- NARRATOR: The Texas Parks & Wildlife television series
is funded in part by a grant from the
Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program.
Through your purchases of hunting and fishing equipment,
and motorboat fuels, over 50 million dollars
in conservation efforts are funded in Texas each year.
And by Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation.
Helping to keep Texas wild with the support of proud members
across the state.
Find out more at tpwf.org
Additional funding provided by Ram Trucks.
Guts.
Glory.
Ram.
- NARRATOR: Coming up on Texas Parks & Wildlife ...
- I thought we were going to have a hard time finding
cats to catch in these really urban spots,
but there is no shortage of bobcats.
- We were able to see a bigger picture.
The deer management became a big deal in 1978
and from there it just took off.
- Any place that you travel to work at Parks and Wildlife
is a super cool place.
- [theme music]
♪ ♪
- NARRATOR: Texas Parks & Wildlife ,
a television series for all outdoors.
- NARRATOR: Julie Golla is a graduate student.
When she is home, she looks after a housecat.
[cat purring]
[phone alert]
- NARRATOR: But when she leaves home, it is often because
another kind of cat is calling.
- JULIE GOLLA: The allure of cats and their strength
and their stealth....
They're pretty fascinating.
[camera clicks]
- NARRATOR: Julie is studying bobcats, and where she is
finding them might surprise you.
[car honks]
With Texas Parks and Wildlife, Julie is researching
these wild cats in between urban Dallas and Fort Worth.
- We're hoping to answer some very basic questions
about urban bobcats- something that we know very little about.
We do know a decent amount about them in rural areas,
there have been a number of bobcat studies here in Texas,
but nothing urban.
We're genuinely looking at an area that is completely
encompassed by human development.
- JULIE: We're looking at just how bobcats move
in the city areas.
It started out with cameras.
Cameras have been very important, not only to see
the number of animals but to find those hotspots,
where we can catch them in a quick and efficient manner.
We've gotten quite a few bobcats on camera.
Let's see what we've got.
On cameras where we do get bobcat traffic,
that's where we'll put our traps.
Opossum, armadillo, mmm hmm, and then another bobcat walks by.
I thought we were going to have a hard time finding cats to
catch in these really urban spots, but there's no shortage
of bobcats, and so I think people will be surprised.
[golfer hits ball]
- DEREK: When they're developing a golf course they don't realize
that the strip of trees between the fairways is serving as a
corridor for wildlife, but it works quite well for us.
[water flowing]
- NARRATOR: In Euless, all around the Texas Star
golf course, wildlife corridors are identified.
Then the real intensive work begins.
- Between seven to ten traps are open at once.
With one person running a trap line, I can't do much more
than that, and we've been trapping for about 10 weeks.
That's good.
- NARRATOR: Julie is no stranger to catching carnivores.
She has worked with mountain lions and wolves
in other states, but baiting for bobcats has its own challenges.
- DEREK: The trouble is when you put a lot of scent down,
a lot of stinky, nasty stuff and then you're crawling
on your belly.
[laughs]
- NARRATOR: Odors only go so far.
- DEREK: Make it rain!
- NARRATOR: Attracting bobcats requires some cat psychology.
- They're like housecats, they're curious,
they like smells, they like feathers, they like furry,
shiny stuff, and if they see something move,
it's going to catch their attention.
And fortunately I can use that to my advantage.
- NARRATOR: Making cat lures isn't exactly glamorous....
- DEREK: We're all about recycling.
- JULIE: Fresh ones.
I don't do rotten road kill.
- NARRATOR: But there is plenty of evidence that the
custom cat toys work.
- It's batting at it.
That's awesome.
[laughs]
You can tell this one's got it and it lets go
and it's probably flinging around.
- NARRATOR: Of course, getting a cat's attention
and getting it to enter a trap are different things.
Bobcats are smart, wary, and rarely seen.
Just ask someone who works where a cat can be seen daily.
