38 method rules · 2026-27
Texas Hunting Laws
What is legal to hunt, what is protected, which weapons fit which season, and the method rules that trip people up: feeders, night hunting, road hunting, dogs, drones and the paperwork after the shot.
Photo: Maslowski, Steve, USFWS (Public domain)
What may be hunted
Texas has no statewide hunter-orange requirement on private land and allows baiting of deer on private land. Feeders over a sendero are lawful on a private ranch, and orange is only mandatory on TPWD public hunting land. Both rules flip on public ground, where most areas ban bait and require orange when firearms are in use.
Game animals
White-tailed deer, Mule deer, Pronghorn, Desert bighorn sheep (permit only), Javelina, Gray and fox squirrel.
Pronghorn and desert bighorn sheep by permit only. Seasons set county by county.
Upland game birds
Wild turkey, Bobwhite quail, Scaled quail, Gambel's quail, Pheasant, Chachalaca.
Definition also includes grouse, prairie chickens, partridge and Mearns' quail, which have no open season. Upland Game Bird Endorsement required.
Migratory game birds
Mourning dove, White-winged dove, White-tipped dove, Ducks and mergansers, Teal, Coot, Canada and other dark geese, White-fronted goose, Snow, blue and Ross's geese, Sandhill crane, King and clapper rails, Sora and Virginia rails, Common and purple gallinules, Wilson's snipe, Woodcock.
Hunting license, Migratory Game Bird Endorsement and HIP certification required; Federal Duck Stamp for waterfowl hunters 16+; free Federal Sandhill Crane Permit for cranes.
Alligator
American alligator.
Core counties Sept. 10-30 by CITES tag; non-core Apr. 1 – June 30, 1 per year. Private property only.
Fur-bearing animals
Badger, Beaver, Fox, Mink, Muskrat, Nutria, Opossum, Otter, Raccoon, Ring-tailed cat, Striped skunk, Spotted skunk (civet cat).
Coyotes and bobcats are not furbearers. Recreational harvest Sept. 1 – Aug. 31, no limit; furbearers taken recreationally may not be sold.
Nongame (no closed season on private property)
Armadillo, Bobcat, Coyote, Flying squirrel, Frogs, Ground squirrel, Mountain lion, Porcupine, Prairie dog, Rabbits and hares, Freshwater turtles.
Hunting license required. Any time, any lawful means on private property; public lands may restrict.
Exotics and unprotected
Aoudad, Axis deer, Elk, Sika deer, Fallow deer, Red deer, Blackbuck, Nilgai, Feral hog, Eurasian collared-dove, Rock pigeon, European starling, House sparrow, Egyptian goose, Muscovy duck (except Hidalgo, Starr, Zapata).
No state season, bag or means rules on private property. Hunting license required (except feral hogs on private property with landowner authorization).
Protected and closed
14 species or places that are off limits. Black bears are state-threatened and may not be hunted.
Black bear
State-threatened; protected and cannot be hunted or killed. Report sightings at (512) 389-4505.
Threatened and endangered species
Unlawful to hunt threatened or endangered nongame species.
Indigenous birds (raptors, songbirds)
Protected by state and federal law; may not be killed, taken from nest, possessed, or feathers sold, except listed unprotected birds.
Bats
May not be hunted, killed, possessed, bought or sold, except removal from occupied buildings.
Whooping crane
Endangered; do not confuse with sandhill cranes. Also protected: swans, white ibis, great blue heron, wood stork, white pelican, great egret.
Band-tailed pigeon, Inca dove, common ground dove
Protected; do not hunt.
Mearns' (Montezuma) quail
No open season.
Lesser prairie-chicken
No open season listed in the 2026-27 Outdoor Annual.
Unbearded turkey hens
Harvest prohibited (new for 2026-27). Hunting roosting turkeys prohibited.
Turkey in Matagorda and Wharton counties
Closed to wild turkey hunting starting 2026-27.
Diamondback terrapin
Possession prohibited at any time.
Desert bighorn sheep
Permit only; ram skulls obtained after Sept. 1, 2003 must be plugged by TPWD or proven taken outside Texas.
Captive mountain lions and dangerous wild animals
No canned hunts of captive mountain lions or dangerous wild animals (lion, tiger, bear, wolf, etc.).
Wildlife sanctuaries, state and national parks, refuges
No hunting except scheduled hunts or under special policies.
