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TPW Commission Meeting Jan 23; CWD, Public Land, Oysters, More

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CivilEng08
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10:30a, 1/17/25
I often see complaints about new regs or news coming out of TPWD many months after it's been set in stone. I think outdoorsmen should work to be much more informed and much more active in the rulemaking processes, whether it's TPW commission, TCEQ, federal, state legislature, etc. I try to post up when there are major happenings, but I get busy sometimes and don't get around to it.

Next week, TPW commission has a work session (Wednesday Jan 22) and a commission meeting (Thursday Jan 23). Both are available to stream online. You can give your feedback to the commission online, but it's always better to be someone who shows up in person to speak. The increased effort has an increased impact. With the big CWD changes, bet your ass that the breeder stakeholders will be in Austin in force next week.

Agenda for this month: TPWD: January 22-23, 2025, Commission Meeting Agenda
Comment online: TPWD: Opportunities for Comment

Highlighting a few big items

Action #2: Grants for local parks - Self Explanatory
Action #4: Oyster Certificate of Location Rules - Admittedly, I don't follow this well but it relates to oyster harvest and restoration
Action #5: Updates to Permits to Possess and Sell Non-game & exotic fish - Add/Remove Species & other changes
Action #6: CWD Detection & Response Rules - Big one here!
  • Ear tags required on captive deer released
  • Double fencing required on new breeding facilities
  • Fence inspection requirements for new release sites
  • Containment/Surveillance zones discontinued, replaced with new proximity rules on free ranging detections
Action #8: Acceptance of Donation of Land at Black Gap - 640 new acres of public land
Action #9 - Acquisition of Land at Colorado Bend State Park - 1100 new acres of land adjacent to 2000 acres acquired in November

The CWD proposal is not perfect, but it has good support among conservation groups as a step in the right direction to address the primary spread vector to new locations in Texas, the release of infected captive-bred animals.
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ttha_aggie_09
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In reply to CivilEng08 • 11:32a, 1/17/25
AG
Thanks for sharing!

Dumb question - what are other states with positive CWD cases doing to "limit" the spread? I know CO still has high fence places and you have ranches buying elk every year for hunters. I think I heard they required some (I heard a specific ranch I'll not name since some people have hunted there on here) to double fence but not sure.

I know Texas is unique in the amount of deer breeders and high fences w have just curious what everyone else is doing that would be somewhat comparable to TX?
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txags92
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In reply to CivilEng08 • 12:49p, 1/17/25
AG
CivilEng08 said:
I often see complaints about new regs or news coming out of TPWD many months after it's been set in stone. I think outdoorsmen should work to be much more informed and much more active in the rulemaking processes, whether it's TPW commission, TCEQ, federal, state legislature, etc. I try to post up when there are major happenings, but I get busy sometimes and don't get around to it.

Next week, TPW commission has a work session (Wednesday Jan 22) and a commission meeting (Thursday Jan 23). Both are available to stream online. You can give your feedback to the commission online, but it's always better to be someone who shows up in person to speak. The increased effort has an increased impact. With the big CWD changes, bet your ass that the breeder stakeholders will be in Austin in force next week.

Agenda for this month: TPWD: January 22-23, 2025, Commission Meeting Agenda
Comment online: TPWD: Opportunities for Comment

Highlighting a few big items

Action #2: Grants for local parks - Self Explanatory
Action #4: Oyster Certificate of Location Rules - Admittedly, I don't follow this well but it relates to oyster harvest and restoration
Action #5: Updates to Permits to Possess and Sell Non-game & exotic fish - Add/Remove Species & other changes
Action #6: CWD Detection & Response Rules - Big one here!
  • Ear tags required on captive deer released
  • Double fencing required on new breeding facilities
  • Fence inspection requirements for new release sites
  • Containment/Surveillance zones discontinued, replaced with new proximity rules on free ranging detections
Action #8: Acceptance of Donation of Land at Black Gap - 640 new acres of public land
Action #9 - Acquisition of Land at Colorado Bend State Park - 1100 new acres of land adjacent to 2000 acres acquired in November

