- 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... - I primarily focus on the invertebrates.

Little small critters.

You might think of some alien creatures.

Pretty much right on the head.

- It's just about any place you can go on this ranch-- wildlife can find good habitat.

- I love it in the spring when I'm out here turkey hunting and everything is quiet and just the nature is speaking.

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

♪ ♪ [water trickling] - NARRATOR: Have you ever really looked at a creek, stream, or river?

I mean really looked, up close, down at the bottom.

[water splashes] This guy does that for a living.

Meet Dr.

Archis Grubh, an aquatic invertebrate biologist.

- Invertebrates are really great indicators of water quality.

Because if the water quality is going down, those are the first ones to disappear from the water.

- NARRATOR: His name is Dr.

Grubh and this bug dude studies the health of Texas rivers by checking in on the tiny invertebrates that live here.

- Beautiful.

I got an anthropod, let me see if I can catch him for you.

There's a damselfly larva, that one's super small, oh this one's a beautiful caddisfly, green one.

I primarily focus on the invertebrates, little small critters.

You see the black and yellow on it, love it!

Just beautiful creatures underwater.

You might think of some alien creatures, pretty much right on the head.

[flowing water] - NARRATOR: This is the Blanco River... and it's Dr.

Grubh's latest study site.

- It's very important because I'm studying and finding out what are the diversity of these invertebrates are.

And so I'm capturing a snap shot here, and recording what all we find.

- ALANA STEVENS: I'm only getting point nine eight CFS.

We are measuring water quality now, which includes temperature, conductivity, which is the salinity of the water, um, how much oxygen's in the water.

I really like this site, it just has a lot of different components to it.

So it's got big pools, where a lot of the water is flowing up and the waters deeper.

And it's got riffles that are shallow with a lot of cobble and a lot of stone.

Bugs like a lot of things to hold on to so a lot of debris and vegetation, they really love that kind of stuff so this is just a great site for that.

- ARCHIS: Here we go!

You are going to find tons of these bugs, most of them are the nymph stage or the larval stage.

See those case builders right here.

There's a whole bunch of em here!

Oh wow, look at this a stonefly.

Yes, look at that!

That's the biggest hellgrammite for today!

You see it!

- ALANA: Very cool.

- NARRATOR: These two are here because of the floods of 2015.

- NBC ANCHOR: Good evening from Central Texas, the scene of utter devastation, a natural disaster of epic proportions.

[water raging] - ARCHIS: These flood levels were really huge!

- ALANA: It was a 500 year flood event.

- Regular discharge on the Blanco River is about 90 cfs, which is cubic feet per second.

And it peaked around 150,000 cfs.

- ALANA: Um, it came out of its banks, all the vegetation, took down giant hundred-year cypress trees.

- ARCHIS: A lot of debris came through the system and scrubbed the substrate clean.

- NARRATOR: The floods wiped out almost 90% of the aquatic invertebrates.

So for the next several months these two will check six different sites along the Blanco River.

- ARCHIS: We collect three samples, we just dump all whatever we have, there's going to be tons of insects packed in it.

- ALANA: So now that flows are back down to where they're normal level, we want to see how the bug population is reestablishing itself.

- ARCHIS: Which ones were most affected and how they are doing now!

- NARRATOR: While the invertebrates make their way back to the lab, Dr.

Grubh gets a break at the house, - Hey Bucky!

How you all doing!

- NARRATOR: Sort of... - This is Tivols, he's Pearl's rat.

- NARRATOR: It's a bit hectic on the home front.

- I really like the Beta's cause they have like a really beautiful color.

- He has a little heart on his back as you can see!

- I haven't named this Tiger Barb yet.

- NAZERENE: He runs over here.

[cat hisses] [laughter] - NARRATOR: It's like the Wild Kingdom here, with plenty of fish.

- This is a 250 gallon tank.

These are some Rose Line Sharks, these are from India.

