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Program Highlights & News |
Meet Dallas Chapter's Brice Bilbo |
Brice Bilbo is a sixth-generation Texan whose ancestral roots in the state run as deep as his love for the outdoors. His family first arrived in Texas in 1860, and by 1915, they had launched what would become the first trucking company in Texas.
“The business started as the Bilbo Jitney Line. At the time, ‘jitney’ was the slang term for a nickel,” said Bilbo. “We would basically take people from the residential areas of Dallas to the factories, and on to community centers. I guess you could say we were kind of like the original Uber.”
“About 10 years later, because of new regulations and rules, they shut down all of the jitney lines, and we decided to create our own trailers. We started hauling building materials and construction equipment,” explained Bilbo. “And, so a lot of the old historical buildings in downtown Dallas, Fort Worth, and the surrounding area—we hauled all of the bricks and material to create those original buildings.”
Today, Bilbo still works in the family business—now Bilbo Transports—carrying forward a legacy inextricably tied to the growth of North Texas. But outside of work, his identity has always been shaped by long days and pursuits outdoors.
“From before I can remember, my family—we’ve been long-time hunters,” Bilbo said. “My dad was my introduction, and all we did was fish, hunt, and camp growing up.” A childhood photo captures him at just two or three years old, proudly holding up a fish with his first rod. |
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New Hunters Learn to Hunt Big Game and Bow Fish on the Colorado |
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SOTW hosted its 6th mentored hunt of the season at an incredible property right on the Colorado River in Matagorda County earlier this month! Mentees received education on species, types of hunting, firearms, and safe, ethical, and legal hunting practices thanks to our friends at Texas Wildlife Association (TWA) and our volunteer mentors. Over the course of the weekend, three white-tailed does were harvested, and mentees learned how to break down and process venison. Our volunteer chef showed mentees how they might cook their harvested venison by providing spectacular wild game meals. Participants also received an exciting, impromptu lesson in bow fishing on the river and one mentee scored a carp!
Participants took away new skills and a new or renewed appreciation for our wild things and wild places. Thank you to our incredible volunteers, supporters, and landowners who make our Mentored Hunting Initiative possible this season, including SITKA Gear, Weatherby Foundation International, Houston Safari Club Foundation, CKWRI, and the Stewards of the Wild Austin Chapter. |
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Houston Chapter Launches in Style at Turtlebox HQ |
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Don't Miss Out! Join, Renew, or Refer Now to Win Luck Reunion Tickets |
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Join or Renew your SOTW membership February 1-28, 2026 and automatically be entered into a drawing to win a $500 gift card to Scheels Sporting Goods and two tickets to the exclusive Luck Reunion at Willie Nelson's ranch on March 19, 2026. Active members will receive two additional entries for every new member referred. To be eligible for additional entries, referral must include your first and last name in the referral section completed during their new member registration. Membership renewal is not required to secure referral entries.
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Introducing TPWF's Wild Thumb: A Native Texas Gardening App |
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Already dreaming of spring blooms? There’s an app for that!
Introducing Wild Thumb—the only native planting app made just for Texas. Available for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices, download the app today and let’s grow wild!
This free app from TPWF will help you turn your outdoor space into a wild new habitat for pollinators. Whether you want to add a few potted plants to your porch, create a new garden bed, or grow a whole pocket prairie, Wild Thumb will help you select the best native plants or seed mixes for your ecoregion based on your zip code.
Wild Thumb's interactive design tool lets you drag and drop plants onto plots of all shapes and sizes to reimagine any space. With step-by-step guidance, watering reminders and freeze alerts, and a directory of Texas nurseries that sell native plants, Wild Thumb takes the guesswork out of creating and maintaining a blooming, buzzing outdoor space that will have pollinators all a-flutter. |
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Now’s the perfect time to put Wild Thumb to work and start planning, prepping, planting, and growing native Texas plants for bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and a plethora of pollinators.
It’s all part of TPWF’s Pollinators & Prairies program. Powered by Presenting Sponsor H‑E‑B Our Texas, Our Future and Contributing Sponsor Phillips 66, the program encourages Texans to create native habitat in yards and communities across the state. Wild Thumb was developed in collaboration with Outside Studio, with assistance from the Native Plant Society of Texas and professional botanists. |
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