When I was a kid I used to look forward to Aug. 31. In those pre-historic times of the 20th Century, that was when hunting licenses went on sale, or at least when we bought ours.

The truth is Texas’ lakes are aging. That is not such a bad thing for water production, but it can definitely have an impact on the fishing.

In 1987, the last year before mandatory hunter education, Texas recorded 81 hunting accidents, 12 of which were fatal. In 2018, the last year for which numbers are available, the state had 17 total hunting accidents. It is difficult to say, but fortunately only three of those were fatal.

LAKE PALESTINE — Jimmy Houston once told me when he received his first Hummingbird flashing fish finder, he went home and told his dad that it was unfair because he was going to catch every fish in the lake. He didn’t.

The calendar just rolled over to summer. It is time to start thinking about the fall hunting seasons. For some, the seasons are already beginning with applications being filled out for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Public Hunt Draw Program.

I made a comment the other day to someone about what was the greatest natural phenomenon or change of my lifetime. Just like with many other things in the world a lot has changed since the 1950s, so I had to narrow it down to my interests, which would be animals to hunt.

LAKE TAWAKONI — It was one of those mornings where it was impossible to count the number of fish pulled over the gunwales of guide Joe Read’s boat.