Harvest Surveys
Big Game Harvest
The big game harvest survey tracks hunter and harvest trends for javelina (Pecari tajacu), mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) at the statewide, ecoregion, and management unit level. The survey has been run every year since the 1972-73 hunting season. The analysis methodology had numerous changes made after the 2017-18 season, and the analysis was rerun back through the 2005-06 hunting season. Because of the changes, the estimates are not comparable to seasons before 2005-06.
A survey form was mailed to 75,000 random hunters on 1 February 2024. Additionally, another 50,000 randomly selected hunters for which we had an email address were sent a link to the online version of the survey on 1 February 2024. The mail survey had a link to the online survey printed on it, and respondents could choose to respond by mail or online. Both the mail and online survey were closed on 17 April 2024. 7,642 mail survey recipients responded, of which 1,777 (23.25%) responded online. 1,545 email recipients responded. Only one mailing was sent, and non-respondents were not contacted by other means.
A demographic analysis of all license buyers was performed; the same analysis was done for survey respondents. 14 statistics were estimated for each species at 13 different analysis levels, as well as the 95% confidence intervals for the estimates.
Statistic | Javelina | Mule Deer | White-tailed Deer |
---|---|---|---|
Hunters | 42,726 | 30,692 | 757,047 |
Success Rate | 56.65% | 49.42% | 67.76% |
Female Harvest | 11,540 | 1,840 | 314,972 |
% Female Harvest | 40.92% | 15.79% | 42.57% |
Male Harvest | 16,664 | 9,816 | 424,892 |
% Male Harvest | 59.08% | 84.21% | 57.43% |
Total Harvest | 28,204 | 11,656 | 739,864 |
Harvest per Hunter | 0.66 | 0.38 | 0.98 |
Hunter days | 233,091 | 186,096 | 8,718,659 |
Days per Hunter | 5.46 | 6.06 | 11.52 |
Days per Harvest | 8.26 | 15.97 | 11.78 |
Hunters per 1000 acre | 0.38 | 0.27 | 6.68 |
Days per 1000 acres | 2.06 | 1.64 | 76.88 |
Harvest per 1000 acres | 0.25 | 0.1 | 6.52 |
For more information on this survey, to receive the full survey analysis or to receive prior years surveys, email hunt@tpwd.texas.gov. Please note, full survey analysis files are not accessible to people who use an assistive device to access information. If you need assistance reading these files let our Hunt Information folks know and they will assist you.