Weapons by season
Texas sets no magazine limit except for migratory birds, and suppressors are legal for any wildlife.
| Season or tool | Legal | Not legal | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Firearms, game animals and upland birds | Any legal firearm; no limit on magazine capacity (except migratory birds). | Rimfire ammunition of any caliber for white-tailed deer, mule deer, desert bighorn sheep or pronghorn. Fully automatic firearms. Only shotguns for East Zone turkey. | TPWD |
| Muzzleloader-only deer season (Jan. 4-17, 2027, 90 counties) | Muzzleloading firearms only: any firearm loaded only through the muzzle (definition modified for 2026-27 to allow new muzzleloading technology). | Archery and crossbows may not be used for deer in the muzzleloader-only season. Cap-and-ball revolvers are not muzzleloaders. | TPWD |
| Archery | Longbows, compound, recurve bows and crossbows; no minimum draw; lighted pins, magnification, overdraw rests and draw-lock devices allowed. Broadheads required for turkey and all game animals except squirrels. | Poisoned, drugged or explosive projectiles. Archery Endorsement required in archery-only season. | TPWD |
| Crossbows | Any person in archery-only season statewide except Collin, Dallas, Grayson and Rockwall; any person in general seasons and East Zone turkey season everywhere. | In Collin, Dallas, Grayson and Rockwall, no crossbow for deer during archery-only season without a physician-certified upper-limb disability. | TPWD |
| Air guns and arrow guns | Big game and turkey (except East Zone): pre-charged pneumatic only, at least .30 caliber and 150 grains at 800 fps, or 215 ft-lb muzzle energy. Squirrel, pheasant, quail, chachalaca: .177+ at 600 fps. Furbearers: .30 caliber minimum. | Arrow guns for deer or turkey during archery season. No air guns for East Zone turkey. | TPWD |
| Suppressors | May be used to take any wildlife resource; all federal, state and local laws still apply. | – | TPWD |
| Migratory game birds | Shotguns no larger than 10-gauge, fired from shoulder, max 3 shells (plugged); archery; falconry; dogs; artificial decoys; manual calls. | Any other firearm; lead shot for waterfowl; live decoys; recorded or electronic calls; sinkboxes; traps, nets, poisons. | TPWD |
| Alligator | Hook and line (300 lb test, on private property), gigs, hand-held locking snares, archery with barbed arrow and float. Firearms (not rimfire), air guns, arrow guns to hunt only on private land in non-core counties; any firearm to dispatch a captured alligator. | Firearms from, on, across or over public water. More than one taking device at a time in non-core counties. | TPWD |
| Furbearers | Firearms, foothold, body grip, live/box traps, dogs, snares, archery, electronic or hand calls, artificial light, falconry (permit), air guns .30+, arrow guns. | Shooting from a boat on public water; foothold/body-grip traps outside commercial season or within 400 yards of a school; smoke, explosives, chemical irritants; body grip traps over 10 in. diagonal on land or in water under 6 in.; traps not checked every 36 hours. | TPWD |
| Lights and laser sights | Battery scope dots/reticles projecting only inside the scope; pin sight lights. Legally blind hunters (with physician statement and licensed assistant 13+) and documented permanently disabled hunters may use laser sights. | Any artificial light that illuminates a game animal or bird. | TPWD |
All 38 method rules, grouped
Each card is the Outdoor Annual rule in short form with a link to the page it came from.
Baiting, feeders, calls and decoys
Baiting and feeders (private land)
Legal to bait game animals, nongame animals and upland game birds, except wild turkey in the East Zone and migratory game birds.
Baiting on public land
Baiting is unlawful on most public property; check the specific property's rules.
Migratory bird baiting
Federal law prohibits hunting migratory birds over bait; an area stays baited until 10 days after all bait is removed and a game warden confirms removal. Doves may be hunted over manipulated planted crops; waterfowl and cranes may not.
Calls and decoys
Calls, recordings and electronic calls are legal for game animals and game birds, but not migratory game birds. Live decoys prohibited for migratory birds.
Night hunting, vehicles, roads and property lines
Night hunting
Game animals: one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset; no artificial light on game. Nongame and exotics on private property have no closed season or hours; TPWD asks night hunters to contact the local game warden as a courtesy.
Hunting from vehicles and boats
Legal to hunt animals and non-migratory game birds from a motor vehicle, powerboat, sailboat or floating device within private property or on private water. Migratory birds: no hunting from motor vehicles (except paraplegics/leg amputees from stationary vehicles); boats only once motor and sail motion has ceased.
Road hunting
Unlawful to hunt any wild animal or bird on, from or across a public road or right-of-way, or to discharge a firearm on or across a public road.
Shooting across property lines
Unlawful to knowingly discharge a firearm so the projectile crosses a property line without owning both sides or written permission from the landowner.
Navigable rivers
Unlawful to discharge a firearm or shoot an arrow in or on the bed or bank of a navigable river or stream, except bowfishing, alligator hunting, and shotguns with shot (no slugs).
