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Hunting and Fishing Regulations
What's New for 2013-2014
Reporting Violations
Operation Game Thief now accepts tips by text message. If you see someone violating fish or game regulations, text to 847411 and type your message beginning with "tpwd." As always, violations can also be reported at the 24-hour hotline (800) 792-GAME (792-4263).
The following changes will take effect September 1, 2013.
Hunting Regulations
- Pronghorn Antelope - There will be an experimental season for buck pronghorn in certain Panhandle counties, which would allow landowners to control the harvest of buck pronghorn on their properties. A hunter wishing to harvest a buck must obtain a free permit from TPWD and present the intact head of the animal at a TPWD check station within 24 hours of the kill. The goal is to simplify pronghorn hunting regulations and increase hunting opportunity in areas with stable populations. Wildlife officials will closely monitor pronghorn herds during the pilot project to ensure populations remain healthy.
- For Managed Lands Deer Permits, mule deer season will extend to the last Sunday in January.
Fishing & Boating
- Lake Jacksonville (Cherokee County) - The minimum length on largemouth bass will be eliminated. Anglers may retain a combined limit of 5 black bass per day, but no more than 2 can be largemouth bass under 18 inches.
- Kurth Reservoir (Angelina County) will have a new 16-inch maximum length on largemouth bass; however, a largemouth that measures 24 inches or more may be temporarily retained in a live well and weighed for possible donation to the ShareLunker Program. The daily bag limit for black basses will remain 5 per day.
- Canyon Lake Project #6 (Lubbock County) - Pole and line will be the only fishing method allowed. This gear restriction already applies to nearby Projects 1, 2 and 3, which are officially classified as Community Fishing Lakes.
- Game Wardens will have the authority to enforce federal regulations in the Exclusive Economic Zone (9-200 miles off the Texas coast.) Persons who enter Texas waters with fish or aquatic animals taken in violation of federal law in the EEZ may be prosecuted.