TPWD Proposes Tripling Alligator Hunting Season in Southeast Texas

Harris County, Texas. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) is proposing a major expansion to the alligator hunting season for 22 Southeast Texas counties. The plan would increase the hunting window from 20 days to 61 days. Under the new rules, the season would begin on Sept. 1 and end on Oct. 31, rather than running from Sept. 10 to Sept. 30 as it currently does.

The proposal would also allow nighttime alligator hunting on private property, including private waters. This change is designed to help landowners manage populations in areas where alligators are becoming more common. TPWD notes that alligator numbers have increased while the number of animals hunted has dropped. The agency cites rising nest counts and more nuisance complaints as evidence of this trend.

Statewide, approximately 2,000 to 3,000 wild alligators are harvested each year. This figure is far lower than the more than 10,000 taken annually during the peak of the commercial market in the late 1980s and early 1990s. TPWD attributes the decline in hunting activity to shifts in the meat and hide markets. The agency states that the market for wild alligator hides is now nearly non-existent, having once been lucrative.

The commission will discuss these changes at a meeting on Nov. 4. The vote will focus on publishing the proposed rules for public comment, not granting final approval. TPWD had not responded to requests for additional comment as of Tuesday. If approved, the new rules would permit the use of snatch hooks and bang sticks to capture and dispatch alligators. These tools would be available to hunters statewide.

The expansion is intended to support landowners managing wetlands and agricultural operations, such as rice and crawfish farms. Alligators can complicate daily activities in these settings. TPWD officials wrote that wild alligator population densities across many aquatic ecosystems in Texas are robust. The agency hopes the longer season will encourage more recreational hunting and provide additional management options for private landowners.

Nighttime hunting in public waters would remain prohibited under the proposal. Existing harvest limits in the 22 core counties would also stay in place. TPWD continues to determine how many alligators may be taken from individual properties using population and habitat data. Alligators were nearly wiped out by the 1960s due to unregulated hunting and habitat loss. The species recovered following decades of conservation efforts and was removed from the federal endangered species list in 1987.