Starting Sept. 1, Texas hunters no longer need a license to hunt feral hogs on private property -- and in many cases they won't need to carry their paper hunting licenses with them on other hunts.
Feral hogs are becoming such a problem for Texas landowners that it's no longer necessary to obtain a license to shoot/kill them on private property. A hunting license is still required on public land and allowing others to hunt on your private property for financial consideration requires a hunting lease license.
The new law, SB 317, was passed during this year's legislative session to remove obstacles that make it difficult to control the habitat-destorying animals. The law, TPWD said, "exempts any person (resident or nonresident), with landowner consent, from a hunting license requirement to hunt feral hogs."
The parks department warns it is still illegal to hunt without a license if hunting without consent.
"The new law removes any reference to depredation and the exemption applies for the take of all feral hogs," TPWD said.
Also going into effect Sunday, hunters no longer need to carry their original paper hunting and fishing licenses -- in most cases.
HB 547 allows licensees to use a photograph of their physical license to serve as verification of a valid license while hunting any game that doesn't need a tag, like dove.
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"You must carry your physical license with you for deer and turkey hunts, and if you want to retain an oversized red drum, since they require tags," TPWD said.
Licenses can now be viewed digitally on the Outdoor Annual mobile app or the My Texas Hunt Harvest app. Also accepted will be a legible digital photo, your emailed receipt, or your online purchase record.
TPWD said if your Outdoor Annual app was downloaded before Aug. 15, you'll need to update it to version 6 in order to access your license and view the 2019-2020 regulations.
