Close of whitetail season would be uniform across state
The Houston Chronicle reports the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission will consider extending the whitetail season an extra two weeks for next season. According to the paper, members of the public submitted a Petition for Rulemaking Consideration to Texas Parks and Wildlife requesting the change. Currently, whitetail season closes on the first Sunday in January for the North Zone. It closes on the third Sunday in January in the South Zone. If approved by the Commission, the season would end on the third Sunday in January all across the state. The Commission will discuss the petition at its March 2018 meeting.
Commission to discuss air bows
The Commission will also discuss another petition to adopt rules for the use of air bows and air rifles. The petition requests making the use of such devices legal for taking game animals. Currently, hunters can only take squirrels legally with an air-propelled projectile.
Mule deer antler restrictions
Another proposal will look at expanding the state’s antler-restriction regulations to mule-deer bucks in a six-county area of the southeastern Panhandle. Under the preliminary proposal, in Briscoe, Hall, Childress, Floyd, Motley, and Cottle counties, a legal mule-deer buck would be defined as one with an outside antler spread of 20 inches or more. Bucks with outside antler spreads of less than 20 inches would be illegal to take. If Texas Parks and Wildlife pursues the change, it will officially recommend it at the Commission’s next public meeting Jan. 24-25.
