- 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... - I do it because it's fun.

I do it for the team.

I knew I needed something to do in high school and I found what I think is a really good fit.

- What Yoga Hike is, is just like it sounds.

We hike and we do a little yoga.

- That's going to drag along the reef.

That's going to pull up oysters and then we're going to pull that into the boat and collect data on those oysters.

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

- JANICE: Go, go, go!

Go downstairs, go.

[people chattering] - CAROLINE: Come on, this way.

- JANICE: Get down there just like these people are and stand behind your target.

[upbeat music] Okay, good luck.

[upbeat music] [bell ringing] - I am Caroline Gianotti and I go to CAST Tech High School.

I'm a sophomore.

[whistle chirps] - JANICE: Let's get our bows, bows on toes.

[whistle chirps] Let's shoot.

- CAROLINE: Today we are in the Fox Tech Auxiliary Gym doing archery practice.

- JANICE: Remember when you finish shooting your five arrows, hang your bow on your rack, go stand behind the waiting line.

- I think it was a Tuesday.

One of my friends came up to me during physics, and this was before we were friends, I barely knew her and she said, "Hey there's gonna be archery in the gym after school today at four, do you wanna come?"

And I was like, "Do I need to know how to do anything?"

And she said, "No, no experience required.

Coach told us, 'As long as you don't shoot yourself in the foot, you'll be fine.'"

[whistle chirps] So I showed up to the gym and it's been history since.

It's been a lot of fun.

- My name is Janice Cuccia.

Where's your camera, where's your phone?

You ought to take a picture of that.

I am the athletic coordinator, physical education teacher and I am known as the archery coach.

So there's a practice round, they don't score it and she shoots a 49, and she can't count it towards her total score 'cause it's only a practice round.

I don't think she's ever shot that well [laughs].

I call archery an equalizer.

You don't have to be a certain height, certain weight.

You don't have to be super athletic to participate.

[whistle chirps] This is a non-scoring round.

This is where you get your sighting in.

[whistle chirps] Okay, you can shoot.

- Hi, I'm Peter Flores.

Bullseye.

I'm a student at Fox Tech and I'm a senior.

I'm trying to have the same progress as I've been making throughout this year for State.

I'm hoping to achieve winning first place in State this year, as I did back in my freshman year in 2019.

- JANICE: So Peter Flores joined archery when he was a freshman, got to go to State his first year.

He seemed to be a natural, scores probably one of the highest scores for my team.

There's some yellow.

Very shy, very quiet, but he's so helpful to other kids.

When he sees somebody struggling, he'll go help them.

- Tina, you did pretty good with that practice round.

- No, I did my first one.

- I know.

- So he's a winner in all kinds of ways.

I think archery does something for him.

[whistle chirps] - I've been doing well.

Long distance hasn't been as good, but it's something I need to practice anyways.

Ah, that was bad, that was really bad.

We make friends really quickly because doing archery in total silence is really awkward.

- There's always that one extra person and I'm that.

Yes, that's me.

- I was going to wear a dress but it wasn't clean.

- Okay, see, I'm the only one dressed like Robin Hood.

- When you just have your friends just talking about like, you know, "How's your day?

Oh this happened in this class.

Oh, I have so much homework," it gets rid of a lot of the anxieties which helps a ton.

- JANICE: Caroline is a little different than Peter, a little more outgoing, a little more outspoken.

- CAROLINE: Okay, there we go.

- A little more full of energy, maybe not as much of an introvert or something that you might say.

She tries to improve, she analyzes her shooting.

She studies it, purchased her own bow.

And again, I think archery does something for her.

- I would say today's been a pretty successful day.

I'm excited for Friday, which is our next practice and then State, which is exactly a week away.

- JANICE: We're growing, we're learning what it's gonna be like to go to State, the differences there that we may not have known before.

But it's going as well as can be expected with all the kids being involved in multiple things.

And I'm excited for the adventure that awaits us coming up.

[wind blowing] - CAROLINE: It's so weird being here so early.

- JANICE: Are y'all excited?

- STUDENTS: Yeah.

- JANICE: That's good.

- I'm tired, everyone's tired.

- We're just hanging out until we leave at, I believe at 6:30.

- JANICE: You all can nap on the bus going.

- CAROLINE: Oh my God, State, it's anxiety-rocking.

I'm very excited but I'm mostly looking forward to the experience.

- JANICE: Okay, double check and make sure your bow case is down there.