County restricted areas
Specific bans include the Aransas River and Poesta Creek (Bee), state-owned riverbeds in La Salle, McMullen and Live Oak, Stillhouse Hollow (Bell), Wallisville Reservoir and Lake Anahuac (Chambers), Oyster Bayou (Chambers), and Trinity River (Liberty).
Subdivisions and local ordinances
Counties may prohibit firearm hunting on lots 10 acres or less, or archery on lots under 7 acres, in unincorporated subdivisions (Local Government Code 235.022).
Harris County written consent
Hunting or target shooting on another's land in Harris County requires written consent in immediate possession, with hunter name, land, signature, address and phone of the landowner or agent.
Dogs, drones, remote hunting and traps
Dogs
Dogs may be used for game birds. Unlawful to hunt deer with dogs. Up to two dogs may trail a wounded deer (leashed in Jasper, Newton, Sabine, San Augustine). No shotgun with buckshot or slugs in the field with dogs on another's land during deer season in Angelina, Hardin, Jasper, Nacogdoches, Newton, Orange, Sabine, San Augustine, Shelby, Tyler.
Drones and aircraft
Unlawful to use aircraft, including drones (except by activity-specific permit), to hunt, locate, harass, drive or photograph wild animals. Drones may not be used to find wounded animals.
Remote hunting
Unlawful to use a computer to assist remote firearm or archery hunting of an animal in Texas.
Traps
Unlawful to trap game animals or game birds. Nongame and exotics (feral hogs, rabbits) may be trapped on private property.
Landowner consent
Landowner permission and trespass
Hunting any animal without landowner consent is unlawful. Entering agricultural, fenced, posted or purple-paint-marked land without consent is trespass (Penal Code 30.05). Purple paint marks: at least 8 in. by 1 in., 3-5 ft off the ground.
Retrieving game or dogs
No one may enter property to pursue wounded game or retrieve a dog without landowner consent.
After the shot: tags, transport and waste
Deer tagging and harvest log
Immediately complete and cut out the license tag before field dressing or moving, attach it, and complete the harvest log in ink. Digital licenses use the Texas Hunt & Fish app.
Mandatory harvest reporting
Turkey: all counties within 24 hours. White-tailed deer: within 24 hours in Collin, Dallas, Grayson, Rockwall (all deer) and 21 antlerless-reporting counties.
Proof of sex
Deer and pronghorn must keep proof of sex (head/antlers, udder or vulva and tail, or MLDP tag/CWD receipt/drawn hunt tag) until final destination and quartered. Turkey: leg with spur or beard patch until final processing. Pheasant: leg with spur or plumage.
Transport and transfer (WRD)
Wildlife given to another person must carry a Wildlife Resource Document. Deer may be quartered or deboned (whole muscle, separate bags per deer) for transport if tagged with proof of sex.
Migratory bird transport
One fully feathered wing or head must stay on dressed migratory birds (except doves) until home or a preservation facility. Birds left with others need a WRD. Shipped packages must be labeled.
Carcass disposal (CWD)
White-tailed and mule deer parts moved off the property of harvest must go to commercial trash, back to the property, or be buried 3 ft deep.
Importation
Wildlife taken elsewhere must be accompanied by the other jurisdiction's license/tag; CWD-susceptible species from outside Texas follow carcass disposal rules.
Wanton waste
Class C misdemeanor to fail to make a reasonable effort to retrieve killed or wounded game, or to let edible portions spoil. Class A for deer, pronghorn or bighorn taken without consent, from a road, at night or with a light.
Roadkill deer
Unlawful to possess a deer or any part of a deer hit by a motor vehicle.
Sale of wildlife parts
Hair, hide, antlers, bones, horns, skull, hooves, sinew of deer, pronghorn, bighorn, squirrels and javelina, and feathers/bones/feet of upland birds may be sold. Mounted migratory birds and migratory feathers for ornament may not.
Hogs, exotics and predators
Feral hogs
No license needed on private property with landowner authorization; hunter education applies. Transport and release of live feral hogs is unlawful except under TAHC rules.
Exotics
Hunting license required; unlawful to hunt exotics on a public road or without landowner permission, or possess one without owner consent.
Coyotes and bobcats
Live coyotes may not be transported or sold (rabies quarantine). Bobcat pelts need a CITES pelt tag to be sold or shipped out of state.
Public and federal land
Public hunting lands
Adults 17+ need a hunting license, endorsements and the $48 Annual Public Hunting Permit; youth under 17 hunt free under a permitted adult 18+. On drawn hunts: no alcohol, no loaded firearms in vehicles or camps, no ATVs or horses unless allowed, dogs only for squirrels, rabbits, hares and game birds other than turkey, no buckshot unless allowed.