- MELISSA SOOTER: Bobcats are about twice the size of your
typical housecat.
They are native, but people don't usually see them because
they're most active when a lot of people are either
just getting up or they're going to bed for the night.
But they are out there.
They're named the bobcat for their short little bobbed tail.
And uh, just so curious.
You can just tell that they're constantly thinking.
- DEREK: Those are just a lot of nice, natural funnels.
- NARRATOR: Derek and Julie must be constantly thinking as well:
monitoring cameras, moving traps, and freshening baits.
- JULIE: I can put fresh raw meat- squirrel meat,
rabbit meat- in a trap and they still won't go in, just because
it's like, meh, I'm just going to go eat my own squirrel.
They're not food motivated typically, just because they're
so good at what they do.
So that's where it comes into like just keying in
on their curiosity.
- NARRATOR: It may seem curious that a carnivore could even
make a living in this kind of landscape.
- JULIE: Oh yeah, that's Euless Avenue so that's another
un-collared cat.
- DEREK: Oh wow.
Eight o'clock at night, cars moving by it just doesn't
even care.
- NARRATOR: The number of cats photographed suggests they
are finding enough to eat.
- DEREK: The rats, the mice, the squirrels, the rabbits,
the really small, fuzzy critters that may be quick to us,
but not too quick for a bobcat.
- NARRATOR: Between the roads and buildings, greenbelts
and watersheds connect hunting and hiding places, but exactly
how cats use these habitats is not fully understood.
And that is what the study is all about.
The study area stretches from the edge of
Fort Worth to Irving and Grand Prairie.
GPS collars will store data about daily movements
and ranges of individual cats for an entire year.
But first the cats must be captured.
[trap door closes]
Some traps can send an alert when tripped,
but Julie still checks every trap twice a day.
- Driving to check traps -- literally a wild bobcat chase.
Here we go.
- NARRATOR: After ten weeks of trapping...
- This road is due for a bobcat.
- NARRATOR: ...13 cats have been captured-
a few too small for collars.
Nine cats now wear the GPS loggers,
but one more is needed for a full range of data.
- JULIE: She's thinking about it.
- NARRATOR: The pressure is on.
Julie's friend Jim has come from Idaho to help trap for a week.
- I'm a wildlife biologist for the Nez Perce tribe.
Julie and I worked on a wolf project up there.
- NARRATOR: But so far the trappers are plagued
by a different animal.
- JULIE: Oh, little opossum.
Just kind of convince this guy to go on about his morning.
The bar is closed.
And there he goes.
When you're trying to catch certain types of animals,
you're always at the risk of catching by-catch species.
Bye bye, dude.
Don't come back.
I missed a cat last night because something fell on the
door and made it close, but she got on top of the trap
at one point, looking through the front of the trap.
Maybe she'll come back and check it out again,
if the weather holds up.
[music]
[thunder]
Nothing.
[sigh]
[music]
- DEREK: Capturing the animals, meeting your quota is your
biggest fear at the beginning, because you don't know
what it's going to be like.
Unless someone's done it before, we have no idea
if it's possible or not.
- JULIE: Alright, nothing here.
[sigh]
I no longer have my camera on my tree.
My trap has been messed with.
It really sucks.
[music]
Nothing happening.
Everything's come to a grinding halt it seems.
We're going to get this bobcat.
We have to, or we're going to go crazy!
[laughs]
Opossum.
I'm somewhat frustrated with opossums at the moment.
Go on!
[opossum growling]
It's better than a stolen camera day.
He was a wonderful good squirrel.
- JIM: A-1 in his prime.
- JULIE: Now he looks terrible.
[music]
[music]
Tracks?
Those are bobcat.
Well there was probably a opossum in the trap
so they couldn't go in.
I don't know how much more of this I can even take.
Always hope for tomorrow.
- JIM: I was hopeful that we'd catch at least one bobcat.
Time's up for me, I have to leave this afternoon.
