Texas LAND Summer 2017

SPORTING ISSUE
The Texas Youth Hunting Program needs landowners to open their
gates for the sake of young hunters and the hunting tradition.
“TYHP was created to get young hunters in the field on private
land, so they could experience safe, ethical hunting first hand and
help ensure our hunting tradition continues,” Col. Chris Mitchell
(RET.), TYHP Director, said. “If we’re going to take more kids
hunting, we need more ranches and volunteers.”
TYHP is a joint effort of the Texas Wildlife Association (TWA)
and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD).
“Although TYHP enjoys the support of two stellar organizations,
it’s driven by the passion of volunteers, ranging from Huntmasters
and gun range instructors to landowners,” Mitchell said. “The
program can’t succeed if any of the pieces is missing.”
Since its inception in the mid-1990s, TYHP has taken 62,000
youth hunters and their significant adults on 2,600 hunts across
the state. The volunteer-intensive effort offers introductory,
instructive youth hunts for deer, turkey, hogs, javelina, exotics,
dove, small game, waterfowl, varmints and other species. Normally,
TYHP provides mentors, lodging and meals. Currently, the
organization is planning the 2017–18 season.
“Frankly, we need more landowners to provide more ranches
so we can reach more kids and their significant adults,” Mitchell
said. “TYHP provides a conservation win. Landowners can get help
with their management programs, while giving youth a hands-on
education in land stewardship and safe, ethical hunting.”
He continued, “TYHP changes lives—on both sides of the gate.”
What About Liability?
For the landowner, TYHP provides up to $6 million of
commercial liability insurance protection as well as other forms
of coverage. TYHP’s policy is based on the safety incorporated
into every step of the program.
Open Gates = New Hunters
WRITTEN BY LORIE A. WOODWARD | PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE TEXAS YOUTH HUNTING PROGRAM
Brad Bishop’s First-hand Experience
Brown Ranch | Maverick County
Emily Brown and Brad Bishop, Co-managers
As a child growing up on the Texas Gulf Coast, Brad Bishop
camped, canoed and fished. He never had the opportunity to hunt.
“My parents were outdoorspeople, but they weren’t hunters,”
Bishop said. “I know what’s like to be a kid who wants to hunt and
not be able, so TYHP spoke to me.”
In addition to the emotional kinship Bishop immediately felt to
the program, it filled a practical need for the ranching operation,
which Bishop characterizes as “51 percent livestock and 49
percent wildlife.”
“Our ranch enrolled in MLDP in 2016, so we also needed
assistance to harvest excess does to meet our land management
goals,” Bishop said. “The program benefited our wildlife
management efforts and got people outdoors—it seemed like the
perfect win-win.”
TPWD Wildlife Biologist David Rios introduced Bishop to the
program as he was assisting with the MLDP process. Then, Bishop
called TYHP Executive Director Chris Mitchell, who talked him
through the program, the process and allayed Bishop’s fears
that the old ranch house on the property was too “rustic” to
accommodate the youth.
“Instead of a lodge, we have an old ranch house—and to describe
it as rustic may be generous,” Bishop said. “I was afraid that it
wouldn’t be fancy, modern or big enough.”
His anxiety was unfounded because the program is set up
to accommodate groups large and small. The focus is on safety,
outdoors and relationships, not lodging.
“Nobody seemed to mind,” Bishop said. “Everyone was so
excited to be on the ranch, I really think they would’ve slept on the
bare ground.”
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