Federal lands
LBJ National Grasslands (Montague, Wise): antlerless only in archery, youth-only and doe days. Other USFS lands: antlerless only in archery, muzzleloader and youth-only seasons (or by TPWD drawn permit on certain USFS WMAs).
Hunter orange
Recommended but not required on private land. Required on TPWD public hunting lands: 400 sq in with 144 sq in front and back plus orange headwear when firearm hunting is allowed (exempt: turkey, migratory birds, alligator, bighorn sheep).
Hunters, ID and firearms
Personal identification
Hunters 17 and older must carry a driver's license or DPS ID card (non-residents: equivalent from home state/country).
Youth firearm access
A person under 17 with lawful access to a firearm may hunt with it if hunter-education certified or accompanied by a licensed hunter 17+ who meets hunter education rules.
Felons and firearms
Convicted felons may not possess firearms, with limited exceptions for pre-1899 antique or replica muzzleloaders not using rimfire or centerfire ammunition.
Hunter education
Required for anyone born on or after Sept. 2, 1971; minimum certification age 9; deferral ($10, once) for 17+ who hunt accompanied.
Penalties
Fines, felony counts, license loss and civil restitution, as listed by TPWD.
Misdemeanor fines
Class C $25-$500; Class B $200-$2,000; Class A $500-$4,000.
State jail felony
$1,500-$10,000 and/or up to 2 years. Killing a desert bighorn sheep, pronghorn, white-tailed or mule deer without landowner consent is a state jail felony with automatic license revocation.
License suspension and forfeiture
Automatic suspension or revocation up to five years; forfeiture of hunting gear including firearms.
Civil restitution
TPWD seeks civil recovery value for wildlife lost; failing to pay blocks future licenses, and hunting afterward is a Class A misdemeanor.
License reinstatement
$100 fee to apply for reinstatement after revocation, denial or suspension.
Hunter harassment
Sportsmen's Rights Act (Parks and Wildlife Code 62.0125): $200-$2,000 fine and/or 180 days in jail.
Exotics violations
Hunting exotics without a license: Class C. On a public road, without landowner permission, or possessing without owner consent: Class A.
Migratory bird violations
$25-$500 per bird plus civil restitution and license action; a state violation is also a federal violation.
Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact
Texas is a member; violations in member states can lead to license denial in Texas.
Notes on these rules
- All rule text summarized from the 2026-27 Outdoor Annual web pages marked valid Sept. 1, 2026 through Aug. 31, 2027. source
- Texas has no statewide hunter-orange requirement on private land and allows baiting of deer on private land; both differ from Tennessee. source
Sources: TPWD hunting regulations, last checked October 11, 2026.
Texas hunting law questions
Is it legal to hunt deer over a feeder in Texas?
Legal to bait game animals, nongame animals and upland game birds, except wild turkey in the East Zone and migratory game birds. Baiting is unlawful on most public property; check the specific property's rules.
Can I hunt hogs at night?
On private property, yes. Nongame and exotics have no closed season or hours there, and TPWD asks night hunters to call the local game warden first as a courtesy. Game animals stay limited to legal shooting hours with no artificial light.
Is blaze orange required in Texas?
Recommended but not required on private property. On TPWD public hunting lands it is required when firearm hunting is allowed.
Can I use a suppressor while hunting?
May be used to take any wildlife resource; all federal, state and local laws still apply.
Can dogs be used to hunt deer?
No. Dogs are allowed for game birds, and up to two dogs may trail a wounded deer.
Can a drone help find a wounded deer?
Unlawful to use aircraft, including drones (except by activity-specific permit), to hunt, locate, harass, drive or photograph wild animals. Drones may not be used to find wounded animals.
What happens if someone kills a deer without the landowner’s consent?
$1,500-$10,000 and/or up to 2 years. Killing a desert bighorn sheep, pronghorn, white-tailed or mule deer without landowner consent is a state jail felony with automatic license revocation.
Can rimfire rifles be used on deer?
No. Rimfire ammunition of any caliber is not legal for white-tailed deer, mule deer, desert bighorn sheep or pronghorn.
Are black bears legal to hunt in Texas?
State-threatened; protected and cannot be hunted or killed. Report sightings at (512) 389-4505.
The official version
Everything here was read from TPWD pages on October 11, 2026. If the Outdoor Annual changes, the official page wins.
Other photos on this page: vastateparksstaff (CC BY 2.0); USFWS/Southeast (CC BY 2.0); U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – Midwest Region (Public domain); Forest Service Photography (Public domain).