Hunting Matters

Bill Stransky is the Executive Director of The Texas Rice Industry Coalition for the Environment (R.I.C.E.). The Texas Rice Industry Coalition for the Environment (R.I.C.E.) was formed in February 1995. Their mission is to build a coalition of interests to foster and strengthen relationships between the rice industry and the natural resources of our rice-producing area in Texas.

R.I.C.E. has created, enhanced, and/or restored an estimated 15,000 acres of wetland habitat and an additional 20,000 acres of native prairie. This includes work on all of the national wildlife refuges located on the upper and middle Texas coast as well as the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Wildlife Management Areas (WMA). R.I.C.E. has also worked extensively on private lands including establishing perpetual conservation easements on 4 ranches.

Derek Ham is an accomplished businessman with a passion for the outdoors, hunting and conservation. He is especially passionate about getting kids and others involved in hunting and guiding them to understand the link and truth between hunting and conservation. He began his first career in Los Angeles working in the music industry. He later moved back to Texas in support of his family and pursued a career in Commercial Construction. Ultimately, his passion for the outdoors led him to Farm and Ranch Real Estate where he currently represents Ruple Ranch & Land.

Derek’s passion for the outdoors was fostered as a young boy by his father who grew up on the famed LX Cattle Ranch in the Texas panhandle. His father set the groundwork for his love of hunting and fishing. Derek has been an avid hunter and conservationist for the majority of his life traveling around the world hunting both unique and more traditional game alike. His most notable hunting accomplishment was being dropped by float plane in Alaska for a week for a self-guided hunt where he harvested the Number 11 all-time Pope & Young Moose with his recurve bow. Among other countries, he has also been a successful hunter in New Zealand, Spain, Greenland and Newfoundland. But, of course, he has and does most prominently hunt in our great state of Texas.

Derek is a Lifetime member of Houston Safari Club Foundation, a member of the HSCF Board of Directors, and previously chaired the HSCF Annual Sporting Clays Tournament for two years. Prior to his time at HSCF, he chaired the Adventures program for Sky High for Kids where he organized and executed hunts for pediatric cancer patients for over five years. Derek is also a member of TDA, RMEF, NWTF, TTHA, NRA, Sportsman’s Alliance, and Quail Coalition. Derek shares his passion for hunting with his wife Jeni and daughter Sydney. Both of whom have traveled with him on his hunting adventures. He takes care to demonstrate his concern for a healthy wildlife population and ensure that the hunt is more than the harvesting of game but, more importantly, it’s about the experience.

This week Joe and Ramon sit down to start it all over with hunting 101. Ramon asks Joe all the questions from a novice hunter. Joe gets upset with Ramon and fires him. (That last part was a joke) But they do cover a lot of ground floor issues regarding hunting. If you're new to hunting or need a refresher course, this is the show for you.

Black Bears in Texas with Amanda M. Veals Dutt, PhD Amanda M. Veals Dutt, PhD, Carnivore Specialist and Research Scientist, Borderlands Research Institute, Sul Ross State University.

Dr. Dutt is the Carnivore Specialist and post-doctoral Research Scientist at Borderlands Research Institute. Her research focuses on the spatial ecology and interspecific interactions between mammalian predators, such as black bears and mountain lions, and their prey. Her research in the Trans-Pecos aims to inform management decisions and habitat conservation. Before coming to BRI, Amanda graduated in 2014 with a BS in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from University of Arizona. During her undergraduate career, Amanda assisted on several carnivore research projects and worked in Namibia on caracals (African lynx), where her passion for carnivore conservation and management began. She earned her MS degree from the University of Arizona in Wildlife Conservation and Management in 2018, studying gray fox spatial ecology. Her thesis research informed disease management through an understanding of interspecific interactions among mesocarnivores.

Amanda completed her PhD in Wildlife Sciences from Texas A&M University-Kingsville with the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute in 2021. Her dissertation focused on the endangered ocelot in an effort to reduce road mortalities. Amanda focused on ocelot spatial ecology and landscape connectivity using four decades of data. Amanda’s research program at BRI seeks to link ecology with applied conservation and management strategies. She has strong interests in spatial and landscape ecology, interspecific interactions, and predator-prey dynamics.

Dr. Derr is a Professor of Veterinary Pathobiology and Genetics at Texas A&M University. He is the Director of the DNA Technologies Core Laboratory and served as the Chair of the Faculty of Genetics at Texas A&M University and the President of the Texas Genetics Society. For over 25 years, he has directed worldwide research projects in wildlife and livestock conservation genetics. This body of work has produced more than 75 scientific publications reporting original research on many different species. For example, his research program has produced articles on North American bison, bottlenose dolphins, domestic and wild cats, elk, pronghorn antelope, sheep, quail, white-tailed and mule deer, bowhead whales, domestic livestock and multiple fish species.

