Texas Hunters Beware, New Rules Might Affect You – Know Before You Go

Texas hunting season will be here before you know it and your Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission has approved the latest hunting regulations for the 2022-23 season at its public meeting held on March 24 in Austin. 

TPWD Commissioners adopted the following modifications and clarifications to the 2022-23 Statewide Hunting Proclamation:

• Establish mandatory buck and antlerless white-tailed deer harvest reporting in Collin, Dallas, Grayson, and Rockwall counties during white-tailed deer season.
• Modify the definitions of “buck deer” and “antlerless deer.”
• Modify the proof of sex requirements for harvested buck deer.
• Create definitions for two types of commercial cold storage facilities.
• Modify tagging and proof of sex requirements, log procedures and destination regulations for commercial cold storage facilities.
• Expand mule deer antler restrictions to an additional 21 counties in the Panhandle.
• Extend the general mule deer season in 15 southwestern Panhandle counties from nine to 16 days and add a special archery season.
• Establish a mule deer antler restriction in Terrell County within the Trans-Pecos.
• Establish a veterans and active-duty special waterfowl hunting season to occur concurrently during the youth-only season in all duck zones.
• Modify the West Zone for goose hunting to open a week earlier than current goose hunting regulations.
• Remove the daily bag limit restriction (two) on hooded mergansers.
• Combine the separate merganser and duck daily bag limits into a single aggregate daily bag limit of six per day.
• Reauthorize the requirement to possess a Federal Sandhill Crane Hunting Permit while hunting that species due to an administrative error.
• Close the turkey season east of IH-35 in Ellis County to support ongoing restocking efforts along the Trinity River.

Texas hunters should make note of these changes when they hit the field during the upcoming hunting seasons, and follow to the letter all the regulations set for species, tagging, bag limits, counties, season dates and means and methods.

Know Before You Go

Hunters should be sure to check the Outdoor Annual for complete and updated regulations. The information currently in the Outdoor Annual has not been updated as of yet and reflects last season’s information. The new information should be completely updated and viewed on the TPWD website by May 13, 2022.

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