By Jessica Domel
Multimedia Reporter
More than 80% of Texas is now suffering from moderate or worse drought, and that could have an impact on the spring turkey hunting season.
“We do have some pretty dry conditions out across a lot of the Rio Grande range, and those dry conditions, not seeing those weeds starting to grow up and not seeing those bluebonnet rosettes on the ground, tends to suggest that we’re going to have a later start to our reproductive activity,” Jason Hardin, wild turkey program leader for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, said in an interview with the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network.
Plenty of gobblers are out chasing, but Hardin notes there is going to be a lot of hens that are not sitting on nests during the first part of the season because they’re not in the physical condition they need to be in due to the drought and lack of greens.
“We’ll see how that impacts hunting. I think there might be some competition out there for hunters with all the hens still in the landscape,” Hardin said.
The best chances to bag a turkey are in the Cross Timbers, Edwards Plateau and South Texas.
“In most of the Rio Grande range, we have great hunting opportunities,” Hardin said. “If you have a place where you know there are birds, year in and year out, don’t hesitate to go, but there are hotspots in Texas, places where we do have higher densities, more birds and typically more harvest.”
The western part of the Edwards Plateau near Menard, Concho County and Schleicher County tend to have a lot of Rio Grande turkeys, which provide plenty of hunting opportunities.
“Further north in the Cross Timbers in Stephens County, Palo Pinto County and Coleman County, those areas can be great for hunting, as well,” Hardin said. “Then down in South Texas, if you do have the opportunity to hunt that Coastal Sand Sheet, that landscape where the big Oak moss in Kenedy and Brooks County, that could be phenomenal hunting. It’s just limited access down there.”
Unlike the fall season, during the spring, hunters can target eastern turkeys, as well.
“We do not have the most robust Eastern turkey population, but where they do exist, there are some hunting opportunities,” Hardin said. “We open that season later due to the lower densities. It’s doesn’t begin until April 22, and that’s a goal to make sure most of our hens are bred and sitting on a nest.”
For eastern turkeys, the best hunting is likely in Red River, Sabine and Newton counties.
“We do offer a season in 12 different counties. Grayson County has a mixture of Rios, Easterns and hybrids of the two, but it is managed in Eastern counties,” Hardin said. “So if you’re in Grayson County, be sure to report your harvested birds because it is mandatory to report that through our My Texas Hunt Harvest app or through our Parks and Wildlife website.”
Turkey hunters in all counties with a one-bird bag limit must report their harvest within 24 hours on the My Texas Hunt Harvest app or the TPWD website.
After reporting the harvest, hunters will receive a confirmation number they can provide to a game warden if they’re stopped.
“We did add 10 new counties to that list. So I mentioned all counties with a one-bird bag limit now have mandatory reporting. That landscape along the Eastern edge of our huntable population of Rio, so think about Bastrop County, Colorado, Fayette, all the way down to Matagorda County, they now have mandatory harvest reporting,” Hardin said.
TPWD uses data gathered from mandatory and voluntary reporting to track turkey harvest.
“Our small game harvest survey is traditionally how we got most of our information on hunters, harvest and effort, but at low densities, we’re not able to capture that in that survey,” Hardin said. “So continuing to try to improve our knowledge of those birds and our ability to manage them, the mandatory harvest reporting helps us get to that.”
Hardin also reminded hunters to be mindful of how many turkeys they harvested in the fall because bag limits are set on an annual basis and not season by season.
“We have a four-bird annual bag limit for turkeys, and you need to know in your county what the bag limited seasons are. You can get that through our Outdoor Annual,” Hardin said.
If a hunter bagged a single turkey in the fall, he/she could harvest up to three more in the spring season.
In the one-bird bag limit seasons, things are a bit more complicated.
“In East Texas, those 12 counties, it’s one bird for that entire landscape. You can only take one Eastern turkey or one wild turkey from a county managed under that Eastern philosophy for the entire ecoregion or landscape,” Hardin said.
One bird bag limit counties extend from Milam County south to Matagorda County.
“If you wanted to go to Fayette County to shoot a bird, then you could move next door to Caldwell County and shoot a bird. It’s only one bird per county rather than the entire 10-county landscape,” Hardin said.
The one-bird bag limit counties only have spring seasons.
In addition to the combined bag limit for both seasons, hunters also need to be aware of changes to turkey hunting zone classifications for some counties.
“This past commission cycle, the commission approved moving several counties in that spring South Zone down to Highway 90 west of San Antonio. It was about 22, all our part, of those counties that in the past were in the South Zone with a season opening the Saturday close to March 18. Those seasons will now open in those 22 counties the Saturday closest to April 1,” Hardin said.
Those counties were moved to a new zone to reduce confusion.
“There was confusion from a lot of our landlords and hunters who knew they were in the North Zone during the fall, and then would realize they were the South Zone during the spring,” Hardin said. “The Parks and Wildlife Commission actually approached staff, asked if there were any biological concerns with making that a consistent zone line along Highway 90. There were no biological concerns.”
From a biological standpoint, the switch is actually better for turkey reproduction and recruitment.
“Those dominant gobblers typically might not have bred a lot of our hens as of March 18, whereas as of April 1, a lot of those hens have been bred, and are even initiating nests,” Hardin said. “So, they’re laying their eggs in their nests by April 1. By moving that season back to April 1, we should ensure more fertilized eggs in the nest and hopefully more recruitment over time.”
Turkey hunters need to have a valid Texas hunting license and an upland game bird stamp with them wild hunting.
Hunters born on or after Sept. 2, 1971 must also take hunters education or have a valid deferral.
Spring Rio Grande turkey hunting season in the south zone opened March 19 and runs through May 1.
Hunting season for the special one-turkey bag limit area opens April 1 and runs through the end of the month.
On April 2, turkey hunting opens in the Rio Grande North Zone. That ends May 15.
Eastern turkey hunting is April 22-May 14.
A map of all of this year’s zones, along with bag limits and other regulations, is available in the printed Outdoor Annual, in the Outdoor Annual app and on OutdoorAnnual.com.