SPORTS
OUTDOORS: Changes forthcoming for hunting, fishing
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission adopted changes to this year’s deer hunting regulations.
The most significant change is expansion of white-tailed deer hunting into 14 counties across the western Texas Panhandle.
The commission adopted the following changes to the 2016-17 Statewide Hunting Proclamation, which will be placed into the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Outdoor Annual:
• Elimination of the antlerless and spike-buck control permit due to a lack of demand.
• Define “unbranched antlered deer” to clear up what constitutes a legal buck across seasons and to eliminate confusion for hunters.
Fishing
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission approved a series of regulation changes affecting bass and catfish.
New rules have clarified saltwater length limits on black drum and amberjack, and rules prohibiting snagging a fish with a pole and line.
The changes to the 2016-17 state recreational and commercial fishing regulations take effect on Sept. 1, 2016.
Texas Fest musical lineup unveiled
Texas Fest will take place from May 20-22 at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, and the musical lineup has been announced.
Lee Brice, Kip Moore and Big & Rich with Cowboy Troy will be the headline musical entertainment.
CWD cases found
Two new cases of chronic wasting disease in Texas captive deer, including the first confirmed from a tonsil biopsy sample.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and Texas Animal Health Commission are conducting an epidemiological investigation into the new cases.
One case involves a 3½-year-old captive raised white-tailed doe born and raised on-site, and died on-site from natural causes at a facility in Medina County.
The live test finding is from a 2½-year-old- captive white-tailed buck in the Uvalde-Medina deer breeding facility that was the source of a CWD positive white-tailed buck harvested by a hunter from a release site on the same ranch. Read more from the outdoors notebook in the April 9 Bowie News.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. (Logo provided by the TPWD, used with permission)
With the baseball and softball seasons over for the area 1A schools, district awards have been released.
Listed below are those earned honors on the field and in the classroom for Saint Jo and Bellevue.
Softball
Saint Jo
Honorable mention
Utility player: Taylor Patrick; Catcher: Jordyn O’Neal
Baseball
Superlatives
Offensive MVP: Devin Stewart, Saint Jo
Newcomer of the Year: Bryce Ramsey, Bellevue
Pitcher: Trent Gaston, Saint Jo
Outfielder: Jayden Curry, Saint Jo
Second team
Pitcher: Charlie Barclay, Saint Jo
Infielder: Brycen Bancroft, Bellevue; Sam Martin, Saint Jo
Outfielder: Rylan Forrester, Saint Jo
Catcher: Charlie Evans, Saint Jo
Utility: Logan Hoover, Saint Jo
DH: Amzy Barclay, Saint Jo
Honorable mention
Cody Gaston, Saint Jo; Xander Joyner, Saint Jo
To see academic awards from Saint Jo players, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
Eldon Van Hooser is leaving Forestburg better than he found it.
The head boy’s basketball coach is retiring after more than 30 years, spending the last five at Forestburg.
Van Hooser did not come to this decision because of a lack of fire or feeling tired after decades in the profession. He had to for family reasons.
“My wife has MS (multiple sclerosis) and it’s a disease where you have trouble standing and walking and she needs help,” Van Hooser said. “I am able to so I am going to step away from teaching and coaching to be there for her.”
Van Hooser was hired in 2019. Along with being the boy’s basketball coach, he also was the football team’s defensive coordinator.
There were some lean years for Forestburg on the boy’s athletic side, with numbers being low and the available athletes being mostly underclassmen.
For two years, the Longhorns’ boy’s basketball team won few games and one of those seasons saw the team field five players on the high school team.
“One of those years we had COVID-19 and the other we had five kids,” Van Hooser said. “It was very rough. After that we worked with the kids and we had a good freshman group coming up. Next year they are going to be seniors.”
That group has helped to turn the program around. Last year the young Longhorns team contested for a playoff spot and just barely missed it finishing fifth in the district.
This season, that same group took a leap and finished second in district with a record of 7-5.
Despite losing its last two regular season games in dramatic fashion heading into the playoffs, the team stepped up in the bi-district game.
Playing against an athletic Newcastle team, Forestburg led for most of the game.
Unfortunately, the previous game against Bellevue saw the Longhorn team blow the lead late in the fourth quarter against a hard pressing style team and they were suffering the same fate against the Bobcats down the stretch.
Fortunately, Forestburg held on just enough to win 53-46. It was the first boy’s basketball playoff win in nine years for Forestburg.
“It was huge for our program,” Van Hooser said. “This new year we will have new goals. The new coach will have some goals of his own, but I set some for the team and think that we have come a long way.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
The Bowie sports banquets was on Monday night. Olivia Gill and Tucker Jones were named Jackrabbit and Lady Rabbit of the year. Pick up the mid-week paper for all of the sports team awards and pictures.
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