Quail decisions pushed to summer
Decisions on whether to shorten the season and bag limits next quail season in Texas have been delayed until summer.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission on Wednesday listened to recommendations that the staff wanted published in the Texas Register.
Commissioners, however, said they needed more information, said Steve Lightfoot, spokesman for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
“It is on hold pending additional data from population surveys later in the summer,” Lightfoot said in an e-mail exchange.
It was unclear Wednesday if any of the suggested changes could be implemented for next quail season.
“Commissioners,” Lightfoot said, “felt there wasn’t sufficient data on current quail populations and production this year, particularly in the Rolling Plains and Panhandle regions, to draw conclusions and opted to table the discussion until later in the year.
“They are also considering a special meeting to discuss quail management and want to bring stakeholders into the discussion before making any formal proposal.”
The changes in bag limits and season length are intended to help struggling bobwhite quail bounce back from drastic population declines that have worsened in recent years.
Staffers suggested shortening the four-month season by a month — that being February. They also suggested splitting the state into two quail regions, east and west.
The east region would have had a five-bird daily bag limit, while the west would have continued to allow 15 birds in the bag, which has been in place for years over the entire state.
But, Lightfoot said, “the department’s Game Bird Advisory Committee recommended an alteration to a western zone option that would take two weeks off the current season framework and reduce the bag to 10 birds.”
Publishing the changes in the Texas Register is one of the first steps toward making changes in the Parks and Wildlife Code.
“Once the Commission approves taking a proposal forward for public input, it would be published in the Register,” Lightfoot said. “Public hearings would be scheduled, comment taken online, etc., and then the Commission would consider that input before final rulemaking.”
But, Lightfoot explained, timing would be a hurdle to get changes approved for next season.
"It becomes a timing and planning coordination problem if no commission action occurs in March or May," he said in an e-mail. "Any changes to the hunting season could be adopted as late as the August commission meeting, but by waiting until then it would mean we would not have the information included in the 2012-13 Outdoor Annual of Hunting and Fishing Regulations booklet since that goes to print in June.
"But, they could wait until then and they could opt for staff’s recommendation."