In addition, Dr. Derr is an impactful educator through his teaching efforts in undergraduate genetics courses to students interested in medicine (human and veterinary) and he has mentored over 100 graduate students in the fields of conservation/population genetics and animal health. One of Dr. Derr’s most popular courses is “Wildlife Conservation Medicine”. This course is designed for first- and second-year veterinary students to travel to South Africa and Botswana to learn how to chemically immobilize, treat and transport everything from African plains game to dangerous game. His efforts with these young veterinarians ensure they graduate with specialized knowledge and skills to handle health care and conservation issues with the tremendous number of exotic wildlife species here in the State of Texas on private ranches and preserves.

Gib Surles is principal and founder of The Forrest Group, L.L.C., an estate management firm in Houston, Texas, that specializes in wealth transfer and business succession planning. Utilizing life insurance, his firm works with family-owned businesses and high net worth individuals in addressing problems common to the transfer of assets, lifestyles, and financial security to future generations.

Gib graduated from Texas A & M University in 1985 with a B.B.A in Marketing and received his Master of Science in Financial Services (MSFS) from The American College in 2001. He was awarded the Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU®) in 1996, Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC®) in 1997, Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) in 1997, and Accredited Estate Planner (AEP®) in 1999.

Gib has been married to his wife, Lauri, for thirty-five years. He has a twenty-nine-year-old son, Forrest, who is a 2016 Graduate of the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University. He is also father to twenty-six-year-old twin daughters, Autumn and Amy, who both graduated from Texas A&M University in 2019. He is an active member of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston, TX, where he serves on the Vestry. He also currently serves as the Chairperson of the Houston Safari Club Foundation’s annual Sporting Clays Tournament is a loyal supporter of the Hunters for the Hungry.

Kyle began his career in television as a fitness consultant for a local medical show, quickly rising through the ranks to become the Vice President. While producing many of his own shows, Kyle was nominated for 3 Emmys! Wanting to use his experience to promote his passion for the outdoors, he left the show to produce his own.


Of the original creators of the show, Kyle has always been described as “The Passion”. His love for the outdoors developed while learning from his Dad on countless hunting and fishing trips. Gaining this appreciation of the outdoors, Kyle has a wealth of experience in both hunting and fishing, but still enjoys learning new tactics with the audience.

Hunting Matters co-hosts Ramon Robles and Joe Betar talk about Joe's upcoming trip to Afognak Island, Alaska in pursuit of Sitka blacktail deer, salmon and halibut.

Joe will also discuss his plan to observe the Afognak Coastal Protection Project and Alaska's ecosystem and its recovery since the 1999 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska's Prince WIlliam Sound.

Kile Jones is the Director of Marketing for Apex Ammunition. Kyle leads the development and management of marketing initiatives for the company and works with the current advertising, communications, and social media teams.

A lifelong hunter, Jones has been involved in the hunting and shooting industry for 15 years and was an Apex Ambassador before joining the company. Prior to that, he served as Marketing Specialist for Dive Bomb Industries where he assisted with product development and managed content creation, social media, and customer service. He also worked for Higdon Outdoors/Power Calls as National Sales Manager.

Kile is an avid turkey and waterfowl hunter. Jones was the 2008 Junior World Goose Calling Champion and World Goose Calling Champion in 2018 and 2019. He is a mentor with First Hunt Foundation and a volunteer with Ducks Unlimited. Kile, his wife, and two Labrador Retrievers reside in Michigan.

Jeff Garrett is a Life Member of the Houston Safari Club Foundation. He has been a life-long avid Texas hunter since he was old enough to hold a gun and hit the dove field or sit in a deer stand with his father and grandfather. He has recently acquired mountain fever and has taken and/or scheduled several mountain hunts of late.

Jeff is passionate about protecting hunting rights and is also a life member of several other hunting associations, including SCI, Wild Sheep Foundation, GSCO/Ovis, Rocky Mountain Goat Association and Alaska Professional Hunters Association. If Jeff isn’t hunting, he is reading, watching and learning about hunting and how to protect the heritage. Jeff has been married to his wife, Debra, for 26 years. They have two children, Rylee who is a senior in accounting at Baylor, and Collin who recently received his bachelor’s degree from Baylor and his master’s degree from Texas A&M. Collin is also a very avid hunter. Jeff has a bachelor’s and master’s degree in engineering from Texas A&M and a law degree from South Texas College of Law. He is a registered professional engineer, registered patent attorney and a licensed attorney by the State Bar of Texas since 1992. Jeff is the Assistant General Counsel, Intellectual Property, for Chevron Phillips Chemical Company.

Jeff has served on several boards. The most recent was as the 2019-20 Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Woodlands Area Chamber of Commerce, where he has been a member of the board for many years. He has also been on the boards for the Education for Tomorrow Alliance and Woodlands Bar Association. Jeff has also been the Pacesetter Chair for the United Way.