Texas Wildlife Management 

    Below is a synopsis of some of the latest regulation changes by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.   TWM interpretation of these new regulations stated below should only be taken as a guide.  Contact TPWD for a legal interpretation.

    These are the recent changes to the rules an regulation that we are receiving the most questions about:

·             1.  Permits shall be valid from date of issuance until the immediately following June 30.  (Please be aware that the reporting period shall remain the same; April 1 through March 31).  New Permits issued during the late winter/spring will be valid thru June.  Therefore you may receive your new permit along with your renewal package at the same time.  Unfortunately, this means you will pay the $400 for your new permit and then another $400 for your renewal in a short period of time.  

     2.  Renewal applications will be due May 15.

     3.   All deer born after 2007 and all deer that have been transferred from a facility after 2007 are required to have their Unique Number displayed on the ear tag (Not the TX Number as in the past).

     4.     No deer may be removed from a breeder facility (including transfers between two facilities operated under the same TX serial number, transfers to/from nursing facilities, releases, transfers to DMP facilities, etc.) unless that herd is deemed “movement qualified.”  A herd is movement qualified if:    

A.     It has attained a CWD Monitored Herd Status of Level A or higher from the Texas Animal Health Commission, OR; 

B.      The owner provides to TPWD, negative (i.e. not detected) CWD test results on a minimum of 20% of all eligible mortalities (mortalities of animals 16 months of age or older).  

Most of our clients at this point have dropped the CWD Monitoring by the TAHC due to their extra paperwork and often unwillingness to assist breeders.  The exception to this is if you plan on selling deer out of the state of Texas.  If you plan to sell deer out-of-state, I'd recommend staying enrolled in the TAHC CWD monitoring program.

·             5.  ONLY TPWD-issued unique numbers may be used.  Breeders MAY NOT create their own unique numbers.  As always, TPWD can issue you additional unique numbers if requested.  

·              6.  TPWD may deny permit issuance or permit renewal to any person who within the last five years, has been finally convicted of or received deferred adjudication for violations of Parks and Wildlife Code (P&W Code) Chapter 43, subchapters C, E, L or R; Class A and B misdemeanors or felonies of P&W Code; or Section 63.002 of P&W Code that specifically addresses the unlawful possession of live game animals.  

·              7.  TPWD may prohibit a person from being an agent on a permit for a period of up to 5 years for convictions or deferred adjudications of any of the violations listed above in #9.  

·              8.  TPWD Permitting staff sends new permit applications to Law Enforcement to provide the local Game Warden an opportunity to see the applicant's facility.  In general, permit staff gives Law Enforcement a week to perform this task before moving forward with issuing of the new permit.

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