Then we got some Clown Loaches over here, those are from Indonesia.

- My husband lives, breathes, dreams, fish.

- ARCHIS: Yeah this is my planet aquarium, it's a 65 gallon tank.

I got the whole thing set up natural with live plants.

- RACQUEL: When we got married and lived together is when I noticed he was starting to do all these set ups, in our little itty, bitty apartment.

And I'm like, "That's cool."

I didn't know it would last and eventually the little 10 gallons would evolve to eight footers and I'm just like, "OK, this is a little extreme."

- NARRATOR: They say never take your work home with you.

- So I really like the blue in this Cardinal Tetras, light up really nicely.

- NARRATOR: But for Archis, it seems like the opposite is true!

- Yah, you gotta do what you love right so it's good!

- ARCHIS: Let's see how it goes.

I really enjoy this every day when I come home from work.

I just sit here, chill out, take a break, instead of turning on the TV, I just enjoy watching these.

This is one of the hardest parts.

[dramatic music] So these are some of the bugs we just collected from the Blanco River.

This part typically takes quite a lot of time because you gotta look through the bugs.

Different parts of their bodies, legs, the claws, the mouth parts, to figure out which ones they are and go through this key, and shows you what you are looking at.

This is a case builder, these guys build their cases with twigs and sand particles, and as they get larger, they abandon the old shell, and build another case.

Yeah look at that, dude!

He's attacking my forceps.

The Hellgrammites, you'll find them only in clean water systems.

They are an indicator of good water quality.

Now I'm here on the microscope spending hours, days, and finally enter all the data, and after that, upload it on the computer, and that's where the fun begins, that's the stuff I really enjoy!

- NARRATOR: It took well over a year to sample and analyze the aquatic invertebrates of the Blanco.

- All of this information from all of these species goes into one dot, so you take all these samples, all these dots and run different matrices.

- NARRATOR: Then math magic happens.

And what looks like flying shapes is some serious science.

- And finally, you condense all the data, and this is what you get, the product.

You know, we are able to see the trends.

[rushing water] - NARRATOR: Archis' data showed that indeed for several weeks after the flood, aquatic invertebrate numbers were way down.

- Yah, the numbers were like almost nil!

- NARRATOR: But his data crunching shows that as time went by, the aquatic invertebrates returned.

- The numbers come back and stabilize, at a certain level, at each of these sites.

The whole habitat is destroyed, the flood just takes off 90% of their population, and still there are able to come back and just go to stable conditions like it was before.

That's just amazing!

[dramatic music] - ARCHIS: Ah, look at this!

- NARRATOR: For Archis, now he gets a chance to show off his life's passion to his kids.

- We go out to the river and go swimming and all!

Hey look at that!

But right now when they are flipping those rocks, and they are seeing these creatures come out alive, it is just amazing!

- Daddy what is this!

- Ohh!

That's a Megaloptera!

Guys look, look!

- RAQUEL: Actually, out experiencing it!

- NAZERENE: He's awesome!

- That's the 100% goal, is for them to be hands on and touching.

I mean they are genuinely interested in bugs!

It's great, it's great!

- NAZERENE: Man, I never knew water pennies could move, they're so cool!

- NARRATOR: So whether it's taking the kids to see them up close!

- ARCHIS: It's a riffle beetle, you see that black thingy moving.

- NARRATOR: Or scoping them out in the lab.

- ARCHIS: Look at that, riffle beetle larva, oooh, he just turned in nice!

- NARRATOR: It's easy to see Dr.

Grubh's love for aquatic invertebrates is pure!

- These organisms that we find in the water systems, are really essential!

We do not want sterile waters, or polluted waters, that's not good for the fish, the bugs, or us humans.

- PEARL: Ahh, let me see!

- ARCHIS: So what I want to do is, I want to be able to leave these organisms in the river systems for my kids and their kids.

I want to be able to leave the habitats in pristine conditions.

