Does anyone know/understand the reasoning behind TPWD's decision to make a new resident wait six months to get a license?

I presume it's to ensure you are really a resident, not someone who just drove into town and claims to be a resident to get a lower license fee. Same thing for college tuition and probably some other things as well.

Once you obtain a TX driver's license, how do they know?

Too many transient workers wanting cheap tags

The driver's license will show when it was obtained, and the DPS database will also show when the
DL in the previous state was surrendered. They obviously aren't going to check this when you go to buy a license, but TPW could find out if they later wanted to comb the databases and prosecute someone. There was a case that made the news a year or two ago where one of the western states prosecuted someone for applying for resident sheep tags when they hadn't met the time period to be a "resident".

kk66,

That was a licensed outfitter from AZ. He rented a house just inside of Utah. Technically he had made the proper time period. He had a very high point total as a non-resident, but not max points as NR and beyond max points for Residents. His problem arose when after he drew the tag and killed the ram, he immediately broke the lease on the rent house and "moved" back to AZ. When they looked into it, he had only spent a total of like 6 nights in the house.

This is a big deal and a serious problem in western states with draw tags. Truthully I don't think TPW would hurt all that much from not having that 6 month requirment. Especially since they cut out license requirements for hogs altogether and have the reduced price exotic license.

Almost every state has a similar waiting period, some as much as 12 months. Requirements include changing drivers licenses, bringing in phone, utility, or property tax documents. There are a lot of things which vary for res vs. nones besides just the hunting and fishing benefits. Income tax, welfare, financial aid, or college tuition just to name a few.

I'm originally from SC and have been in Virginia the last 11 years. Neither of those states have that requirement, so I just thought it a bit odd.