Hunters in some Texas counties will have additional opportunities to participate in an expanded 4 day antlerless deer hunt season. The season will include 21 south-central counties, and will run from November 28th (Thanksgiving day) through December 1st. 

The bag limit on antlerless deer taken in these counties will be 2. Hunters who take antlerless deer during this 4 day season must report the harvest to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department within 24 hours.   

Additionally, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has expanded its white-tail doe season from four days to sixteen days, in select northeast Texas counties. The new season will begin alongside the start of the general hunting season on November 2nd. 

To find out if your county is included in the expanded seasons, visit: https://tpwd.texas.gov/regulations/outdoor-annual/hunting/

Hunters participating in migratory game bird season can expect few changes this year, however the TPWD has reduced the bag limit on pintail ducks to 1 per day. 

For more information on this years Texas Migratory Game Bird hunt season, and a full list of season dates, visit:  https://tpwd.texas.gov/newsmedia/releases/?req=20190417a

A new Javelina season has been established for 6 counties in the South Plains, including Borden, Dawson, Gaines, Hardeman, Scurry, and Terry counties. 

The season dates for Javelina in Southern counties run from September 1st – August 31. Northern counties have a shorter season from October 1st – February 23rd. 

An experimental restriction on antler spread for mule deer will come into effect this fall in Lynn County.  

Due to an overall decline in the health of the mule deer population, stricter regulations will be put in place, in an attempt to increase its health and growth. In particular, biologists in the area hope to see an increase in the mule deer buck populations, and prevent overharvesting of young muley bucks.

To aid in these efforts, hunters taking mule bucks this season will be restricted to males with an  antler spread no less than 20 inches. 

Antler spread is measured as the distance between the widest point of the left antler, to the widest point of the right antler. If you’re not sure your target has a wide enough spread, an easy way to estimate is by assessing the distance between the muley’s ears, which is about 21 inches on average. 

Starting this fall, big game hunters will be permitted to use air guns and arrow guns to take big game, in addition to alligator, Rio Grande turkeys, and furbearers.  

Hunters using these weapon types will need to be sure that their firearms meet the criteria established under the new law. The criteria help to ensure that the type of weapon being used is highly effective to cleanly take the type of game being hunted. 

For full details on these criteria visit: https://tpwd.texas.gov/regulations/outdoor-annual/hunting/general-regulations/means-and-methods

The check station used from the Trans-Pecos’s mandatroy CWD sampling, and carcass movement restriction zone will have a new location this season.

For details visit: https://tpwd.texas.gov/regulations/outdoor-annual/hunting/cwd/trans-pecos-check-stations