Western Panhandle whitetail seasons approved...Why

http://tpwd.texas.gov/newsmedia/releases/?req=20160329a
I live in Hockley County which will now have a whitetail season for the first time. I have lived in this area since 1980. I have seen one whitetail doe in all those years. I know some are moving in but not a huntable amount yet. My opinion on this is that people with mulies want to get rid of the whitetail before there is too much cross breeding. What is your opinion?

I voted against it. I don't think that there are enough white deer to justify a season.

Crossbreeding really isn't an issue. I've been managing a mule deer ranch in the panhandle for 15 years and only seen one hybrid on the place. What IS an issue is that white tails are more prolific, territorial and aggressive. They'll push mule deer out of your area over time, which I see as a bad thing. Ranchers that try to manage for both species will end up with just whitetails in the long run. Plenty of places to hunt white tail in TX, not so many for mule deer. Our biologist has asked us to shoot them all when legal to do so.

Exactly right...and is why in Eastern Co they really try to keep WT east of I25.

This theory of Whitetails pushing out the Mule Deer is

I've hunted our place for 9 years and have seen no indication what so ever of the WTs pushing out the MD.
As a matter of fact, I see more MD now than when we started hunting this place 9 years ago.

I've seen mature MD bucks run off WTs on more than one occasion.

It may be BS, but that doesn't mean most ranchers don't believe it. It could be their motivation.

I agree. I think they don't really know the facts.

Mule deer have much bigger core areas. They migrate in very large circles depending on the time of year, range conditions and rut. I think many people don't understand how different they are thus leading to alot of he saids and misunderstandings.

I'm sure TPWD has all the facts related to making this decision. They have detailed deer census info by county and they've decided to open the season for one of two reasons:

a.) They think a sustainable, huntable white tail population exists in the counties they added the season to.

or

b.) They see these counties as historic Mule Deer areas, and want to slow the encroachment.

Aaron Sisson is the TPWD Biologist for Hockley county if anyone wants to track him down and get a definitive answer.

The biologist over at Matador WMA was explaining to us that it's not really the whitetails pushing out the mulies, it just seems like it. As the cedar and mesquite get thicker, the mule deer like the area less and the whitetail like it more. He said that brush control was the biggest factor in keeping the mule deer population up in an area.

I find it hard to believe if b) is the answer that they would actually admit it to be factual. I've seen nothing written anywhere from TPWD indicating this concern and opening up a season on a herd just to make sure it's never sustainable. That doesn't mean I wouldn't believe they would do it because of political pressure from big ranchers that are ignorant to facts about how WTs affect MD. If that is the reason I don't believe they would admit it. Unless someone can post an example of where they have done this before and admitted this to be the reason behind it.

Last year TPWD created a series of public hunts on the Cross Bar Wildlife Management Unit (Cross Bar Ranch) specifically targeting whitetail deer with the expressed desire of eliminating as many as possible. I drew one of these permits and had conversations with the biologists. You'll see changes to these hunts in 2016 to help ensure more white tails are harvested. You CAN'T shoot a mule deer during these hunts because they are trying to re-establish them on the ranch.

But for the record, I talked to the biologist over most of the western panhandle counties. The official position is that there are a few pockets of huntable white tails and the land owners have expressed a desire to be able to control them, so a season has been established. Without talking to the land owners in question I can't say whether the desire is to curtail white tails or build them up. I only know the management policy on my ranch.

From my experience I would advise you to get a second opinion or more.

We harvest more WT than MD on our ranch as well because the season is much longer and they reproduce and mature quicker than the MD. But they can certainly both thrive and coexist.

The hunt you drew for wasn't to eliminate as many as possible or they would of provided unlimited tags. Just sharing with you what I've seen the last 8 years and my viewpoint.