It's disappointing not to catch one,
but I fully understand that's how it goes.
- DEREK: 4:52 PM, I was just about to head out the door
and I got a text, so I came to check the trap and sure enough,
there was a bobcat in the trap.
Right next to a very busy road, right at rush hour.
[bobcat growls]
- NARRATOR: Derek is first on the scene.
[bobcat snarls]
- DEREK: If I had to guess, I'd say it's a juvenile male.
Looks like he's a healthy animal.
- NARRATOR: Julie is just dropping Jim at the airport....
- Bobcat!
- NARRATOR: ...but still happy for the news.
[cheers on phone]
[laughs]
The crew is soon assembled.
- Yes!
- This would have been an excellent April Fool's Day joke.
- JULIE: If this is a joke, I'm going to be very upset!
[laughs]
- NARRATOR: But this time it's no opossum.
- JULIE: Let's do 16 pounds for him.
- NARRATOR: The crew readies a sedative cocktail to be
delivered with great care and an extra-long syringe.
- JULIE: And Derek's going to act as my decoy to kind of
keep the cat facing him.
[growling]
Got him.
It takes about five minutes for the drug to take effect,
so we'll walk away and let him go down.
We'll wait until about 7:45.
[claps]
Good sleepy kitty.
We'll go to a much quieter location, not only for us,
but also for the bobcat.
Because even though they're down and immobilized,
they can still hear, they can still sense light
and fast movement that can kind of make their heart rate faster
so we want to keep things as calm and quiet as possible
throughout the capture.
Thank you kindly, sir.
He's not able to blink right now, so this is just
artificial tears.
- NARRATOR: The cat is thoroughly looked after,
while being thoroughly weighed, measured and documented.
- JULIE: Seven point five.
Some of these cats have a lot of spotting, almost leopard-like,
but yeah, these arm bars, that's how we identify them.
They're very easy to see in nighttime photos,
so that's what we get pictures of.
[shutter clicks]
- DEREK: Okay.
- JULIE: You want to get good solid information,
because this is a lot of work that goes into every
bobcat we catch.
- DEREK: We're very excited and happy that we're adding
another member to our research group...
The fact is we still have a job to do
and we don't take it very lightly.
- NARRATOR: As night falls, additional data is gathered,
but not only for their study.
- JULIE: This is for parasitology,
this is for disease,
this is for genetics, this is for rodenticide.
We're getting a lot of information from these bobcats.
- NARRATOR: But for Julie and Derek's research...
- JULIE: Okay, kitty.
- NARRATOR: ...fitting the tracking collar is
the most important step.
- DEREK: In a year, when we get that collar back,
it could potentially be giving us 3,500 locations.
- JULIE: Perfect.
Alright he's kind of waking up.
[trap rattling]
[music]
Just set it down.
It's always stressful doing this because you take the animal's
well being in your hands when you work with them like this,
but we did everything right, and everything went really well.
He's doing great right now.
- DEREK: It's relieving to see that the animal
is coming out in great shape.
- JULIE: Just give him like 20 minutes.
- Last cat captured and collared- excellent day!
- Having good days like today makes me know we can
get the most out of this effort.
[bobcat snarls]
I didn't even do the thermometer, okay?
I think he's good.
[music]
- NARRATOR: Four and a half months after the release,
bobcat B14 and most of the study's cats can be
regularly located by the radio beacons on their collars.
But not all.
- JULIE: We did have a cat, she lived off of a
six lane street and she ended up getting hit by a car.
We're sad to have lost a bobcat, but it's such valuable
information in our study, so we can learn about the challenges
that these cats overcome and sometimes don't overcome
when it comes to living in an urban landscape.
[radio chatter]
- NARRATOR: But two more cats have also gone missing...
- PILOT: Everybody ready?
- NARRATOR: ...and taking to the sky holds the best hope
for finding them.