Oh, look at that!

You know not to be affected or impacted to the point, where these critters are going to be knocked out of the system.

So, I want to do whatever I can to make a difference.

[water flowing] [gentle music] - It's just about any place you can go on this ranch, wildlife can find good habitat.

The Ribelin Ranch is known for diversity.

We love diversity here.

We don't care what it is as long as it's native.

[birds singing] - Ribelin Ranch is probably one of the prettiest ranches in Stonewall County.

It's beautiful.

[birds singing] Hey boys!

Hey boys!

Come here boys!

I fell in love with those longhorns the moment they arrived.

They are named after the Beatles.

We have George, John, Paul, and Ringo Star.

They would like for you to feed them every day.

[Melissa laughs] They are just the sweetest.

[machinery rumbling and beeping] - BRAD: It's called land sculpting.

You're opening up the canopy, which will allow more sunlight to the ground, which will lessen your Texas winter grass growth.

They don't like a lot of sun.

[machinery rumbling] You're trying to leave all your beneficial trees and you're going after your bigger mesquites.

[branches cracking] [gentle music] [fire crackling] How do you think the fire is gonna go today?

- It should go really well.

You got a good fuel load.

Most of the grass is pretty well cured.

♪ ♪ - Burns have always occurred naturally in Texas.

It's nature.

♪ ♪ Most of this in non-native.

All this is gonna knock all this down and allow the birds to be able to move through here freely and have a place to live.

I've seen what can happen after a prescribed fire.

The land responds so positively.

Which is more beneficial to wildlife.

[birds chirping] It's amazing how many quail you can hear compared to an unburnt area.

[bobwhite calls] We are wild bobwhite quail hunting in some really great habitat right now.

- Rebel here.

Here.

[Rebel panting] - BRAD: The habitat is really good here for quail hunting.

The bird dogs are happy, the hunters are happy.

- HUNTER: No, he was on point.

- BRAD: It's just so much fun to watch the dogs go out there and-- - Yeah, there in those cedars.

- BRAD: Find the birds and point 'em and lock up.

Hold on, I'm coming.

Hold on.

- HUNTER: Brad here!

Here!

- BRAD: And it's not about the hunting or the shooting.

It's all about the bird dog.

[gunfire pops] We love birds, but also we understand that hunting is part of that tradition.

[gentle music] You've got to focus on the habitat or you won't have it.

And just the beauty of it in West Texas.

We just love what we do.

[playful western music] - NARRATOR: It's springtime in East Texas and love is in the air.

This is mating season for the eastern wild turkey.

And turkey lover Terrance Jackson is trying to call in a gobbler.

[turkey gobbles] - TERRANCE: Just hearing that sound come at you through the timber and it's amplified.

[laughter] They came in quiet and we didn't even know they was over there.

But it just gets the adrenaline going and the heart pumping and there's just nothing like it.

If it was the season, he'd have been gone.

He'd have been toast.

I've always loved the woods.

And I love East Texas.

I would live out here if I could.

I was raised in East Texas in Henderson County, a little town called Malakoff, and when I was a youngster, I was always going and running through the woods.

I guess I just got interested in turkeys when I was a kid and I was watching Wild America with Marty Stouffer .

And he did a special on wild turkeys.

[turkey gobbles] And I was like, those are beautiful birds.

[turkey gobbles] I started hunting Easterns a long time ago.

[calling turkeys] My first place that I went on a turkey hunt was public land and I went there and shot at my first turkey that I called in and I missed him.

I guess it's been a vendetta ever since I've been after them.

Every year, I'm turkey hunting in the spring.

[turkey call] I love it when I'm out here and everything's quiet and just the nature's speaking.

[turkey call] I go in listening.

On a turkey hunt, that's what it's about.

It's about listening to what's going on around you and being aware.

Two jakes coming in.

[blue jay calls] [crow caws] Yeah, I don't want to come out here and shoot a jake.

