Regional Highlights - East Texas Issues

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New East Texas Fish Hatchery Construction Underway (East)

Construction of the new $27 million East Texas Fish Hatchery, expected to be completed in early 2010, is now underway.

The state-of-the-art facility on 200 acres just below Sam Rayburn Reservoir will replace the 70-year-old Jasper Fish Hatchery and provide at least 45 acres of fish production ponds capable of delivering up to 4.5 million fish annually for stocking in Texas public waters.

A groundbreaking ceremony near the site of the fish hatchery water intake structure was held in late August. (More information)

Prospects Looking Good for Deer Season (East)

Hunters hoping for a shot at a quality deer during the 2008-09 deer season will need to get off the bench and into the game, suggest state wildlife biologists, as current range conditions indicate increased availability of native food sources.

The general deer hunting season opens statewide Nov. 1. This change in deer feeding patterns could also have an impact on opportunity around feeders during the Special Youth Season weekend Oct. 25-26. The youth-only season is available to licensed hunters ages 16 and under.

Post Oak Savannah Report:

The ample winter rains this past season and into the spring produced favorable range conditions throughout most of the Post Oak, according to David Sierra, TPWD district biologist in Tyler.

As opposed to other parts of the state, rainfall was sufficient to maintain good range condition throughout the summer and set the stage for an above average deer season.

"Mild weather conditions seem to have made life easier on the deer," said Sierra. "Excellent habitat conditions allowed them to forage less and denser vegetation provided more screening cover. And again, better range conditions will spread the deer over larger areas and not concentrate them in the bottoms and other prime habitats."

Surveys suggest that deer densities across the Post Oak have remained stable or have slightly increased for the past 10 years. Harvest data collected during the 2007-08 deer season indicate yearling bucks (18 months old) comprised about 27 percent of the total buck harvest. Also, harvest data from the past few years suggest a trend of increasing numbers older bucks in the annual harvest.

Health indices such as antler measurements and body weight for yearling bucks in the Post Oak have also been increasing over the past 10 to 20 years. This trend should continue this hunting season because the yearling bucks of this season was the fawn crop of the 2007 growing season, when good range conditions prevailed throughout most of the summer and winter.

"With the mild winter, excellent spring, and the amount of summer rainfall deer this year should not experience the usual environmental stresses," Sierra noted. "This should allow them to put on more body fat and use the extra nutrition to express their full genetic potential. This coupled with the increasing numbers of older deer; hunters can expect to find better than average body weights and antler quality in the upcoming deer season. Deer will be in great condition, but somewhat harder to locate.”

Pineywoods Report:

Although the Pineywoods enjoyed similar ideal winter conditions as the Post Oak, East Texas lacked the spring and summer rains to maintain habitat.

"It was looking pretty rough before Ike," said Gary Calkins, TPWD biologist in Jasper. "It was getting to the point where even the beauty berries were shedding leaves and the ponds were drying up. I had not seen it this dry in awhile."

Calkins said the dry summer conditions will likely impact acorn production as some oaks were dropping acorns early.

"Last year we had a really good fawn crop and carryover of older deer so we were set up age structure wise, especially in the northern counties," he noted. "All we needed was the weather for antlers and we could be okay because we were already through antler development when things turned dry."

Those areas entering the third year of antler restrictions appear to be showing positive results, particularly in Rusk, Panola, Cass, Cherokee and Houston counties, and prospects are favorable for this season.