WASHINGTON -

A U.S. House of Representatives vote yesterday could mean permanent easy access for hunters looking to buy their federal duck stamps online. The e-Duck Stamp program, started four years ago on a trial basis, allows hunters 16 and older to purchase temporary duck stamps online until their physical stamps arrive in the mail.

Austin -

If you’re a saltwater angler and don’t like the idea of hundreds of abandoned crab traps catching and killing game fish you could have landed, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is looking for volunteers willing to help get rid of these derelict traps along the coast.

Austin -

For hunters who do not have access to privately-owned land, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is providing low cost access  to nearly a million acres of department-managed lands for hunting, including most wildlife management areas, some state parks and many leased properties under the Annual Public Hunting permit program.

Texas -

The following items are compiled from recent Texas Parks and Wildlife Department law enforcement reports.

Texas -

When an unknown number shows up on the caller ID, Weatherford Downtown Café owner Britton Schweitzer just lets it go to voicemail.  “It’s usually people trying to sell me stuff, not Texas Parks and Wildlife calling because I won an amazing hunt,” Schweitzer said

Houston -

This past week, Matt Nelson drove a two-wheel-drive pickup to a spot on Mad Island Wildlife Management Area, a 7,200-acre tract of coastal marsh and prairie in Matagorda County, stopped, got out and took a couple photos of the acres of bare, drought-blistered and cracked ground surrounding him.

Texas -

With whooping cranes now making their way back to Texas for the winter, biologists are hoping this year will see a record number of the endangered birds in the state.

Austin -

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department will hold initial scoping meetings and take online comments this winter about two possible regulations changes for 2012, depending on stakeholder input—a new state scientific area to protect seagrass in the Laguna Madre near the John F. Kennedy Memorial Causeway in Nueces County, and a clarification of emergency rules to protect fish during coastal freezes.

Texas -

Rick Fuchs Whiteoak Creek Ranch is a sleeper when it comes to hunting ducks, but this East Texas Ranch has to be one of our favorite places to hunt.

Austin -

Texas waterfowlers might have better luck bringing in birds with a divining rod instead of a duck call this hunting season. Wetland habitat conditions throughout waterfowl wintering grounds in Texas have suffered greatly under the drought, and what precious little groceries that remain aren’t expected to hold birds for long.