- DEREK: Our main objective is to locate these missing animals,
but kind of a secondary goal is to find out where they are not.
Flying is a little bit more expensive than it is on the
ground, one flight can save you weeks of ground effort.
[music]
- NARRATOR: Within a half hour of takeoff, there is good news.
- DEREK: Yeah, he's definitely in here.
He's even back there- I can hear nothing, nothing,
nothing, pulse.
- NARRATOR: ...One of the two cats is found just beyond
his last known location.
- JULIE: That's awesome.
We'll go check up on him later today and just see
what he's doing.
- NARRATOR: Within the week the second missing cat is spotted on
a trail camera- the radio beacon has stopped working,
but the collar is still intact.
- When you strap electronic equipment to a wild animal,
you're never quite sure how that's going to hold up.
It's definitely that way.
I can't track him with my telemetry equipment anymore,
but I can still try and monitor his presence with these cameras
and we can hopefully try and recapture him
and remove the collar ourselves.
- NARRATOR: It will be months before the remaining collars
drop off and reveal new secrets about the lives of
urban bobcats, but the study is already shedding new light
on how their habitats overlap with ours.
- DEREK: He was spotted about here?
- JULIE: Yeah.
- But he was also spotted about here?
- JULIE: We've got cats sleeping under roadways,
they're hunting on golf courses.
We're finding that bobcats are in neighborhoods on a daily
basis and people rarely see them and rarely have problems.
If you see a bobcat, don't approach it or try to feed it.
As long as we respect them as wild animals,
we can continue to share this space with wildlife.
- DEREK: They're here.
They're valuable.
They're excellent critters, and to strive in an
urban environment, that's incredible.
[music]
[cow moos]
- NARRATOR: Monty Harkins and his son Jase are rounding up
some of their loose cattle.
Keeping the cows in their place is something the Harkins family
has been doing for five generations.
- MONTY HARKINS: When I was 14, my dad asked me if I wanted
to be a partner in the ranch.
I said, "Yes I do."
So I bought in at 14.
My name is Monty Harkins, and we're at the Harkins Ranch.
[western style music]
- NARRATOR: The Harkins Ranch is 36,000 acres
of Trans Pecos desert.
It's rocky.
It's dry.
It's dusty.
It's windy.
And it's been in the family since 1905.
- I'm Jase Harkins and I'm fifth generation
here at Harkins Ranch.
- NARRATOR: Monty and Jase do the heavy lifting on the ranch.
Monty's wife Lisa handles the business side.
The rest of the family, well, they pitch in, too.
- MONTY: We been really, really lucky in keeping this
ranch together and ranching it.
It's just a great way of life, it's not an easy way of life
but you can make a living.
- NARRATOR: Historically this ranch was primarily livestock.
Some cattle, some goats, and a lot of sheep.
- MONTY: This is some of the best sheep country
in the state of Texas.
People look at it and don't believe that but it really is.
- NARRATOR: Monty and Jase have done things a bit differently.
Sheep and goats were removed from the ranch.
Cattle grazing was greatly reduced.
Managing for wildlife became more important.
- JASE: We were able to see a bigger picture.
The deer management became a big deal in 1978
and from there it just took off.
[bulldozer rumbling]
- NARRATOR: Grubbing the red-berry juniper
and mesquite has helped open up the land and increased
the foods available for the native wildlife.
- JASE: The brush removal process has been going on here
for 50 years.
My granddad started back in the sixties.
- So, this site was treated about a year ago.
This particular spot here where a juniper was removed,
you create that low spot where rainfall is able to gather,
and you've got grasses coming back and there's a lot of
young weeds and forbs coming up here where that rainwater
is able to collect.
- MONTY: When we're up here, it's real plain.
I mean you can see there's a line of brush coming from
the windmill down into the corner over here.
- The Harkins understand that the juniper is also
somewhat of a beneficial plant in the form of cover.
So they do leave wildlife corridors, you know
we call that edge effect.
