It’s not unusual to drive down a Central Texas road and see dead animals that have been hit by cars or trucks as they tried to cross the road to get to the other side.

But lately, I’ve noticed an increase in the number of roadkill, and more of the animals are young ones. Just in the past week, I saw two spotted fawns that had been hit by traffic, along with two young skunks and a rabbit that didn’t look old enough to be out past 9 p.m. 

These babes from the woods probably weren’t striking out on their own, but most likely were accompanying a parent in search of food, water or other relief from the effects of our drought and record-smashing heat wave.

Wildlife biologists from around the state are cautioning Texans to be attentive to their surroundings, as more wildlife are being driven out of their traditional habitats.

A black bear was killed earlier this month north of San Antonio, and since bears are protected in Texas, TPWD investigated the incident, finding that the man who killed it believed he and his dogs were in danger of being attacked by the 2-year-old, 103-pound bear.

Hunters and ranchers are being advised that bears seem to be expanding their ranges and may approach people or houses in search of food and water because of the drought, according to TPWD.

“We’re getting a few reports of people seeing bears during daylight hours, and that’s unusual,” TPWD’s Mike Krueger said. “It’s the associated water around homes and the food. The pet food, the smell of cooking; all those things could attract bears.”

Because of the drought, the bears appear to be traveling longer distances, sometimes even hundreds of miles, to find better habitat conditions. Known breeding bear populations in Texas are in far West Texas, so it’s possible bears seen in Central Texas traveled from there, or from Mexico.

“We recommend people try to scare bears away, or go to a safe place and call us. But killing a bear should be a last resort unless a person is truly threatened,” Krueger said.

If people encounter a bear at close range, they should talk calmly while backing away slowly. Don’t make direct eye contact, and don’t run away. If one approaches you, stand your ground and raise your arms to appear larger, and yell at the bear to scare it off.

Hunters should keep camps clean to prevent odors that will attract bears, and discard gut piles far from camp sites. Placing deer corn in piles or in open feeders will attract more bears, while using an automated feeder hung out of their reach will decrease bear visits.

Positives of drought

On the bright side of the drought, dove hunters can probably count on plenty of action near any of the area’s dwindling watering holes.

“Dove hunting over a water source should be excellent,” said Corey Mason, TPWD dove program leader. “Additionally, dove may be concentrated on food sources, so if you can find a stand of sunflower, goat weed, etc., hunting should be productive.”

Native food sources are going to be more important this year because agricultural crops aren’t as good as years past.

Biologists say the drought will have some impacts on dove populations, with the greatest being on juveniles. However, they do not expect significant impacts to what hunters will see this fall.

Texas boasts fall dove populations in excess of 40 million birds and its 300,000 dove hunters harvest about 6 million birds annually — roughly 30 percent of all doves taken in the United States.

Dove flyways drying up

Water isn’t the only thing that seems to be drying up in Central Texas. Over the past decade or so, traditional dove flyways have given way to manufacturing plants and warehouses, cutting the number of hunting grounds significantly.

So if you’re all dressed up and ready to dove hunt, but the only thing missing is a place to go, you don’t need to look far to find a place to pop off a few boxes of shells and bring home some birds for the grill.

Wildlife biologist Josh Sears recently leased 319 acres in Hewitt that he’s opening up to 45 hunters who can hunt the place for $100 per gun for a four-day hunt from Sept. 1-4.

The land has plenty of native sunflowers and is packed with mourning and white-winged dove, Sears said. For more information, call 817-899-5727.

Fishing hot at Whitney

Lake Whitney striper guide Clay Yadon (817-219-3707) says the fishing action is as hot as the weather.

“It’s awfully good. We’ve been catching the heck out of them all week on live shad fished at 25 feet,” he said. Yadon added that other guides had been having some luck downrigging.

Several morning trips last week found Yadon dealing with the issue of five fish on at one time, and every day yielded at least several fish in the mid-teens.

He urged anglers to pay attention to the thermocline, which separates the warm, oxygenated water near the surface from the cold, dense water below where oxygen levels are too low for fish to thrive. The surface temperature is around 90 degrees, while the lower levels are around 60.

There’s less oxygen and prey in deeper water, but the more comfortable environment is a good trade-off. Hitting the right zone of water is the key to success, and lowering a thrashing shad into bait-scarce water improves your odds of hanging a big striper.

www.centexoutdoors.com

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