Ariel?

- CAROLINE: I've never been to a State competition for anything except for when I would travel with my sister to hers.

- Caroline?

- Here.

- Alexia?

- ALEXIA: Right here.

- Okay, 100% here, that's awesomeness.

Okay, first thing, bathroom break, now.

- I'm very excited for State but I'm kind of sleepy too.

[upbeat music] [students chattering] - CAROLINE: Hey, are you excited, tired?

Oh boy, I hate getting on buses.

- PETER: Too bad this is my last year.

Sophomore and junior, we didn't get to go State because of Covid.

I really enjoy the ride going from San Antonio to Belton, 'cause I usually just stay here in the city.

The first stop, must-go, is Buc-ee's.

[upbeat music] At least I get to have one last time of doing this.

[upbeat music] [students chattering] [upbeat music] - JANICE: So as far as the tournament goes, I think just from past experience, my shooters will be overwhelmed when they walk into the building.

It will be just eye-popping but it will be such a great experience.

So, is everybody awake?

- STUDENTS: Yes.

- Okay, like I told you, long road trip.

We represent not only the campus in each of your individual schools, but you're representing your parents also, and your community and your family and all that good stuff.

So be mindful of your language and your behavior and let's go have a great experience 'cause that's what this is gonna be.

I always tell them you've gotta take the challenge to see what you can do, doesn't matter how you shoot.

The thing is the journey.

[upbeat music] I'm looking forward to it.

[upbeat music] ♪ ♪ - ANNOUNCER: Okay, all the archers should be in their chairs, awaiting the two whistle commands to get bow.

All archers should be in the chairs.

- It's number 17 on the top 20 school sports.

As far as safety, there's only three sports safer.

Ping pong, bowling and badminton [chuckles].

Archery's on a big upswing.

It's been on an upswing for several years and you know, in 2012 there were a lot of archery movies and archery really got popular with "Hunger Games" and "Brave" and things like that and it stayed popular.

[whistle chirps] In Texas, about 100,000 kids do archery in their schools each year.

All the schools today, here, are from all over the state.

We have schools from the Valley, the Panhandle, Northeast Texas, all over.

They're from rural areas, urban areas, private schools, home schools, big, you know, really large inner city schools down to, you know, Big Bend National Park schools.

The one-room schoolhouse, they're here with four kids, and so, they're competing against, you know, 6A high schools and stuff.

And so, it's kind of a unique competition.

That's one reason a lot of schools do it.

It's very adaptable, flexible program for all the kids to do at once.

They can all shoot at the same time, no matter their athletic ability, their size.

Gender doesn't matter.

The one-room schoolhouse in Big Bend National Park for instance, is K through 12.

And so what PE activity sport can you do with kindergartners through 12th grade?

- Smell the spray paint through the air, trying to keep those lines fresh, so any help you can give us by avoiding stepping straight on that line is appreciated, thank you.

- There's a lot of younger kids here.

I didn't expect to see kids so young but it makes sense, I guess.

So it's pretty cool, I'm just nervous.

I get anxiety so easily so I am worried about getting next to somebody that's like God at archery, has been doing it since they were two or something.

- They're getting a little more tense as we get closer to the time, but they'll be fine.

They've done this in the gym many times and it's just a matter of repetition and, after they shoot their practice round, I think they'll settle in just fine.

They'll be good.

Just relax and enjoy the moment.

It's an experience, somewhere where you would never have come, had you not joined archery.

Okay, go get y'all's bows and arrows and get us lined up.

See where that team's going down over there?

That's where y'all need to go down.

[upbeat music] - All right, 15-meter practice round, unscored round.

[whistle chirping] - CAROLINE: Here we go [chuckles], just like practice, just like practice.

- ANNOUNCER: All right, everything looks good, range is hot.

[whistle chirping] - PETER: What I'm doing to stay focused, I look at a target first and I tell myself mentally that I'm capable of aiming very well.

- CAROLINE: Three nines and two 10s, good job.

Honestly, I kept a lot of thought like, "Okay, I need to get my stance ready, I need to get my arm right so the string doesn't snap on my arm."

One nine, two eights, seven and a three.

It's okay.

- Does that look nice?

- Check this out, yellow nails so you can shoot more yellow.

I like it, I like it.

[whistle chirps] Find some yellow.

I don't know who's more nervous, me or them.

- I think it was a middle school.