Every bird I've taken out here has been a two or three-year-old bird.

I just like to give them a shot.

I come here every year, so if they make it through this season, they'll be nice long beards next year.

Well, we know they in here.

See if we can get an old bird talking.

[piano music] - NARRATOR: The story of the wild turkey in Texas has been one of feast and famine.

When European settlers started coming to East Texas, turkeys were thriving.

One early settler wrote the droves of wild turkeys are so numerous they disturb the traveler with their clucking.

[gunshot] But those settlers quickly changed the landscape.

[chopping and sawing] - Around 1925, a hunter could harvest up to 25 turkeys a year.

By the 1940s, there were less than 100 eastern wild turkeys throughout East Texas.

Over-harvest as well as habitat decline really led to the demise of the population.

[rocket net blast] - NARRATOR: In the 1970s, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department started a program bringing wild trapped turkeys from other states to Texas.

- All right girl, see you in Texas.

[flapping] - NARRATOR: And the program looked promising.

Over the next 20 years, more than 7,000 eastern wild turkeys were stocked in East Texas.

- Now we're using a super stocking strategy where we release 80 turkeys onto one area of good habitat in hopes that the population will grow from there.

[flapping] - NARRATOR: Thanks to the success of these stockings, a spring hunting season has reopened in parts of East Texas.

- TERRANCE: Yeah, they traveled through here on the regular.

I see yesterday's tracks and two sets from today.

A couple of birds moving through here.

When I'm on these turkey hunts, basically I love to get away from the busyness of Houston and work and the crowdedness.

The sound of the birds, the quiet in the morning and walking through the woods.

It's something that pulls at you.

I can't tell if that's a hog.

Where a hog come through and try to root something or... yeah, that's hog rooting.

Feral hogs can be detrimental to turkey nests.

Typically, I'm prayerful every time I'm out here and I've gotten good response.

While we were sitting out and the sun was beaming, I said a little prayer.

"I'd be much obliged if we got a little cloud cover and got a little relief," and we got more than what we bargained for.

[heavy rainfall] The rain started coming down pretty hard, so I used my vest to block as much as I could.

While it was coming down and I was sitting under that vest drenched, I was like well, what more can I say.

I don't guess there's much else I can say.

Is this it?

Is it over?

[rain falling] - NARRATOR: Not quite over.

[hog snorts] Once the rain let up, something crept up.

[hog snorts] Snorting... feral hogs.

- TERRANCE: They're out here rooting up stuff.

That's a danger to them nesting hens out here.

At least pop one, maybe that will run them up out of here.

[gunshot] [western music] This will make for some good eating right here.

This has been a long week.

All of the ripping and running and walking miles through the woods and up hills and downhill and it's just been a challenge this year.

Even though it was tempting to take those jakes that first day.

With it being Easterns and we not having a lot of them out here, I just didn't have it in me to pull the trigger.

I hope to get out there and hunt them as two-year-olds next year and give them a chance to help repopulate the area.

- KYLE: The turkey was here before we were, and I think it's important that we preserve this area so that turkeys can thrive here and hopefully the turkey population will expand into other linked habitats that are nearby.

- TERRANCE: You win some, you lose some.

We'll give it another shot next year.

When that season opens, I'll be out there hunting those Easterns.

[turkeys gobble] See if we can make it happen.

- NARRATOR: Next time on Texas Parks & Wildlife... - It's just one of those magical things in the animal kingdom that an insect lights up.

I mean how amazing is that.

- It takes a lot of practice and a lot of patience.

Self-patience to learn how to fly these darn things.

- Out here we see the mule deer, elk, blue quail, javelina, quite an assortment.

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

[wind blowing] [wind blowing] [paddle splashing] [ducks quack] [ducks quack] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] [splash] [insects chirping] [insects chirping] [insects chirping] [bird calls] [birds chirping] [birds chirping] [birds chirping] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] - 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.