State officials say southeast Texas hunters getting ready for the start of the general firearms season for white-tailed deer Saturday may have a really good year because of the weather, reports KCEN-TV in Temple, Texas. Captain Rod Ousley of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) told reporters hunters should see more deer than usual this season because of the drought. Lack of rainfall is keeping deer out in the open. Ousley added some locations that haven’t seen many deer may look quite different. “Deer, after you pressure them, they change their patterns up where you don’t see them quite as often, but them having to search harder for food is going to put them moving more for the deer hunters to see,” Ousley said. The fawn population is down 10 percent this year because many were not able to survive the dry conditions. But game wardens say that won’t affect hunters until next year when the young population is big enough to be harvested.
