Good harvest expected for white-tailed deer

AUSTIN –– Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologists indicate hunters can expect good harvest numbers and opportunities for quality bucks during the 2026-27 season.

Following three above-average years of fawn survival, the Texas white-tailed deer population has climbed to an estimated 5.64 million.

“Texas leads the nation in terms of number of deer hunters, annual harvest and deer population,” said Blaise Korzekwa, TPWD whitetailed deer program leader. “Even an average year in Texas is worth hunting and those landowners who properly manage the state’s natural resources have shown year after year that their management can pay off.”

Rainfall and habitat conditions go hand-in-hand and fluctuate seasonally throughout the state, officials said. Nearly all of Texas started the spring in some form of drought, but late spring and early summer rain drastically improved habitat conditions, TPWD officials said.

While late spring drought conditions improved throughout much of the state, areas in the Cross Timbers, the Edwards Plateau, Eastern Rolling Plains and pockets of the Post Oak Savannah and Blackland Prairie fared better than other regions and should expect a slightly above average season, according to biologists.

Pockets of South Texas and the Pineywoods didn’t receive the increase in habitat conditions in late spring but did see rainfall and below-average temperatures mid-summer that should increase fawn survival, according to officials.

The general season opens Nov. 7 and runs through Jan. 3.