EXOTICS ANNUAL INSIDE May 24, 2024
Texas’ Largest Hunting and Fishing Newspaper Since 2004
EXOTIC
ADVERTISING SECTION
hunting texas A NNUA L 2 024
CONSERVATIONISTS SAVE SCIMITARS, TURN TO DAMA GAZELLE PAGE 14
Volume 20, Issue 19
Desert bighorn numbers drop by half By Mike Bodenchuk For Lone Star Outdoor News
Danny Holder was targeting bass when his anglers started getting bites from bluegill on the Brush Hogs they were throwing. He knew that meant the bream were moving up on their beds, spawning. A few days later, he took longtime customer and friend, Chris Kelly, out with the intent of targeting bluegill, sunfish and perch — on purpose. The fish did not disappoint. Holder and Kelly found the fish in large numbers over beds in 2-3 1/2 feet of water. They caught several just under a pound in size, and landed 75-100 bream in a few hours, while fishing in a single spot. “The bluegill are loaded up on beds in the backs of pockets and
Desert bighorn sheep in Texas are on the decline — by as much as 50 percent. But this time, the culprit is different, it’s a bacterium which weakens the immune system and makes the sheep susceptible to pneumonia. Desert bighorns were eliminated from the state with the last observations of native sheep around 1960. Competition with livestock, disease and predation were the causes of the extirpation. Through the efforts of West Texas landowners and the funding by hunters, along with the Texas Bighorn Society and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, bighorns were restored and reached a 2020 estimate of 1,500 desert sheep in 11 different herds, one of the state’s most recognized conservation achievements. However, over the past three years, significant declines in desert bighorn numbers have been observed and officials say the reason is pneumonia caused by the bacterium Mycoplasma ovipneumonia, also known as MOVI among sheep biologists. MOVI weakens the immune system and makes them susceptible to other bacteria which cause the pneumonia. The pneumonia primarily affects lambs and adults that survive and can become chronic carriers, infecting subsequent generations of sheep. MOVI can be found in a number of species including deer and cattle, but is most often associated with domestic sheep and goats. In Texas, MOVI has been documented in exotic aoudad and it’s the aoudad that pose the risk to desert sheep populations. In other states, declines in wild sheep populations due to MOVI have been documented for decades, and sheep biologists have been working on research, policy to provide adequate separation between domestic and wild sheep and management options for years. To date, no effective treatment has been found and, in many cases, removal of infected sheep or entire herds has been necessary. The Texas declines began to appear in 2021, with the most recent counts indicating a 50-percent decline in overall numbers. Most telling is the decline
Please turn to page 11
Please turn to page 6
Chris Kelly had a busy day catching bluegill on Lake Fork while fishing with his friend. Photo by Danny Holder.
Oldfashioned fun Bluegill on beds at Fork
By Nate Skinner
For Lone Star Outdoor News
Desert bighorn sheep populations have taken a nosedive, and officials say it’s because of a bacterium that causes pneumonia. Photo by David J. Sams, Lone Star Outdoor News.
PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID DALLAS, TX PERMIT 3814
Personal best specks, back to back By Nate Skinner
It’s not every day when an angler catches his personal best speckled trout. To top the feat on the next cast, though, is unheard of. That’s what happened to Freddy Cisneros on a recent fishing trip near the mouth of
the Arroyo Colorado. Cisneros and his son, Freddy Jr., were fishing with his nephew, Capt. Aaron Cisneros, when the excitement took place. He and his son had recently returned to their home near Brownsville from working out of state, and they seized an opportunity to plan a family fishing trip.
“Freddy Jr. and I were wading in about waist-deep water over a hard, sandy bottom with scattered grass beds,” Cisneros explained. “I was throwing a top-water and he was chunking a soft plastic. We were catching a few fish here and there, but the action was not hot and heavy by any means.” Please turn to page 11
Freshwater Fishing Report . . Page 10 Game Warden Blotter . . . . . Page 12 Heroes . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 14 Sun, Moon & Tides . . . . . . Page 16 Saltwater Fishing Report . . . Page 21 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . Page 22 Datebook . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 22
INSIDE
CONTENTS
Time Sensitive Material • Deliver ASAP
For Lone Star Outdoor News
Freddy Cisneros caught and released his personal best trout on back-to-back casts while wade-fishing near the mouth of the Arroyo Colorado. Photo by Freddy Cisneros Jr.
HUNTING
FISHING
NRA in Dallas (P. 4)
Hybrids and sandies active (P. 8)
Crowds gather for guns.
Schools on surface early.
Nonresident ire (P. 4)
A win before graduation (P. 9)
Oklahoma fees jump big.
Pilot Point seniors top high school event.