Category: Deer Hunting

A Look at Deer Hunting in Texas

It’s never too early to start talking about the upcoming white-tailed deer hunting season in Texas, especially now that we are halfway through the annual antler growth cycle. All of that velvety growth is starting to take shape, giving hunters a glimpse what to expect even though there are still a couple of months left before “hard-horned” bucks start filling trail camera photos. I love this time of year! The last few months leading up to deer season are almost as much fun as hunting season itself. Almost.

Texas is well known as one of the best places for hunting deer. After all, the state is home to the largest whitetail population in the US with an estimated 4 million animals. That’s a whole lot of hooves on the ground, but really a testament to the good deer management that is taking place on properties all across the state.

Number of Hunters, Deer Harvested

According to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), the 2012-13 deer hunting season saw over 636,000 deer hunters head into the field for about 5.6 million days of hunting. All that time in the stand produced an approximated harvest of just over 546,000 whitetail deer.

That is a lot of deer, but still less than 15 percent of Texas’ total whitetail population.

Source: “The big game harvest survey in its current format was first done after the 1972-73 hunting season. Immediately following the conclusion of the deer hunting season, a random sample of approximately 2.5% of all licensed hunters was selected and a big game harvest survey questionnaire was mailed to the selected hunters. After approximately 4 weeks, non-respondents were mailed a second questionnaire….

The survey asked if the recipient hunted the targeted species, county/counties hunted in, number of days spent hunting in each county, and sex and date of harvest of each individual harvested.”

Deer Harvest Highest in Edwards Plateau

TPWD estimates annual deer harvest in each of the 10 ecoregions that comprise the state. Once again, the top whitetail producer last season was the Edward’s Plateau, affectionately know as the Texas Hill Country by those that hunt there. Hunters decreased the deer herd found in the Edward’s Plateau by an estimated 177,000 whitetail last season. The second and third place finishers were South Texas with almost 103,000 deer harvested and the Post Oak region with just over 97,000 deer harvested, although the Pineywoods was not far behind.

The annual whitetail deer harvest for the 2012-13 season estimated well over a half-million deer, but the reported number is one of the lower statewide harvests in the last 13 years. In fact, the downward trend in total harvest is quite obvious over the past few years. This decline no doubt stems from the drought that has plagued all of Texas the last few years. Habitat conditions have decreased, herd recruitment has suffered and there have been fewer deer on the landscape in recent seasons.

From a deer management standpoint, fewer hooves on the ground is a good thing when environmental conditions are bad. This helps the standing population survive, allowing them to repopulate when habitat conditions improve. Let’s just hope that turn comes sooner rather than later. Deer harvest is about more than just shooting inferior bucks. Sometimes management means reducing deer herds to maintain the condition of wildlife habitat.

The month of November has nearly come and gone and, for the most part,  it looks like the whitetail deer hunting in Texas has been good to date. A good number of hunters have reported harvesting their best bucks ever, which is likely the result of above-average habitat conditions throughout much of the year combined with good deer management practices. But it’s not been all high-fives and big buck photos for every hunter.  The first couple weeks of November  were quite toasty (nothing new around here) and that kept deer movement at a minimum.

The warm weather left many hunters wondering where all of the bucks they captured on game cameras had gone. Morning hunts showed better deer movement over evening hunts, but even then deer sightings were slim for the most part. This was especially in areas that were still brimming with acorns. Fortunately, the weather improved. Mid-month delivered a real cold front across Texas that really got whitetail moving. As I traveled across the central part of the state one morning I observed no less than a dozen bucks walking behind, running after or frantically looking for does. Cold, crisp air tends to do that. Continue reading “Deer Hunting Heats Up as Temps Drop”

White-tailed deer hunting is already underway for Texas bowhunters and those ranches participating in the Managed Lands Deer Permit (MLDP) Program, but the General Season–we call it gun season–is just around the corner for the rest of Texas’ hunters. This is when the majority of deer hunters head to the field to make memories and bag and tag their personal trophies. And for those gun hunters, November 3 can not get here fast enough. But the good news for those with sharp knives, empty coolers and elevated heart rates is that opening day is just over two weeks away and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) says things are looking good for both deer and deer hunters.

Source: “The white-tailed deer herd in Texas is doing well and stable. Despite one of the worst droughts on record last year, the deer population came through with minimal population impacts. Most areas experienced low fawn survival last year, as to be expected, but we had very few reports of any significant adult mortality related to the drought. Continue reading “Texas Deer Hunting Forecast”

The upcoming white-tailed deer hunting season is looking good for Texas hunters. Despite the horrendous drought of 2011, habitat conditions quickly rebounded last fall after some much-needed rain. It was not nearly enough, but it helped big time. In addition, acorn crops ranged from decent to good in many areas across the state, which was pretty amazing. This was good for deer populations because it gave them abundant food sources when they needed it most, right before winter. Not only did the buffet of natural foods allow deer to recover physically, but the mild winter meant whitetail did not have to move around in search of food, which is typically when deer make themselves available for harvest.

As a result, many hunters did not see nearly the number of deer that they thought they would. The corn under the feeders did not get immediately inundated by hungry deer. Now this was not the case everywhere. Some areas did not fair so well with regards to fall precipitation. Some areas lack oak trees, acorns and the fat-rich calories they pack for winter whitetail. But much of Texas’ whitetail population pulled through well and entered the year is good shape. Did some deer die off last year? Yes, of course, but then again some always do. Continue reading “Deer Hunting Season Shaping Up Well”