History of Hunting Regulation Updates

Effective September 1, 2018

The 2019 eastern turkey season will open a little later than last year, starting April 22 and closing May 14, to boost bird production and increase population size. Also, the turkey season in Upshur and San Augustine Counties has been closed.
The South Dove Zone will open Sept. 14, a week earlier than in previous years.
The possession limit for squirrel, pheasant and chachalaca is expanding to three times the daily bag limit.
For waterfowl hunters, the daily bag limit for pintails will be increased to 2 during the 2018–19 season.
For mule deer, a new experimental antler-restriction regulation in Briscoe, Childress, Cottle, Floyd, Hall and Motley counties restricts buck harvest to bucks with an outside spread between the main beams of 20 inches or more.
A 9-day mule deer general season (no archery season) is starting in Lynn County.

The Special White-Winged Dove Area now includes all of the South Zone. The daily bag limit for the new Special White-Winged Dove Days in the South Zone is 15 birds with no more than two mourning or white-tipped doves. Hunting hours for these days are from noon to sunset during the first two weekends in September. Dates and zone map

Longest dove seasons in all zones in over 80 years, an increase from 70 days to 90 days.
Season dates in North and South Duck Zones and West Goose Zones changed.
Potential additional areas added for mandatory Chronic Wasting Disease testing of hunter killed white-tailed deer and mule deer. For details see the CWD informational page.
“Special Late Antlerless and Spike-buck Season” replaced with a “Special Late Season” for antlerless deer and “unbranched antlered bucks.”
Youth may harvest antlerless deer without a permit on U.S. Forest Service Lands during youth-only seasons.
White-tailed deer general and special archery-only seasons in 14 additional Panhandle counties.
Additional “doe days” in 26 East Texas counties.
Muzzleloader-only late season in 32 additional counties.

Eastern turkey season is closed in 11 counties and on national forest lands in Jasper County.
Eastern turkeys now reported electronically.
Mandatory harvest reporting will no longer be required in Wharton and Matagorda Counties during the 30-day spring turkey season, which opens there April 1.
Youth-only late turkey season is expanded by 12 days in counties having a fall Rio Grande turkey season, to run 14 days concurrently with late youth-only white-tailed deer season.

For previous years' updates, see hunting updates history.