Fishing and Hunting Changes Adopted

In a nutshell, the following are changes to the 2016-17 regulations:

FISHING
Freshwater fishing…
Minimum length for largemouth bass in the Sabine River below Toledo Bend Lake has been changed from 14 to 12 inches.

Saltwater fishing…
Black drum – a 30 inch maximum and a 14 inch minimum length requirement, 5 drum daily bag limit, and one fish over 52 inches.

HUNTING
Deer…
Late season, antlerless and spike Deer …
Clarification of the rules: Any buck with at least one unbranched antler will be considered legal game during the antlerless spike season.

Antlerless deer season in the Post Oak Savannah region …
Counties that allowed no harvest of antlerless deer during the general season last year will now allow 4 doe days.
Counties that did have a 4 day doe season during the regular season, this year will have a 16 day doe season.

Muzzleloader season …
Thirty-two counties will be added to the counties that already have a 14 day muzzleloader season after the general deer season.

Panhandle counties …
Counties that did not have an open white-tail deer season this past year will be opened for white-tailed deer hunting with an archery only and general season allowed.

Dove
Season length will be 90 days, up from 70 last year.
North Zone – Sept 1-Nov. 13 and Dec. 17-Jan 1
Central Zone – Sept. 1-Nov. 6 and Dec. 17-Jan. 8
South Zone – Sept. 23-Nov. 13 and Dec. 17-Jan. 23
Special White Winged Dove area – Sept. 3,4,10, 11 and 23 – Nov. 9; Dec 17-Jan. 23
Daily bag limit remains at 15 doves per day.

Teal only
Sept. 10-25; daily bag limit, 6

Ducks
Northern Zone – Nov. 12-27 and Dec. 3-Jan. 29
South Zone – Nov. 5-27 and Dec. 10-Jan. 29
Daily bag limit – 6 ducks per day

Goose
East Zone – Nov. 5-Jan. 29
West Zone – Nov. 5-Feb. 5
Daily bag limits unchanged from last year.