Drought-quenching spring rains and productive habitats have led biologists to predict another year of plentiful opportunities for hunters to fill their bellies and freezers with their harvests.
As hunters dust off their firearms and plan trips to their favorite hunting spots, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) asks hunters to be aware of new statewide carcass disposal regulations and to help biologists monitor for the presences of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) by having their harvest tested for free at a TPWD check station or by a local biologist.
The general deer season kicked off Nov. 2 and runs through Jan. 5 in the North zone and Jan. 19 in the South zone, giving folks plenty of chances to go from field to table with their harvest.
Additional new white-tailed deer hunting regulations for this season include the expansion of doe days to a 23-day season for those 43 counties in the Post Oak Savannah and Pineywoods ecoregions that previously had a 16-day doe season. This extension of doe days now encompasses Thanksgiving weekend, which is a time when many hunters already spend the weekend hunting. The early youth-only season will now include Friday for those hunters 16 years of age or younger at the date of license purchase.
Edwards Plateau/Hill Country
The Edwards Plateau, widely known as the Hill Country, has the highest deer population in the state, estimated at 1.5 million. Hunters looking for opportunities to see lots of deer this fall should put this area on their priority list.
The combined impact of severe drought and an already high deer population in this ecoregion over recent years has reduced the population by about 25 percent, yet it still maintains the highest deer density in the state.
The area around Llano and Mason counties has the highest deer density in the region, with an estimated 413,000 deer in this area alone. Doe harvest is especially important in this area to relieve browsing pressure on habitats by lowering deer densities and balancing an appropriate doe to buck ratio.
Hunters should expect an increase in the number of bucks in the three-and-a-half to five-anda half-year-old age classes due to improved fawn recruitment in 2019 – 2021.
Below-average fawn crops in 2017 and 2018 have kept the number of mature bucks lower than desired, but there should still be a solid population of five-anda- half-year-old deer, providing ample opportunities to harvest a mature buck.
South Texas Plains
The South Texas Plains ecoregion is known for mature bucks and above average antler quality relative to most other areas of the state. For hunters seeking a oncein- a-lifetime trophy, south Texas is often regarded as the premier big buck destination.
Periodic drought conditions in South Texas have led to erratic fawn crops that slow population growth and require good habitat and population management practices to produce the quality of deer South Texas is known for.
The three-and-a-half to fourand- a-half-year-old age classes will be abundant and offer plenty of mature bucks in the coming years.
Many ranches in the region manage specifically for mature bucks and the five-and-a-half to six-and-a-half age class should be well represented this year.
Bucks four-and-a-half years or older represented 64 percent of the buck harvest in 2023 and was the greatest percentage of mature buck harvest in the state last season. This trend of harvesting older age class bucks is expected to continue this season.
Comment
Comments