Late deer, youth seasons continue

By Sam Waller

Shackelford County hunters can still bag a buck during Texas’ special late white-tailed deer season.

The special late season  as well as a youth-only late season runs through Sunday, Jan. 15.

“The special late season allows for the harvest of antlerless or a deer that has at least one unbranched antler, basically a spike on one side,” game warden Jacob Mort said. “The youth season allows youth (16 and younger) to continue with normal harvest.”

Also, quail and duck seasons are ongoing. Duck season ends Sunday, Jan. 29, with the final day of quail season on Sunday, Feb. 26.

Mort said most regulations for duck season apply to other game birds.

“Duck hunters need their migratory game bird stamp and a Harvest Information Program, or HIP, number,” he said. “A lot of this will transfer over for dove hunters. One thing unique to duck hunting is a waterfowl stamp required by the federal government.”

Shackelford County falls into both the High Plains Mallard Management Unit and North Zone for ducks, but all the regulations are the same for both zones.

The daily duck bag limit is six birds, including mergansers, with a maximum of five mallards (only two may be hens), three wood ducks, two redheads, two  canvasback, one scaup, one pintail, and one “dusky” duck. The daily bag limit for coots is 15. The possession limit is three times the daily limit.

After quail season closes, the next hunting season will be spring turkey season starting Saturday, April 1.