PORT ARTHUR — The outdoors can be as in depth or as complex as a person desires.

An outdoors lover can learn the basics of pursuing encounters in the wild or go super deep.

I prefer the latter.

This week I thought it would be fun to ask the question, “Did you know?”

Did you know in the early 1980s a whale shark was trapped on a mud flat in Sabine Lake?

Whale sharks grow up to 50 feet long and are plankton eaters that prefer open ocean habitat, however this one got in the lake and ended up being killed.

Did you know that Rat-L-Traps could be fished under a popping cork?

Years ago Terry Shaunessy, former owner of Hackberry Rod and Gun, said he would occasionally fish Traps under a popping cork while drifting over shell and caught solid numbers of redfish and trout.

Did you know there are more whitetail deer killed in Texas than existed in North America in 1900?

At the time, it was estimated there were only 500,000 whitetails left. Now there are nearly 30 million and well over 500,000 are killed in Texas annually.

Did you know Texas is home to the longest non-venomous snake in North America?

The Indigo snake which dwells in the deep brush of South Texas can grow to lengths over 10 feet. I have seen several of these huge serpents over the years and had an encounter with two eight footers who were mating under my stand in Frio County back in 1995. It was weird but cool to see such big snakes.

Did you know there are more blackbuck antelope and axis deer in Texas than in their native India?

In fact, several Texas ranches have shipped blackbuck back to India throughout the years to replenish their stocks.

Did you know Bassmaster magazine recently ranked Lake Falcon in South Texas as the number one bass lake in the nation?

We hear a lot about that lake but unfortunately there are security problems in the area so many anglers, myself included, skip out on fishing there.

If they keep producing monster fish like they have been, this angler might give it a shot next year. We will see.

Speaking of bass, did you know Texas has four varieties of what are commonly referred to as “black bass”?

We have the native northern largemouth, Florida largemouth, smallmouth and Guadalupe bass.

Did you know Sabine Lake was the very first coastal ecosystem to get a flounder stocking by the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department?

Back in 2009, TPWD coastal fisheries officials from Sea Center Texas released flounder into Old River Bayou near the old Bailey’s Fish Camp.

I could go on with these kinds of facts forever so I might publish them every once in awhile. If you have any interesting facts that you would like to share please email them to me and I will include them in my next “Did you know?”

(To contact Chester Moore, e-mail him at cmooreoutdoors@yahoo.com. You can hear him on “Moore Outdoors” Fridays from 6-7 p.m. on Newstalk AM 560 KLVI or online at www.klvi.com. Find him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/extremewildlife.)