A proposed change to the 2022-23 Statewide Hunting and Migratory Game Bird proclamations in Texas aims to increase the population of wild turkeys in Ellis County.
Officials from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department on Thursday hosted a public meeting via Zoom to discuss various proposals to the regulations.
Among those is a proposal to close wild turkey hunting in Ellis County east of Interstate 35E. Currently individuals can hunt wild turkeys, but there is a four-bird bag limit.
“The department has been heavily involved in a wild turkey restoration project since about 2018 in the eastern third of Texas,” said Shaun Oldenburger, small game program director for Texas Parks and Wildlife. “As many folks know eastern turkeys have had a great rebound across the United States in regard to state agencies and nonprofits moving birds around, and in a lot of places it’s been very successful. One of the few places that has not been successful in turkey restoration is eastern Texas.”
Oldenburger provided a map that shows the wild turkey population in Ellis County. Most of them are concentrated along the Trinity River, where turkeys from Central Texas and South Texas have been released. He said Texas Parks and Wildlife is working on a program to identify how many wild turkeys there are in the county and what the population should be.
Oldenburger said the department has been successful in releasing birds and maintaining a population around Kaufman and Navarro counties, which are closed to turkey hunting.
Oldenburger said there has been research out Texas A&M University to provide guidelines on new stocking rates and how birds can be released in the future on these sites.
He said temporarily closing turkey hunting in Ellis County should get the population back to where it needs to be.
“Based on surveys that have been done and observations by (Texas Parks and Wildlife) in the last 10 years there really were very few wild turkeys in Ellis County,” Oldenburger said.
He said if the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission approves the change it’s unclear how long the restrictions in the county would last.
“Since we really want these birds to be as successful as possible our proposal to the commission is to close Ellis County to reduce the harvest until time we feel like it’s feasible to open back up these counties and have sustainable populations for the future,” Oldenburger said.
Other proposed changes to the 2022-23 Statewide Hunting and Migratory Game Bird proclamations including modifying the West Zone for goose hunting season. It would begin Feb. 6, 2023 and end March 12, 2023.
The department is considering establishing a special waterfowl hunting opportunity for veterans and active-duty personnel that would coincide with the youth-only season in all duck zones Oct. 22-23.
The department is proposing combining the merganser and duck daily bag limits to six. Currently the merganser daily bag limit is five. The daily bag limit of two hooded mergansers would be removed.
And the department is proposing a reauthorization of a requirement to possess a Federal Sandhill Crane Hunting Permit while hunting the species. Oldenburger said the requirement was supposed to be in place initially but was accidently omitted.
Other proposed changes include:
Allow the take of white-tailed deer by firearm in Collin, Dallas, Grayson and Rockwall counties and modify other deer hunting seasons within those counties.
Modify the definitions of “buck deer” and “antlerless deer.”
Modify the proof of sex requirements for harvested buck deer.
Create definitions for two types of commercial cold storage facilities.
Modify tagging and proof of sex requirements, cold storage log procedures, and destination regulations for those commercial cold storage facilities.
Expand mule deer antler restrictions to an additional 21 counties in the Panhandle.
Extend the 9-day general season in 15 southwest Panhandle counties to 16 days and adding the special archery season.
Establish a mule deer antler restriction to Terrell County in the Trans-Pecos.
Comments on each of the changes can be provided at tpwd.texas.gov/business/feedback/public_comment/ until March 23.
The commission will vote on the proposed changes March 24.