They came in and a lot of 'em were really nervous.

This one little girl looked like she was gonna cry so I was like, "Can't have kids crying here.

I'm gonna get thrown off.

I gotta make sure she was all right," so I did make a friend.

Hey, you have two more rounds.

She was sweet, talking about how she was doing good.

I was happy for her.

Yes, so you know, you're here to have fun.

You'll be all right.

- Range is hot.

[whistle chirps] - I think they're doing extremely well.

I think they're pleased with their results so far.

And soon as we finish here, we get to go shoot 3D which no one from Fox Tech has ever done.

[spectators applauding] Let's go, let's go.

If y'all going to 3D, get over there with her.

Get over there with her.

We gotta go!

- STUDENT: Hustle!

[suspenseful music] [whistle chirps] [suspenseful music] - JANICE: We are now shooting at the NASP/ IBO 3D Challenge.

- Get bow.

- JANICE: The kids are shooting six different targets in the shapes of animals and they're finding it a big challenge compared to the bullseye target that they shot at earlier.

- CAROLINE: Oh, we are having a lot of fun.

A lot of us are really nervous.

We're trying to reassure each other, you know, like, "It's gonna be okay, you'll be fine."

[suspenseful music] - Research says that when a student learns an activity like this in school as a young person, when they get older, they're more likely to try other outdoor activities like mountain biking, fishing, visiting state parks, hiking, hunting, perhaps.

- PETER: Me and Caroline say we don't have hearts for it.

- We don't have hearts for hunting.

I would think the deer would be cute.

- Not even fishing too, I don't wanna hurt their- - Okay, fishing's, maybe.

[whistle chirps] - Yeah, fishing- - Fishing is okay.

- ANNOUNCER: Get bow.

- They can just become a target archer, that's fine with us [laughs].

[upbeat music] - The 3D shooting, we have a lot of animals.

We have a bear, a turkey which I did not do very well on.

- Zero.

- CAROLINE: A white-tailed deer, and I don't remember the other one.

[upbeat music] - That was it, last year.

Emotional, bittersweet.

[students chattering] - ANNOUNCER: Everybody give these kids a big round of applause, they finished up their State tournament.

[spectators applauding] [upbeat music] - JANICE: It was a success, definitely.

What's next?

We are going to eat at Whataburger, yes.

[upbeat music] - It was great.

It was a great experience here and also, kind of sad too because it's my last year, bittersweet moment.

- All right, three, two, one.

- PETER: If you cannot find the passion you're looking for, what you're doing in clubs, athletics, academics, try something new.

- I do it because it's fun.

I do it for the team.

I do it because I knew I needed something to do in high school and I found what I think is a really good fit.

If you wanna do archery, do it.

Even if you think, "I don't know how to shoot a bow, I'll shoot myself in the foot."

You won't, unless you're doing something really wrong then I don't know how you would do that.

But, it's stress-relieving, friends I've made through it, I'm close with them.

It's a lot of fun.

You'll be nervous but just release it all with the arrow.

[upbeat music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Celebrating a century of Texas State Parks.

[upbeat music] - What Yoga Hike is is just like it sounds.

I mean, we hike and we do a little yoga.

[upbeat music] The trails are so nice.

We do the 2.8 mile Onion Creek trail.

I love how the trails are carved out.

They're easy to follow.

Any age level can hike.

[upbeat music] So we do a little warmup to get started, have people get fully present, focus on why they're here, what they want to do while they're here, do some warmup to get them ready to do a hike.

[upbeat music] Come on in, find a place where you're comfortable finding your feet.

Sometimes we'll stop at a cool place and add some kind of asana that has some meaning for the area that we're in.

[upbeat music] We stop at the old oak tree and do a tree pose there.

[upbeat music] For me, my practice goes a little bit deeper because I'm actually in the elements instead of elements that have been manufactured to make a studio.

So the air is cleaner and the wood is natural and the sunlight feels really good.

So what's cool is we can just go on a hike in nature and have people experience nature or the universe or God or whatever at whatever level they're ready to experience that for themselves.

[dramatic music] And then we'll do a final practice which is anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes by Onion Creek in the picnic area.

I want people to feel more connected to nature, not to feel as they're something separate from nature.

They are nature: they're an animal.

We just got more sophisticated things and so doing a hike and doing a little bit of yoga seems to narrow that gap.

And as we become more aware of that we treat each other better, we treat nature better.

