♪ Can it find you ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ 'Cause true love ♪ ♪ Is searchin' too ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ But how can it ♪ ♪ Recognize you ♪ ♪ Unless you step out into the light ♪ ♪ Into the light ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Don't be sad ♪ ♪ I know you will ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Don't give up until ♪ ♪ True love will ♪ ♪ Find you in the end ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Don't be sad ♪ ♪ I know you will ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Don't give up until ♪ ♪ True love will ♪ ♪ Find you in the end ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Don't be sad ♪ ♪ I know you will ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Don't give up until ♪ ♪ True love will ♪ ♪ Find you in the end ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ 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.