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Much Anticipated Deer Season Opens this Saturday
- Updated: November 2, 2018
A white-tailed buck camouflage itself in the South Texas brush country. Photo: Tony Vindell/LFN
by Tony Vindell/LFN
The long anticipated white-tailed deer season is just around the corner but don’t expect that bagging that trophy buck will be an easy task.
The deer forecast for the 2018-19 general gun season is promising signs of being a good one but the persistent rainfall that came later in the year, beginning in June, could make hunting somewhat challenging.
Here in South Texas, the rains have created small lakes some of which have never been seen before.
Hunters from several counties, including Cameron, Willacy, Hidalgo and Starr are reporting roads caving in, grass as high as 6 feet and muddy conditions.
Although that will not deter a die-hard hunter, it will be a challenge to hunt this season as compared to the previous ones when rainfall was practically absent in some places.
The general deer season starts Nov. 3 in South and North Texas but it ends on Jan. 20 in the south and Jan. 6 in the north zones.
Deer season is by far the most popular sport for many hunters.
According to estimates, deer hunting generates $2.2 billion annually to the Texas economy.
Alen Cain, a white-tailed deer program leader with the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, said the forecast calls for an average to slightly above average season.
The deer population in the Lone Star State is estimated at more than 4.5 million.
And in just South Texas, the deer population stands at about 400,000.
Cain said the area from Kingsville to the south has received an exceptional amount of rainfall sometimes of up to 21 inches and has produced mesquite blooms which has been ripening and hitting the ground.
“Deer will readily utilized the beans to help meet nutritional demand in the summer time,” he said. “This will also set the state for a good 2019 season.”