The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission on Jan. 21 authorized the department to seek public comment on a suite of proposed wildlife and hunting related regulations that would expand special buck antler restrictions and liberalize antlerless harvest opportunities in dozens of counties, part of a broader move to transition away from political boundaries and toward biologically-based communities for managing deer populations.

The following are excerpts from recent Texas Parks and Wildlife Department law enforcement reports.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has transitioned away from political boundaries for the purpose of monitoring white-tailed deer populations and toward biologically-based communities or Resource Management Units (RMUs).

Late quail production due to dry and hot range conditions has set the stage for an average hunting season, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologists.

While Texas hunters were dusting off shotguns and stocking up on ammunition in advance of the Sept. 1 dove season opener in most of Texas, a research team was out two days prior to the season collecting bird specimens for a research study on the effectiveness of various shotshells, including non-lead shot.

With dove season set to open Sept. 1 in the North and Central Dove Zones, hunters are again reminded to be sure they become Harvest Information Program-certified when buying their hunting license.

An innovative public hunting opportunity for newcomers, the Mentored Hunting Permit, will launch this fall with a dove hunting workshop Sept. 19-20 at the Justin Hurst Wildlife Management Area near Freeport, Texas.

"They advertise this as a hunt of a lifetime and I would agree," exclaimed Bridgers upon returning from three days of hunting desert bighorn sheep in the rugged mountains of West Texas. "This was probably the most physically demanding hunt I’ve ever been on, but it was also the most rewarding. I would never have the resources to buy a desert bighorn hunt, so I got mine the lucky way!"