Tompkins: New game laws expand hunters' options

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Texas hunters this autumn will be allowed to use sound-suppressing devices on their firearms when hunting deer and other game animals and birds, deer hunting will be allowed in Galveston County for the first time in decades, and the "winter" dove season in the state's North and Central Zones might be a week longer and the "fall" season a week shorter.

And beginning Sept. 1, Texas anglers will be required to affix gear tags on throwlines and minnow traps fished in freshwater, and those gear tags, which also must be affixed to trotlines and jug lines, will be valid for only 10 days instead of the current 30 days.

Those changes in hunting and fishing regulations were unanimously adopted and potential changes in dove hunting rules proposed this past week by the nine-member Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission at its March 28-29 public meetings.

The commission adopted a proposal that would allow use of firearms sound suppressors, commonly called silencers, for taking alligators, game animals and game birds. Texas joins more than two dozen others states that allow use of sound suppressors for hunting game animals.

Texas long has allowed use of sound suppressors on firearms when hunting non-native and non-game animals such as feral hogs. Removing the prohibition on use of sound suppressors for hunting game animals is not seen as an issue for either resource managers or law enforcement, Scott Vaca, assistant chief of wildlife enforcement for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's enforcement division, told the commission.

Silence at a steep price

State officials are requesting federal approval to double the size of the state's Special White-Winged Dove Area. State officials are requesting federal approval to double the size of the state's Special White-Winged Dove Area. Photo: Shannon Tompkins Photo: Shannon Tompkins Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Tompkins: New game laws expand hunters' options 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Public comment on the proposal overwhelmingly supported the liberalization. TPWD received 3,547 comments in support of the change and 327 comments opposing it, Vaca said.

Purchase and possession of sound suppressors is heavily regulated by federal law. A person wanting to obtain one of the devices must make application through the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, pass a criminal background check and pay a $200 federal fee. The devices are expensive, with most costing $800-$1,000.

The commission also approved a proposal to reinstate a deer hunting season in Galveston County. Although the county's deer herd is relatively small and fragmented because of urbanization and development, pockets of habitat remain, hold viable deer populations and there is no biological reason those deer can't be hunted, Alan Cain, TPWD white-tailed deer program leader, told the commission.

Regulations governing deer hunting in Galveston County will mirror those of Harris and other counties around Galveston County, allowing an archery-only season, general firearms season and muzzleloader-only season and a four deer (two bucks, two antlerless) bag limit.

In its package of proposed migratory bird hunting regulations, TPWD staff said it is seeking federal approval to greatly expand the Special White-Winged Dove Area in South Texas. The agency has asked that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service allow expanding the boundaries of the Special White-winged Dove Area to include the area west of Interstate 37 from Corpus Christi to San Antonio and south of U.S. Highway 90 from San Antonio to Del Rio.

"This would essentially double the size of the Special White-winged Dove Area," Corey Mason, TPWD dove program leader said, adding Texas has asked that the change be allowed beginning with the 2013-14 season, not this year's 2012-13 season.

Wider range for dove

Expanding whitewing populations and the opportunity to increase hunter opportunity are behind the request, Mason told the commission's regulations committee. Federal officials will decide the fate of the zone boundary proposal when it sets early-season migratory game bird regulation frameworks in late June.

The TPW Commission instructed agency staff to modify its dove season proposal for the 2011-12 season to add a week to the "winter" portion of the dove season in the state's North and Central zones. Under recent Texas dove season structures, the first part of the two-part, 70-day dove season in those zones has run for 60 days, Sept. 1 through late October, with a 10-day "winter" season set to cover the week around Christmas and New Year's Day. The commission instructed staff to propose cutting a week in October and add it to the "winter" season.

The proposal will be subject to public comment, with the TPW Commission making a final decision on early-season migratory game bird regulations in late summer.

Among the handful of fishing regulations changes the commission adopted, modification of rules concerning gear tags on passive fishing gear - trotlines, throwlines, jug lines - stands to have the widest impact.

Under the change, which takes effect Sept. 1, all throwlines and minnow traps used in freshwater must have a gear tag affixed. Gear tags are tags made by the device's owner and must include the owner's name, address and the date the gear was set.

Gear tags are not now required on throwlines, more commonly called limb lines. These are fishing lines holding no more than five hooks (they usually have only one hook) and are fixed to a static object, usually a tree limb overhanging the water.

Limits set for gear tags

These limb lines often are abandoned by their owners but continue to catch and kill fish and other wildlife, including birds, turtles, otters and even small alligators.

Because throwlines do not require gear tags, which expire after a length of time unless re-dated by owners, they remain legal fishing devices even if the owner abandons them and are considered private property that no one, even law enforcement, is allowed to remove.

The change requiring gear tags on throwlines and minnow traps will bring the devices under the same regulations as jug lines and trotlines and allow game wardens to remove them if they are in violation of regulations.

In an associated move that will impact the state's considerable number of trotliners, the commission approved lowering the period of time a gear tag is valid. Under current rules, gear tags are valid for 30 days. At the end of that 30-day period, the trotline must be removed or the tag replaced with a new one.

Texas' gear tag rules allow the longest period between mandatory replacement or re-dating of any state. At the TPW Commission's instruction earlier this year, staff proposed reducing the period between replacing or re-dating the tags.

Under the rule change the commission approved this past week, gear tags for all devices requiring them - trotlines, jug lines and, after Sept. 1, throwlines and minnow traps - are valid for only 10 days before they must be replaced.

shannon.tompkins@chron.com