DOING YOUR PART

It’s springtime in Texas and wildlife managers with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department are looking to their customers for some very valuable feedback.

Earlier this year, the department sent out big and small game harvest surveys to nearly 200,000 Texas hunting license holders. If you received one, it is important that the survey get filled out and returned — not mistaken for junk mail and tossed in the trash, or pushed to the side and forgotten about. It only takes a few minutes complete.

A Valuable Tool

That’s the word from Jason Hardin, wild turkey program leader with TPWD. Wild turkeys are upland birds that fall under the small game heading in Texas, along with quail, pheasants, squirrels, rabbits and assorted migratory birds like doves, woodcock, doves, ducks, geese and teal.

Hardin says data gathered from annual harvest surveys plays a key role in helping small and big game scientists evaluate wildlife populations and make the best management decisions from one year to the next.

“In general, across the landscape, it’s very difficult to count turkeys or quail and get a good idea of the distribution of the populations,” Hardin said. “Harvest data is often times one of the best means of getting an idea of what the population is out there. We can use small game harvest data to help us extrapolate population densities. We rely on small game harvest surveys to gather that information.”

It makes no difference whether you were successful in harvesting any game or not. Hardin says harvest data from hunters who struck out is just as important as data provided by those who burned every tag on their hunting license.

“The zeroes are still important to us,” Hardin said. “It lets us know if you hunted or just didn’t harvest. That information can still be helpful in estimating populations.”

Hardin says hunter responses also shed light on how many hunters are going after small game. The numbers help determine how funds generated by sales of upland game bird stamps and migratory game bird stamps are allocated. Both stamps are sold as part of the Super Combo License, TPWD’s most popular license package.

“The small game survey lets us know who is out there pursuing small game,” he said. “Unless we know hunters are out there pursuing small game, the allocation of small game stamp funds coming back to the small game program could be reduced, because it appears people aren’t hunting small game. That can result in less funding allocated for small game management for turkey, quail, etc….”

TPWD’s Big Game Harvest survey is equally important. The survey applies to white-tailed deer, mule deer and javelina.

According to TPWD big game program leader Alan Cain, Big Game Harvest Survey data helps staff properly track hunter and harvest trends for white-tailed deer at the statewide level, by individual management unit and ecoregion.

Additionally, the survey tracks other pertinent data like the number of days hunters spend in the field, total buck/doe harvests, the different types of weapons used and success rates.

“We don’t send these surveys out to collect data that just sits on the shelf,” Cain said. “It’s very useful to us. The information gives harvest data for individual counties and how many does/bucks are killed in a particular area. It’s important information for us as well as the people. Hunters want to know how many deer are killed each season. There is definitely value in it.”

A Costly Venture

Each winter, TPWD sends out thousands of harvest surveys to random licensed hunters by postal mail and e-mail. It’s a costly venture.

TPWD mailed out 75,000 Big Game Harvest Surveys this year; an additional 25,000 surveys by e-mail. Small Game Harvest Surveys were sent to 35,000 hunters by postal mail. An additional 35,000 surveys were sent by e-mail.

Estimates costs associated with mailing out the Big Game Harvest Surveys this year total $86,790, according to Jon Purvis, a wildlife research analyst with TPWD. Estimated costs of administering the small game survey cost $69,691.

TPWD prefers the surveys are returned by mid-April. The sooner, the better.

Hunter Responses Lagging

Unfortunately, responsibility seems to be lagging among modern day hunting crowds as compared prior generations when it comes filling out the valuable surveys.

Responses to both harvest surveys have been on a steady decline since the late 1980s. Responses in 2022-23 dropped laughably low compared to what they were 30 years ago.

To wit: In 1992-93, TPWD saw a 52.8 percent return on mail-out Big Game Harvest Surveys and a 58.1 percent return on Small Game Harvest Surveys.

Last year, big game responses fell to 10.9 percent for mail-outs and 4.7 percent by e-mail. Small game responses were 15.6 percent and 9.8 percent.

The shamefully low response rates come as a somewhat of a shock considering the widespread love Texas hunters typically express for wildlife. It’s sort of embarrassing, really.

It kind of makes me wonder if Texas hunters visit their mailboxes anymore, if they are downright lazy, or if they they just don’t care. Maybe it’s a combination of all three.

Hunters aren’t doing themselves — or our wildlife resources — any favors by failing to respond to annual harvest surveys.

The surveys are essential tools in TPWD game management strategies. It only a takes a few minutes to complete one. There is even a pre-paid postage envelope tucked neatly inside.

Just do it.

Matt Williams is a freelance writer based in Nacogdoches. He can be reached by e-mail, mattwillwrite4u@yahoo.com .