THE TITLE OF THIS COLUMN means that it contains several different subjects like birdshot fired out of a shotgun. The first one is that statewide quail season has just ended, and the other items hit the screen at the end. (Photo by John Jefferson)
by John Jefferson
The title of this column is a double entendre. That’s called a double meaning in most circles. But it’s one of the few things I remember from English classes at that cowboy college where I went to school. At least I spelled entendre correctly.
One of the title’s two meanings is that quail season — a Shotgun Event – ended on Sunday, February 25, STATEWIDE!
A “statewide season” is something special in Texas. Although striving for standardization, TPWD has so many dates and categories of deer seasons that one observer commented that you almost need to take a lawyer with you when you go hunting to make sure you don’t break a rule.
Had that been true, I might have kept paying my bar dues and make myself available for counsel in camo.
One sports editor commented that my first book’s explanation of Texas’ multi-party governing system simplified it so even HE could understand it! That all changed when the Uniform Wildlife Regulatory Act was adopted in 1971, bringing the entire state under authority of TPWD for hunting and fishing regulations.
But prior to that, the Legislature set the deer season. It opened in mid-November, closing December 31. That was the first governing body making the rules.
However, many counties elected to have Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission make their hunting and fishing rules when that became possible. That was the second rule making body for many counties.
But then there were about twenty-two counties that had their legislators enact a law empowering them to approve or reject the TPW Commission’s Hunting and Fishing Proclamation.
Those counties had to approve or disapprove the entire proclamation. Some years, delays over local county commissioners acting on the TPWD’s rules caused problems in getting the regulations booklet printed. If a county rejected the proclamation, the General Law applied, and deer season opened in mid-November. That was the third leg of rulemaking.
As if that wasn’t complicated enough, a few rouge counties had their state representative pass Special Laws affecting just that county. Those were passed on the Local and Uncontested Calendar which allowed bills to pass without objection if they only affected that one county. For instance, Zapata County opened its quail season 15 days earlier than the rest of Texas. I know; I hunted there. McMullen County had a different deer season, too. And Duval County closed its deer season for five years so no one except the all-powerful political boss could hunt as he pleased. Which he did.
Those were not “the good old days”!
The other part of the double meaning in the title above is that I’m also “shotgunning” a couple of other items in addition to quail season closing statewide.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission will set new regulations on March 27 and 28. Public testimony will be received on the 28th.
And the annual Deer Research Meeting conducted by the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute will be held in San Antonio Friday, March 1. Contact (361) 593-4311, if interested – but hurry!
JJ
