By Jessica Domel
Multimedia Reporter

A key item on Texas hunters and anglers’ fall to-do lists are now available—new year hunting and fishing licenses.

Current licenses, with the exception of year-from-purchase licenses, expire at the end of August.

Texas hunting and fishing licenses will be available online through the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) website, by calling 1-800-895-4248 during regular business hours or in person at more than 1,800 retailers across the state.

“The majority of licenses are available online,” Mike Hobson Jr., TPWD license manager, said. “The only ones that are not are what I would consider specialty licenses that you would need to prove eligibility for like military or a disabled veterans license.”

Those who plan to purchase a license in-person are encouraged to bring last year’s license with them.

“That’s the best thing to take with you,” Hobson said in an interview with the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network. “Right above your name, especially if you had a printed license, is a customer number. That customer number makes a direct one-to-one match to you as a person to who we have in our database.”

Those who do not have a license may bring another form of identification.

“The next best thing is probably your drivers’ license. If there are some individuals who do not have a drivers’ license, then I would recommend using your social security number,” Hobson said.

Hunters and anglers who prefer a more digital approach can buy their licenses online, and this year, the department has expanded the program that allows people to digitally tag deer, turkey and red drum.

“The digital license, last year we offered it in three license types. We offered it in our super combo, in our lifetime super combo and our senior super combo license,” Hobson said. “We’re expanding the digital offering this year to include a few more licenses. We’re going to be offering it in our lifetime hunting license, lifetime fishing license, our youth license and then for certain individuals, certain groups, that are exempt from having a license, there’s a special red drum tag that’s available. That will be available digitally for those people, as well.”

The red drum digital tag for those who are not required to have a hunting or fishing license is called an exempt angler tag.

Those who purchase one of these digital license types must remain in the digital program through the end of the license year. Paper versions of these license types are still available.

“If you select a digital option, you won’t get anything in print. You’ll do everything through your smartphone,” Hobson said. “You can select online to have a print option. They do not overlap. So, if you are print, you’re required to use that printed license just like you always have, and that we’ve always done with either paper or our durable stock licenses. It’s an either or thing. Not both.”

Hunters and anglers with digital licenses and tagging must enter their deer, turkey and red drum harvests in the My Texas Hunt Harvest app. After submitting that data, they’ll receive a confirmation number, which then must be written down on a medium like duct tape and then attached to the game.

Those with paper licenses must still use the paper tags on their game.

“Anybody can use the My Texas Hunt Harvest app, whether you have a digital license or not. That does not preclude you from actually physically tagging the deer with your physical license,” Hobson said. “If you get caught with a printed license and you didn’t actually tag it with a tag from that license, and you say, ‘Oh, I reported it on my phone,’ that does not count.”

Those with paper tags may still carry digital proof of their paper license on them.

“You can take a picture. You can go online and sync your account either on our Outdoor Annual app, the My Texas Hunt Harvest app or you can go onto our sales website, and there’s an option called ‘show your holdings.’ You can take a screenshot of that and carry that with you,” Hobsons said. “That allows you to either hunt or fish, but only for species that do not require tagging. If the species you’re going after requires tagging of any sort, and you have a paper license, you’ll need to have that paper license on your person.”

Hunters who plan on targeting game birds, like dove, are encouraged to pick up their migratory game bird endorsement, or stamp, and obtain Harvest Information Program (HIP) certification when obtaining their new year license.

“Those are the things you must have. A lot of people miss the HIP certification,” Hobson said. “If you’re at a retailer, you should be asked how many dove you harvested last year, how many ducks, how many geese, rail and gallinule. There are six questions you should be asked. If you’re not asked that, you need to ask the clerk.”

New year licenses can be purchased online here.

A $5 administrative fee is charged for online transactions.

Hunters and anglers can search for license retailers here.

Each year, more than two million licenses are sold in Texas.

The funds from license sales go to TPWD for on-the-ground conservation efforts including fish stocking, habitat restoration, land conservation and Texas Game Wardens.