And it seems that the wildlife have greatly
benefited from that.
- NARRATOR: Since Terrell County only gets about 13-inches
of rain a year, water on the Harkins Ranch
is hard to come by.
- JASE: We have no spring water, no flowing water.
[metal creaking]
- NARRATOR: What they do have is an intricate water system.
Miles and miles of pipes feed over 100 water troughs
scattered throughout the ranch.
- JASE: I'm really proud of the water systems that
my dad and my granddad put it.
It's unbelievable.
We have pumped it either with solar or wind to get it to the
surface and gravity flowed wherever we want it to go.
[turkey gobbles]
- NARRATOR: As the Harkins ranching practices have evolved,
they've seen a resurgence in white-tailed deer, mule deer,
quail, and turkey.
They've opened up their ranch for limited lease hunting,
something that previous generations never envisioned.
- You know we could have made it just straight ranching
but the wildlife has really given us the extra income to
make improvements that we wouldn't have been able to do.
It takes a little bit of everything to make it go.
- We promote a balance, and we try to follow through
with that balance, and it can be done.
My parents want to leave it better for me and it sounds
so cliché but it's true.
- BOY: Stop sitting. Go.
- JASE: What I see happening to this place is passing it
to the sixth generation.
- BOY: Stop.
- JASE: Not always easy but great rewards.
- BOY: Stop!
More!
[water flowing]
[vibrant music]
- STEVE SCHROETER: Any place that you travel to work at
Parks and Wildlife is a super cool place.
It's in a park, it's in a wildlife management area,
it's those places I wanted to be taking pictures.
[vibrant music]
The job really gave me the very things that I was seeking
as a photographer but just in a different way.
Every poke of the keyboard means promoting this sustainability
of, you know conservation and wildlife and the outdoors.
[keyboard clicking]
- Steve Schroeter is the behind the scenes guy.
What he does is the driving force with policy
and procedure.
He can forecast, make predictions
and he's usually spot on.
- Integrity is doing the good thing when
no one else is watching.
And that's Steve.
- Steve's title is a Support Services Branch Manager.
- His contributions have gone well beyond what his role is.
- SCOTT: Risk management and safety fall into the other
duties as assigned.
- JENNIFER: He has not only willingly taken them on.
But he's done a fantastic job doing those roles.
There's the fleet management policy and procedures.
There are facility management policy and procedures,
risk management manual, the continuity of operation,
planning procedure.
And then the motor pool procedures.
So, he's had his hands on all of them.
- He's so driven, so passionate about the purpose and the goals
of the agency.
That just keeps him going.
- STEVE: It is so much easier to be a good leader when you
believe in the mission.
If you have the passion in your heart,
then there's nothing too arduous.
The more that you put into it, the more you get back out of it.
But more importantly what the department, what the people
of Texas get out of it.
- JENNIFER: With someone that's got leadership skills like
Steve, you're going to see someone that's honest.
Someone that communicates really well.
Someone who is collaborative.
- SCOTT: To the agency, he's got a great legacy.
And I'm proud to have him as part of my leadership team.
He's made a huge impact.
- STEVE: Everyone who works here seems to know what the
mission is, to live it, to recreate it,
and it is the place I want to be.
[wind and waves]
[wind and waves]
[wind and waves, birds squawk]
[wind and waves, birds squawk]
[wind and waves, birds squawk]
[shutter clicks]
[birds squawk]
[birds squawk]
[birds squawk]
[birds squawk]
[birds squawk]
[birds squawk]
[birds squawk]
- NARRATOR: This series is funded in part by a grant
from the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program.
Through your purchases of hunting and fishing equipment,
and motorboat fuels, over 50 million dollars in
conservation efforts are funded in Texas each year.
And by Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation.
Helping to keep Texas wild with the support of proud members
across the state.
Find out more at tpwf.org
Additional funding provided by Ram Trucks.
Guts.
Glory.
Ram.
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