Prospects are good for the upcoming mule deer hunting season, which starts Nov. 21 in the Texas Panhandle and Nov. 27 in the Trans Pecos and elsewhere.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologists say above average habitat conditions have bolstered body weights and antler growth.
The state agency also is asking hunters and landowners to submitted harvested mule deer for sampling as part of the statewide effort to monitor Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD).
Mule deer harvested in far West Texas are required to be submitted for testing in the TPWD’s CWD management protocol.
There are mandatory check stations for susceptible species like mule deer taken inside the CWD Containment Zone.
The Texas Animal Health Commission and TPWD also will use the check stations to monitor bovine tuberculosis. Tissue samples used for this effort would be the same samples currently collected in the ongoing CWD monitoring effort.
Hunters taking mule deer inside the containment zone during the 2015-16 season are required to submit their harvest – an unfrozen head – for CWD sampling at a check station within 24 hours. Read more in the mid-week Bowie News.

Prospects are good for the upcoming mule deer hunting season, which starts Nov. 21 in the Texas Panhandle, and Nov. 27 in the Trans Pecos. (Courtesy photo from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, used with permission)