Spring means turkey hunting season in Texas.
It’s also synonymous with prime time for trout fishing along the coast.
South Texas remains the top location, far and away, to find the biggest whitetail bucks in the state. That’s true, regardless if you’re hunting under a high fence, low fence or even no fence at all.
This diverse ecosystem also harbors one of the most unique cast-and-blast experiences in the Lower 48: the opportunity to call in a boss Tom turkey and catch a lunker speckled trout in the same day. And even if you don’t do it in the same day, it’s still about as unique a combo hunt that you may ever enjoy.
The general spring gobbler season again kicked off two weeks earlier in South Texas counties than in the northern zone, an interesting aspect of turkey hunting that biologists chalk up to the birds farther south hitting peak gobbling activity sooner due to the climate and typical conditions in the spring. What’s funny is that I’ve also seen the complete opposite, with birds up in the Panhandle hitting their peak strutting behavior much earlier and some birds much farther south not getting revved up until almost the end of the framework in the same spring season.
Either way, if you put your time in in the field, your efforts will be rewarded more often than not, though it should be noted that overall turkey hunter success rests at about 40%, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department studies and hunter data.
In terms of turkey hunting in South Texas — and really the entire state — there is good news and bad news. The good is that we continue to have the highest population of the Rio Grande subspecies — roughly half a million birds when range conditions are good. The bad news is that our state is roughly 95% privately owned and “Texas gobbler hunting” has become a known quantity. That being said, there are ways to find a relatively inexpensive turkey hunt, if you have the time.
First and foremost, it’s word of mouth, and simply asking around through friends and family who know folks with land that may harbor birds can be beneficial. You also can apply for drawn hunts through TPWD, though the competition also continues to increase. The other option is to simply bite the bullet and book a hunt with an outfitter, which will cost more but also will provide a much higher success rate.
If you’re thinking about doing a cast-and-blast excursion, I also would pitch another networking idea: find a reputable speckled trout fishing guide on the coast who may have the contacts to hook you up on the turkey angle. I have yet to find a saltwater fishing guide in the Lone Star State who wasn’t either an avid hunter or didn’t have boatloads of contacts who were. Many guides and outfitters in the business of putting clients on game and fish are always willing to help each other out, and simply put, “a rising tide lifts all boats.”
That quote especially applies to folks who help to keep others booked throughout the year, knowing that hunting and fishing seasons don’t always overlap, and having regular clients will always be better than getting a “real job” to pay the bills.
If you had to pick a few areas in South Texas that seemingly always have good forage and roost habitat, you’re best served checking out Bee, Live Oak and Refugio counties.
In terms of speckled trout fishing, the overall fishery as a whole took a hit with the extreme hard freeze event that took place in February 2021. TPWD noted that fewer than 200,000 trout died as a result of conditions that saw 10-degree temperatures in the Laguna Madre for multiple days. Biologists have noted that estimate was on the low end, which I can believe after seeing big fish stacked up like cordwood on shorelines in hot spots like Baffin Bay.
That being said, the regulation changes from Corpus Christi all the way to the Mexican border have and will help the population continue to bounce back. The previous framework was a 15- to 25-inch slot with a five-fish bag, including one oversize trout. Now it’s a 15- to 20-inch slot with a three-fish bag and no more than one fish over 30 inches may be kept as part of the daily bag.
Speckled trout, like redfish and flounder, can be caught using a variety of means and methods. While a boat allows anglers almost unlimited access, don’t overlook the numerous locales that offer drive-up access for wade fishing and kayak launching. Investing a little bit of time in looking at maps such as through Google will show you almost unlimited spots for this much more frugal way of pursuing trout.
Most big trout aficionados correlate the winter months with being the best time to catch a true gator trout, but in all reality, they can be found all year. The current record – a 15.6-pound, 37-inch gargantuan fish – was caught on a spring outing by Bud Rowland in the Lower Laguna Madre in 2002. What’s even more impressive is he landed it on a fly rod!
Texas spring turkey hunting seasons
The spring Rio Grande turkey framework in “northern” counties runs from March 30 to May 12, 2024, while the season in southern counties is from March 16 to April 28, 2024. The north zone youth-only season is March 23-24 and May 18-19, 2024. The youth-only dates in the south zone are March 9-10 and May 4-5, 2024.
There also is a one-turkey bag limit season than runs April 1-30, 2024, in the following counties: Bastrop, Caldwell, Colorado, Fayette, Jackson, Lavaca, Lee, Matagorda, Milam and Wharton. Birds killed in those counties must be reported to TPWD under mandatory requirements.
The Eastern turkey season in East Texas will run April 22 to May 14, 2024. Hunters are required to report harvest of eastern turkeys electronically to TPWD within 24 hours of harvest. Reports in mandatory counties can be made through the TPWD My Texas Hunt Harvest App or online from the TPWD website.
In addition to a Texas hunting license, an upland game bird endorsement is required to hunt turkeys.
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