[dramatic music] And it's all of this is in preparation for meditation.

[dramatic music] End it with meditation and then diving at the upper falls.

I think it's an awesome way to start a Saturday morning.

We're in and out.

We've done a lot of exercise, we've done some yoga, and we're out by noon.

You can go spend the rest of the time with your family and do all kinds of stuff.

You know I get all heavy about all of the esoteric things that can happen, but it's just a fun way to spend the morning.

[upbeat music] - PERRY TRIAL: Texas Gulf Coast is just a special place.

I've grown up fishing along the Texas coast.

I'm an avid angler.

All of this... matters to me-- the mission of our agency and of coastal fisheries to protect and conserve these resources matters to me on that personal level.

There's a tremendous diversity of habitat types and fish to fish for.

[seagulls squawk] You know, there's shrimp and oysters that can be harvested by commercial fishermen and served to you in a restaurant.

[seagulls squawk] - EMMA CLARKSON: So, it's our job at Texas Parks and Wildlife to make sure that the bays stay healthy and can continue to support all of the people and the organisms that want to use them.

[horn honks] - ZACH: We're going to head out and do some oyster dredge sampling today.

We're going to head out to Long Reef in Aransas Bay.

- PERRY: You know, these organisms, you know, these various habitats that we find in the bay system, whether it's spartina marsh, or seagrasses, or oysters, you know, they're all critical to the health of the bay system.

- EMMA: Oysters are really important because they support a booming economic industry in Texas that's $30 million.

They also improve water quality.

They protect shorelines.

They protect from erosion.

They're just really really economically and ecologically important.

- BRIAN BARTRAM: The oyster reef itself serves as a complex structure for fish and juvenile fish to hide from predators and grow up and become adult fish.

So, it serves a habitat, a huge habitat role.

- ZACH: And so, we've seen in many other areas the world as oyster reefs begin to degrade, so go the rest of the ecosystem a lot of times.

- Oyster management is incredibly complicated because they're both a habitat and a fishery.

So, when you fish them and you remove the individuals that you eat, you're also removing the habitat that it takes to support more oysters.

And so you have to put oysters back and put shell back.

You have to restore it.

You have to not only think of how many organisms you're harvesting, but how much shell you're harvesting, too.

And so, it's one of those management issues that span a lot of different areas.

- PERRY: There's a lot of different ways we collect information on oysters.

I mean, we have boats that collect sonar data for mapping of oyster reefs and things like that.

We also sample the reefs themselves with what we call oyster dredges, which is like a big rake with a bag on it.

Ready!

In the water!

- ZACH: So that's going to drag along the reef.

It's going to pull up oysters, and then we're going to pull that into the boat and just show you how we enumerate and measure and collect data on those oysters.

- PERRY: And we can look at those oysters and measure 'em and count them.

And by doing that, you know, in a consistent way over time, we can look for trends and how many there are.

We can look at things like the percentage of adult-size oysters that we call market-size oysters, which would be legal to harvest and sell.

75!

Relative to small, you know, juvenile oysters.

79!

So those are a lot of the metrics that we would look at to kind of evaluate the health of the reef.

You know, certainly we want to find a balance with harvesting, you know, what is an appropriate level of harvest.

But we need to balance that with the overall health of the ecosystem and make sure that those oysters are there for harvest not only tomorrow, but the next year and the year after that and the year after that and after that.

- ZACH: We have fisheries here that that are really world renowned.

We have redfish fisheries that are world renowned with some of the last oyster fisheries that are world renowned.

And so, this is such a such a unique thing for us to have here in Texas.

And I think we really just need to value that and protect that as best we can.

[gentle music] - BRIAN: It's our job as fisheries managers to make sure that we manage the populations and ensure that harvest is occurring at a sustainable level so that not only our generation, but your kids, your grandkids can continue to enjoy a fresh meal of seafood and enjoy that resource for generations to come.

- PERRY: The people I work with are they're so dedicated and so good at what they do at protecting the habitats and the bay and the water quality and the critters that live in the water.

I feel good that if one of these days when I do walk away from this job and I have a lot more time to go fishing, you know, there will be plenty of fish in the water and I'll be able to-to enjoy that.

So, it's always been important to me you know to leave it in better shape than I found it.

And and I'm confident that with the quality of people we have working in Parks and Wildlife that, that it's definitely going to be in good hands when I walk away.

[gentle music] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] - 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.