Texas Parks and Wildlife will be hosting two scoping meetings in North Texas this month to get public feedback on a pair of proposed new regulations aimed at preventing the spread of exotic aquatic species in the state.

When Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine publisher Randy Brudnicki planned a fishing trip to Falcon International Reservoir with his sons Jason and Dustin for the week after Christmas, he knew the time was right to catch a Toyota ShareLunker.

In the largest desert bighorn sheep relocation operation in Texas Parks and Wildlife history, 95 of the high country animals have been trapped this month in the mountains north of Van Horn and released some 190 miles away on Big Bend Ranch State Park.

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.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) has scheduled five scoping meetings this winter, starting Nov. 30, about two possible regulation changes for 2012. The scoping items include consideration of 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.

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

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.