Commission Meeting Agenda Item No. 8
Presenter: Shawn Gray

Briefing
Pronghorn Season Extension
January 27, 2022

I.      Executive Summary:  This item apprises the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission of survey results pertaining to the 7-day season extension of the pronghorn season that was initiated for the 2021 hunting season.

II.     Discussion: As part of pronghorn regulation changes that occurred last year, the 2021 pronghorn season was lengthened from nine to sixteen days by adding an additional week to the end of the historic nine-day season. From a biological perspective, adding the additional week has no negative impacts to the pronghorn resource because Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) biologists set harvest quotas by issuing permits to landowners/agents using population data collected during surveys each year. In fact, permit utilization rates were very similar between the nine-day season in 2020 (Trans-Pecos = 60.5%; Panhandle = 51.6%) and the sixteen-day season in 2021 (Trans-Pecos = 56.5%; Panhandle = 51.5%). TPWD’s intent of adding a week to the pronghorn hunting season was to provide landowners with more flexibility in scheduling hunts. Therefore, TPWD used an online opinion survey to evaluate if the extra week was utilized on properties that were issued pronghorn permits for the 2021 season and whether landowners/agents support continuing the sixteen-day season in the future. The anonymous online opinion survey was sent out to landowners/agents who received pronghorn permits for the 2021 season. The opinion survey clearly indicated that an extra week was well used and highly preferred by respondents.