The CWD proposal is not perfect, but it has good support among conservation groups as a step in the right direction to address the primary spread vector to new locations in Texas, the release of infected captive-bred animals.
To me, the ear tag requirement is huge because it may finally be the thing that kills off a big chunk of the demand for deer breeding for trophy racks. Who really wants to go shoot a monster rack buck only to have to take a picture with a big yellow ear tag hanging out of it? I know some of the big rack chasers are pretty shameless, but hopefully that is a line even most of them won't really want to cross. There will probably still be places transporting deer to import the genetics for their herds, but that is likely a few deer every few years. The practice of going and buying big bucks to release and then charging somebody for the right to kill them a few months later will hopefully become more rare, because that is probably the majority of the driver for the transport of older mature deer that are more likely to carry CWD.
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ttha_aggie_09
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In reply to txags92 • 12:54p, 1/17/25
AG
Quote:
Who really wants to go shoot a monster rack buck only to have to take a picture with a big yellow ear tag hanging out of it?
Unfortunately, they just cutoff the tag for pictures.... now is it a deterrent for ranches to say it is "pasture born" or whatever and its really a released buck? I am sure it helps with some folks but so many people chasing inches out there nowadays that just couldn't care less about the origin of that deer.
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schmellba99
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1:00p, 1/17/25
AG
Appreciate the notice.

Problem with these things are that they hold them during the middle of the week during work hours, usually in Austin. So if you have a job and live in, say Houston, it isn't easy to participate much. Typical government.
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CivilEng08
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In reply to schmellba99 • 4:31p, 1/17/25
That's a fair criticism. The full meeting schedule is posted way out in advance, but the full agenda is usually only a week or two out. If you're willing to get out and comment, then it's worth circling those Thursday dates and trying to keep them clear.

Here are the dates for the rest of the year. There should also be a November meeting, but that will be FY2026, so date is not set yet. Likely first week of the month. As with this month, first date is the work session, and second date is the actual meeting.
  • March 26-27, 2025
  • May 21-22, 2025
  • August 20-21, 2025
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CivilEng08
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In reply to ttha_aggie_09 • 4:33p, 1/17/25
I don't follow most of the other states beyond the briefings and updates I get from BHA and other orgs like Howl and Sportsmens Alliance.
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Gunny456
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In reply to ttha_aggie_09 • 4:58p, 1/17/25
AG
I have been involved and attended some meetings and seminars in both Arkansas and MO.
MO has implemented some aggressive policies in most counties in regards to CWD including:
1.) Total elimination of using feeders of any type or baiting year around.
2.) Total elimination of using any type of mineral blocks or licks year around.
3.). Increasing tag numbers for killing young deer. They feel 2.5 - 3.5 bucks travel more and spread CWD more so they want to minimize numbers in that age class.
4.) increasing season lengths to allow more deer harvest.
Their fix to CWD is basically to lower their deer numbers drastically which will mean less chance for CWD to spread.
5.) Breeder facilities have to be double fenced.
6.) Release sites must be permitted and inspected and has fence construction must meet certain criteria.
7,) Food plots can still be planted.

Arkansas is about identical but have not outlawed feeding or baiting yet.


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ttha_aggie_09
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In reply to CivilEng08 • 7:27p, 1/17/25
AG
I sort of figured that and should have made it more clear my question was just in general if anyone on this board knew.
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ttha_aggie_09
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In reply to Gunny456 • 7:30p, 1/17/25
AG
Interesting… from what I remember reading bucks move the most from 2.5-3.5 years old and then sort of stabilize their range once they're 4.5 and older. So that would make sense, I suppose.

I do find it a little odd that their approach to saving a bunch of deer from hypothetically dying is to literally kill those same deer in probably larger numbers than would have died in the wild from CWD. It's obviously more complex than that but still just interesting.

Thanks for sharing!
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rab79
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7:39p, 1/17/25
AG
Good luck with changing the commissioners votes at the official meeting, these are almost always a rubber stamp of regulations the commissioners themselves want to see implemented, or have been convinced by staff that need to be.

When there is a particularly controversial item TPWD is not above packing the meeting room with staff to limit public participation.
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Gunny456
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In reply to ttha_aggie_09 • 9:28p, 1/17/25
AG
My thoughts exactly ttha. I voiced my opinions at their meetings and public discussions but they had little to discuss really.
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CivilEng08
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11:56a, 1/22/25
Still until 5pm tonight to comment.
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