600,000 whitetails will be harvested across Texas during the general hunting season.

The fall regular deer season opens in about three months, and after good weather conditions over the spring and summer there should be plenty of white-tailed deer in the woods this fall. If the trend continues from past seasons, about I have not seen deer harvest numbers for the 2009-2010 season, but for the 2008-09 season, 645,398 hunters harvested 619,550 whitetailed deer. This is a large increase from seven seasons earlier when 596,021 hunters harvested 515,215 animals.

Texas Parks & Wildlife Department divides the state into 10 ecological regions: the Blackland Prairies, Cross Timbers, Edwards Plateau, Gulf Prairies, High Plains, Pineywoods, Post Oak, Rolling Plains, South Texas and Trans-Pecos. Lampasas, San Saba, Burnet, Coryell and Bell counties are included in the Edwards Plateau region.

As usual, the Edwards Plateau had the highest number of hunters, the highest success rate and the most deer harvested. According to the 2008-09 data, in the Edwards Plateau region 186,508 hunters harvested 240,909 deer. Seventy-two percent of those who hunted killed a deer.

The South Texas region had the second-highest number of hunters, as 110,270 hunters harvested 134,524 deer, and 68 percent of the hunters bagged a deer.

The Pineywoods region had the third-highest, as 99,028 hunters bagged 66,059 deer for a success rate of 49 percent.

As one would expect, the Trans- Pecos and High Plains regions had the lowest number of hunters and animals harvested. In the High Plains, only 1,852 hunters harvested 1,428 white-tailed deer. The Trans-Pecos was even lower, as 1,342 hunters shot only 714 whitetails. The two regions, however, have a large population of mule deer and pronghorn antelope, and these game animals were not included in this survey.

Over the past 10 years, the number of hunters and white-tailed deer harvested has varied slightly. The average number of hunters for the period is about 620,000. The average deer harvest is about 568,000, for a success ratio of approximately 60 percent.

On the Internet, I also ran across a public survey conducted in Texas several years ago entitled “Participation and Attitudes About Hunting.” Although several years old, I think the percentages would remain the same today.

I printed the entire 140-page study, but I don’t want to bore you with too many figures, so I will discuss just some of the demographics of Texas hunters.

One-half of the hunters have lived in Texas for at least 40 years. The same percentage holds for boaters and anglers. About one-third of those live in large cities or suburban areas, and one-third live in small towns and cities. About 29 percent live on a farm or ranch, or in rural areas.

About 70 percent of all Texas hunters live in metropolitan areas, whereas 85 percent of the general population is in these urban areas. That means 30 percent of hunters live in a rural area, compared to just 15 percent of the general population. That makes sense, as many ruralarea residents have more opportunities to hunt.

The survey also shows hunters’ level of education is higher than that of the general population, and hunters are more likely to have a college degree. About 29 percent are high school graduates, while 47 percent have attended college or have a college degree. Fifty-five percent of fishermen have attended college or hold a college degree.

Hunters also have substantially higher incomes than the general population. About 50 percent of hunters, boaters and anglers have an average income of $60,000 per year. About 20 percent have annual incomes that exceed $100,000. As outdoor activity costs have increased, it often requires more money to participate in hunting, boating and fishing.

The majority of hunters are non- Hispanic and white. Census figures show that 53 percent of Texans are white, but they make up 85 percent of hunters. African-Americans represent 11 percent of the population, but only 1 percent of hunters are African- Americans. The low percentage of minority hunters probably can be attributed to economics and not having access to hunting lands.

And, as expected, hunters are overwhelmingly male. Males make up 49 percent of the Texas population, however 93 percent of hunters are males.

I will report on other data in the survey in another column.

Former Soil Conservation Service employee and longtime writer Mat Taylor offers his outdoors column for Dispatch Record readers. He can be contacted at (254) 518-2262 or via

e-mail at mntaylor@wild­blue­.

net.