Three years ago my daughters husband accepted a transfer to the Houston area. My Granddaughter was 9 yrs. old at the time and prior to the move had just became interested in shooting and hunting. She saved her money and purchased her own Cricket .22 rifle. She is now 12 and has graduated to shooting my .22 mag and .17 HMR rimfires at 100 yards and has just began shooting my Vanguard .223. Unfortunately she only shoots when they visit. They were here visiting for the past three weeks. Now her 10 year old brother has taken an interest and we had him out to the range during their visit. He caught on quickly and had a blast.
Both have friends who are hunting. Granddaughter has been wanting to hunt for a while now and upon learning her friends are, is more eager to begin. I would like to introduce her to the sport by observing me during few hunts then begin with squirrel and prairie dogs or ground hogs. I reside in Maryland. She would have to go through a lot more here than in Texas to obtain a hunting license. I did some checking and it seems Texas will accept my Maryland Hunter Safety certification and prior hunting experience to allow me to purchase an out of state license. I am willing to obtain one. My daughter has been checking around and located the Sam Houston Recreational area about 45 mins north of Houston. That seems to be the closest to their residence in the Humble area.
I am looking for some local insight on who I can speak to about:
1. Where to go to obtain information? Dept. Natural Resources Office? Ranger Station? etc.
2. Information on Ranges where we could shoot.
3. Recommendations for decent hunting land that we could use. My wife and I visit a few time times a year, so I would like to physically check some areas.
4. Where would I find the closest area to locate ground hogs/prairie dogs.
Many thanks.
Isaac